A Symphony Of Chance and Choice

The rays of sunlight filtered into my bedroom through the window, they met me already awake, I had been awake for a while; sleep was the luxury of the rich and I was far from rich.

I got up, stretched and made my bed or at least I tried to until the whirlwind that is Eugene cannonballed onto my comforter, I rolled my eyes, my baby brother is ten and had just entered his 'do everything to drive your sister mad' phase- I hated it.

"Good morning sis, what's for breakfast? " the little devil called out, his brown eyes- the one feature everyone in this house had in common sparkled, I almost smiled but I composed my face quickly before that could happen.

"If you don't get your smelly feet off my pillow, you won't need breakfast " I snapped.

He smiled like he knew he could call my bluff and after rubbing his feet in for extra measure - cue my eye roll, he stood up and left muttering under his breath about how he was going to tell Mum I was trying to starve him to death- as If anyone would believe that.

I finished dressing my bed and went to the kitchen to start breakfast, soon the kitchen was filled with the sweet smell of syrupy pancakes, sizzling bacon and coffee.

Eugene had already set the table and I set the plates of food down, I sighed as I noticed that I had subconsciously put less food in one plate- because of my mum's illness she doesn't eat much, I shook off the dark cloud of sadness that was threatening my mood and shouted in a false-cypher voice.

"Breakfast is ready!" almost immediately I could hear my brother's footsteps rushing down from where he was doing his chores upstairs.

"Finally!" he rolled his eyes at me and I stuck out my tongue and flicked his forehead but before he could retaliate, I heard mum's quiet footsteps and I turned towards the sound, she walked into the room and I had to stop myself from gasping- she looked so small.

The cancer had done a number on her, I had a hard time reconnecting the fierce woman who single-handedly raised my brother and me to this pale, fragile woman in front of me.

Her favourite cyan bathrobe is wrapped tight around her like she's freezing and her eyes are sad " Good morning mum " Eugene greets and it breaks me out of my trance. She smiles at him and sits down, I walk to her and kiss her forehead simultaneously pulling her crooked wig straight, she smiles at me- that's all she seems to do these days-smile.

I set her mug down and she finally speaks "Thanks hunny" Her voice is raspy, she looks at Eugene wolfing down his pancakes and smiles a genuine smile

"How's school baby"? She asked him while rubbing his hair.

"Mmffm" he answers with his mouth full and she laughs, Eug and I look at ourselves and then we are laughing too, and for a moment everything is good, then mum starts coughing and the moment is gone, the cough is raking through her body, leaving her shaken, I grab a bunch of tissues from the box on the table and hand it to her silently, she cleans the blood off her hand and goes to the bathroom to rinse her mouth.

The school bus horns for my brother and he folds his last pancake into his mouth, I make a disgusted face at him, and he grabs his bag and runs out as I clear the table, hurrying when I look at the clock and see that I'm getting late for work.

I take Mum's still full plate to the kitchen, I put it in a tray with her coffee and take it to her room where I know she's lying down, I place it on her nightstand.

Taking her cold hand into mine and giving it a little rub "Stop worrying so much hunny" she rasps.

"I can't help it Mum" I whisper back " I need to go now, I'm getting late, will you be alright till Alicia gets here?" she nods weakly and I sigh.

I don't want to leave her but I have no choice. I place a kiss on her forehead, smiling at her before leaving the room. I grab my purse from my room, locking the main door- Alicia, my mum's caretaker has a key and then I'm off.

Carl's cafe where I work is a ten-minute walk from our apartment, I look down at my watch and I see that I'll make it in time or at least I'll not be more than two minutes late.

I hasten my steps, my feet moving to the tempo of the song I'm listening to and soon I'm in the cafe.

Rachel, my co-worker, looks at me with a look that says 'Girl, you're late', I look at her and smile sheepishly in apology, she throws me my apron, I catch it mid-air and go to wash my hands and put on my hairnet in the back.

I come back out and join Rachel in attending to customers, several moments later, the bell on the door rings and I look up from the counter I was wiping, I let out a chuckle as I see who it is, I look over at Rachel and the chuckle turns into a full-blown laugh, she glares at me but the glare turns into a smile as the customer approaches her.

"Hello Josh, welcome to Carl's cafe, what can I get you?" She chimed sweetly.

"Hey, I'd like a cup of coffee, two sugars, no cream and ..." his voice trails off as he glances at her and seems lost in her eyes.

"And a..?" Rachel prompts and he goes on to ask for a muffin with his face red, I chuckle and Rachel glares at me again but I'm sure that she would be visibly blushing too if not for her cocoa skin.

She and Joshua have been flirting with each other for about three months now, they're totally into each other but my strong-headed best friend would rather die than admit it and I think Joshua is too bashful to make the first move.

After the morning coffee rush, things slowed down. Rach and I have been watching people.

I can tell from the way she keeps stealing glances at me that she wants to talk about something more serious than why so many girls are wearing mini skirts in this weather- it's mid-October! at this point, invulnerability to the freezing wind could be considered their superpower.

"Amelia, how is your mum?" I take a deep breath and avoid her eyes, my throat already feels scratchy, if I look at her, I'd cry.

I shake my head and she pulls me into a tight hug. "She doesn't seem to be getting better Rach, she's so pale, she's always freezing and the worst part is that the Chemo is taking every single penny we have, I'm working two jobs but it doesn't seem like it makes a difference, I'm so tired Rach, so very tired".

At this point I had given up on holding the tears in, thank goodness nobody was in the cafe, but Rachel still dragged my heaving body into the employee's room, she held me tight and I cried until I was spent.

After I had washed my face I felt guilty, my mum is the one going through the pains and rigours of stage four lung cancer, and here I am crying like a doof.

Rachel gives me an unopened bottle of water and I smile in appreciation.

"It's going to be alright Amy, it's going to be just fine..." she trails off and I can't help but smile. Rachel has never been the touchy-feely type, but as she crushes me in another bear hug I believe her, it's going to be alright.

"Rach! This dress is so tight! It'll surely disintegrate if I sneeze!!"

"Don't sneeze then" she teases.

We are in my room and Rachel is in my robe spread eagle on my bed. She came to my house after I came back from working my second job as a cleaner at a caregiving home.

I am exhausted, but as soon as Rachel enters the house, she announces rather loudly that she's not going to let me sulk at home, and that a girl's nice in order, my protests were all in vain as she somehow got Eugene and mum to take her side and magically my opinion didn't matter.

So here I am suffocating in a tiny black dress I used to wear in high school, I reach for the blue maxi dress that is a safer option, and Rach bats my hand away.

"Amy stop being dramatic, just wear the cute black dress, you haven't even done your makeup, we are late!".

I look at the time it's 7:26, and our reservation is for 8, I don't know what restaurant we are going to, this whole outing is Rachel's treat and she refuses to tell me where we are going, I give her my best puppy dog eyes.

"If I wear that dress I'll freeze in the New York cold, don't make me!"

"At Least you'll die looking cute" I gasped and smacked her in the face with a pillow.

"Hey!" She exclaimed "Watch the face girl " I chuckled.

I love that she's always here for me, we both don't have much but she's doing this to cheer me up and I appreciate everything.

I hug her and she smiles.

"What's that for?" She asked

"For being the best friend a broke girl can ask for"

She gasps dramatically " So you're only with me for my money?"

" Of course," I say while I flip my brown hair

- playing along, we both laugh and I move towards my vanity so Rachel can do my makeup.

When she's done I'm in awe, she glammed me up real good "Wow, thanks girl"

" Don't mention, anything for my sugar baby" She teased, making me giggle.

She puts on her dress- a sexy yellow mini number that has black rhinestones encrusted around the bust area, her black goddess braids are in a bun on top of her head and she has two loose to frame her face, her makeup is perfect.

She looks gorgeous as we take some pictures, hyping ourselves up as it has been forever since we went out, putting on our heels and heading downstairs.

Mum and Eugene are cuddling up on the couch, watching a romcom, Eugene is pretending not to enjoy it.

'Help me!' he mouths to Rach and me but we just laugh, mum turns towards us, a wide smile on her face, this smile reaches her eyes and I'm happy to see her functioning better, but I can't seem to shake the feeling that something would go wrong, I walk towards the couch and hug mum.

"My girls! y'all look so good!".

Her voice is stronger and her eyes sparkle with mischief, it's just like old times, she turns to Rachel and in her sing-song voice admonishes her.

"Don't let Amy convince you, girls, to come back before 1 tomorrow, she's such a worrywart, everything will be fine, you girls are young and gorgeous, go have crazy fun"- she squints her eyes teasingly "- not too much fun tho" she looks at Eugene for support and he nods.

"Aye, aye captain " Rachel gives Mum a mock salute and then our Uber horns for us and we go out to the navy blue Toyota, we confirm the plate number and get into the back seat, soon we are on our way, singing loudly and dramatically the song on the radio.

The car slows down in front of La Pentola and I gasp and look at Rach in disbelief as she just smiles.

La Pentola is the best Italian restaurant ever, their gnocchi is to die for, if it wasn't so expensive it would have been a staple food for me.

I'm so excited, the last time I was at La Pentola was years ago when Mum wasn't sick and Eugene was just a cute round-faced little boy.

We enter inside, our heels clicking against the marble floor, the place is as beautiful as I remember.

The receptionist looks up as we approach

her little desk set at one side close to the entrance of the restaurant, I look at her crisp white shirt and her name tag says 'Laura', her black hair is shiny and her dimpled smile is professional as she intones.

"Good evening, welcome to La Pentola, how can I help you?" Rachel goes towards her and shows her phone.

"We have a reservation for 8, the reservation is under the name Maxwell" Laura looks through her tablet, her green eyes searching, I start to fidget but then she looks up and gives us the same tight-lipped smile as before.

"Have a nice dining experience??" she says as the maître d' leads us to our seats, we giggle as he holds the chair out for both of us, our waiter comes and we giggle again as we see how cute he is.

I order the gnocchi and Rach orders chicken risotto, we sip our wine and talk as we wait for our food, I'm glad Rach insisted on me wearing the cute black dress, the blue dress would have looked out of place with the ambience of the restaurant, our food comes and it smells divine.

"Oof, that was a meal!" Rach says, taking a sip of her red wine as I nod in affirmation.

"You know what would make this night better?" She asks.

"Tell me, I ask back, raising my brows.

"Just hear me out, what if the night doesn't have to end here?"

"What do you mean?"

"We could go to a club, have some drinks, dance and have some crazy fun" she wiggles her brows at me.

" Rach-" cutting me off.

"C'mon Amy, don't say no please"

"Rach-"

"I promise it'll be fun Amy and your mum said you could stay out for a while, you were there, you saw her, she's fine, just do this with me, please?"

"Rachel!",

"Yes?" She looks at me expectantly.

"Let's do it"

She smiles.

I stare out of the floor-to-ceiling window at the damp London streets, the rain is falling aggressively outside but I'd much rather stand out there in my Armani suit than be here in this room right now- and that's saying a lot because this is my favourite room in our London office.

I turn around and face the six people standing and fidgeting before me, placing my left hand into my pocket so that I can fight the temptation to punch someone.

I walk towards them and stand directly in front of a strawberry blonde lady, Samantha,- one of the only two women on this team, I hear her draw a sharp breath in, and it infuriates me further- I'm the harshest bastard you would ever meet, but I'll never hit a woman.

I walk towards my mahogany desk and sink into the chair majestically, spreading my legs out as I pick up a bronze letterweight from my desk and begin to run my thumb through its intricate designs but my eyes are still on them.

The tension is so palatable you can cut it with a knife, I trail my gaze on each of them slowly, making sure to look them in the eyes at least I try to, most of them are avoiding eye contact and the guy at the end is griping the papers in his hands tight, his face so pale, he looks like he could pass out any minute now, I decide that this is the climax of my mental intimidation and I utter my first words.

"What was the profit margin with the COLE project?" I look directly at the so-called project leader- James Cadok and he looks down silent.

The silence is expelled as the shuffling of papers and the mumbling of incompetent people fill the room.

"Sir, I'm sorry we lost the project but-", James starts, I raise my hand to silence him.

I hate the word 'but', it always leads to a flimsy excuse, I'm far from being a phlegmatic man and my rage is back and I throw the bronze letter weight, it sails over James' head and lands in the glass display box where the companies accolades are kept and sound of broken glass makes James flinch but I'm not done with him yet, I get up and in four strides I am in his face my right hand holding the lapels of his coat and as I am a lot taller than him the action lifts him off the carpet flooring a little, my left-hand itching to meet his face

"I don't pay you to give me excuses James, I don't pay you to philander around with the people you are supposed to lead-"

In my periphery I can see Dawn, the second lady bow her head in shame, her short black hair is doing nothing to cover her flaming cheeks, I ignored her.

"- and I sure as hell don't pay you to lose the fricking deal to the Moore's, I pay you to know every single detail about the project! I pay you to execute the project perfectly and I pay you to swipe the rug out from under their mother fucking feet!, but I pay you for nothing-" I release his coat and take a step back, "So you're fired, get out"

" S-sir?" he's stunned and just looks blankly at me, I clench my fist and count back from ten, I don't want to resort to violence.

"I said get out you imbecile!!" I shout and that's when he finally gets himself and leaves.

I go to the bar and pour some whisky into a glass, but then I remember how my father almost ran this company to the ground, drinking himself into a stupor- because of the Moores.

"Argh!!"

I throw the glass and it makes contact with the door, shattering, I take a deep breath to calm myself.

"Samantha?" She sidesteps the broken glass and moves towards me looking scared.

"You are now the new leader of this team, don't fuck it up, my assistant will give you further instructions" Taking a deep breath in "Get out all of you" She nods as they scramble out.

I go to my adjoining restroom to ease myself and when I come in I see someone in my chair with both their legs propped up on my desk, if it were anyone else, I would have flipped out, but it's my friend Matthew Lotta and we go way back, his mum and mine were best friends and I've known the little shit since we were four.

"Won't you get someone to clean up now that you're done with your 'terrible two's' tantrum?" I know he wants to ask about it, but he also knows that losing to the Moores is a very sore subject for me.

I ignore him but use the intercom to tell Liz-My P. A to send in a cleaner, I turn to him, raising my brows in a 'what do you want?' gesture, and he just smiles sheepishly.

"Can't I come see my best buddy?"

"What sticky situation do you need me to pull you out of now Mathew?" I deadpan.

"Well..." he starts running his hands through his blonde hair "Remember that beautiful little lady I met in Peru when we went on that last rendezvous?"

I realise that his dramatic arse is waiting for me to answer and I croak out a "Yeah?"

"Right, it turns out she's married, her husband nearly blew my brains out when he caught us in bed together" he gives me a cheeky smile while I just shake my head.

While I've always been the serious one, knowing I'll take over the family business, Matthew is the last of four sons in the Latto empire, and he quite literally lives for himself and with the abundance of wealth, power and connection at his disposal he doesn't need to lift a finger to get anything- nepotism at it's finest.

I grab two bottles of water from the mini fridge and toss one to him, he catches it but looks at it like it's the plague then drops it, he then walks towards the bar and gets himself some vodka.

"Is there a point to this visit or did you just come to give me the latest gossip on your sexcapedes?"

He swirls his drink "Don't pretend you don't enjoy my gossip, Markie bear" he bats his lashes at me mischievously and I let out a sigh, ever since he heard one of my ex-girlfriends calling me that cursed name, I haven't heard the end of it, as I was about to reply a curt knock sounds from the door and Elizabeth walks in looking smart.

Matthew lets out a low wolf whistle and I can already see the gears in his head turning as he's trying to find out what trick would get her into his bed.

"What is it Liz and how many times do I have to remind you that it's knock, wait for permission, and then enter?" I ask her.

"I'm sorry Mr Wilson, but I have an important message for you -" she looks at Matthew and blushes, as he smirks in return.

I scroll and clear my throat "If it is so important you couldn't page it and had to barge into my office yourself, I suggest you get on with it"

"Your mother asked that you go to the family house as soon as possible, I've cleared your schedule for the rest of the day".

"Oh yeah, that's what I came in to tell you" Matthew pipes in, as I give him the stink eye.

"You could have led with that instead of telling me that dumb little story"

"Well, I forgot" he sighed dramatically.

"What the hell does she want this time?" I groaned in frustration.

"Martha? I think she's a very fine lady when she puts her mind to it, and she doesn't seem to be doing too much, she's tough, strict and I miss your mum, She was calm, kind, loving, not harsh like your stepmother" he burst out laughing.

My mum passed away when I was fourteen, and we were both on our way from having dinner at one of Dad's many restaurants, Dad left with his colleagues and I tagged along with my mother.

We got into a car accident and I was the only one who survived, I blamed myself, guilt ate away at me, and no one ever mentioned her anymore, since my father remarried.

Martha was a nice person, but when someone isn't your own, you feel it and I felt it with her all the time.

"Well" getting up from my seat, putting my suit on "When Martha Wilson sends two people to you, you don't walk, you run to her"

"She scares me"

"She scares all of us, so if you'll excuse me-"

"You're not excused, we're going together my Markie" he smiled grabbing his briefcase whilst I grabbed my coat and headed out to the car already waiting out front.