Wishing Star (Amourshipping)

Chapter 1| The Job

"House Keeping!' said a young maiden, dressed in a dark blue blouse and a skirt with white laces. Light slowly peeked from the inside of the room, and a woman in her sleeping clothes appeared, greeting with a grin. Serena bowed then she pushed her giant cart full of cleaning gears through the door.

"Good evening, ma'am! We're hoping that you're enjoying your stay here in Richissime Hotel," Serena said as if it was scripted.

She then started her work; she pulled out her vacuum and started sliding it through the carpets to take of the dust. She then removed the pillow and bed sheets and changed them into new and cleaner. Lastly, she scanned the room to look for pieces of plastic and wrappers to pick up and dispose.

"Excuse me." Serena jolted, placed the plastic bag she was holding down and faced the woman sitting comfortably on a couch. "It's Serena right?" Serena looked at the woman's eyes which stared right to her uniform. Serena tilted her head down, her I.D. revealed her name.

"Yes, ma'am," Serena said. "Do you need anything?"

"Oh no, I was just wondering though," she replied, her eyes gazing at Serena from her head down to her foot, " you just seem to look so young to be working here."

"I'm of legal age ma'am" Serena replied with a grin.

The woman sighed and went back to reading her book. Serena continued working, but she often eyed the woman as she read her book. As the woman was busy, Serena started to quickly pick up and dispose the trash. She threw her cleaning gears back to the cart, took one last look at the woman who was still busy reading and, without looking back, pushed the cart straight towards the exit. 

She closed the door, leaned on it and released a big sigh. She wiped the beads of sweat forming on her forehead with the back of her hands and dropped to her feet.

"That was a close one," she said to herself.

Panting heavily, she looked straight through the glass window revealing little shimmers from the streetlights, few people walking along the dark avenues, and the Central Park lit by the tallest and brightest tower in the city, Prism Tower.

Serena sighed. The waves of nostalgia brought her back to the days of her childhood, when she would go around the park with her father and mother. She repeatedly tapped her face, her eyes completely shut.

"I should not be crying on shift!" she mumbled.

She stood up, brushed her hair off of her face and straightened her skirt before she started pushing her cart.

"Serena!" a sudden call came from behind her. She turned around to see Emma, her co-worker.

"Hey, Emma, What's up?"

Trying to catch her breath, Emma spoke. "The manager asked me to call you. He said he needed to speak to you. You better hurry and go there. I'll bring your cart to the lounge for you."

Serena was baffled by Emma. She looked at Emma with a confused gaze and spoke, "Did he say why he wanted to talk to me?"

Emma shook her head a "no". Serena immediately understood and ran off to the Manager's Office.

Serena arrived and knocked on the door before entering. The manager looked calm and offered Serena a seat.

"Serena," he started, "I called you because I wanted to discuss with you an important matter."

Serena's hands were shaking. She constantly rubbed the palm of her hands on her skirt, trying to calm herself down. She knew she didn't really get exposed with the last room she just cleaned, so that wouldn't be a big problem.

"Hotel Richissime just filed a bankruptcy case early this morning. For the last few months we've been having problems with the number of customers that we have, and now, we just couldn't accommodate all our employees with the net loss we're having."

Serena sat still. She didn't quite understand what he meant by that and she needed to know the point of all these.

"In short, Serena, we're going to have to fire you since we really can't pay your salary anymore." Serena's eyes widen, she bolted up, slammed the table with both her palms.

"But sir, I really work hard and always give my best in keeping the hotel rooms clean. You know that my records aren't bad and I've been working a lot more lately and-"

"Serena that's not the case." he interrupted. "We've seen how well you've worked here, but we all know that you're working here illegally. You're only 16!"

Tears slowly crept down her cheeks, her fists clenched on her skirt. "Sir, you know how important this job is for me. You know too well how much I need this!"

"We already gave you your chance Serena. After your father's death we knew that you needed this, and even if it was illegal for me to do so, I still hired you. Your father was a great friend and that is why I gave you a chance, but this time Serena, there's nothing I can do." he paused, closed his eyes and took a deep breathe. "I'm really sorry, Serena."

Serena kept her eyes locked on the manager's. It didn't quiet sink that this was happening. She stood straight. Her clenched hands released her skirt, and soon ran out. She went into the maid's lounge and changed her clothes. She scanned her locker forced all of her things inside her bag. As soon as her locker was empty, she left.

As she walked through the quiet and barely lit streets of Hibernal Avenue, she suddenly paced down her steps into a complete halt. She looked straight ahead, narrowing her eyes to get a closer look on the shady figures standing in front of her house just a few meters away. The figure slowly disappeared, and she soon drew closer and closer to her house. As Serena arrived, she noticed her mailbox.

"But why would the mailman deliver a letter this late at night?" she wondered to herself. She opened the letter, only to have her jaw drop and her eyes widen. It was a letter from the bank.

"Dear Ms. Yvonne," the letter started.

"We've been trying to contact you for the last few hours yet you were not responding to us, thus we decided to write you this letter to inform you that," Serena stopped, releasing an exasperated sigh as she soon realized, "your bill has been due yesterday. You must pay your remaining balance before the month ends or we'll be forced put your loan in default and sell your property. Please do contact us, thank you!"

Serena fell to the ground. She was totally immersed and stressed with all her work that she forgot to pay the bills. Her face fell down and her hands roughly pulled her hair. Tears were dripping to the ground and her sob broke the silence.

"Excuse me," a deep voice interrupted her.

Serena wiped her tears off with her hands and slowly stood up. She brushed off the hair on her face and brushed off the dust in her shirt before eventually speaking, "Oh, yes! So- sorry, is there anything yo-you need, sir?"

She looked at a man with a brown cap and a black trench coat. His eyes were locked into Serena's and he looked very calm and serious. "I am Detective Marlon. I've been working on a case with illegal events going around this city. I needed some people to work with me in this case and I was hoping you could help me," he replied.

Serena stared with a confused look, "W-wait," she stuttered, "why are you asking me this?"

"We are going to pay you billions if you accept this job. And perhaps that will be more than enough to sustain yourself and pay all your debts."