Back then, she woke up early the next morning and gathered all the toys her dad had ever bought her. Her once-favorite toys disgusted her now. Glen's toys too met the same fate. With the help of a small stool, she took down all of her dad's pictures from her bedroom wall, letting them fall on the floor without caring whether the glass shattered. She reached out to the last photo, her favorite, and hesitated.  Her smiling dad gazed back at her, his eyes bright and full of love, and his outstretched arms waited for her to jump into that embrace. It was the best embrace ever. 

Sarah's tiny fingers traced the outline of his smile on the picture, and a hard lump formed in her throat.  Everything hurt, and she'd rather not think about it. Her young mind figured that cutting him off completely would lessen the pain.  She blinked away the tears pooling in her eyes and tossed the picture resolutely into the box, with the others. 

Minutes later, she dragged all the boxes into the farthest part of their backyard and asked Andrew, their gardener at that time, to help her dig a pit. Andrew did as told, and the pit was ready in half an hour. Sarah kicked all the boxes into the pit heartlessly as Andrew watched.

His eyes widened at her decisive actions, and he seemed to have lost his ability to form words.  "What on earth happened?" he managed to ask.

Sarah ignored his questions. "Help me cover it." 

"Wh-what?" Her sudden request caught Andrew off guard. "Shouldn't you ask your mom—"

"I said, cover it. NOW!" Sarah glared at him, and he shoveled the dirt fast without further questions.

 Sarah didn't leave his sight the whole time, and he kept glancing at her nervously.  He raised his eyebrow and asked, "Is there... anything else?"

"Uncle, what is pollen?" she asked, looking at him with clear, bright eyes.

"Huh? Oh, it is the powdery stuff that flowers produce." He picked a flower across the fence and parted its petals to expose the insides of a flower. He showed it to her, "This is pollen."

"Alright," she pondered for a while, and she had a splendid idea. "Uncle, could you get me some flowers? I'd like to plant them there," she said, pointing at the heap where the pit had been.

"Okay," Andrew replied, but her request had piqued his interest. "You never liked flowers, why do you suddenly want to plant them?"

"I once heard mommy say daddy is allergic to pollen."

Since then, gardening has been her favorite. It was the replacement of her dad in her heart.

"Miss, miss?" someone tapped her shoulder, jolting her back to the present. The bus had stopped, and the driver, a middle-aged man in a beige uniform, stood beside her with concern written on his face. "This is the last stop."

"Huh?" She glanced around in case she had misheard him. And... nope, she hadn't. She was indeed the only one still seated. All the passengers had alighted at some point without her noticing. She was supposed to get off at the second stop.

She looked outside the window, scanning the area for any sign of familiarity, but all she could see was a beautiful, dreamy stretch of nature. She couldn't recognize this place and had no clue how far it was from her supposed stop. Only the driver would know. A nervous chuckle escaped her as she attempted to hide her embarrassment. "Umm... sir, where are we?"

"Sanlam Sanctuary," the bus driver said.

"How do I get to Weston Brook residential area?" she asked, walking off the bus.

"That's simple. You need to cross the road and hop onto the next bus. Weston Brook residential area is on your way back to the city." The driver replied, and a gentle smile tugged his lips. He patted her back lightly and gave a slight nod before squeezing her shoulder to reassure her. "Whatever is going on with you, it will pass. Try not to zone out." 

 Sarah nodded and waved at him as he drove off. She stood by the roadside as her mind wandered to the events that had happened earlier in the day. What was the connection between Clara and Martin? Why was Clara having coffee with their IT manager? Why did she give him a brown envelope? Was it cash? What for?

A light bulb went off in her head, and it all made sense.

She took a deep breath and shooed away those distracting thoughts. She sat on the small concrete bench at the bus stop and took in her surroundings.

Amid the infinitely green hills, the narrow road stretched onwards and meandered through the greenery, disappearing at a bend. Soft grass sandwiched the road, and a little farther on the side, several species of trees with lush foliage swayed in the gentle breeze. A few trees were in full bloom, and this sprinkling here and there enhanced the beauty of nature. Pink petals floated in the air and landed on her head.

The sweet-scented air filled her lungs, and its therapeutic effect calmed her down. It would have been a nice spot to enjoy the magnificence of nature on a normal day. This day wasn't a normal day for Sarah.

It was calm and quiet. A few sports cars whizzed by without caring about the speed limit, but she was too absorbed in nature to care. They were built for speed anyway, so why restrict it to a mediocre speed? She could hear the birds chirping and the bees buzzing as they did their daily business. How nice would it be to live without worries like those bees? Before that train of thought got comfortable in her mind, a bird emerged from the trees and pecked a grasshopper minding its business, bursting her bubble. On second thought, being a human wasn't that bad.

She took a deep breath and pulled her attention back to the present. Then her phone rang. She opened her favorite black-and-white ladies' backpack, took out the phone, and glanced at the caller ID. One glance and she almost dropped her phone. She even forgot to close her bag.

The caller was her soon-to-be mother-in-law; no, scratch that, Brandon's mom, calling. A million questions ran through Sarah's mind as she raked her hair with her fingers. Gosh, did she find out about the break-up? What would she say? Would she yell at her or would she console her? Most probably, she would blame her like she always did.

But there was only one way to find out. She held her breath and picked up the call. "Hello, Mom?"

"Hello, Sarah, I haven't heard from you in a while," Brandon's mom paused, sipping her green tea. She admired her latest tea set, imported from Dubai, and continued, "How are you doing?"

"I'm fine, Mom," she said, but her whole body tensed. sarah crossed her fingers and prayed Brandon's mom didn't catch the slight tremor in her voice. 

"I went to the open market today and bought a bunch of groceries. Can you come over for dinner at the family's house? Bring Brandon with you."

Whew! Guess she hasn't found out about the breakup yet. Her throat felt dry at that moment. She swallowed saliva and massaged her throat a little, racking her brains on what to say next. Uh-huh, there was no way she was showing up for dinner at an ex-boyfriend's mom's house. "Umm... I'm sorry I won't be able to enjoy your delicious cooking tonight. I'm kind of held up with something."

"What a pity," Brandon's mom sighed, placing her expensive teacup back on the saucer.

"Maybe next time," Sarah responded, wanting to end the call as soon as possible.

"Wait..." Brandon's mom's voice sounded again, "I've been meaning to ask you something. Did you guys... have a fight?"

"What? Why?" Sarah bolted upright, and a strong impulse to go home overwhelmed her. Emily's place was the place she considered home. Her heartbeat sped up and her breath quickened, almost hyperventilating. Brandon's mom always made her anxious.

Unaware of Sarah's emotional state, Brandon's mom continued, "Brandon has been drinking a lot lately, and he seems to be in a foul mood all the time. Could you..."

Sarah did not hear the rest of her words. The grip on her phone tightened, and her knuckles went numb. She quickened her pace as the urge to go home grew stronger. All she wanted to do now was cross that road and jump on the next bus.

Perhaps her mind went blank, or she was too engrossed in the earlier phone call that she forgot the basics of crossing the road. She had only taken two steps forward, and a loud grating noise of screeching tires followed.

A sports car speeding on the road scraped past her and came to a complete halt a few meters from her. A gust of wind blew past her, and she fell to the ground. The car had swerved just in time, and she narrowly avoided the hit, otherwise, her poor life would have ended even before it started.

Her earlier muddle-headedness disappeared when a sharp pain radiated from her left knee. God, don't let it be a broken knee. She grimaced as she sat up. After a brief self-assessment, she heaved a sigh of relief. Every part of her body was intact, save for a scrape on her knee and a few bruises on her elbow.

Her documents in the box, and the open bag lay scattered on the ground. Her phone lay a few meters from her, and the screen, which had already gone black, resembled a spider web. She raised her head and saw a luxurious silver-grey sports car a few meters away from her.

The magnificent car in front of her made her jaw drop. She wasn't a car lover, but she had seen the description of this particular car once in a magazine. This was a limited edition custom-made sports car, and the manufacturer had produced fewer than five cars of this particular model. Forget about the sky-high price, you couldn't buy it even if you had a mountain of gold because of its scarcity.

The magnificence of this car emphasized the status of the owner. With her current financial status, there was no way she could afford that even if she lived for an entire century. Looking at it from another angle, it could be considered lucky to get hit by such a car, right?

Once more, her attention returned to her throbbing knee. The friction between the tarmac and the fabric had left a gaping hole at the corner of her office dress. The scrape on her knee had a few dust particles around it, and blood trickled out of the abrasion. Perhaps it was because of the physical pain or something else, but tears suddenly pooled in her eyes, and, within seconds, rolled down her cheeks and dripped onto the ground.

From a young age, she had led a tough life. She had faced all the difficulties with a calm heart and had forced herself to be strong. She couldn't even remember the last time she let her emotions flow. Her deeply suppressed feelings burst out. The unforeseen events over the past few days had taken a toll on her, and she had reached the limit of what she could endure.

She had just lost her job, her fiancé, her savings, and now, she had almost lost her life. She was already in debt, and her mother needed a new batch of medication in a few weeks. At this very moment, she had no pennies to her name. Without her job, she had no idea what to do next.

Indeed, being the eldest child was tough. The harsh reality had always given her a rude awakening. Tears formed a small river on her cheeks as the grievances, bitterness, and various emotions flowed out of her.

Not far away, the soft humming of the engine went silent. The car door opened, and a pair of expensive leather shoes touched the ground. Henry, the guy she'd met at the pool almost two weeks ago, stepped out of the car and casually closed the door behind him. He spotted a young lady in a flimsy dress sitting motionless beside the road, just like the lady scammer he'd met earlier.

Her head hung low, and he couldn't see the expression on her face, but he could hear the heartbreaking sobs that made her appear pitiful. Damn, what kind of bad luck did he have to meet two swindlers in a day!

Henry's eyes narrowed, looking deep and far. Something about this girl made his heart tingle. She seemed somewhat familiar, as though he had seen her before. However, her head hung low, and he couldn't see her face. He brushed off the feeling as just a coincidence.

As he walked towards her, he could see her clearly. The lady seemed young, maybe twenty or twenty-two years old. She wore a simple office dress, and her silky hair, a little messy from the fall, cascaded down her shoulders, covering most of her face. Although she appeared disheveled, it did not do any injustice to her beauty. It added a playful and innocent charm to her, making others want to protect her.

He squatted in front of her, lowered his eyes, and examined the scrape on her knee. He noticed the blood smeared on her leg as it trickled down her delicate calf. A few drops of dark red blood already lay on the ground beneath her injured leg.

After a brief scan, he found no other injuries on her other than a slight scrape on her knee. Her sobs got louder, and his bushy eyebrows twitched. It was only a scrape. Was there a need to cry so much? His impression of her took a negative turn just like that.

Her cries aggravated his already bad mood even further. He had a habit of taking his car out for a ride in the mountains whenever he was in a foul mood. His mind was occupied a while ago, and he had failed to notice her.

Henry liked to race on this particular road because it rarely had pedestrians. He hadn't expected a young lady to pop out of nowhere and cross the road without looking. She should thank her lucky stars he hadn't run over her.

Noticing that her reservoir of tears wouldn't run out anytime soon, he did not want to waste any more time with her. He fished out his wallet, took out a few bank notes, and shoved the cash into her hand without a word. Problems that could be solved with money were not problems to him at all. He wanted to solve this accident as fast as he could.