"Hey, " Lilah shrieked as she struggled to wake up her daughter the next day. Estella had been asleep in the same dress she wore yesterday, her heels still on, and as she lay flat on her bed on her stomach, Lilah suspected if she even took a toss or turn during sleep. She must have fallen asleep in one go.

"ESTELLA. WAKE UP!"

She finally budged only to flip on her back, climbing a little more up and turning her face away, eyes barely moved. She was asleep again.

Her mom sighed and looked at the watch on her wall. She rounded, reaching the left side of the bed, bending close to Estella and pushed her down.

Estella's body tumbled down the bed, landing on the thick carpet, annoyance evident in her voice when she spoke. "What the fuck!"

"Finally," Lilah put out the blanket which was wrinkled under Estella's weight. She swung it on air, dusting it off. "Do you even see what time is it?"

"Screw time," Estella snarled at her mom without glancing at the time. "You threw me off the bed. Who does that?"

"Your grandmother used to wake me early so we could head to the farm at five in the morning during summers," Lilah said, folding the blanket neatly. She then adjusted the pillows and draped the quilt neatly. "She wouldn't bother to ask me to get up. A spank in the ass was with how my morning would start."

"Please, please, please. No more of your villagers days." Estella slipped off her heels. "Those were very terrible days of your life." She straightened up on her feet, the floor providing a chill against the soreness she had for wearing heels all night long.

The moment she collapsed her body on the mattress, Lilah's voice tore inside her eardrums. "GET YOUR BUTT OFF THE BED! IT'S TWO IN THE AFTERNOON!"

"Mom!" Estella bolted upright at the high pitch that finally woke her. "Are you—wait what—two in the afternoon?"

Oh crap.

Yawning, she gave up and rolled off. Lilah was still inside the room, occupying herself with cleaning but her main attention was at her to make sure she wouldn't sleep again. Scratching her head, Estella made her way to the bathroom.

Shutting the door behind, she peeled off her sundress. Her head felt heavy as if a huge ball was rolling inside her skull. By the time she was done and showered, her mom had cleaned up the room and left. And cleaning the room meant adjusting her books and notes on the table properly, changing the curtains and grabbing two pairs of clothes that needed to be laundered.

Sauntering down the stairs, she went to the kitchen and found Lilah cooking for her. Being a housewife (which her mother never minded being) always prepared food right before eating. Leftovers were not an option. She was good at making food that would fill their tummy without sparing for the next day. Even if that was the case, she would walk a few blocks from neighbors to feed stray dogs that lurked around the dumpsters. Poverty had hit her hard and she knew the importance of things more than anyone she had ever met.

"Here." Lilah put a glass of lemonade on the kitchen island. "It's not a hidden fact that I don't interfere with what you do with your life, Estella. You are free to do as you please but there are certain things you should be worried about. I don't like you coming this late and drunk, especially if I'm not the one driving you back. You should be careful when you are carpooling and next time, for the love of God, don't drink that much."

Alumni night was one of the happiest things to happen in her life after so long and she would do that without a blink. After a few hectic months, Estella deserved it. But also, what Lilah said was true. There was no arguing in what she told her.

Being born in a poor family and forced upbringings in irrational ways, Lilah grew up to be a complicated woman until her father, Jay came into her life. Her negative outlook on so many things changed and Estella couldn't be anymore happier. Her mother was lucky to have him and she wanted nothing more than a Jay in her life as well.

"Sure, Mom!" Scratching her head to ease the throbbing inside her head, she joked. "You should try some, though."

Her mom shot her a pointed and habitual look as she suppressed her laugh. "We've discussed this so many times."

Lilah never in her life, took a sip of alcohol. She loathed the idea of drinking after her father used to beat her mother, and children whenever he was drunk and unable to pay rents or debts or basically anything he saw as a problem. An undrunk father was rational, but a drunk father was horrible as a man could be. Jay did change Lilah's perspective but there were things she could never forget.

It was long before she had sworn to never touch alcohol and to this day, she never had. However, Estella always teased her mother, but no one was more persistent than Lilah and for that, she loved her mother even more.

Estella sipped a mouthful of lemonade, waiting for the effect to take slowly.

"What happened last night?" Lilah asked who was now frying bacon. "You were pissed when you came home."

Estella finished the last sip and turned her attention to her mother. "Why would I be pissed? The alumni were great. Thanks to you, actually."

Lilah pursed her lips in confusion but she shrugged anyway. "Okay. Jay's gotten a flight booked on the day of thanksgiving. His contract is almost finished, thank God. Do you have any plans for that night?"

"Not that I know of." She answered, plopping lightly on the stool and grabbed an apple. "Besides dad will be home and I want to spend a lot of time with him before he flies back for his work."

"He ain't returning this time."

Estella cocked her head, frowning deeply as Lilah continued. "How's your work going by the way?"

"Umm, well, it's just getting started. Edward has a whole team getting ready."

"That boy is really good at his work, isn't he?"

Last night's car banter later followed by a heart-hammering race hit her hard and she sighed. "yeah, too good!"

Lilah glanced over to her at the sudden harshness as she was always talking nice things about him to her. Something was wrong but as always, she never pushed things with her daughter unless it was extremely important. "Okay. You knew when you were little and you couldn't concentrate and learn things, your dad and I thought you have dyslexia or something."

"Well, I was not. Yes, a little slow but not that slow. Why do you think I wanted to become an accountant so bad? I like correcting wrong things, right."

Her mom smiled, returning to her pan and set the omelet on the toasted bread. "So, we should invite people over this thanksgiving."

"We invite people over every Thanksgiving, mom."

"Ah, well, my turkey recipe is unmatched." She smiled, flipping the bacon to the other side. Lilah then set a plate and started peeling an avocado.

"Yeah, whatever." She mumbled, then munched on her apple. "Who are we inviting this year? And please not Mrs. Davidson again. She always finds ways to avoid inviting people in her home and rather overstay her welcome in other houses. And also not Smiths, their cat Lily sniffs a lot around our front yard. Her hair is always on their clothes."

"The Jonahs—"

"Not those snitches!"

"So no one, you mean?" Lilah finished setting her food on the plate and placed it in front of her.

"How about Beck?"

"The Barista boy?" She continued when she nodded. "I haven't seen him for a while now. And also her pretty little wife and cute little daughter. Sounds good. My awesome turkey awaits to savours people's mouth."

......

Gracie had called Estella on Monday asking her to join for lunch with the rest of the group to have another reminiscing high school good old days vibes. She couldn't refuse it.

After her last encounter with Edward a few days ago, he had texted her once about some paperwork that needed to be done and by Wednesdays, the team would be gathering for the first official meeting.

Ever since she had seen the potential of the project, Estella's admiration to Edward grew. He was talented, doing two jobs at once. It made much more sense that he had the help of eight people and she was excited to meet each one of them.

Gracie's number flashed on her screen and Estella glanced out at the traffic in front of her, wondering how much time it would take to clear up. She put the phone on speaker while holding the steering wheel of her car and answered. "Yup. I'm almost there. The traffic is too much."

"Alrighty," Gracie said before cutting the line dead. November sunlight blazed inside the windshield and she put down the sun visors to block the harsh contact that came straight into her eyes.

Dressed in a warm jumper and scattered jeans, Estella glanced around. The vicinity was packed with vehicles of different types. She turned on the radio to kill her boring time, though, her eyes peeked billboards and buildings, and shops. Estella was born in Brooklyn, raised and nurtured, knew most of the town yet there was so much to explore. Her eyes landed on a massive a commercial building and a billboard declaring its owner's name which hooked her attention. Property of Maxwell and Associates.

She had read it somewhere. It was familiar. Maybe she had read it while speeding past the road like today, but there was a certainty she had read that name other than here.

When traffic slowly fragmented, Estella turned on the gas. Since the moment she read the name, her mind wouldn't stop pinpointing the name property of Maxwell and associates. It was frustrating even after she would try to occupy her mind with anything but that. Her car stopped in front of Lilia, an Italian restaurant in Williamsburg.

Gracie perched in her chair between Dave and Jake and Susan across them, with her husband, Roy. They were laughing about something Susan said.

"Sorry, we are already ate." Gracie falsely apologised.

"We are going for round two anyway," Jake exclaimed and Estella took the empty seat beside Roy.

Property of Maxwell and Associates.

"No problem, " she said, adjusting herself on the chair.

Property of Maxwell and Associates.

Dammit!

"You look like you are two seconds away from exploding," Dave noticed her features. "Why so grim?"

"Ugh, did you ever have this feeling when you are trying to think where I have seen or heard about something, " she explained her frustration, "but you just cannot pinpoint?"

"Tell me about it!" It was Roy. "It happens to me. I sometimes have a tune or lyrics in my mind and I can't remember which song it is from."

"What are you trying to figure out anyway?" Jake asked.

"That's the thing. Nothing in particular. Oh gosh, someone get inside my head and tell me."

"Just shrug it off."

"I'm trying."

"Let's talk about something else," Gracie suggested.

"How about my wedding?" Jake said in enthusiasm.

Dave put an arm on his shoulder. "It's like next year."

"So what, I can plan whenever I want."

"Yeah, I know you were planning since you were able to move your little head inside your mother's womb." Dave joked.

"So any wedding destination?" Estella enquired, trying to get her head in the conversation. "Like a beach wedding, or a country wedding—"

"Or a cemetery wedding!" Susan cut in. Others stifled a laugh and Estella waited for them to explain the joke.

"Seriously dude?" Jake made a face, not liking the joke. "She just likes wearing black stuff."

"Oh you should've seen his fiance, Estella," Gracie said to her. "She's so gothic-styled. God, I love her."

"And she told me she's eyeing for a perfect cemetery for a dark gothic wedding," Susan said, laughing while chewing her food. They had ordered so many Italian dishes she barely knew any name of.

"She did?" Jake looked bewildered. "Oh God, my parents are gonna kill me."

"Oh, well, that would be an epic wedding turned funeral moment," Gracie winked, "and we won't even have to change because we all will be wearing black already."

Black!

Property of Maxwell and Associates

Black!

Property of Maxwell and Associates

And that's when it clicked her. The address of Edward's freelance office.

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