Burning Passion

Chapter Six: Embarrassment

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"NIKKI NOODLE KITCHEN" 

Peering to the stand on the sidewalk, Nikki fixes it not to block the lane this much. It is their store name, and yes, they named it after her. They put up the store on her first birthday, and her parents gave free noodle soup on its opening.

Now, it's been almost 25 years since then. She already planned to celebrate the Silver Anniversary of the store next year, but in what happens to her mother, she doesn't know if she could afford to throw a celebration. Besides, most of the funds have now been spent on her mother's medication and the hospital bills.

"Sister Nikki!" a teenage boy riding a bike stopped at her side.

"Justin! How were the orders?" she asked him, a 20-year-old freshman college student.

He begged her mother a year ago to give him work like delivering orders around the shopping center. It was hectares wide and had hundreds of different shops. The shop owners love ordering food from their store and hot noodle soup as meals. So on certain days, Justin does the work when he only has a few subjects to attend.

"I have two more orders for Mr. Clifford's store," he replied.

"Oh, then go. They must be waiting for their food already."

"Okay, sister Nikki!"

Justin parks his bike on the side then enters the shop and takes the noodles he has to deliver immediately. Nikki followed inside, and their patrons greeted her, asking about the condition of her mother. She answered them and gave a brief talk before she stepped inside behind the cash register.

"Sister Solange, let me help you."

"Oh, thank you, Nikki."

Nikki takes over the ordering and payment. Solange helps her husband prepare the noodles soup orders until one hour and a half passes, and there are only a few customers stopping by at a separate time.

Solange showed her the logbook. First, she scans what's written and checks out the needed ingredients to buy soon. Next, she went to the kitchen and reviewed the inventory records. She then makes a list to calculate them to make an order after.

"Brother Phil, just tell me if anything you need or if there are problems here."

"Don't worry, Nikki. Let us handle it here, okay? Aunt Lucy needs you. The only we could do is run this shop properly."

Touched by what Phil told her, she was grateful to this couple. He was like an older brother to her, and after he married Solange, she had an instant older sister.

Nikki thanked the couple and did not stay longer at the store. She has to drop by at the bank before she goes back to the hospital. She was hoping for good results.

However...

Things won't be easy. Stuck in a traffic jam, Nikki keeps recalling her inquiry with the bank.

She can't afford to pay for her mother's surgery. The funds won't cover anymore. If she applied for a bank loan, the bank interest was like forever to pay off.

She could get a handsome amount, but it will take her forever to pay them off. So what will she do now? It's not only about the blood transfusion she has to worry about but also the payment for her mother's surgery.

Nikki is biting her lips. Her palm grasping the steering wheel tightly and drove the car slowly while having a deep thought. There must be a way to solve her problems. Anything. She would gamble everything.

But where could she find everything she needed for her mother's medication? The harder she tried, the harder she could hear some good news.

Arriving in the hospital, Nikki stayed in her car in the parking lot to ponder a few things. First, she has to decide what to give up. Her parents have a small land in the countryside. If her mother agreed, maybe she could sell out. But, clenching her fist, she has to decide sooner.

Nikki steps out of the car and heads toward the elevator. It was closing, and so she ran while screaming to hold the door. She expects that they won't wait for her. But to her amazement, the man seated in a wheelchair has the door for her.

He used his walking stick to block the elevator door from shutting. Nikki peered at the guy and thanked him. He smiled lazily as a response to her.

Nikki pressed the 7th button and made a few steps backward. She stood on the corner and tried not to breathe. Maybe she just waited for another lift. Suddenly, she felt anxious inside with three strange men. Although the third man is seated in the wheelchair, he seems a prominent person.

Next to her looks like a personal assistant, but she cannot check out the other man on this lift's left corner. Is it embarrassing if she leans forward to see who it was, and so she ignores them.

She looked at the buttons and realized; they were going to the 10th floor.

It is the floor where specialist Physicians like Doctor Ben have their clinic. Also, that floor has super-exclusive hospital rooms, the VIP ward, which only the rich people could afford to pay the room rate.

They said the rooms are like in five-star hotels. Even she won't experience those rooms, she prefers being healthy and would not end up living in the hospital, even how grand the room is.

Startled, her phone rings from her bag. Shit! She cursed inside her head. It was too loud, and the tones echoed in every corner of this elevator, which they just passed the 3rd Floor.

She felt embarrassed as her ringtone is Charlie's song Dirty Sexy Money and is playing the chorus.

Nikki answered her phone as quickly as she could. It was her cousin, Maureen.

"Hello, sister Maureen?" she tried to lower her voice. She felt too shameful at the moment. Why did she set her phone this loud?

"Um, yes. Suppose you could find someone that willing to pay for that kind of amount. Um… no, not yet."

"I know. You and Mama have the same blood type, but you are pregnant now. Oh, no. She is RH A- like you. No-- I was an RH positive. Yes."

Finally, the lift stopped on her floor. She quickly gets off to have privacy conversing with Maureen.. She prayed that she wouldn't meet them again.