I groaned as I took the salty egg I was cooking back into my plate. As usual, I still suck at everything, that includes cooking. I took my two-almost-burnt toast out of the toaster and poured myself a bland orange juice.

“What a great way of starting the day, Anastasia,” I muttered to myself as I was placing butter on my bread.

I started taking bites out of it while thinking about how I would spend my day. Well yes, it’s my birthday. Surprise! As if it‘s that important anyway. I honestly couldn’t care less about it.

I snapped out of my thoughts as soon as I heard my phone ringing. I answered the call and placed the phone on my ear.

“Hello? Anastasia?”

As soon as I heard that voice, I already had my eyes closed when I answered back.

“Yes, mom?”

I heard a lot of cluttering before she was able to speak again.

“I finally heard from you. It’s been months ever since and you never even bothered to call back? Anyways, bring your butt here. I know it’s out of the blue but we're having a small celebration today. I need you here before six.” She spoke.

My eyes widened when I heard those words from her.

Did she remember my birthday?

She never remembers my birthday nor even bother to greet me even if she did. I mustered up the courage to answer her question, trying to hide every bit of happiness that I’m feeling right now.

“Yeah, mom. I’ll be there at five,” I answered.

“Okay, then. Be a dear and bring something, ‘kay?” She chirped before she hung up.

I didn’t get to ask what was the thing for so I just assumed she wanted me to bring her a little something since I used to do that whenever I visit them. I finished my crappy breakfast before cleaning the dishes and grabbing my sneakers as I dashed to the front door.

“7:30,” I whispered to myself.

I went inside the elevator when a hand stopped it from closing and brushed past the doors and stood beside me. I took a quick look at the young man beside me and I peered at him from head-to-toe. His blonde hair was tousled and his glasses were on top of his head.

“Well, good morning, William,” I teased him.

“Hello!” He greeted me with his posh British accent. He probably just realized I was standing next to him when I spoke.

“Running late are we?” I asked

“Yeah. I was stumped with work last night.” He groaned.

William came from a very wealthy family. His dad lives in England with his half-brother and both are into business. William is an illegitimate child so he was put here in New York ever since he was ten. He doesn’t know who his mother is. All he knew was that she was an American and that she didn’t want to be in William’s life. William is a smart guy and is studying Social Sciences in the well known Columbia University.

“Anastasia, my brother said your debt is up to date. He wants you to pay up if you still want to keep the flat,” William spoke.

I have been here for about six months now and I have never paid a single penny to William’s brother. William’s brother was the owner of these apartments and I have never met the guy but the way he kept nagging William to make me pay up, I just knew what kind of person he is.

“William, tell your brother I’m working a lot of shifts right now and I’m really trying to save up. Just... give me two more weeks, tops!” I tried to smile.

“Anastasia... you said that a month ago.”

I took a deep breath. “Oh yeah, I’m sorry.”

“You know what, I’ll talk to him, alright? Don’t worry about it.” He nudged my shoulders.

I smiled at him and said a quick “thank you” before going out of the elevator and out of the building. I collided with a guy who was wearing a suit, nearly making him fall.

“Christ!” The man nearly shouted.

“Oops, sorry!” I yelled before sprinting away from him because I was late and I was embarrassed.

Before I could ride a cab, I was not able to hear William call out the name of the man I bumped with.

—

“Anastasia! Hurry up here!” The cook called.

I walked towards the kitchen to grab one of the orders and went rushing into the table it was assigned.

Iwork two jobs. One at daylight and one at night. In the evening, I’m one of the cashiers on one of these fast food chains across the street. In the daylight, I work at Cindy’s Palace as a waitress. I’ve been working here since graduating college.

“Hey, homegirl. Looking lively today, huh?” I heard a voice from behind.

“Hi, Cindy.” I gave her a grin.

I met Cindy when I was still in college. I was in literature and she was a senior in culinary. Like William, Cindy was blessed to be born into a rich family so she was able to finish her degree and build her own place.

As for me, my parents gave up on paying for my tuition so I had to drop out in my last year. Sucks, if you’d ask me. They wouldn’t take me seriously because I wanted to be a writer. They wanted me to follow the steps of my dad who was a retired surgeon and my older sister who is a known cardiologist.

My mom on the other hand was a painter. But she gave up on her dream because she wasn’t earning a single dime and decided to marry a rich doctor instead. That’s probably the reason why she wouldn’t let me pursue a writing career because she thinks I’ll mess up.

“So... what are your plans for today?” Cindy asked while she was repacking paper towels.

“I’m not working two jobs today because my mom invited me to the house. Said we’re celebrating” I shrugged.

Cindy squealed and gave me a huge hug. “Oh, that’s great!”

Cindy and I were never friends. Well, that’s what I assumed. My definition of friends was quite different. A friend is someone who you tell your secrets and rants with. They are supposed to be like a diary. Someone you can trust and cherish forever. Cindy wasn’t like that to me.

Though, I still sometimes vent to her about my family and feelings. That explains why she knows a part of all my family drama.

“It was on a short notice, though. But hey! Better than nothing, right?” I forced a laugh.

“If that’s the case then you can leave as early as you want. But not too early though.” She chuckled.

“That’s so nice of you,” I replied.

“Nonsense! It’s a little thing I can do for your special day.” She bid me farewell and headed for her office.

—

I went out of the lockers as I waved a quick “good bye” to Cindy and some of the staff before getting out of the restaurant.

“Wait!” I heard Cindy call me.

She handed me a small white box with a blue ribbon tied on top of it with the card that says “Enjoy!”. I looked at the inside to see a red velvet cake placed inside.

“I baked some while you were working today.” She gave me a sincere smile.

Without realizing, I pulled Cindy for a hug and felt tears sting my eyes as I whispered my appreciation and gave her a pat at the back.

I rushed outside of Cindy’s palace and went to the nearest subway store to buy me a snack to accompany me on my way to Elmira.

—

I arrived at around 4:50 PM outside their house. I took a deep breath before entering. My family bought a mansion, a family house all coming from my dad and sister’s wallets. Before I went to college, we used to have a single-family house enough for the four of us. I actually liked that house better than the mansion. It felt more like a home and it was made of memories from my childhood.

I took my steps towards the house and opened the front door. As soon as I opened the door, different colored papers were wrapped and hung up on the ceiling. Food was placed around the long table as different family relatives flocked over the living room.

“Anastasia.” Someone called. I looked behind to see my dad and mom standing next to each other, smiling.

“Oh? You brought cake? That’s sweet of you.” My mom then took the box out of my hands and placed the cake on the table and placed a candle on top.

I took a swift moment to look and process my surroundings, questioning if all of these are actually true. I’ve never expected that after all these years of being no one to this family, they actually prepared something big for me.

“Anastasia! You’ve grown,” said a familiar voice.

“Hey there, Sofia,” I greeted my sister back.

“So where have you been these days?”

Oh, you know, avoiding you and this family of ours so they would stop comparing my ass to yours, I thought to myself.

“I just actually came home from a part-time job. Still looking for a permanent one,” I assured her.

“Well, that’s a good thing to hear. You know, if you’re still considering about med school, I know someone that could si-“

“Sofia.” I cut her off. “Thank you, but I’m not interested.”

Before she could say anything, I walked away from her and grabbed myself an alcoholic drink and gunk it down like it was water to me. I didn’t bother that my relatives were here watching me get drunk. I mean, fuck it. I’m a fresh, full-time adult and this is my birthday party.

You are all in my domain!

Everyone started going inside the dining room where the cake was placed. I saw my dad motioned me to come towards them. I stood up, left my drink and took my place next to Sofia.

“Blow out the candles, sweetie. It’s your day!” I heard my mom squeal.

Okay, this is it. Now or never.

I blew the candle in front of me. There was a deafening silence that caused me to open up my eyes and to my confusion, everyone was looking at me as if I did something really bad.

“Isn’t that for Sofia?” Someone asked.

“Sofia?” I stuttered.

I saw my mom hesitant to speak but then decided to open her mouth again.

“Anastasia, your sister is being transferred to Luxembourg. That’s why we're holding her a party.” My mom spoke.

“I-uh… It’s just that it’s my birthday today too-“

I was cut off with the amount of whispering and snickers that came from my relatives. I didn’t know what to do and at any moment I felt like I was going to snap.

“Honey, I know it’s your birthday but you see, birthdays can be spent for the next few years but this, well it’s a one time thing.” My mom gave me a wry smile.

“Next few years? Alright then. How old am I now?” I raised an eyebrow.

“Anastasia.” Dad scolded me.

“I- uh…” My mom stuttered.

“See! You don’t know shit about me. I came here hoping I’d be welcome again to this family but who am I kidding, huh?” I scoffed.

“Don’t say that.” Sofia choked, tears now in her eyes.

“Easy for you to say! You're a little miss perfect and everybody loves you! Just because you followed dad’s footsteps and I wanted to do what I’m really good at, my worth became lesser than yours?” I snapped.

“Get out of our house!” My dad yelled at me.

“Gladly!” I shouted back at them as I took my steps towards the door when I faced all of them. Then, I started to point to each and everyone of them.

“Fuck you! Fuck you! Fuck you and oh!” My finger went in my mother’s direction. “And definetly fuck you!”

Before I could open the door I went back to the table and grabbed my cake. I planned on taking it with me but I had a better idea to leave a permanent mark in this family. I grabbed Sofia’s head and in a blink, her face landed straight into the cake. I heard a lot of gasps in the room but I didn’t care.

“Congratulations on the transfer. May you live happily ever after.”