Devotion (3) ✔

8 - Mariana

"Don't worry, sweetheart, I know what you mean." She took the towel back and dimmed the lights when she came back to sit with me. There was a tray with a tea pot and two cups. "Tea?"

I declined but she still poured for two. "Just in case." She'd said.

"I'm sorry, I didn't meant to be disrespectful."

"You weren't. Sleeping with men for money isn't every girl's first choice. That is why when I started this, I always gave my girls the choice." She leaned back after setting two tea bags into the hot steaming water.

"Do you know how long it takes for someone to become a Psychiatrist?" She asked. When I shook my head, she continued. "4 years of college. 4 years to complete your M.D. Then, 4 years of residency."

"12 years?" I gasped. I didn't make it 2 fucking years and she spend 12 years studying.

"I also have to renew it every 10 years but that's okay now." She pointed to all the books on her shelves.

"Where are your certificates?" There were not on the walls as I expected them to be.

"Not in this house. It's in my Santa Monica house." She spoke of it so nonchalantly that it made me ache to buy my own house. I lived just outside of Beverly Hills, in a small studio apartment with a decent rent. I grew up in Boyle Heights and we were currently sitting in a mansion that was in Beverly Hills.

I wanted to say that I made it but I definitely didn't

"My parents were kind, working class people. They couldn't afford my college tuition, so I took out a student loan. As time went on, the debt started getting bigger and bigger but I was managing. Working hard and studying." She leaned forward to scoop some honey out of the china pot next to tea pot. The blue pattern on white china looked out of place in the dark room.

"Then, my father got cancer." She stirred the liquid in her cup. The bright yellow liquid from the tea turned darker shade of gold.

I deflated. Of course.

"My mother took out a loan to pay for his treatment. I wanted to drop out and help my father but he said that he'll die one day. Maybe from Cancer but definitely from old age." A soft smile curled up on her perfect lips. "I carried on. Stayed away from home."

"You weren't at UCLA?"

"I was but my parents lived in Monterey Park. Anyways, he got better. The cancer was gone but the debt was there." She sighed. "They weren't old enough for pension but weren't young enough to work because who would hire them." She took a sip and put it back down. "You see, they meticulously planned out their life and saved every penny and pension in ways where they could retire early and sit back and enjoy life without dipping into the pension so soon."

"Life doesn't really care for plans." I mumbled. She smiled wide and nodded.

"Yes, yes the bitch really doesn't care." Hearing her swear for the first time shocked me. I was stuck mid smile where I didn't know if I wanted to laugh or remain stunned. She chuckled, her deep throaty voice was always soothing.

"Mom and dad used their pension to start paying off the debt but it wasn't enough. They didn't have any other source of income and they didn't even buy a house because of Mortgage. So, they were getting late on rents and the stress was pilling up until my dad died from a stroke. My mother was devastated."

I listened, comparing the similarities between our lives.

"I just graduated but I was doing my M.D. So, I moved into a small apartment, asked my mother to move in with me. She did and everything after that was too much. I took on the responsibility for that loan and of course, interest was accumulating. I was working, paying rent, putting food on the table and paying for my tuition fees. The loans just kept bigger and bigger until I went into my residency years after I got my M.D."