Disgruntled.
"I am financially, physically, and emotionally drained" Annie said out loud, with tears streaming down her eyes in the dark room she laid in.
Closing her eyes with tiredness ruled on her, she reminisced on her past life with so much heartache that always seemed to surface.
She remembered how she had struggled to survive after the orphanage she stayed in was closed down due to finance and some other things she was too young to know.
Hit the street at fifteen years old after other orphanages refused to accept her because she was grown. All alone, she had struggled day and night, and ten years later, her life has been almost the same.
"Life... It has never been fair to me. I have worked hard, believed, and lost to love, and still, there's nothing beautiful about my life journey. No finance to boast of, no... nothing!" Grinding her teeth together in anger, Annie stood up from her bed and looked around her room with disgust.
An old curtain, a little lampshade, a pot , and a plate with an old stove she got at a cheap price at the thrift store.
Who is she kidding? Her whole life is cheap.
The darkness in the room matched her mood, and she wasn't ready to change that. And so she stood still in silence, closing her eyes as her inner thoughts kept taunting her.
"End it, Annie! End life now! Your mates have left you behind."
Chuckling deeply, she opened her eyes and let out a huge sigh.
... She wants to not just listen to her thoughts but act on it too. However, she had never had the courage to take her life. Seems like she is not even successful in that as well. Life is a little meany, and she hates it.
But, hating life isn't going to feed her, or would it? Laughing out maniacally, she stepped into her bathroom to shower and get ready for her work at the bakery store.
Ironic, isn't it? Working in such a beautiful place and yet living an opposite lifestyle.
At Work.
With a brown gown, her second favorite from her black dresses, Annie walked with a solemn look to work. However, the moment she opened the door of her workplace, she scurried in like a rat on a run as usual, mumbling hello's and hi's to her coworkers without waiting for an answer.
As she settled in and got to work, an impromptu meeting was called.
"Our company will be working with the color green for all we do. From now on, we will all dress in greens, our office will be repainted in green, and our cakes will be made in green. This is a marketing strategy called 'In the green' concept and also a way to celebrate the world green month" the boss said with a smile.
Looking around the room, the boss continued, "A tailor will be here soon to take your measurements, and the clothes will be delivered tomorrow since we are a small scale company of 8, including me. If there's any additional or subtraction to everything said, now will be a good time to voice out". The boss added.
Biting her lower lips, Annie wanted to scream at her boss for changing things in such a huge way without speaking to them first. She badly wanted to voice her concerns, but she kept mute and nodded just like the others with a smile as they all returned back to work.
Back Home.
Annie couldn't help thinking and rethinking her decision of not resuming back to work the next day. She sure wasn't comfortable with green taking the center of her life. All she ever knows is work. She had no life outside work. Work is the center of her life, and her work will be filled with green. Fate indeed is cruel.
Looking around the dark room, she scrutinized her eyes as she imagined the vibrant green color lightening up her room, and that thought scared her. Her life has always been dark and a little light in it wasn't what she was ready to face.
"Well, tomorrow will tell if I'll be at work or not." Annie said as sleep took hold of her.
The next day.
For the umpteenth time, Annie let out a huge sigh as she stared at the package in her hand.
"I can't believe this. How did I even end up here?" she asked no one in particular.
Biting her lower lip, she opened the package, and inside was the finest piece of clothing she had ever seen. A gasp left her lips, and her eyes almost left her eyes socket, the light was suppose to scare her but instead, it produced a warmth and for once in her life, Annie was grateful she was in the changing room alone.
Bringing out the cloth, she hugged, smelled it, and purred like a cat at it.
There were three green gowns in the package, so she picked one and wrapped back the other two.
Pulling off her black dress, which she had purposely chosen to wear to show her displeasure at work, Annie wore the green dress, and to say it fit in would be an understatement. She checked herself out in the mirror and smiled... for real, she did, and she couldn't believe it. The dress hugged her and the figure she never knew she possessed stared back at her through the mirror.
Pulling off the green dress, she tried the other two and noticed they all fit in.
"Hmm, so these are mine?" she asked no one in particular.
Work again.
Unlike how she always looked down and walked a soldier to work, now she walks more elegantly and pauses to breathe in the fresh air at the small garden a few meters from her workplace. She never knew that place existed or every other place until she had a little green in her life.
It has been two weeks since the green month started at Annie's work, and her life has been...
It has been indescribable. For one, her room looked brighter. Maybe it was because she now has 3 green dresses or because she now opens her curtain to let in the sun and moonlight.
Now, whenever she opens the door to her workplace, her smile becomes bigger because she had been smiling before coming in.
She now knew her coworkers' names and interacted well with them on a work basis, and her boss magically increased her salary.
Just two weeks, and yet it felt like a year, and Annie still couldn't believe she was in the same mortal world she knew.
Annie's little green lifestyle.
A single tear danced down Annie's cheek as she uttered the words she never for once thought she'd ever say in her life.
"Yes, I do." Annie said as the priest blessed her marriage.
Yeah, James. He had walked into her workplace(the center of her life) one day because he was captured by the green color of their cake store. Turns out his mother's birthday was fast approaching and he needed a green cake because it was her favorite and Annie... Yes, she was in charge of it.
Luck or was it fate or life? Annie couldn't tell, but she appreciated whichever it was.
James turned out to be the C.E.O of a renowned company and for some reason, he loves Annie's smile, wittiness and her story and Annie fell in love with his flaws, his personality and his lifestyle.
Love is a beautiful thing, init? And today...yes, today was the beginning of a new step of happiness and fulfillment for her . She vowed to protect and continue being happy in her marriage as James' lips carefully bit on her lower lips before he covered his lips with hers.