Pitter, patter,pitter, patter. Drip. Drip. Drip. Ballsie was taking an afternoon nap when she was awoken by water dripping from her ceiling. The tiny droplets of rain fell and landed perfectly on her right cheek. Still lying on her bed, she hastily wiped her cheek with her sleeve and squinted above her. It was then she realized that the rain leaked from a small hole on their roof.
"Good thing the hole was just small, it could've been much worse."
She stood up and grabbed a hoodie from her closet intending to go outside as the rain had stopped. She wanted to see for herself and examine if there were other damages the torrential downpour caused. She opened her bedroom door and as she stepped out, her father greeted her with his usual broad smile and familiar toolbox.
"Hey, honey! I'm just going outside, your brother mentioned that his room got wet, so there might be a hole on the roof."
Tonio Flores had always been the man of the house. He single-handedly raised Ballsie and her younger brother Enzo even with his meager wage as a fulltime school teacher and part time furniture builder. The callouses on his hands prove how hard he worked just so his children can go to school. He's had a challenging life, but you couldn't tell that from how he would smile from ear to ear and how his eyes gleamed with excitement whenever he would boast about his kids and the furnitures he built.
"Dad, my room too." Ballsie replied as she kissed her dad on the cheek. "I think our roof is due for a replacement."
"Ok, I will take a look. Will do a quick patch up for now. Let me call my friend who can help us out if it does need to get replaced." Tonio called out as he stepped out the front door to examine the roof.
Out of her dad's sight, Ballsie stared outside their modest house and started calculating in her head their monthly expenses. The roof replacement was unexpected and for sure will cost an arm and a leg, even with the friendly discount her dad is expecting.
"If I only got that job in Singapore, money wouldn't be so tight." Ballsie started to tear up, but as tears started to well in her eyes, she remembered about a possible job her aunt mentioned to her the other day. She told her aunt she was not interested because the job was not in line with what she studied---interior design.
But desperate times, call for desperate measures. She grabbed her cellphone from her pocket and dialed her aunt's number.
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"Tita Betsy, it's me... hey, remember the possible job you mentioned the other day? Is the job still available?" she asked with her fingers crossed.
"Beh, Beh is that you? Yeah, yeah, the job is still available. Hey, get down from there! TJ, get down from there I said!"
Ballsie knew her aunt's hands were full when she called - unlike her dad, her aunt can build her own basketball team with the kids she has at home. She can build another with her older kids who already left for college or work.
"You want the job? I can tell Manang Susan you want it and it's yours. You won't work with Manang Susan though. You have to deal with her boss. I think he is just a little older than you so I think you will get along. You know, you guys are Millenniums."
"Millennials, Tita. Millennials."
"Ooh, whatever. Po-tay-to, po-tah-to. So, you want it, or no?"
Ballsie took a deep breath, as if she is signing her life away.
"Yup, I want it. What do I need to do? I'm assuming, kind of like an assistant's job, right? Assisting Manang Susan's boss?" Ballsie asked.
Without any hesitation, her aunt casually replied, "Simple, you just need to sleep with him."
