Chapter 1
"Eden, have you done the work I gave you?" Edward Hastings, my boss, stood over my desk, glaring.
I, who was typing the victim's family statement from last week's meeting, diverted my attention to his question, "No, sir," I said, barely looking up from the stack of papers on my desk.
"I'm still working on the murder case." I pointed to the documents spread out in front of me with the tip of my jaw.
"Have you lost your mind?" His voice rose, sharp as always. "Didn't I tell you the divorce case is our priority?" Suddenly the room filled with the echoes of his voice, a habit of his when he was angry, and Hastings is always angry, moreover I am always able to make him angry even in his happy days according to him.
I sighed. "But the murder case hasn't seen any progress all week—"
"Just do what I said!" he snapped again. "The client is coming today. You need to make sure everything is perfect."
I bit back my frustration while massaging the back of my stiff neck, I closed the murder file and started to work on the divorce case that was more "urgent" for him. My fingers hovering over the keyboard.
This wasn't new, my boss, the lawyer of his own small law firm, always prioritizes the wealthiest client first. I have to do all his job, to do the hard things.
Research, paperwork, drafting everything, and everything, even all the stuff that a lawyer has to prepare themselves, like strategizing cases or writing the key points for his trial speech. But the worst thing was as the only employee that he had, I wasn't even a law school graduate. I'd learned everything on the job. For all these three years I have to learn all these by myself from scratch.
And after I prepared everything, he only needed to learn my materials and represent it. When we won the case, he took all the credits, but when we lost, I took the blame.
Still, I stayed. I could have found a better-paying job, maybe even a more balanced work life. But honestly this job was able to give me excitement, the way some clients clung to hope when they saw someone fighting for them, the cases that we won. The satisfaction that I haven't felt in other works that I have ever done. Also, who wants to hire a non college worker these days? The best I could get if I quit is to get part time jobs.
Even though I really needed it, my focus wasn't about money. It was how big the impact of this job was on someone's life. Some cases made my stomach turn, but for the ones that mattered, the ones where justice seemed so far out of reach, I stayed. I knew why I was here. I was needed here. At least my boss and I shared the same purpose three years ago, but maybe money did make people change.
Once I finished prepping for the divorce case, Mr. Hastings ordered me to get some coffees for him and the clients.
When I'm waiting for the order in the coffee shop, I can't help but still do some work on my phone. Honestly, working here is really draining me, besides all that workload, there are no fixed working hours, and often I still have to do some work when I get back home.
"Where are you? The client's here." One second didn't even pass and Mr. Hastings already ended the phone call one sided.
"On my way." I said, but there is no one to hear my reply on the other side of the call.
I let out a heavy sigh and waited for the barista to call my name. After a few minutes, I finally collected the coffee orders, double-checking to make sure I had everything right. Without wasting another seconds, I dashed out of the coffee shop, running as fast as I could while trying to keep the cups steady to not get any spills.
I looked at my watch on my right wrist. It's been 10 minutes since Mr. Hastings' last call, I have to get to the office as fast as I can, he must be furious by now.
With three blocks left, I hurriedly crossed the street after the pedestrian green light turned on, suddenly I could hear someone screams from across the street, and from my side eye I could see a big black shadow coming closer to me so fast, too fast until it hit me so hard.
In the next half second, I was knocked off my feet, I felt my body fly, all the coffee cups in my hands were off, and flew everywhere. The next thing I know, I already lay down on my left side in the middle of the street, I couldn't move my body nor felt my body at all.
The sky looked spinning, everything looked spinning, and I felt something wet streamed from the back of my head. I couldn't open my eyes well, It kept closing no matter how much I wanted it to open.
I could hear the echoes of people's voices screaming and talking to me, but somehow I couldn't understand what they said. Instead, I felt so sleepy so I didn't fight my eyes anymore. I gave in and everything went silent and dark.
At last a peaceful silence.
..................
My eyes were still heavy, I felt I wanted to sleep longer.
"Please wake up, princess." The last word of this soft voice made me immediately open my eyes but my sight was still too blurry. I kept blinking to make it refocus, and the first thing I could see clearly was how the ceiling above me wasn't the sterile white color like I expected.
Instead it was a rich lilac with ornate gold patterns.
Where was I?
Everything felt… off.
"Happy Birthday, Princess!" I raised my head, and my gaze fell on a woman dressed in a long, elegant gown. She, who looked like in her thirties, stood beside me, and she clapped her hands with a face that was full of excitement.
Am I dreaming right now?
"The King and Queen already waited for you in the dining hall. They have prepared for your birthday."
Birthday? King and Queen? What the heck was she talking about?