CHAPTER THREE

Rita's Pov. 

The work for today isn't as tedious as always. Saturdays are always less work and more talk with her coworkers. She carefully scrubbed the floors repeatedly and conversed with her colleagues within free periods. In no time, it was her lunch break. 

She strode with Nora, a young lady who was working to save for college. Rita grew fond of her because of her zeal and avidity for work. They spent their lunch break chatting about silly things and primarily plans. Apart from Olivia, Nora is one individual she can comfortably talk about her plans with. 

Nora is a chubby and moderately beautiful lady; she has brown eyes and dark hair. Her perfectly curved body made up for her fairly beautiful face, but she's an adorable soul. 

They walked back to their duty posts and once again, Rita was left alone with her thoughts while concentrating on her job. She held the mop bucket and rumbled it forward without looking up, she was indeed lost in thought. Mostly calculating her paychecks and thinking of what to do with them. 

Suddenly, her mop bucket hit something or someone, she wasn't certain about it so she looked up only to see a woman in her early twenties from her looks, she should be older than Rita. 

Her face looks coarse because of acne but a lot of makeup helped to conceal the patches. 

"Are you blind?" The young woman spoke with a stern tone. 

Rita looked down at the lady's white dress and saw the stain that her bucket of water had created. She felt sober then looked up at the lady and mumbled, " I'm sorry"

"You're sorry?!" the woman blurted. 

Before Rita could say another word, she felt a hard whack on her face and simultaneously tasted a metallic substance in her mouth. She used her hand to rub her tongue and then looked at the substance; alas, it is blood! 

Seeing the blood, she felt tears welling up in her eyes. The sound of the slap, drew her coworkers to the scene to find out what is going on with her. 

"Are you nuts? How dare you spill this dirty water on my dress?"

"I'm sorry ma'am… it wasn't intentional," Rita says tearfully, holding her right cheek that still burned from the slap. 

"Don't you dare tell me you're sorry? Can your stupid sorry amend this dress? Do you have the slightest idea about how much it's worth? Huh?" 

"No ma'am," Rita says, looking down at her feet. 

"I'm pretty sure that your measly paycheck for a year will not even afford it! But you know what? I will make sure you lose your job so you can go back to the streets where you belong!" the woman says and turns to the hospital director's office. 

Nora walked close to Celine and embraced her tightly then muttered close to her ears, "I'm sorry Rita". She loosened herself from Nora's grip and nodded slightly. Her white face turned red and pale, and her right cheek was still scorched as though she was hit again. 

"Whoa! That was intense!" Another coworker says out loud. Rita veered around to see who it was and then rolled her eyes at seeing who it was. Lisa, the sophisticated lady in her early thirties. 

"You know you're about to lose your job right?"Lisa retorted. 

"Please, could you stop this at this juncture?" Nora responds, giving her a hard stare. 

"Come on…that's the lady whose mother is admitted here for cancer and also she is a huge sponsor to the charity organization for this hospital. She has a hold on the director" Lisa declared. 

"Rita, you're not losing your job, okay!" Nora says to Celine. 

Rita is lost in her world, she can't believe that she got slapped by a young lady like her. Just because she works as a janitress for the hospital. 

"It's either you lose the job or your paycheck is split into halves and that's if you're of value to the hospital which I doubt that" 

"You know what?…" Rita cuts in, "maybe you should simply shut up and mind your goddamn business. It'd do you a lot of good" 

Rita walked off without looking back to see anyone's reaction. She has had enough of everyone's bullshit and excesses. She walked to her locker to pack her things because either way, she cannot escape getting laid off. 

"Mrs. Anna needs your presence in the director's office now," A young man in a lab coat says to her. 

The man looked like someone doing an internship with the hospital. 

"Okay, thanks" she responds then shuts the door of the locker then strolls behind the young man to the director's office. She has never been there before so walking on that floor seemed new to her. 

The young man suddenly stopped and points to a door and says to her, " that's the office" 

"Thank you" she muttered and walked into the office. 

There seated the unknown lady, Mrs. Anne, and the director which she has never met before. 

"Miss Rita?" The director asks, eyeing her intently. He is a middle-aged man who looked younger than she imagined him to be. 

"Yes" 

"I am Mr. Donald. Let me go straight to the point, this young lady explained what happened between you both on the first floor which happens to be your duty post. Am I correct?"

"Yes and I apologized without complaint or retaliation" Rita retorted. 

"Retaliation?" He questioned. 

"Yes, she hit me" 

"Oh…" his voice trailed off and he cast a glance at the young lady who looked away instantly. 

"Miss Rita, you are relieved of your duties and you're to be dismissed at once" Mrs. Anne spoke up, giving Rita a hard stare. 

"What? Despite being the victim? She hit me and I'm getting fired" she said and glimpsed at the director who looked helpless in the situation. 

"Right now," Mrs. Anne said. 

The look on the young lady's face fueled her anger. The bright red lips and her acne-filled face made her infuriated. 

She blurted without thinking, " you know what? Mrs. Anne, you're just a stuck-up old lady who has been looking for a way to fire me all along and here you have the chance. And as for you…" she said, veering around to the unknown lady. 

"Before you can have this stinky attitude, make sure you take care of your acne. It doesn't look good on you." She says and takes off her work ID card and slams it on the table without looking back. She made a mental note that it was the end of taking insults, it was time to level up.