Three

"What are you trying to say," Steph asked, confused, pulling the duvet covering her body with her as she struggled to get out of bed.

Alex was just as confused as she was. He was handing out a cheque of 10000 and she wasn't collecting it.

"I am just paying you, what kind of question is this?"

"What do you think I am?" Steph said already so frustrated and angry.

She picked her dress from the chair, her shoe with the other hand and stomped out of the bedroom.

Alex watched with confusion as she left. Steph picked up her phone to check what time it was and realized that she had a lot of messages from Mia  and also that she was late for work.

She hurriedly got dressed and stomped out of the apartment.

She called for a cab and hoped that she wouldn't be late to work on her first day after the promotion.

Alex couldn't think too much of what had just happened, he had several interviews scheduled for the day on the opening of a new branch and the partnership with Dawn's. He was excited and just hoped the day went by smoothly.

Steph got to the office just in time. Stephanie walked towards Ella's table.

"Is Helene around yet?" Steph asked.

"No, she isn't."

"But she told me to show you something when you resumes for the day," Ella said, standing from where she was sitting.

Steph followed Ella behind and then they stopped by an office space.

"She said you will be using this now," Ella said with a smile.

Steph got into the office, scanning around it with her eyes, she smiled. She had always wanted her own office space, where she wouldn't need to work with everyone.

"This is pretty big," Steph said.

"You're our assistant manager now, you deserve it," Ella said with a smile.

"Thanks, Ella."

"I should go back to work now," Ella said.

Stephanie sat down on her chair and spins around happy on the office chair. She was beyond excited. It was all becoming too good to be true.

Even though she had that little voice in her head, consistently telling her not to be too comfortable because it could all go away any minute, she decided to block it out and just enjoy the moment.

Alex was about starting his interview with Forbes. He remembered when he was young and watched his dad having all the interviews, he hoped he would be in the chair one day answering in his questions and here he was.

"And how will you describe yourself," The interviewer asked.

"Determined, focused and getting it," Alex said with a smile.

"That would be all," The interviewer said.

"Thanks a lot for having us," He added before standing to leave.

"Your interview was amazing," His mum said, sitting in the chair.

He loved his mum being at all his interview, they were closer now than they used to, be especially after his dad passed away.

Steph packed up at work once it was 7pm. She had a dinner to get back to at home and she had explaining to do about where she had been since the last 24hours.

People wondered why she still lived at home, at 23 years of age but she really never had an answer for the questions. Was she scared? Was she unprepared? Did she just like being at home?.

She was sure that the last one wasn't the answer because she hated the constant comparison that happened when she went home. If she could be anywhere else, she would.

On days when she didn't just feel like being home, she stayed with Mia but Mia had a roommate and that didn't make things easy.

Mia had asked her to be her roommate when she was about to take the apartment but Steph had been so indecisive and Mia couldn't wait for her to make up her mind.

Steph got home as they were about to start eating.

"Sorry, I am late," Steph said as she got to the dinning area.

"Glad you could grace us with your presence," her mum said, rolling her eyes at her.

"I got caught up at work."

"And throughout yesterday?"

"I was at Mia's."

"You could have called."

Steph muttered a "didn't know you cared" under her breath before moving to sit.

"Hey sis," Anna said, pulling Steph into a hug.

"When did you get back from college?" Steph asked.

"Just this morning," Anna said with a smile.

"I am glad you're back, you could have called me."

"Didn't want to disturb you at work," Anna said.

The only times when Steph was excited to go home was when Anna was home. She loved her baby sister's company a lot and always just missed her the moment she leaves.

"I have missed you," Steph said, smiling.

"I have too."

"So, Anna, what specialty are you considering?" Their dad asked.

Anna was quiet for a while, she looked up from her food to her dad.

"I am not sure yet," She answered.

"You can't say that. I knew what specialty I wanted even before year 4, you should too," her dad said.

"Your dad's right Anna, you need to start planning for your future," Her mum said.

"You don't want to be 23 and still living with your parents," She added. On days like these was when Steph wished she had accepted Mia's proposal.

"I will decide soon," Anna said before continuing to eat.

"I have good news," Steph said, dropping her cutlery to pay attention to everyone.

"Have you considered maybe you want to do a masters," Their mum said, turning to Anna. Completely ignoring that Steph had made a statement.

"You can consider that too, in case you don't want to start practice immediately. Or you can even do the two at the same time," There dad said.

Steph was used to being invisible on the table once Anna was around, but today had felt even worse than it used to.

"I will consider that too," Anna said.

Anna turned to face Stephanie "what was it you wanted to tell us, it sounded exciting," she said with a smile.

Steph was used to Anna always doing a damage control.

"What's it? Someone bought a new dress?" Her mum said, sarcastically.

"Mum!" Anna said.

"It doesn't matter, it's nothing," Steph said.

"It didn't seem like nothing," Anna said.

"Just let it go," Steph insisted.

"I think I will go inside now, just lost my appetite," Steph said, standing from where she was sitting.

Anna knew she had something to say and that she had acted out that way because of her parents and how they didn't pay attention to what she had to say.

Anna also didn't like to have all the attention but there was nothing she could do about it.

Steph went into her room, she didn't want to be at the table anymore, since no one seemed to care about what she had to say.

Anna entered the room few minutes later, she sat by the edge of Stephanie's bed.

"Hey," Anna said.

Steph was laying in bed, going through her phone.

"I knew you wanted to talk about something," Anna said and then Steph sat up next to her.

"Yes, I did have something to say but it doesn't matter."

"It matters to me though."

"I wish mum and dad felt that way," Steph said.

"I got promoted to assistant manager," Steph said.

"Wow!!! That's amazing!!" Anna said, pulling Steph in for a hug. "You have always wanted this since the first day you started working there, I am so proud of you."

Stephanie smiled from ear to ear. Her sister's compliment was good enough for her and she didn't need anything else.

"This is so great," Anna said.

"Your dreams are coming true," She added. "I wish I could be more like you," Anna said, her face fell.

"What are you saying! You're one of the best students in your class and you were already done with premed at 20. You're extraordinary," Steph said. She had always been so proud of her sister and she wondered what Anna was trying to say.

Anna looked up to face Steph. "I don't want to do medicine anymore."