“Here, sweet girl, put on these shoes. Mommy just bought them for you.”
Numb, I obeyed.
“Ah!”
I yanked them off immediately—inside the sole, a sharp needle was sticking upright.
And there was my mother, adjusting her camera angle to capture my pained expression.
“Perfect… today’s material is ready.”
When she discovered my library job, I thought the worst that could happen was being forced to quit.
I was wrong.
That afternoon, while I was shelving books in the back, a sudden commotion erupted outside.
“Where’s the manager? Come out right now!”
Laura’s voice.
The book nearly slipped from my hands. How did she find me here?
“You greedy employers! Preying on students like this? My daughter’s only nineteen—how can you exploit her like that?”
I rushed out from the back room and saw her standing in the middle of the store. Hair disheveled, eyes red and swollen—she looked every bit the image of a desperate mother driven to the edge.
“Mom, what are you doing here?” I stammered.
The moment she saw me, her tears burst forth like a broken dam.
“Emily! Mommy came to save you!”