Aria Hart had never been wanted. Abandoned by her parents at the age of two, she grew up bouncing from one foster home to another across New York. By high school, her name was a joke on everyone's lips—people laughed, whispered, and called her cruel names.
She hid herself in oversized dresses that swallowed her tiny frame and glasses that only made her sharp eyes look dull. The only thing she owned that felt remotely hers was a worn leather bag, a prize she'd once won in a school competition years ago.
At twenty, nothing had changed. No friends. No family. Just a cramped apartment and rejection letters from jobs she would never get. Employers took one look at her plain appearance and dismissed her, no matter how qualified she was. In New York, beauty opened more doors than hard work ever did.
Emma decided to stop hoping for a better job and stuck with being a waitress at Kane's Cafe.
Her hell on earth.
Kane was the manager and owner of the cafe. A grown man, who had experienced all the things he had chosen to chase in his pathetic life. He was a terrible boss and treated his employees as his personal slaves with low wages. One of his nasty habits was hitting on his female employees while on the job, but he never hit on Aria. Although she was a female, she just wasn't his type and was too unattractive to even be bothered with.
~~
It was a Tuesday morning.
Aria had only just clocked in. She placed her bag in her designated locker and began to take orders from the customers, who were already in abundance of their morning coffee.
She was about to make a coffee when a pair of hands grabbed her by the arm.
"You have to work double today. Jasmine is sick. I need you to fill in." And he was gone right after his command.
Aria continued to make coffees for the customers since Jasmine was sick, she would have to take her place at the cash register. She was about to have another terrible day in hell but, obeying Kane's command, she worked tge double shift without complaint.
On Thursday, the same thing happened working a double shift without getting anything extra for falling in.
~~
Aria was drained, but it was finally Saturday and it was her day off. She decided to visit a library and take several books to the park for a read. It was the beginning of summer and she really needed the fresh air.
She had just stepped out of her narrow bathroom when her cheap phone, which still had raised keys and couldn't connect to WIFI,rang.
"Aria, I need you to come here right now. Be here in less than thirty minutes!"
Before she could object, he had hung up. She had hoped for some free time to herself and apart from that, she was exhausted, but she had to comply. How would she afford her crap apartment if she was jobless?
She took her precious time getting ready and arrived an hour later than Kane demanded she be there. He was furious with her and yelled at her as soon as she clocked in.
"I told your malnourished ass to be here in less than thirty minutes!"
Indeed, Aria appeared very skinny due to all the oversized clothes she wore. Without even giving him a glance, she went to attend to the customers.
When she was making coffee for an angry, pot belly guy at the front of the line, who was yelling at her and calling her names, she lost her temper and threw the entire cup of coffee in his face. He had called her an incapable, handicapped, low-budget paying maid, who wouldn't even get extra if she shook it at a strip club because she looked skinny.
She had never been so humiliated. Yes, she had it rough in high school but it has gotten a little better at college because everyone there seemed much more mature than the bullies at high school. Now, this grown man was yelling at her because his coffee was five minutes late. It wasn't even her fault. She was supposed to be off today. Had he kept his mouth shut, she wouldn't have splashed the coffee all over his chubby, beard-covered face.
Kane appeared just as the man was about to throw a table back at Aria. "Hey,hey, what's going on here?"
"That incompetent waitress of yours just threw a damn cup of hot coffee in my face,man!"
"Sir, please calm down and put the table down. I'll handle this", Kane instructed. "You're done here, Aria. Get out before I drag you out myself."
"What, you don't even want to hear what I have to say? He embarrassed me and …"
Kane cut her off, " Get your things and get out. I can't have you throwing coffee in people's faces and still have you working here. Get out, Aria!!"
Aria threw her apron to the ground, took her bag out of the locker and walked out. "I hated it here anyway", she said as she passed Kane and the impatient customers on the way out.
She had no idea that walking out of Kane's cafe would be the beginning of everything.