"Good morning, Joe." Max greeted the fat man named Joe by the counter. Joe was reading a newspaper as he struggled to scratched his ass with his fat fingers.

"Good morning, Max. Isn't it today your day off?"

"Nope. It's tomorrow. You've been memorizing my schedule, huh."

"Well, it would always suck when it's not you serving my waffles."

"Aww, Joe. With that I'll give you an extra syrup." Max went by the counter and grabbed the syrup and headed towards fat Joe. "Although, this would be against your diet but I let it pass for now." She said, ,pouring the maple syrup generously on Joe's waffles.

"So, it always suck when I serve your waffles?" A hoarse voice made Joe and Max looked. Beatrice, the 40 year old pin lady, was at the counter, her hands on her hips while the other was holding a tray of freshly cooked eggs and bacon.

"You serve best when its eggs and bacon." Joe called out. Max gave out a chuckle before going back to the counter.

"That's the way." Beatrice said as she place the eggs and bacon on a plate and into the counter where Max took it and serve it to another customer.

"Do I get an extra bacon too?" Joe asked, innocently.

"You wish, Fat Joe." Beatrice said, making her way back to the bar. "Are you sure you're not killing yourself with lack of sleep, Max?"

Max looked at Beatrice with her emerald eyes, eyebrows arched. "Hm? I've been doing this for the last 5 years now. I got enough sleep. I seem fine."

"4 hours a day doesn't seem healthy to me."

"I got day offs."

"Yeah. Yeah."

"I'm fine. I promise. Let me get those hot chocolate for you."

"Table 6."

"All right. Table 6."

By the time it was 8 in the morning, a young man of 25 entered the diner. He looked at the people inside with his warm brown eyes. He was tall and slim with a leaned face and strong jaws, his eyebrows into arch that made him look worried and innocent. He has a messy golden brown hair but can still be considered attractive. His eyes brighten when saw Max serving coffee to the customers.

"Hi, Max." He greeted as he placed his bag on the counter and sat on the stool.

Oh, hi Justin. Ready for work now?" Max asked Justin, her best friend for 9 years now.

"Not yet without your chocolate waffles."

"Chocolate waffles!-Why don't you sit down first?"

"You look great today."

"With all the dark eyes? Thank you."

"I really mean it. You always had been." Justin smiled warmly at Max. Max smiled back when her phone rang. She read the message and her eyes widen.

"Oh. There's a photo shoot today."

"You're going?"

"It's a higher pay. It's rare but it really has a higher pay. I have to."

"When is it?"

"Around 1."

"Isn't that your sleeping time?"

"I know but I'm sure it'll end up 3 hours before I teach the kids ."

Beatrice joined in the conversation and gave Justin his usual breakfast: toast and coffee. "An hour? Girl, you better-"

"I'll be fine. Oh! Gotta go!" Max hurriedly took off her apron, got her brown leather sling bag before heading out. Beatrice could only shook her head.

"I hope that kid would slow down for once. She shouldn't be working this hard. Pretty people shouldn't be working this hard."

"Yeah. Ever since her father died and they hardly could cope up with the bills, she has to do things her way." Justin said,sipping his coffee.

"Poor kid. And her two older brothers aren't doing anything about it. Bastards." Beatrice could only sympathize at Max and could only wish for what's best for her.

"The model is here! Places everyone!" the woman in a white blouse with a high waist skirt, clapped her hands together. "You, girl. Hold the fan towards the model, all right?" She wiggled her thin fingers to Max.

"Of course. Sure. No sweat." Max said before she ran towards the large fan and started to make some angles. She focus the fan towards the female model being swarmed by the crew when she heard some noises by the entrance of the warehouse. She looked to see what was going on.

She saw glimpses of a man in a black suit but she can't seem to get the face, with all the people surrounding him. It seems to Max that he was the owner of the men's clothing line that the photo shoot is going for.

"Who's that?" Max asked a crew.

"He's the CEO of the Apollo's clothing line. The one we are shooting right now." the crew said in plain manner.

"Ahhh."

"Could you help me with these pillars? It's quite heavy."

"Oh sure. Sure." Max gave her a hand. She took a glimpse of the man as the crowd went away and out of the warehouse.

"Have a great day, kids!" Max waved goodbye at the children as they left the music room.

"Learning music is fun with you, Ms. Max!" Josh, one of her student's, gave Max a hug to her legs. Max smiled and raised him up.

"Well, teaching you is fun too! Oh? What do we have here?" She saw Josh holding a pink tulip. He handed it to her.

"I stole one from my sister's wedding yesterday. I really made it fresh."

"Did you? Thank you very much." Max kissed Josh's puffy cheeks before she carried him down. When Josh saw her mother, he ran down and dive into her arms. Josh's mother thanked her before leaving Max. She smiled at the tulip before she closed the door.

She slept for 3 hours that day. It was dark when she woke up. Showered and dressed before she went to the hospital to visit her mother; one of her daily routines.

"Mom." She quietly opened the door and her heart went heavy when she saw her mother on the hospital bed.

"Maxine, my dear." Her mother smiled weakly. Max went towards her and sat on a nearby stool before she gripped her mother's hands. "I want to go home, Max."

"Mom, you know you can't. You have to be here-where the doctors and nurses would take care of you."

"I rather have you than them."

"I have to go to work. We both know we could hardly pay the bills."

Her mother nodded and Max gave off a smile, a tight one. It pains to see her mother this way-a year after her father's death, her mother's health began to deteriorate. Her heart begins to weak, they said. They are always in and out of the hospital but has grown worse-so Max decided she needed to stay there, even if it meant burying holes in her pocket.

"Am I a burden to you, Maxine?"

"Mom. What are you saying? Of course not. Never were you. I was a burden to you before and I don't want to be anymore...never anymore. I want you here."

"Me, too, dear." She was received with a warm hug.

"Did Sam and Jesse ever give you visits?"

"Yes. They've been here an hour ago."

"Good."

"Hey, Max." Sandy shook Max's arm, waking her up in their locker room.

"Hm? One table salad?" Max said, her eyes still closed?

"Seems like you've overworked again. You didn't get enough sleep."

Max gave off a yawn. "4 hours today. I'm fine."

"You shouldn't overwork, Max. I'll cover for you and you better, rest here. You got until 10." Sandy checked her watched. 3 hours would be enough.

"I can't let you cover for me, Sandy."

"Okay, fine. Just take out the trash outside for me and have a rest."

Max gave out a yawn and shook her head to shake of her drowsiness as she carried the two large plastic bags at the back of the bar. There were rats crawling on the road but Max didn't seem to mind. Throw these things out and go home. She throw the two plastic bags on the the bins before brushing both of her hands together then placed them on her slim waists, deciding that her work's done.

She turned with her heel to get inside but someone placed a sack on her head and dragged her away from the bar.She struggled to let go but the hands that captured her were too strong as she was being carried away.

All Max could ever do was scream.