"Did you make sure to send in your application?" In the cold morning, a family sat at a table. Coffee, bread, the usual.
"Yes, mom."
"And the letters to your cousin? You sent those as well?"
"Mom, I didn't forget anything."
These tired voices came from two out of the three individuals who were currently sitting there. One, a wrinkled, middle-aged woman and the other, a youthful reflection of her.
Magda poked her french toast with her fork, sighing internally as her mother continued to assault her mind with questions and queries the answers were the same for.
"When you come back home," her mother continued, "I want you to walk the main road. Don't walk into the alleys, that's dangerous."
"I'm not going to do that mom, you've told me a million times."
Finally, her first lie of the day. Truthfully, Magda always took the alleys. They were a shortcut, a much faster method for coming home after work. Of course, she'd never tell her mother that. The older woman might have a stroke.
She finished up her breakfast, stood up excusing herself and walked to her room. An unread text from her boyfriend waited for her on the bed.
"Sounds cool" was all the text said. Magda ran a hand through her long blonde hair. She thought about complaining about the earlier events, but would he even care?
She texted him some nonsense and her day started properly the moment she went to put on her uniform.
Well, it was time to go be a robot for a few hours. That's what McDonald's did to a person, after all.
-----
There were three constants in Beata's life. The sun, taxes, and that she always got what she wanted in the end.
And she deserved it. From an early age, she'd learned that working harder than the person next to her generally meant she'd get ahead of them. This was true in all areas of her life, work, hobbies, but especially in love.
She lived firmly by the motto that "nothing is constant. If someone doesn't want you today, they could want you tomorrow."
Rejection simply wasn't a thing in her world. It was but a momentary setback. That was her view of things when she first walked into that lonely McDonald's a few weeks back.
In her black dress and pantyhosed legs, her heels clicked along the road as she walked inside. Usually, she wouldn't be caught dead in a place this lowly, but her usual coffee spot had been closed that day, for some reason. So, deciding that she needed the black drink urgently, she graced the chain restaurant with her appearance.
And that's when she first saw her.
"May I take your order?" A bored beauty asked. Blonde, blue eyes, she couldn't be older than eighteen.
"Hm... Yes, a coffee, please."
"Very well. That'll be 75 cents."
"Here."
Any other time, that would have been the end of it. But, Beata was enthralled. She couldn't look away from the girl's listless expression, how her firm shoulders sagged and her tired eyes glanced over the screen in front of her.
"What's a beautiful girl like you working here for?" Beata asked.
"Huh? What's that supposed to mean?"
"Exactly what it sounds like." Beata smirked. "With a face that pretty, I'd expect you to be a model."
The girl blushed cutely.
"Well, no, lady, I'm not."
"Beata." She introduced herself. "Say, how about I show you around? Bound to be more fun than this place."
"What? Woman, I'm working."
"Ah, well. At least do me the honor of knowing your name." The other girl sized her up, like she had a bad feeling about this.
"Magda."
"Wonderful. See you around, Magda."
And that was the beginning.
Beata visited the restaurant every day from that point on, usually at around the same time. In the early morning, there were no other customers to bicker with. So, she was allowed to pester Magda as much as she wanted to.
Two weeks later, she made her first blatant move.
"Here you go." Magda handed her her drink.
"Thank you, dear." Beata's green eyes drifted downwards for a moment at Magda's chest. She allowed herself to get caught staring. She wanted that to happen. "Do I have something on my shirt?"
"No." Beata shook her head. "It's just that I couldn't help but think that a woman as beautiful as you would look even better waking up next to me."
There was a silence as Magda internalized Beata's words.
"Uh, well, sadly right, I'm not gay. I have a boyfriend, if that wasn't not-gay enough. So, no."
Beata may have let things end there. Let this girl be a wasted beauty and let that be that. But, something told her not to. The way Magda blushed, the way she couldn't meet Beata's green eyes.
Something about it told her what Beata understood to usually be the truth. That in this case, persistence was the key.
So she came back the next day and said similar things. Then the day after, and the day after that. Every time, Magda would reply curtly, but look away with bashful eyes.
It didn't take long for Beata to become addicted. As she sat in company meetings, listening to useless old men prattle on about stuff they didn't understand, she would think about the girl. There had to be a way. She just needed to find it.
One of the wonders about being a rich woman was that she had connections. And she had no problem using those connections to research Magda's life. It didn't take long before things lined up in front of her.
Young girl, only child, senior in high school, applied to a nearby university for their education program. Boring stuff, but then, she finally saw something she could pounce on.
Her boyfriend.
Just as young, but unlike Magda, the boy had been busy. Caught stealing once, he was thought to be connected to some of the local gangs. It was exactly what she needed.
From that point on, it was a waiting game. A few days, weeks. It passed by inconsequential until finally, the boy messed up. He managed to steal from a store Beata knew the managers of.
The final key she needed was acquired then. Video evidence of the boy stealing. She paid off what the boy stole and told the shop's owners to give her the tape.
With that, her plan was clear.
----
"Ugh, this sucks so much." Magda sighed, her eyes scanning over the empty morning restaurant. She was many things, but a morning person was not one of them.
Then, the front door opened. She walked in. The woman that had been the source of every eye-roll she had done recently. If there was one thing Magda respected about her, besides her absolutely stunning figure, it was her tenacity. She definitely was the type to not give up.
"Greetings." The woman smirked.
"Hi, may I..."
"No, actually, I would like to speak with you. Alone."
Magda's brows furrowed.
"Yeah, that's not happening." She replied.
"Really?" Beata tilted her head and looked for the managers. "Excuse me, could I have a word?"