It looked like another day of fewer than six hours of sleep at best was waiting for Amelia Ventica's assistant. This was taking the tally for the week to three, and it was only Wednesday.

But that was the job she had signed up for. This was the price she was prepared to pay so that she could be in the limelight. A steep price it was, but her eighteen-year-old self had no problem going for it four years ago. It seemed like a bad dream. For four years now, the assistant had been at the mercy of one of the most spoiled brats in the world.

But that still wasn't enough to make her quit this job. There would never be anything that would get her to quit being Amelia's personal assistant. The consequences were much higher now than when she was eighteen.

But that was the least of her worries as she was racing the car to Amelia's mansion to get the new bathroom installed. She was going to have to bail early and pray to all the stars in the sky that Lorenzo was dependable in fixing the shower and tiles.

Her next stop would find her in Givani's Store. In true Amelia Ventica fashion, the assistant was sure that her employer would be ticked off about the photoshoot mishap and not want to go to her friend's party. Sometimes it did pay to learn the girl's tendencies.

There was still the matter of the exotic dress needing to be delivered to the jet. Getting Mike down to the airstrip was not such an easy task. He was very opposed to making flights he had not been scheduled to do. A few notes had to exchange hands to make that possible.

That gave her only one hour to get both the dress on Amelia's jet and be able to make it to Jasmine's part all the way across town. Sometimes she wondered why she had never hired another assistant under her so they could share this hell. But she remembered it was a bad idea to introduce foreign objects in front of Amelia Ventica. Her reaction to them was not what one would call ideal.

Jasmine had some unprintable words for her as she came to deliver Amelia's birthday gift ten minutes late and not in the company of who was expected. Her excuse for the rich brat was that she had commitments that had already stalled her in Italy and her plane was indisposed.

The assistant wondered if being rich and young meant you had to possess an IQ low enough to accept any kind of bullshit spewed your way as truth. Her lie was received and accepted wholeheartedly, and the birthday girl spent the rest of her party getting intoxicated and talking bad about pilots and cheap aircrafts in the market.

It was well past 4 am in the morning when the Assistant was finally heading to her house, having had to pass by Amelia's mansion to make sure that everything was in order.

Her studio apartment was a stone throw's distance from Amelia's house because she had come to realize the hard way that living far from the girl equated to a stressful life. This was proven when Amelia and Jasmine had that awful fight about some random model from France. The assistant barely slept all that week.

It was not a domicile you would expect of the reality TV winner to own. Everything from the bland grey paint on the walls, the standard television set in the corner, the coffee table stacked with unpaid bills and the sink almost overflowing with dishes screamed 'normal'.

She knew if her boss every got the chance to see her home, she would be fired right there and then. But that was as unlikely to occur as pigs grasping the concept of flight. She was going to have to tackle the mess in the morning... well, the later morning as she was too tired to stand by the sink.

She lumbered into the bedroom and dropped on the bed fully clothed. It would take her close to no time at all for the dark abyss that is sleep to drag her down into its depths.

The assistant never had time for dreams. She was never patient with them, to begin with. When she was eighteen years of age, her dream was to be in the limelight as fast as possible. Her parents had kicked up a storm about it when they realized that her dream had nothing to do with college.

Sometimes, when Amelia had five seconds free from Amelia's tyranny, she would wonder if she was the cause for her family's devastating state today. Her father was confined to a hospital bed, having had no ability to move on his own accord for three years now. The stroke had followed a week after the assistant had officially left their house.

Her mother, that hateful woman, blamed her for her husband's current circumstance and banished her from their lives. She was so stubborn that she did not accept Amelia's help in paying the medical bills... meaning that the money had to come from Lexi's college fund.

Lexi was perhaps the hardest part of the assistant's life. She had been a young girl when all of this nonsense struck their family. The assistant never meant to put her life in such a twist when she left. She never imagined that her departure would leave her younger sister with no option but to work at just seventeen years old as a waitress just so as to provide food for her parent.

The girl would have been justified if she had nothing but hate for her elder sister. But she always called her to let her know what was happening at home. The assistant would send money through her so that their father's bills would be paid under the pretext that Lexi had found a new job. Their mother praised her younger daughter for the hard effort and thanked the heavens for her child.

It didn't matter much to the assistant. She was willing to let any kind of ridicule come her way from her family and friends, just as long as all this money she was making would be of use to them. Four years of life as Amelia's assistant had taught her a lot that she had never imagined to be true.

The annoying clinking of glasses was what woke the assistant from her slumber. The light flooding the room from the open curtain made her eyes water almost instantly. But a horrible thought struck her as she turned to look at her alarm clock.

9 am.

She was out of the bed and racing to the bathroom, leaving a trail of yesterday's clothes on the floor.

"Where's the fire, Miss?"

She heard the familiar voice ring from the kitchen. That explained what the clinking noise that woke her up. Thank God for that too. If she had not had the woman in her house washing, she would never have been awake to receive Amelia from her 'trip' in Italy on time.

"I'm sorry if I sacred you, Wanda. I'm in a bit of a hurry," she spoke as she ducked into the bathroom to freshen up. She hadn't even brushed her teeth last night.

"When are you never in a hurry, my dear?" the old woman chuckled to herself as she went back to her chores. She had been cleaning the assistant's house for almost two years now and the young girl always seemed surprised to see her there every time they met.

The assistant was done with the shower in a personal best of ten minutes as she pulled out an appropriate outfit for a day with Amelia. It was a tiresome ordeal indeed to dress for her work. Her boss wanted one to be fashionable, but no one was allowed to be flashier than her. There was a grey line somewhere there that was where the assistant was supposed to operate in.

It was a tedious task to maintain this façade she was calling her life. It was slowing milking her willpower to its bare minimum. She had no time for breakfast. But Wanda, that fantastic woman, had already anticipated that and wrapped a sandwich for the road.

She was just out the door, thanking the old woman for the gesture when her phone buzzed and her blood stood still.

"I know I am late ma'am but-"

"But not everyone who calls you is that pompous brat."

That was a good point made by her small sister. But almost always the topic of discussion was about Amelia. There was just no getting around the fact that her life revolved around the rich girl and her privileges.

"I'm a bit busy right now, Lexi. Can we talk later?" She spoke as she opened the door to her car and tossed the sandwich in the passenger seat. It would probably go uneaten until she came back to her home. Until she was finally able to remove the mask she wears all day long, depriving her of all emotion, food and sometimes, air.

"Doubtful, seeing as you are already late on Dad's payments."

That didn't seem to surprise the assistant as much as she would have believed. With all the things she had been juggling in her life, it was no wonder that some things would slip through the cracks.

"Sorry. It's been a crazy week, Lexi. I'll mail you the cheque by tomorrow."

"That's not necessary anymore," Lexi spoke lower this time as if trying not to be overheard.

The assistant was confused. There was no necessity in her paying for the medical bill that her father was accumulating? Had Lexi finally found a good job that could sustain her parents?

Either that had happened or-

"No..." the assistant's hand slipped on the ignition key. Her mind had already latched on to the meaning of her sister's statement long before she had accepted it. She had been lying to everyone with this mask she was wearing on a daily basis that she wasn't sure what was fake or real in her own head anymore.

"Dad's gone, Mitchelle."