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Lisa just gulped down the remaining coffee in her cup. She had been up all night at the office sorting all the files she was meant to sort the next day.
The work was so much because she took all the files that needed sorting, both the urgent ones, the ones she was asked to work on, and the ones that were kept aside as not urgent or needed yet. She didn't want anything that would make her stay in the office past noon, and she feared last-minute surprises.
She had something very important to do, so she wanted to make sure she was free, and with her job, she was seldom free.
‘sigh,’ Lisa typed in the last document from the fourth pile she just finished sorting.
Kate, her closest friend in her workplace, peeked into the office from the door.
“Hey, I heard Mama V got your favorite today. Chocolate croissant,"
Lisa was lost, she looked at her wristwatch—it was only 10:36am. ‘phew, I thought I was in trouble there,’
Kate waited for a response with a warm inviting smile.
“But it's not yet break time," Lisa said as she moved on to sorting the next stack of files.
Kate made a cute pout, “You know Mama V has the best pastries, and the best ones never last till break time,"
“Yh…" Lisa wanted that croissant, but she had something much more important going on, and she needed to make sure she made it on time, “you can go along, I might catch up with you later," she said.
But she knew she wasn't going to stand up from that spot until she was done.
And Kate knew that too, “okay," she said then left.
Lisa went back to work.
After much concentration and speed, Lisa was finally done, she let out a sigh of relief as she dropped the last file, “finally."
Just then her nemesis from day one in the firm walked into the office with another stack of files—Joan always made Lisa wonder what she was doing wrong that made her always hard on her, her colleagues claimed it was because joans superiors were hard on her so she did the same thing when she became a superior.
“I need this sorted out urgently," Joan dropped the pile of files on Lisa's desk.
Lisa took a look at the files.
“But these are the files I asked for yesterday, and you told me they didn't need work," Lisa remembered well telling everyone about work that needed to be done because she planned on leaving early the next day.
“Well they need work now, or do you feel like you won't be sufficient enough to do it?" Joan said with a straight expression.
“No it's alright," Lisa gritted her teeth. She was infuriated at that moment but couldn't refuse because she didn't want anything affecting her job.
“Good,” Joan gave a smile that always made Lisa's blood boil, then left.
Lisa started her breathing exercise she used to keep her emotions in check.
Just then Kate walked in.
“What's up?" Kate sat on the desk, "whew that's a lot of work," she said as she dusted the new stack of files.
“I was hoping I would get to leave before noon,” Lisa said as she sighed of stress.
“What time is it, if it's really—"
“No need to check the time, there is no way I can make it," Lisa cut her short.
Kate smiled and then brought out her phone to check what time it was “It's just 11:43 am,"
“Great, thanks for letting me know. That just made everything better,” Lisa said sarcastically.
Kate sat down and started going through the files "Go. You now owe me a croissant tomorrow,”
"Oh my God, thank you so much. That's why I love you,” muah muah muah, Lisa kissed Kate on the cheeks before rushing out.
Lisa drove home very fast, and thankfully, there was no traffic, so by the time she got home, it was only 12:01 pm.
She rushed into the house and didn't even change her clothes but went straight to setting up the telescope with the solar filters on the balcony.
When she was done setting it up, she traced the stickers on the telescope with trembling hands, "Dad, I kept my promise."
It was her father's telescope, and it gave her flashbacks. She remembered how she was a little girl, and she and her dad never missed out on an eclipse.
Just then Percy came in and snapped her out of the flashbacks.
“Mummy!" 5 years old Percy, her son, jumped and hugged Lisa.
“My little pumpkin," Lisa embraced him back.
Behind Percy was Percy's dad.
“Thank you," Lisa inaudibly thanked Percy’s dad before he left.
Lisa and her husband separated a year after having Percy because of some misunderstandings and incompatibility, but they didn't stop being friends and good parents.
Percy's dad promised Lisa he would bring Percy so they could witness the eclipse the way she and her dad did.
Gradually, the air cooled, and the sunlight dimmed; the eclipse started.
Lisa and Percy watched as the sun blacked out with a ring of light surrounding it.
And the stars appeared in the darkened sky. And for a moment day and night coexisted.
“Wow, look mum. The stars came out," Percy pointed in awe.
“They are our ancestors. It might seem like they go away during the day, but they are always there watching over us; we just can't see them," Lisa said as she slowly ran her fingers through Percy's hair.
“Can I become a star too?" Percy asked as he admired the scene in the sky.
“Yes, we will all join them one day at the right time," Lisa said as a drop of tears rolled down her eyes. It was the same thing her dad told her before he got taken away by cancer.
