1 A visit.

"I'm sorry sir, we don't need your service here."

Joshua heard these words again, and he had to man up to stop the tears from rolling down his eyes. It wouldn't be the first time he was hearing such sad news, but it still hurt every time. He was so competent and was the best in his college, and yet he couldn't seem to secure a job!

"O-okay. Please do call me if you ever change your mind." He said to the man seated before him, but the man said nothing.

Joshua managed to stand up and walk out the office. On his way home, he couldn't help himself from thinking of his pathetic life.

Joshua was married to a beautiful wife, Selena, who came from a very wealthy family. They were deeply in love, but Joshua was very poor and had no job at all. He was a hardworking man, but despite everything, he just couldn't find a job! No company was willing to employ him for some weird reason.

He made it home in one piece. His wife hurried to meet him. "Any luck?" She asked, big brown eyes staring at him. Selena was pretty with long black hair like her mother's, and slender body like her mother and brother, whereas her father was quite chubby.

Joshua tried to stop the tears from streaming down his eyes. He was a man. "No. They didn't accept me again." He said, clearing his throat to sound manly.

Selena squeezed him in a tight hug. "I'm sorry, honey." She said, then the thought hit her. "How about you meet my mother for a job? She might be able to help!" She was afraid if her husband doesn't find a job soon, her mother would force her to divorce him and marry her to a dreadful but rich old man.

Joshua said nothing but smiled.

Selena had something to say, and had been waiting all day to tell her husband. She went inside to get the surprise package, but as she got back to the living room, her husband was nowhere to be found.

"Where did he go to now?" Her palm met her forehead. She was disappointed. Selena had just found out that morning she was pregnant. She couldn't wait to share the news with her husband.

***

Joshua was feeling down and couldn't bear to reveal his weak side to his wife. He trusted her, he just didn't want to worry her.

His mother-in-law and father-in-law despised him a lot. He was adopted by them when he was young, but they treated him poorly. Especially when their daughter fell in love with him and married him against their wills.

Still, Joshua couldn't help himself. He decided to listen to his wife and headed to the house of his mother-in-law.

They had already seen him from their security camera.

"What is this wretched boy doing here?" Mary scoffed. She signaled to her son, Mike, to open up.

"Can't the maid do it! Huh!" He could whine all he wanted, but he couldn't dare ignore his mother. On getting to the door, Joshua greeted him.

"Hello brother-in-law," he said but got no reply. Joshua was used to their insults anyway. "Is mother home?"

Mike grunted. "Come in,"

Joshua stepped in and saw his mother-in-law seated on the sofa in the living room. "Hello mother,"

"Get on with it, please. Do not stain my atmosphere with poverty." She frowned. Mary hated him to the core. How dare a low man like Joshua get married to her precious daughter!

Joshua sighed. "I don't mean to waste your time, mother--"

"Oh please, stop calling me that. It's disgusting!" Mary's face contorted into a frown.

"I'm sorry. Well, the reason I have come here is to seek your help. Please moth-I mean, ma'am," fine lines delineated his forehead as he thought hard on what to address her as.

"Ma'am would be just fine." Mike yelled out, and Joshua had almost forgotten he was still with them.

He bowed a 'thank you' and went on, "I am competent, ma'am. Please give me a job, and I promise to take care of your daughter. I am really ready to help, but sadly for some reason, I just can't seem to get a job."

"So what? Are you trying to say I am the one who is stopping you from getting a job! How dare you!" Mary roared out.

"No no, please forgive me." Joshua didn't understand why they would hate him that much. He knew his mother-in-law was only faking it. He hadn't meant any insult, and she knew that much. She just wanted to embarrass him. He sighed. "It has been really hard for me to get a job, and I know you have lots of connections. Please help me, ma'am. Selena thinks you can help too."

Mary calmed down at the mention of her daughter's name.

"Do not lie on my sister's name!" Mike yelled.

"Shut up, Mike!" Mary ordered. Then her attention was brought back to Joshua. "Now, dear. Do you think I can help you? And why would I do that?"

Joshua was about to speak when he was quickly stopped.

"If I help you, then you would become successful, wouldn't you? And then, how will I be able to get rid of your poor ass? Huh! How will I get my daughter to marry someone who's richer and more powerful?" She said with dark cold eyes, then bursted out in a menacing laughter that shook the air.

Joshua could have sworn she sounded like an evil queen. "But m--mother..."

"My dear son?" Mary called out, and Mike stood up.

"Yes, mother?" A sinister smile was already plastered on his face.

"Throw this filthy rag out of my house!" Mary ordered.

"Gladly!"

The moment Joshua was out of her house, his eyes were brimming with heavy tears. He re-lived his pain all over again. How could someone hate him that much? What was worse was that he wouldn't be able to tell his wife. He wouldn't want to hurt her.

He was strolling back home when he received a stranger's phone call. He didn't recognize the number, so he declined it.