Chapter 2

Six years ticked away.

It was hot and dry in the height of summer. The metropolis was like a huge furnace.

"Corner" was the most famous coffee shop in the business district of J City. The exquisitely decorated shop was famous for its assiduous service. Of course, the main reason was that many rich customers chose to come here.

After serving a couple by the window, Chelsea got a big tip.

At the sight of this, Polly Quidley, her colleague, became jealous. While Chelsea was busy cleaning the table, Polly put her chin on her hands and complained, "Why can you get a big tip every time? Do customers always offer more tips to beautiful girls? Plain people like me can only get 5 dollars today. What a sad story."

Chelsea chuckled. She carefully put away the coffee cup and said, "Don't be upset. I'll treat you to KFC after work."

Hearing the word “KFC”, Polly gave her a sweet smile. She leaned over and said, "Thank you, Chelsea. You're the most generous one."

"All right, go to work. The manager will scold us if he sees it."

"Got it."

Seeing that Polly walked away with a satisfied look, Chelsea envied her.

(She lives a carefree life at such a sweet age, easily satisfied, unlike me...)

Chelsea looked down at the coffee cup in her hand and took a deep breath. After hiding the sad feelings, she got busy again.

After teatime in the afternoon, there were fewer guests. After tidying up the bar, Chelsea took out a notebook from her bag and put down the tips she got today on her account.

Looking at the series of numbers, she was lost in thought. (I should use this week's tips to buy some new clothes for Ian. He has outgrown his clothes bought last year so rapidly.)

Fortunately, Ian was not a spoiled child. He didn't mind wearing cheap clothes.

Polly knew that Chelsea budgeted carefully to take good care of her child. Polly sighed and said, "Different people have different lives. People like us have to be careful with every penny. But some people spend money like water."

After finishing the account, Chelsea smiled. She looked up and asked, "What's wrong with you? You sighed with deep feelings today."

Polly pouted and put on a gloomy face, handing over the magazine. "The prince in my dreams is getting engaged. He gives his fiancee a diamond ring worth tens of millions. Unfortunately, I'm not the girl."

"What are you talking about?" Chelsea looked down curiously at the magazine, only to see a familiar face. She also saw the bold headline in black, "Business tycoon James Zerger and Silvia Zody are getting engaged. The fairy tale comes true."

Chelsea was shocked. After suppressing her feelings, she murmured, "It's him..."

"That's right..." Polly picked up the magazine and sighed sadly, "My dream of marrying into a rich family is broken. Well, it turns out that rich and handsome princes always belong to princesses. We Cinderellas are only destined to enjoy the magazine..."

The word "Cinderella" made Chelsea feel heavy at heart. She remembered that many magazines had also described her like this after her break-up with James.

"Cinderella's dream of marrying into a wealthy family is broken."

Fortunately, she had given birth to Ian. The child was the only good memories of that dream.

Despite the harshness of life in the past six years, Ian was her emotional support.

Taking a deep breath, she shook her head to sober herself up. After taking the magazine out of Polly's hand, she frowned and said, "Since it's not your prince anymore, forget him. The most important thing now is to make money."

Polly said reluctantly, "But where is our guest?"

Chelsea raised her eyebrows. Just as she was about to speak, the phone in her pocket rang, which shocked her. She took it out and found that it was Ian's piano teacher.

She froze for a second, then handed the menu to Polly, and said, "My son's piano teacher. I have to answer the phone."

It was not a secret that Chelsea had a child. Polly nodded knowingly and walked away with the menu.

There was no one around. Chelsea walked to the corner and answered the phone, "Hello, Ms. Lannan."

"Ms. Jeffrey..." Ms. Lannan stammered, "Something happened to Ian at our piano studio. Can you take some time to come over?"

Hearing that something had happened to Ian, Chelsea became nervous and asked anxiously, "What's wrong with Ian? Ms. Lannan, don't scare me."

"Don't worry, Ms. Jeffrey. Ian is fine, but he caused some trouble. I can't explain it clearly on the phone. You'd better come over."

Hearing that Ian was fine, Chelsea breathed a sigh of relief. She bit her lip and said, "Okay, I'll be right there."

"Okay."

After hanging up the phone, Chelsea took her bag. She asked for a leave and went to the piano studio without changing her clothes.

The piano studio was not far from the coffee shop.

Since the Jeffrey family became rich overnight, very few of them were good at music. And Chelsea had no musical talent at all.

But Ian had the style of the Zerger family. James' mother had been a top pianist at home back then. Perhaps Ian had inherited the talent from his grandmother. He had shown aptitude in music at three and a half.

After settling down in J City, Chelsea had sent Ian to a piano studio near the coffee shop to take piano lessons.

Ian was a good boy, so she had never worried that he would cause trouble.

It was the first time today.

When she arrived at the piano studio with a worried look, Ms. Lannan was talking to the manager of the piano studio in the hall. Ian was sitting in a chair and wring your hands with his head down.

Seeing that Ian huddled there, Chelsea felt a sharp pain in his heart. She quickly walked over and said, "Ian, Mommy is here."

As Ian looked up and saw Chelsea's anxious face, he frowned and asked in a childish voice, "Mom, why are you sweating?"

Chelsea knew that he felt sorry for her. She opened her mouth. But before she could say anything, Ms. Lannan and the manager of the piano studio had come over.

She licked her lips and pulled Ian behind her. She asked softly, "Ms. Lannan, Mr. Sandgren, what happened to Ian?"

Ms. Lannan was in a dilemma as she knew Chelsea's circumstances. At the sight of Mr. Sandgren's gloomy face, she said, "Don't worry. Well, during the break, Ian came downstairs to play. Unfortunately, he knocked off a part of the custom-made piano. If it were a common one, we can fix it ourselves. But it's not. The guest will come to see it tomorrow. So I have to call you to come over."

Chelsea then understood the whole story. After thinking for a while, she said, "I see. It's our fault. Well, we'll pay for the repair fee. And I can apologize to the guest who has ordered the piano..."

"Pay for it?" The manager, who had remained silent for a long time, began to speak. After sizing Chelsea up, he snorted and said, "It's a Steinway piano. It takes three years to make it. You're just a waiter in a coffee shop. Can you afford it?"

Hearing that, Chelsea was shocked. She had given herself a crash course in piano to please James' mother back then. And after Ian began to take piano lessons, she knew more about it.

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