The Billionaire Prize

New York City

Downtown Brooklyn

“Tell me why you don’t want to go for the auction in Sandy Falls, Trinity,” Raina said, following her into the café and joining the queue.

It was a cold morning, and all Trinity could think about was getting a hot cup of coffee into her system, not talking about some random thing her old high school was putting together to make money. Don’t get her wrong; it was for a good cause, but it was also for trying to reach into the pockets of whatever rich guests they had invited for the bid or auction or whatever it was called.

She didn’t even understand why they had emailed her when she was not even part of the elite of the school back then. She had been in the back line, and no one had noticed her, not even when she started to gain weight from being pregnant during their last exam, or when her grandma sent her over to her father’s cousin’s place when she began to show.

Well, she didn’t want to think about all of that. What she wanted to talk about was why they had invited her. The last time she went to Sandy Falls was when her grandmother died, and she went to have her buried, and that was five years ago.

She had escaped that town; she didn’t think going back there was a good idea.

“I’m not going; it’s simple,” she told Raina, her best friend.

Raina had also once lived in Sandy Falls, and she had basically followed Trinity here a couple of years after she left the place. Trinity had stayed with her father’s cousin and his family until she was twenty, and she had to go to college, and damn it hadn’t been easy, but they had been there, Abel and his wife; Sarah! They had helped her through tough times, thick and thin, as people described it.

Sandy Falls wasn’t a place she would like to go back to, not for anything because she had a lot of bad memories of that place. It was where her parents and sister had died in a car accident years ago; it was where her grandmother had died; it was where she had gotten pregnant by a boy who had skipped town the next morning.

“Trinity,” Raina hissed, grabbing Trinity’s arm to pull her out of her thoughts. “Stop saying things in your head when you can say them out loud. I’m talking to you here,” she said.

“I’m not doing that,” Trinity denied, rolling her eyes at her best friend.

Raina grunted and then she hit her arm playfully. “And stop rolling your eyes at me,” she said, even though her back was turned to her.

Trinity scoffed, turning to face her. “I wasn’t rolling my eyes at you; you bully,” she smiled, even though she wanted to pretend she was offended.

Raina’s eyes narrowed at that, and she shook her head at the obvious lie. “I hear you. So why don’t you want to go to the auction? They must have wanted you really badly to email you,” she said.

The line seemed not to be moving, and Trinity squinted her eyes to the front of the line to see the barrister flirting with the woman in front of him. Of course, do that and have a one-night stand, and then everything is ruined, she thought. But, if she was being real, then she would be able to admit that her life was only ruined in the best way possible.

“I asked you a question, Trinny!” Raina hit her arm again, and Trinity turned to her with a scowl on her face.

“Don’t call me that, Rain! You know I hate that nickname,” she said, shaking her head at her. She knew she had called her that on purpose to get her attention.

“Your name doesn’t give much of a nickname, does it?” Raina asked. Then she said, “And stop evading my question. Why don’t you want to go to the auction? It’s for a good cause!” she asked.

Trinity knew Raina won’t stop asking her these questions unless she answered her. Why won’t she just leave her alone for once anyway? “I just don’t want to. That town just gives me the bad vibe chills,” she said.

“But you know this is for a good cause. Those kids in Africa or wherever could really use the money,” Raina said.

“It’s actually a medical center for kids in Cambodia,” she said. “And I just don’t think I want to go. Trust me, going back to Sandy Falls is not a good idea. Not with the way I left,” she said, remembering the event that happened right after her grandmother’s burial, the way she had told off those gossips that came as guests but only wanted to talk.

“It’s just for the weekend, Trinity. You don’t even have to leave your hotel room until you have to go for the event, and then you can come back home,” Raina wanted her to go, but she was just being stubborn. “You said they were going to pay, didn’t you?” she asked.

Nodding her head, she sighed as the line finally moved, moving even faster now that the barrister had successfully collected the woman’s number, and she had left. “Yes, they did. Eight hundred and fifty dollars,” she said.

“You know that’s going to help a lot, right? It will tide you over until you can get another job,” Raina said.

Why did she have to remind her of her last job anyway? She had been the assistant to an event planner up until a month ago, and she had been looking for another job but no luck so far. “I know, but I really don’t just want to go, that place brings up a lot of bad memories, Rain.”

Raina nodded, sighing, then she said, “But it wasn’t all that bad, you know?” She grinned, pushing her brows up as she looked at her.

“Hmm, wasn’t it?” Trinity thought.