The irony of life

Celine was a single parent. She had a 3-year-old son. Celine's friend, Audrey, lived with them for the time being. Audrey had no other place to stay, she had no family around, so Celine took her in.

Audrey mostly did the job of taking care of Celine's son, Mark, due to the fact that Celine was mostly at work. Audrey and Mark got really close. Since they were always together at home, Mark was really fond of Audrey. Their bond was very strong.

Celine usually left for work very early in the mornings before her son woke up, and returned home late at night when he must have gone to bed. It was only during the weekends she had time to spend with her son. Audrey was the one who carried out the task of preparing Mark for school as well as the other task that was supposed to be done by Celine.

Somehow, Mark saw Audrey more as his mother than Celine. Celine saw how close her son and Audrey were, and she didn't like it. She felt she was fast losing her status as a mother in her son's life. As a result of this, Celine started putting up a rude behavior towards Audrey. Celine got overwhelmed with jealousy that she always antagonized Audrey at every slight opportunity she got. Audrey didn't understand where that behavior was coming from. She always wondered if she had done something wrong, but Audrey couldn't think of anything bad she did to offend Celine.

One night, something happened that broke the camel's back. Celine came back home really late to see her son awake, eating some ice cream.

"Mark, who gave you this ice cream?" Celine asked with a stern voice

"Audrey let me have it Mum" Mark replied.

"Audrey! Come here!" Celine called out

"Yes, I'm here Celine. What's the matter?" Audrey said

"How could you let Mark have this Ice cream? What if he catches a cold? And why on earth is he awake by this time?

"Mark was feeling sad and down about his poor test score in school today, so I decided to let him have some ice cream and stay up a bit late just so he can cheer up"

"You have no right to do that Audrey. He could get sick. Is this how you take care of my son"

"Sorry if it offends you Celine"

"Save your sorry. I want you to leave my house right now"

"Are you being serious right now?"

"I am dead serious"

"I'm so sorry Celine. Please forgive me for what I might have done to offend you. I have no one else to go to"

"Audrey I said leave my house"

Audrey cried as she packed her belongings and left the house. It was really late at night. She was scared and confused.

"Where do I go now?" she asked herself

At that moment, she remembered a friend she had made recently who lived on the next street. Audrey remembered when Stella told her that if she needed any help, she should come to her. Audrey went to Stella's place and explained everything to her. Stella took her in and Audrey began living with her.

Two months later

One Saturday afternoon, while Mark tried to cross the road, he was hit by a speeding car. Celine, who was inside the house, immediately rushed to the scene on being informed of the unfortunate incident. Mark was rushed to the hospital. He was in a critical state. Celine had cried her eyes out at this point. She was so worried. Mark was her world. She couldn't afford to lose him.

The doctor approached her and started a conversation with her

"Ma'am, your son lost a lot of blood. He needs urgent blood transfusion. The problem is that his blood type is rare. He is AB negative. We need to find someone with that blood type as soon as possible " the doctor said.

Celine's heart sank on hearing that. She was so confused. What was she going to do? She was in a race against time. Then she remembered that Audrey had that exact same blood type. But she didn't know how she would approach Audrey after what she did to her. Celine was in a pickle.

Celine gathered some courage and went to meet Audrey. By chance, she knew where Audrey lived. On hearing what happened, Audrey agreed to donate her blood to Mark. She loved the boy very much. She agreed to do it not because Celine pleaded, but because it would save the boy's life.

Audrey donated her blood and Mark was stabilized. Celine sincerely apologized to Audrey for what she did to her and Audrey accepted. Mark got better months later and got discharged, to the delight of his mum and Audrey.