The ghost-quiet ward had an exception. The clock tickings and Maya's heartbeat.

Her sweat dripped from her face down to the region between her breasts. She mopped her face with her white arm-length face towel.

Her mind dwelled on her sick mother who laid dormant in bed like a saint's corpse. Her stretched arms were glued on both sides of her lap. Her legs clipped in the same manner.

Maya gazed at the one who overprotected her for more than two decades. Her closed eyes were dormant but a brief smile emerged on her face. She watched the wrinkles that accompanied her mother's faded smiles through the transparent ventilator that covered her nose and mouth and she sobbed quietly.

Things would never be the same again for Maya. The best memories she had with her overprotective mother ended. She would miss the deep conversations about life's ethics, handling finances and most importantly dealing with men! She wished life never happened to the strong bond they shared.

She held her mother's soft palm and laid her head on her bosom. Jane's heartbeats were the equivalent of the clock tickings in the grave-silent room. Would her mother regain consciousness? Do her weak smile and normal heartbeat proves that her mother could be alive again?

The 24-year-old billionaire's daughter knew that living differs from being alive. Maya's senses awakened to this reality when Jane's unconscious state freed her daughter to text a man.

As she pulled her head from her mother's bosom, her phone seemed heavier on her hand. Her gripping joints trembled. Her eyes dropped their tears on her phone screen. She swiped them with her right thumb but they landed again.

She eased her feeble clutch on her phone and slid her hand away from the phone's rear side. She shut her eyes and reflected on her present condition.

Although Maya's mother overprotected her, the world wondered how the duo cooperated to form the strong bond they shared. Jane schooled her daughter with the life's ethics that emerged her a billionaire before forty.

Amidst the wealth-building knowledge, Maya questioned her mother's secret misandry. However, she publicly expressed her admiration for men's works in society but she openly embraced women too!

Confused about her mother's stand, Maya's curiosity helped her realize the truth about her vanished father. She learned the secrets behind her mother's secret hatred for men and her open admiration for the same gender.

Maya widened her tearful eyes. She ran her thumbs beneath her stressed sight organs. Her mind was relieved when she remembered the life-saving part of her mother's over-protection.

There were different occasions when Jane exposed the secret intents of men who sought Maya's hand in marriage. She researched and someway her luck discovered the selfish interests these men aimed to protect.

Maya spent over two decades with her mother before Jane fell into a coma. She knew Jane's strengths. Her knowledge of her mother's weaknesses was superb! She knew where to strike if loyalty was non-existent between them. However, Maya only acted on Jane's imperfection for one purpose.

Why did her mother assume every man had equal character? Why did she believe Maya would fall into the same trap as her? Truthfully, Jane's encounters shaped her beliefs. From her experiences with men to what she witnessed with those who proposed love to her daughter, a soothsayer was the last thing she needed to convince her that they battled the same thing.

If the curse existed for years, would preventing affairs with men break it? Would the pattern break if they dated women in place of men?

Maya was never attracted to women. Her excess curiosity

to witness a firsthand experience with men

made her date her Tinder lover

for months

right under her mother's nose before her health deteriorated.

Throughout her text dates with Tim, she never deviated from her mother's doctrines about men and their deceptions. She knew how her mother dug into the lives of men who pretended to love Maya. Jane was versatile and composed in her investigations about men who dropped at her daughter's heart's door.

Maya followed her mother's deep research footsteps. She scanned everyone who texted via her secret Tinder profile she kept from her mother for years! Dishonesty was common among the men who approached her. She discovered their lies at most five months after they texted.

However, Tim was an exception. They texted for over seven months and Tim's fidelity grew stronger. He told her everything she inquired including the ones she should know too! What about his intentions? Did Tim possess his self-claimed pure love for her?

This puzzle remained unsolved until their frequent face-to-face meetings became real.

Sad about her mother's condition but zealous about seeing the one who never lied to her for seven months and still counting! - This was Maya's twisted fate that danced on life’s smooth edge. What would she do if it falls on the other side? Would she pick up the broken pieces and fix them?

As the new dawn lights illuminated the room, she found the strength to grab her phone after mourning her mother's deteriorated health. She decided to walk on the thorny platter of gold.

She wiped her sweaty-tearful face and recomposed herself. She looked at her face in the mirror. It was swollen despite her adjustments.

"It's Facetime!" she screamed softly.

"Yeah," Tim shook his head in grievance, "I feel for her."

Maya glanced at her dormant mother. She felt her cold forehead with her palm

"I wished she'd talk." He said.

She switched her video call camera from front to back. She captured the entire ward. "Look where I been, past few days." She switched the call camera back on her face. "It's two-edged."

"One side pierces ..."

"You the other side," she sighed, "the healing part."

"Look!" he grinned. "I think she's smiling!"

"I got eyes at behind." Maya snubbed him. "Nothing new."

Tim exhaled and slapped his forehead. "Maybe she's pleased with me," he yawned, "with us."

Maya hissed. "She smiled before now."

"Her closed eyes don't mean she's unconscious!" he shook his head. "Her senses could be awake!"

She expanded the window curtain and muttered his words in her accent. "Her senses'd be 'wake."