Chapter 29 - The Tax Office
After struggling to try to sleep and forget about her father's shadow and the troubles that had been going through her mind last night, Lisa left with a sluggish body to the tax office the next day.
Today, Lisa asked permission to be a little late to the office to solve one of her many problems in life. She didn't have time to shower this morning. She only wore as much perfume as she could to cover up the unpleasant smell that stuck to her body. Her hair was simply tied back in an improper manner, leaving a few strands of hair hanging unkempt at her shoulders. She looked like a tramp at least by Lisa's standards of tidiness.
Before she ordered an online motorcycle taxi, her mother advised her to immediately find information about new housing. Her mother's plan to sell the cursed house was no joke. It was a harsh reality that they could not survive just by depending on Lisa's salary. The house was one of the luxuries that they must be sacrificed.
About an hour's drive from her house, Lisa arrived at the tax office. Like any tax office, the building looked very outdated. Many of the furniture was not maintained. Although part of the building's exterior had been restored, there were still remains of a less modern design style.
The queue at the counter that morning was quite busy. Lisa took the queue number at the automatic machine near the entrance. After that, she looked for an empty seat near the payment counter.
While waiting for her turn to be summoned, Lisa looked straight at the clock in the middle of the room from time to time. The clock was ticking constantly. It felt like waiting in line at the tax office was very boring. Lisa could be absent again from her job if the queues hadn't subsided by 12 at noon!
Sitting on the very uncomfortable waiting chair for a long time, suddenly the figure of a middle-aged man with thin cheeks and an unkempt appearance appeared in Lisa's mind. That figure had been raging since yesterday. The figure of the father who has the heart to leave Lisa and her family alone. Lisa still couldn't forgive her father who often abused her mother. Even though the man was now married to a wealthy woman, for some reason the bastard still visited her house just to hurt her mother when Lisa was not home.
Lisa gripped the queue ticket tightly, she vented her anger at the piece of paper. She closed her eyes, trying to calm herself. She did not want the whole office to see her furious for no reason. Lisa wished she could help her mother get out of the torture of that irresponsible jerk. Maybe her mother would be calmer and her illness would not get worse.
After almost two hours of sitting in that very uncomfortable metal chair, Lisa was finally called to the payment counter. Lisa got up from the damn iron chair and walked towards the checkout counter. The sound of her high heels echoed throughout the room. Visitors to the tax office occasionally gave her an unpleasant look. Still, the figure of a beautiful woman clad in a white blazer looked luxurious in a group of commoners who looked unusual. Some looked at her with the corner of the eye. There were also those who didn't care about her existence.
Lisa handed over the envelope along with the tax fine to the counter clerk. The clerk did not look at her face or say hello. He reached for the brown envelope nonchalantly.
The counter clerk took the money out of the brown envelope and counted it. Files submitted were also read quickly. "Oh miss, how come rich people are late in paying taxes, right?" Said the counter clerk in a condescending tone.
Lisa tried not to reprimand the unprofessional attitude of the middle-aged woman in front of her. She just replied with a grunt. It was useless arguing with people like that, she thought. She took a deep breath to calm herself. What an unpleasant morning!
The counter clerk gave the full receipt to Lisa, again without a thank you. Lisa then took it nonchalantly and put it in her tote bag. The woman then immediately rushed out of the ancient building.
While waiting in front of the tax office, Lisa ordered an online motorcycle taxi from her cellphone. She was too tired to sit down so she preferred to stand alone. Occasionally, she turned her head, looking around while waiting for her vehicle to arrive.
Lisa unexpectedly saw the figure of her father walking towards the entrance of the tax office. The man looked very disheveled. She thought that even though her father was remarried to a wealthy woman and lived in real estate, he still looked like crap. Maybe if the man was walking with his wife, people would think that the man was the driver.
Lisa's heart was beating faster and faster. The anger that she had been suppressing was raging again. She didn't want to make a fuss at the tax office with her father. Lisa then ran from where she was standing. Avoiding the man from running into her.
"Why do I have to meet that guy again!? What is he doing at the tax office!?" She muttered to herself.
Lisa looked for shelter in the tax office parking area from the scorching sun. While she was waiting for the online motorcycle taxi she ordered to arrive, she returned to thinking about the house her mother was going to sell.
Today, she must immediately seek information about cheap housing to move. Lisa had run out of options for whom to ask about property. Andien might be able to help her find a new house but that was not Andien's forte.
Dimas was actually the most reliable when it came to moving house. This man had many acquaintances, but with his increasingly busy work schedule and pregnancy, Lisa was a little difficult to meet Dimas. There was no way she came to visit the Sky Lounge just to meet Dimas. Not to mention that she was pregnant right now, she was afraid that the bottles of alcohol on the bar would tempt her and drove her to a hangover just like two months ago.
"Excuse me, Sis Lisa?" Asked the motorcyclist who happened to stop in front of Lisa. The man's voice broke the silence that enveloped Lisa.
The woman nodded while matching the name and number plate of the motorcyclist who was talking to her. Her booked online motorcycle taxi had arrived.
"According to the application, Sis?" The driver asked politely and smiled pleasantly.
Lisa nodded in agreement. The motorcycle taxi driver handed Lisa a helmet and she immediately put it on.. They sped toward the Petersson Communications office.