Chapter 131. A Lost Dream

Angeline let out a long sigh as the old elevator creaked to take her to the fifth floor of her cheap apartment in Queens, New York. Peeling paint on the walls, a musty smell mixed with the aroma of Indian cooking from the next-door neighbors greeted her—a scene she still found hard to accept as her new ‘home’. It’s a far cry from the Manhattan that used to be her territory. The fluorescent lights of the Chinese restaurant across the street flickered, piercing through the thin curtains of her apartment, creating depressing shadows.

The sound of police car sirens and taxi horns pierced the thin walls of her room as soon as she opened the door. This 270 square feet studio apartment feels suffocating compared to her luxurious penthouse on the Upper East Side. One room is multifunctional; a queen-size bed that takes up almost half the room, a mini kitchen with cabinets whose doors are already loose, and a work area that is just a folding table from a middle-class brand. The small w