Every choice came with a cost.
Akutu had made her decisions, but now she had to live with them.
She had taken on a part-time tutoring job to ease the financial burden. It wasn't much, but it helped cover her basic needs.
She had also confronted Daniel in their group project. When he refused to change, she had no choice but to report him to the professor. It wasn't easy, but she knew she couldn't allow his negligence to affect the entire team.
And lastly, she had made the hardest decision of all—she stayed at school instead of going home.
The weight of that last choice followed her everywhere.
When she spoke to her mother on the phone, she could hear the exhaustion in her voice.
"How is Dad?" she asked one evening.
"He's stable," her mother said, but the hesitation was there.
Akutu closed her eyes. She wanted to be there, to hold his hand, to tell him everything would be okay.
But instead, she was miles away, trying to hold her own life together.
The sacrifices didn't end there.
Balancing school and work was harder than she expected.
She used to spend her evenings in the library, but now those hours were dedicated to tutoring sessions.
She had to wake up earlier to finish assignments and skip social events just to keep up.
There were nights she barely got three hours of sleep.
There were days when she wanted to quit.
But she kept going.
Because that's what sacrifice was—giving up something now for something greater later.
One evening, as she sat in her dorm room, exhausted, Olivia walked in and placed a cup of tea in front of her.
"You look like you're about to collapse," Olivia said.
Akutu managed a small smile. "I feel like it."
Olivia sat beside her. "It's okay to struggle, Akutu. But don't lose yourself in the process."
Akutu sighed. "I just… I don't know if I'm doing the right thing."
Olivia squeezed her hand. "You're making hard choices. That's what matters."
As Akutu sipped the tea, she let herself breathe for the first time in days.
She had sacrificed a lot.
But maybe—just maybe—she was building something greater.
The pulleys of life had shifted once again.