The family of 3 went on their separate way the moment I turned down the blind girl's request.
Then I left as soon as they're gone and boarded a bus heading to the south eastern part of the country.
Towards Achilles district, a part of the slum city known as Pompeii.
After an hour of bus travel, I got down and started walking towards the address that Ozzy gave me.
I ultimately found it after asking around the neighborhood.
It was a dilapidated medium sized house that perfectly suits the surrounding sceneries.
I knocked on the door, and the door was opened many minutes later by an old man with a sour expression on his face.
"I told you lot already. I don't want to join your damn church! Get the hell outta here!"
"....uhh. I was told this is the place of Uhmm.... Mr. Jowargen?"
"Oh! Ozzy sent you right?! You must be Amaru! Come on in lad!"
'This guy shouts at every damn thing. I can already see myself choking him to death'
I entered and followed the old man towards the lounging area of the house, and sat on the sofa upon his suggestion.
"This is a shared house, and I am the owner of it. And its not Jowargen! It's J,o,e,r,g,e,n! Pronounced as Yorgen! Is that too hard?! Ya' brat."
"Sorry about that sir Joergen. May I ask how many tenants there are in this house?"
"Aside from your stupid ass, there's me from the room on the first floor, the wimpy office guy beside my room, the whore on the left most part of the second floor, and the bastard police on the right most part of second floor. Your room is the one between the whore's and the bastard's. Now let's talk about your payment."
'Did he just cursed all the tenants of his shared house?'
"Ozzy mentioned something about your debt?"
"Don't push your luck kid, that loan will only be enough for at most, 2 months in here. After that is a monthly dollar from you, to me. Non-negotiable."
"Sure. Can I go now for the time being? I'm really tired right now."
"Yeah, yeah, get the hell out of my face. I'll deal with your formal procedures later, team Sweden is playing right now, so ran along."
-------
I went inside my room and finished unpacking my clothes and put them in the cabinet.
The room was fairly big, with a 2 person bed, a wall closet, a ceiling fan, and a small personal bathroom.
There's even a balcony by the window where I could stand and look at the outside view. To which I did.
Sadly though, the view on the balcony was less than relaxing.
This shared house may look-like a drug den from the outside, but it is pretty big and neat when viewed from the inside.
It is also situated near the borders of Achilles district or the slum area, the place that this house is currently standing in is known as Hercules residential district, so its not considered part of the slums.
It is currently 5 in the evening and night is slowly approaching.
'Tomorrow I'll be having my High school debut. I'm 3 months late so I'd probably have a hard time fitting in.....never mind that. Tomorrow's problem is the problem of tomorrow's me. I'll first do what I can tonight, I have to look for a place to work at first.'
I went to the bathroom and took my time taking a bath. After that, I dressed myself with a plain white shirt, black jeans, and a white skate shoes. I also wore a black windbreaker jacket before heading outside my room intending to find a job in the busy city of entertainment.
--------
After locking the door of my room, the tenant from the room on my right also went out and greeted me. She was a beautiful lady about the age of 20, with red hair, and pouty red lips.
"Well hi there! You must be the new guy? I'm Cheryl"
"Yeah I am. My name's Amaru."
We shook hands and smiled at each other, then she followed up
"Lemme guess. Joergen just called me a whore earlier didn't he? Don't listen to a word that man tells you. I mean, not because I work at a bar doesn't mean I'm a whore right? But that old man keeps saying I'm a slut. Like, could you believe that guy?"
'She's talkative'
"Yeah, sure. By the way, you said you work at a bar?"
"Yes. Yes I did. Why? You interested?"
"Yeah, something like that. Could you perhaps refer me? I'm currently job hunting and one of my specialties is bartending. That is, if you don't mind."
"Ohhhh, I thought you were about to ask me out. That bummed me out a bit but, sure. My work place is understaffed so perfect timing."
-------
Cheryl, the redhead beside me who kept talking even when I'm spacing out, and I took a taxi together and went to her work place on the entertainment city of Lascar. The whole trip, she was either asking me about my life or ranting about some celebrity I have no idea of.
I found her excessive extrovertedness rather annoying, but since we're going to be work mates I played along with her. Nothing wrong with a little chitchat here and there.
And besides. Her voice might be awful for my ears, but she is very easy on the eyes.
I took my time looking around the place from my window and saw many bars, casinos, clubs, restaurants, and malls.
Then the taxi driver told us.
"Sorry you two, we just entered Lascar city and there seems to be a traffic up ahead. It's pretty common here so just sit comfortably back there for the time being."
Cheryl doesn't mind it, but I do.I fuckin do!
"So anyways, that friend of mine told me she was pregnant with James' kid. Like, could you believe that bitch?...."
And this...this is the damn reason why
I sighed heavily and thought to myself 'This is gonna be a long night.'