"Hello?" Zoe said as soon as she came inside the shop looking around the several display cabinets full of antique collections and pieces of jewelry and phones. Her heart leaped when she saw the phone section, and although most of it was full of phones that had gone out of production, there were fairly used ones from newer series.
"Hello?" The pawnbroker arrived and she had to drag her eyes away from the phone section before the man found her suspicious. However, when Zoe saw the broker, her eyes widened in slight surprise. He was quite younger than she thought - younger than she was.
The boy must have seen the assessing look Zoe gave him because he blushed red and scratched the back of his head. He said, "Sorry, my father is usually in charge of his shop, however, something came up and here I am."
"Oh," Zoe nodded her head, "Is that so?"
He straightened up and cleared his throat, trying to appear more businesslike even though there was still a hint of mirth in his eyes
"What can I do for you, miss?"
The phone inside her pocket burned to the touch, mentally. Zoe broke out in cold sweat realizing what she was about to do. What if all of this backfired on her? What if this phone is very important to the owner and she gets on his bad side by pawning it?
No, Zoe pushed the doubts to the back of her mind. She has to do this to survive, nor was it her fault that their phones got switched? Moreover, it was not like she was selling it forever. Think of it like borrowing money, the phone was merely collateral and the pawn shop was known for keeping things safe, anyway. Zoe made up her mind, she had to do this.
"Umm," She breathed, before lifting her head, "I'm here to pawn a cell phone."
"In that case, you have come to the right broker." The young man smiled and then walked over to the counter where he gestured to her to place her item.
Gulping slightly, Zoe took the phone and placed it on top of the counter while her heart pounded continuously in her chest. She watched as the boy took the phone from her and began to appraise.
"Nice, it's the latest model and looks good."
Please don't ask me to unlock it, Zoe was anxious and grabbed the edge of the counter tightly, sweat rolling down her cheek.
But of course, the worst always happens.
"Can you unlock the password, please?"
"Huh?"
At this point, Zoe's heart wanted to jump out of her chest. Her hands were clammy and her eyes twitched, nervously. What was she going to do?
The young man explained to her,
"Your item needs to be in good, safe working condition to get any money. We have to sell it later to make our money back, if you don't repay the loan. With electronics such as tablets, cameras, laptops, cd players, etc., you have to turn them on and show that they work properly. "
Zoe gulped, "Must I turn it all?"
The young man must have sensed that something was wrong because he narrowed his gaze at her suspiciously, "By chance, is this item stolen?"
And just like that, Zoe burst into tears and he was left flabbergasted. She cried so hard that he had no choice but to leave behind the counter and come to her side.
"Hey…" He awkwardly stood beside her, having no clue how to comfort her or if he was supposed to. However, Zoe turned and buried her face in his shirt, staining it with tears.
"I didn't mean to."
"You didn't mean to what?"
She lifted her face and confessed to him, "The phone belongs to my boyfriend."
"What?!" He was shocked by the confession.
Zoe Clark had another survival skill and it was the ability to lie her way out of a problem. After the disaster that befell her family, how would she have been able to survive this harsh world if she wasn't able to tell one or two lies - in her own language.
She just didn't tell them all the time because the purpose of a lie was to invoke sympathy from the other party and Zoe didn't do so well with pity. So unless, it was necessary - like in her current situation - lying was a last resort. It was quite sad that Zoe didn't realize that once a liar is always a liar.
And just like that, Zoe lured the young man into her carefully woven tale.
"I didn't mean to fool you, however, I had no choice. I returned to the country recently just to see my boyfriend and it sounded like a dream come true. He treated me so well that I thought, yes, I was going to spend the rest of my life with him. But then, just like every sad story goes, I found out that he was cheating on me. I confronted him and it resulted in a fight….He hit me ...." Zoe showed him the fading mark on her face, even though she got that from the fight in the airport today. Well, who cares, as far as it won the young, gullible kid over.
"I tried my best to defend myself but he was so strong…." Zoe showed him the other marks that she got from the fight, of course. She went on, "Knowing that I was going to call for help, he took my phone and destroyed it…." There was a strong glint in her eyes when she said,
"At that point, I knew that I couldn't stay there any longer, otherwise he ended my life. I didn't want to be like those women in the news who died because of love."
Zoe let out fresh tears from her eyes, "So I took his phone, hoping that I knew him too well, but it turns out that I didn't at all. I couldn't unlock his password no matter how hard I tried and then, the little cash I had on me was stolen…" She looked at the boy with her tear-filled eyes, "I was chasing the thief down the streets when I stumbled upon your chef. So tell me, what was I supposed to do? Starve to death or go back to my abusive boyfriend? I have no other choice. Please, help me out."
She grabbed his hand, "You are the only last hope that I have right now. I don't have a home to stay in and have been sleeping in an abandoned warehouse with a lot of others. I haven't even eaten…." Zoe cried louder and the boy began to panic.
He said, "I'm so sorry for what happened to you, but this is policy. We have to make sure the item is not stolen because we are required to work closely with the local police. We turn in the serial numbers for everything that is pawned. When an item is reported stolen, if the owner has the serial number, it will be put in a database of stolen items. Then if someone tries to pawn it, the police can match the serial numbers to the stolen item, and return it to the rightful owner."
Policy her butt!
Rules were meant to be broken and though it was selfish of her to try to force it on the young man, she had no choice either. At least, he had a roof to sleep under and food to eat; she had none. Tomorrow should worry about itself.
"I'm so hungry…." She cried harder.
The young man dug his hand into his hair, what was he going to do? He had to think fast.
"Fine, this is what we would do…"
And hope rose inside of Zoe once she heard those words. She knew her acting must surely get to him.
"Give me your passport."
"Huh?"
"I need your passport to hold on to as collateral as well so you can't leave the country if this escalates." He suggested wisely.
Damn it, Zoe cursed inwardly.
This was her only way to get back to her parents if things don't go well. What was she going to do? If she didn't give the young man the passport, she would turn out to be a liar and lose the chances of selling the phone at the same time.
Hence, Zoe reached into her pocket and pulled out the passport. It was a good thing she put the passport in her pocket for easy reach and to ensure that it was safe after the Landlady kicked her out of the house.
It took a little convincing but Zoe got three hundred dollars out of the phone because her "boyfriend's" phone was customized if you got what she meant. Was it made with gold or silver? Zoe didn't get the chance to ask because she left the pawnshop as soon as the money was in her hands.
With the cash in hand, she could spend the rest of the days in motels and instant noodles until her pay from her teaching job comes in. She was finally saved!