The next few days felt like a blur to Natalie's eyes. She wasn't able to fully grasp what was happening until it happened and there was no choice but to go along with the flow. Things got busier in her life.
Work was the busiest of them all that it felt like she couldn't differentiate between living and surviving anymore. She lost track of time and she didn't care at all. She just kept working and working, until her hands went numb, her brain ran out of neurons and her body lost all the energy she had been trying to keep. But it was all worth it. They were able to submit the partial and the final plan of their project.
Mr. Arthur was too happy to see his building being built so soon. When Natalie's work was done, it was all up to the engineers now. Kenzo was glad they finished it well and he felt satisfied with everything.
By the end of the week, on Friday, she finally had her free time for the first time in a while. She went to work feeling so light, as if a heavy weight had been lifted off her shoulder. She was able to breathe comfortably now.
However, not everything was settled yet. There was still one thing that she had not been able to deal with, and that was moving into Kenzo's apartment. Until now, she still could not fully wrap her mind around that idea. Kenzo was waiting for her decision and he always reminded her, but she just kept waving him off.
When work finished on Friday night, Kenzo waited for her at the entrance of the building.
"Get in," Kenzo told her the moment she got out of the building.
"I'll just take the bus." She responded.
But Kenzo insisted, "Just get in. Dinner's on me. We deserve a celebration too."
Natalie hesitated for a moment, but the look on Kenzo's face signified that he was waiting impatiently. So, Natalie opened the car door and got inside, sitting next to him. Kenzo pulled over the driveway then drove off further into the city.
"Where are we going?" Natalie asked just to break the silence.
"You'll see." Kenzo said.
A few moments later, they pulled into the parking lot of a deluxe restaurant and Natalie gawked in awe as she stared at it through the window. The restaurant seemed to be gilded with gold, glowing so bright from the outside and people who dined inside were wearing the not-so-normal kind of clothes that people like Natalie would usually wear.
She looked at the people, the men in suits and women in elegant dresses, and she felt out of place. She had never eaten in a place like that, not even once in her entire life. But Kenzo acted like he had been there so many times. They went in and they were greeted with so much hospitality.
They sat by the corner and ordered their food. Natalie's eyes went wide when she saw the prices but Kenzo just laughed it off.
"Relax, it's all on me. We deserve this." Kenzo reassured her.
Another moment to realize how broke she was, but at least she got to enjoy the luxury.
~
When dinner was finished and Natalie was done enjoying all the tastiest and most expensive food that they ordered, Kenzo insisted on taking her home. Inside his car, he made some comments about her apartment again – his way of telling her to move in with him already in a not so obvious way.
"Seriously, how do you even breathe in your apartment?" he asked, the same way of saying how small her apartment was.
Feeling offended, Natalie gave out a sarcastic laugh.
"The same way you breathe, of course. It doesn't mean that just because my space isn't as HUGE as yours, I am already suffocating. There's enough space for me inside, just you know, and I got everything I need right there. Why don't you come in with me and take a look for yourself?"
The car stopped at the driveway, just a few meters to the building's entrance.
"Are you inviting me inside?" Kenzo asked, grinning.
Natalie stopped. "Wouldn't it look weird to invite a guy into her apartment?" The thought made her cringe. She was suddenly thinking dirty thoughts of him and she didn't like it.
"Maybe next time," she said, then she got out of his car.
"I'll keep that in mind." Kenzo teased.
"Whatever. Anyway, thanks for today!"
"You're welcome. Just get inside now, it's getting late."
"Yeah, sure. See you on Monday then, bye." Natalie waved a hand goodbye.
"Bye."
Kenzo waited until she got inside of the building before he drove off, back on the road.
When Natalie got inside her apartment, it was dark and her lights wouldn't turn on.
"Are you kidding me?" She flipped it on again but the lights were really gone.
So she just used a flashlight and went directly to her room. Lying on her bed, she realized that she had actually forgotten to pay the electric bills. She had been too busy to remember. She went to the shower to take a bath but only cold water came out. No hot shower too.
There were still a few days before her next salary and her money was already running out. She had spent half of it paying for her loans and what was left was only enough to cover her daily expenses for a week.
She thought of asking her mom for a little money, but she had promised herself to be independent of her, and it wasn't like her mom had a lot of money too. She just married a rich man and asking her would mean asking her step-father and she didn't like the idea of that.
She had no idea where to borrow money from.
"I'll figure it out." She told herself as she was taking the cold shower late at night without any lights except the faint light coming from her flash light.
~
The next morning, when she was visiting a nearby store to buy some groceries, a man came to her.
"I need half of the money you borrowed. Its past due already." The man said.
She turned to look at him and realized he was the loan shark she happened to borrow money from a few months ago to pay for her apartment rent.
"Oh, I'm really sorry, I have no money right now. My salary will be in a couple of weeks, I promise to pay you as soon as I can."
"We agreed on the date. Don't be dumb enough to forget about it!"
"I know, but I am really broke right now."
"Listen here, missy. I don't fucking care how much money is left in your wallet right now, but an agreement is an agreement. I want my money back, right now!"
Natalie couldn't believe the nerve of this mind. "No, you listen to me. I only borrowed five hundred dollars from you, but you doubled it. Don't you think it's too much?"
"I told you the interest rates and you agreed!"
"Because I was fucking broke!"
"Not my problem. Give me back my money!"
But Natalie had no money at all. So, she suddenly thinks of a crazy idea. She looked around and realized she was near the door. She still had her grocery bag in her hand, unpaid. But she could leave it there in the store. So, she slowly turned around and breathed in some air.
"Where the fuck are you going?" the man yelled.
But she ignored him. Then she dropped her grocery bag and took off outside, jumping into the streets with so much speed that the man didn't see it coming.
"Hey!" he could only shout at her.
But she ran and ran, picking up speed on the sidewalk, passed the by-passers who were walking so slowly and complaining every time she bumped on them, never looking back, turning into corners and narrow alleyways, forgetting about her endless debts left unpaid, until the sight of her apartment building loomed ahead.
She ran into the driveway, past the old fountain, and stepped on to the stairs to the entrance. She took the stairs up to her space at the fifth floor because the elevator fucking broke down, and when she got there, what she saw wasn't what she was expecting.
Her things were outside the door, scattering in the hallway. Her clothes, her bags, her small furniture, they were all being thrown just outside her door.
"What the…"
Her landlady appeared, "I gave you a warning, twice. But you ignored it."
Natalie cried and begged, "Please don't do this. I promise to pay next week. Please. It's been hard."
But her landlady ignored her. She locked her door, and Natalie begged and begged, but the landlady just shook her off her and walked away, leaving her behind, breaking down in tears in the middle of the mess.
There was no choice. No choice at all. She picked up her phone and dialed Kenzo's number.
"Natalie," Kenzo answered.
"I have decided. Please come over here and help me with my stuff."