Seeing that sight, Rajani's heart broke, and she walked into her room knowing that her father was probably thinking of her as an incompetent, irresponsible caretaker that should never attempt to take care of anyone again.
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She flopped onto her bed and sighed. Suddenly, her face lit up with happiness.
At least I still have the video, Rajani thought. I just know this video is gonna give me a fat stack of cash by tomorrow. Dad will have forgotten all about almost dying when I pay the amount for his lung cancer treatment!
She quickly took her phone out of her pocket and uploaded the video she had recorded at her boyfriend's house to the app that she swore up and down would give her twenty-thousand dollars in a week.
And... done! PushinPorn is gonna love this one, Rajani thought with a large smile on her face. I'll just wait for all the blessings to flood in. In the meantime, I should go outside and get something to eat. I don't think there is anything good in the fridge.
She put her phone back into her pocket and went to the living room to see her father. Surprisingly, he wasn't smoking a cigarette but instead, he was still oddly focusing on the tiny ant on the floor. He seemed out of touch with reality.
"Dad," Rajani called out to the odd man.
Mr. Archarya jumped in his seat and turned to face his daughter. He seemed startled by her presence.
"Yes? What do you want?"
"I want to go get some tacos at that one food truck down the street."
"Tacos?" Mr. Archarya repeated as he furrowed his eyebrows. "Why? We have food at home."
"Barely. And I don't like the food we have here! Can I just go?"
Mr. Archarya opened his mouth to say something but then closed it. He sighed deeply before scratching his head. An abnormal amount of dandruff fell out of scalp which made Rajani recoil in disgust.
"Eugh! Dad, when was the last time you washed your hair?" she snarled.
Instead of answering his daughter's question, Mr. Archarya just stared at her silently.
"Um, wrong question I suppose. Let me ask the right one - can I go now?"
"Whatever. Just stay out of trouble."
"Will do," Rajani replied as she walked toward the front door.
As Rajani stepped out of her house, the afternoon air greeted her with a cool embrace, a welcome relief from the stifling confines of her room. The sun sat high in the sky, casting an orange glow on Rajani's skin. She took a deep breath and letting the gentle breeze wash over her, she momentarily tried to soothe her troubled thoughts about her father.
He was acting so weird today, Rajani thought. I've never seen him that still without a cigarette in his hand, and since when did he focus on some useless ants? Dad usually tries his hardest to kill them. I wonder if something was troubling him. Well, duh. I'm the one troubling him. He thinks I left him out to die, when that's the last thing I want. I'm doing my hardest to prevent his death, and I guess having sex with Ravon is the best way to do that.
She sighed and continued to walk throughout the peaceful neighborhood until an idea formed inside her head.
Am I really going to take just fifteen minutes to walk to the food truck and go back home? Rajani thought. Hell no! Home is so boring, I can't stay there for too long or I'll combust. I'm going to take the long way, that way I'll be out here for longer.
She walked over to an alleyway that had two buildings on either side. The top of the buildings connected with a black tarp, making the alleyway look like it had a dark ceiling. Suddenly, the sun didn't seem so bright anymore.
Rajani's stomach started growling with unease which made the two Rajani's in her head start to fight. Responsible Rajani argued that they all should turn away from the sketchy looking place and get the tacos as soon as possible but on the other side, Reckless Rajani suggested that they should continue down the path of the alleyway. Unsurprisingly, Rajani decided to be reckless.
She walked further down the dark alleyway as her stomach started to churn.
Nothing's wrong with me, a young girl, walking down a dark alleyway by myself, Rajani thought. I guess I'll keep telling myself that until I don't feel scared anymore. I can get scared later.
For a moment, Rajani's nerves started to calm down and she felt herself finding peace in the dodgy alleyway. However, that moment was ruined when she saw a tall figure shrouded in shadow, their face obscured by the darkness of the alleyway.
Rajani's heart skipped a beat when she realized the tall figure was walking toward her. She regretted not being responsible and got ready to run the opposite way. As soon as Rajani turned to run out of the alleyway, she bumped into something that she knew she hadn't seen before coming into the alleyway.
"What's a pretty girl like you doing here?" a voice asked.
Rajani's heart pounded in her ears when she realized the thing she had bumped into was talking to her. Following the voice, she looked up to see a mysterious man with long, jet-black hair wearing sunglasses. His long hair was tied up into a messy low ponytail and his bangs fell loosely in front of his face. Speaking of his face, Rajani blushed when she realized the man towering above her was extremely handsome, at least with sunglasses on.
She froze in her spot for the second time that day. Rajani had no idea of what she should've said to the man and she didn't want to stick around to find out. She tried to run out of the alleyway again but the man grabbed her collar. He lowered himself to Rajani's height which brought a shiver down her spine.
"Hm?" he whispered. "What're you doing here, my love?"
Rajani turned to face the man's intense gaze. "Just minding m- my own business," she replied, a hint of sarcasm in her tone.
The man pushed her away, making her almost fall on the cold, hard ground.
"Well, go mind your business elsewhere," he growled. "And don't you dare step your little feet in my area again."
Rajani stood up as her fists clenched at her sides. Before scrambling off like a deer on a highway, she stomped on the handsome man's foot the hardest she could. It looked like her sneakers had done some damage to the man's foot because the yell that escaped his mouth after the attack was loud and angry.
As Rajani dashed out of the highway, she could feel not just two pairs of eyes on her, but many. She assumed that the other pairs of eyes were just sneakily hiding in the shadows like rats.
Rajani bolted away and didn't stop until she saw the food truck ahead of her. Fortunately for her, she arrived just in time for the last person in the line to finish their order and sit down on one of the nearby benches.
She finally felt safe enough to stop looking over her shoulder for creepy men wearing sunglasses and took her order.
Rajani always ordered her favorite food, Birria tacos. It was her comfort and she always felt like she was in heaven after biting into the soft shell of the taco, then savoring every last bite of the tender meat and stretchy cheese.
After finalizing her order, she sat down on one of the nearby benches and waited for her food. Soon enough, Rajani was called up to the truck to receive her tacos and after obtaining her food, she ran back to her house, careful not to slip into any dark alleyways.
As soon as Rajani was inside her house, she gave her father a taco and kept the rest for herself.
The rest of her day went by as usual, nothing out of the ordinary happened, and by nighttime, Rajani was content. She did her usual night routine of brushing her teeth, taking a shower, doing her skincare routine, and praying to God.
In her prayer, she explained that she felt conflicted - she wanted to help her father beat cancer by paying twenty-thousand dollars for his treatment, but she was doing so while committing a lot of sins.
After praying, Rajani rested her head and slept.