Chapter 7

When Sofia got down from the wobbly taxi, she had worn the sweater David got her and then she put up a small and an uncertain wave at the driver who was being all chatty and annoying through out her journey to her street.

The driver had made fun of her sleepy and swollen looking eyes, can you imagine? Sophia had laughed it off indignantly, trying so hard to not throw a satisfied slap across his face.

In order not to come off rude and self-centered, she laughed slowly and softly at his weird little jokes which were not so funny to begin with.

But finally, she's reached her destination, so there won't be any need for fake smiles and laughed.

As the taxi moved away, she didn't know when she let out a real laughter at the way the car wobbled funnily out of sight. She shook her head at it and sighed.

She spun around and walked slowly down the street.

There were not so many people around but she couldn't successfully push past the thought and feeling that there were lots of conspicuous eyes on her. Was it guilt?

She awkwardly adjusted her leather bag on her shoulder bone and increased her pace to quickly get home.

When she approached her quiet streets, she noticed the drunk and horny men were just few and sober. She didn't let her eyes meet theirs, she couldn't. They were so scary and frightening to look at.

These men rested their gaze on Sophia like she was yet again, a sweet snack just proudly walking past much to the disadvantage of their aching crotches. They swallowed the obvious lump in their throats and pouted in disappointment at the sight of her escaping their vile wishes and imaginations.

Sophia felt bad for herself and her brother David. If not for the fact that they were wretched and poor, they would have moved out and away from the scary environment.

Sophia was late on bills and it weighed on her heart for being so burdened and unfortunate for the hundredth time.

Which is why, she'd decided to officially begin her unfortunate journey on sleeping with willing men at the Rizzo club for money, starting with last night, and with the Don.

She instantly raked her hands through her hair at the thought of him. She heaved out a sigh and bit her lower lip in thought.

Even though he had dropped a pretty heavy tip for her, she quickly calculated all her immediate expenses in her head and finally resolved that the Don's tip could barely settled scores.

She almost stomped her foot against the ground in annoyance. If only the Don would pick her for his regular whore, she bet she would be able to meet up on her bills because of the generous tips he'd shower her. How dreamy.

But then again, she felt so bitter thinking such thought. How unfortunate can she be?

She had never thought this way and she closed her eyes for a split second to berate herself for imagining stupid and impossible things.

As Sofia approached her small studio apartment, she watched in dismay as the thoughtless landlord, Mr Roberts, and his entire family congregated on her front porch. What? Whatever it was, how come his entire family paced await shamelessly in front of her house? Sophia rolled her eyes at his silliness.

They were so loud and boisterous. Their voices literally reverberated across the compound as they harassed her little brother, David.

David looked pretty intimidated and scared as he tried to defend himself against the landlord's aggressive questioning. But he couldn't, how could he? He was only a kid.

Sophia watched as Mr. Roberts shamelessly towered over David, whose face looked red with anger, as he demanded to know where I was.

"Where is she?" Mr. Roberts bellowed, his voice echoing off the walls. "We need to talk to her about the rent!" By ‘we’, he ridiculously meant his family inclusive. Wait, who does that?

David, who was visibly shaken, stuttered and tried to explain that his sister had gone to work the night before and the fact that she would not be home until much later. Sophia winced at the sight.

She had long decided to avoid Mr Roberts because of the bills and now she didn't know how to approach him with his entire family in front of her house. They could even pull her hair out at this rate.

The annoying factor remain the fact that Mr Roberts just wouldn't listen to poor David. He was so stubborn and wouldn't listen because he made it a point of duty to always cut David off mid-sentence and continued to berate him. Sophia raked her hair with her hands again feeling extremely frustrated.

She didn't fail to notice that the landlord's family, who were standing off to the side, seemed to be enjoying the spectacle. They were all snickering and smiling, clearly entertained by David's distress. They were clearly a mess.

Sophia felt a surge of anger and protectiveness towards her little brother. How could they be so cruel and heartless? Didn't they have any compassion or empathy? They were all stupid.

She didn't fail to blame her incompetency regarding her late payment. She internally decided that she would put in more effort to avoid this craziness.

As she watched, she could see David's eyes sparkle with tears. He looked frustrated like he was about to break down, and Sophia knew that she had to intervene.

She quickly opened up her leather bag and shoved through her things in search of her tips. When she finally got a hold of it, she counted it and realized that it clearly wasn't enough to pay off her rent but it was clearly enough to get the Roberts off her heels for quite some time.

She took a deep breath and walked briskly towards the loud and ridiculous house owner and his four eyed family to defend her brother and her sullen pride and dignity.