Chapter 2.
"Jiji, can you please meet me near the traffic light or your school? I need to talk to you. It's urgent." Jian's bestie,Arisu, texted her.
"Okay Ari, what time? She asked
"Around 10 am"
"But... is everything okay, Ari?" she asked.
"Yeah, worry less. It's just some important issue I want to discuss with you," he replied instantly.
Jian didn't reply back again as she ran out of airtime on her phone.
Jian is 22 years old and has a 15-year-old brother whom she loves dearly. She has been living with her aunt and her husband after her dad remarried. When her mom died, their wicked stepmum joined hands with their dad in abusing both her and her kid brother and she later poisoned her dad's mind, forcing her into marrying her off to that old thing.For her,her brother is still the six years old,her mom left in her care.
Her family is economically middle-class. Her aunt's husband is a social worker, and her aunt is a housewife. She doesn't have many friends, just Arisu. He has been her friend since kindergarten, and they were really close. Her mom and his parents secretly arranged their marriage. He is a good friend,in fact a great one.
At the age of 19, many proposals started coming to her, but she said NO to everyone, despite her aunt's request. Her aunt was worried about her. They thought she was stressing herself too much about the family's responsibilities, which is honestly true. Her family is average, and she has to pay the house rent on time.
Secondly, she has always wanted to marry someone whom she truly loves. She believes marriage to be very auspicious, and this was one of the many reasons why she denied every suitor and nearly killed that old man.
She is the only one who earns in the family. She work three jobs. Her morning job, as a school teacher, runs from 7 a.m. to 12 p.m. In the afternoon, she works at a local supermarket. Finally, her evening job is as a singer at a hotel and at various ceremonies at night.
She hated violence but still loved horror and action movies. It's good that she lives in a country whose defense force is strong enough to keep its people safe, but she knows there are still criminal or mafia groups still hanging around with no fear whatsoever. Whenever she hears the news about them killing innocent people, she silently wishes they all get caught.
Her major tension was her brother's education. She had to work hard to satisfy her family's needs. She was aware that she didn't have enough money to pay his huge and numerous fees ,making her owe lots of people.She wants to be like other normal girls—this is her daily prayer.
Arisu was her childhood friend. They used to school together. He worked as an accountant in the hotel where she works at night. Their houses were not far; just two blocks apart. He always drops her off safely home at night .
Arisu was a six-foot-tall guy with a solid build. He has deep grey eyes,sharp jawline—he was a very good-looking man with such good character. They share everything together, and Arisu never crosses his line.
After an hour, Jian reaches the place where Arisu asked her to meet him. She waits on the footpath near the traffic light.
"Where are you, Ari?" she thought as she had been waiting there for some minutes and was getting bored already. She saw two street dogs sitting a few meters away from her; she whistled and the dogs looked towards her. One walked to her, wagging its tail. She had always been in love with dogs but couldn't own another after her dog, Fenda, died, and now she can't afford one. She patted his head, and seeing that other dogs came up too, now there were about six street dogs around her, and she played with and fed them all.
She heard a prolonged car horn, and she wondered why the sound had gone on so long. She looked towards the road and saw an ebony black car with tinted windows standing straight in front of her. She wondered why the car wasn't moving. She could see that the traffic light was green. The horn sounded again, and she noticed that it was coming from the car behind the black one in front of her. She looked at the black car once more, and then back to the dogs, she saw the black car move after a few seconds, due to the continuous noise from the other cars behind it.
About a minute later, Arisu came.
"Care to tell me why you called me?" she asked.
"Erm... I need help. And before you ask why I chose to meet you here, I was near this place and…
"Fine, whatever. How can I help you? What kind of help do you need,Arisu?" she asked.Jian rested her chin on her hand, waiting.
"I don't know how to put this,Jiji." He shifted his weight, rubbing his thumb over the frayed cuff of his shirt, unable to meet her eye. It always comes down to this, doesn't it?I've wanted to ask for a while," he continued, "I'm in a….
''How much,Ari ?'"
"What?" He was kind of confused.
"Stop kidding, and tell me the amount. You don't have to feel shy about it," she said.
He sighed and replied, "It's actually Niti. She's getting into the new school, and the fee is 50V. I have managed 35V but..."
"50V, right? But do you need it now?" she asked, her voice now a little softer, having heard the specific need.
They walked side-by-side to a nearby ATM booth. The harsh fluorescent light of the machine highlighted the tired line of worry across Arisu's brow. Jian keyed in her pin swiftly and withdrew the extra funds.
"Okay, here you go," she said, handing him the money. She didn't count it or even look at the bills. "But make sure to give it back. Take your time, but not forever," she added, her smile tight with a hint of warning.
"Got it,Jiji. I'll return it to you in around three months, and I hope I didn't disturb you from work."
"Nah, not at all," she lied, waving a dismissive hand, though her eyes flicked to her watch.
"So, I'll go now, thanks dear. Love you," she said.
As he turned to leave, Arisu paused. The unspoken depth of his feeling for her, a love he had always hidden, tightened in his chest. I'll pay her back, he vowed.