Fantasy novel with 40 year old protagonist

Chapter 4

Ah, Saturday! When you can sleep late without feeling guilty, do all the house chores for the week and have no worries for the next 6 days. Or just forfeit your responsibilities because you're also free on Sunday! A full day just for yourself, to finish that book, to shamelessly binge-watch a series and to cry at the end, to try that new shower steamer and the coffee-flavoured face mask you've been looking for at least 3 weeks now. And most importantly, it is the best day to have some fun with your neighbour because life is too short to be taken seriously and nobody can make you laugh like you do.

"Yesterday had been a rough day," Daciana thought. But waking up with no sign of a headache this morning, shedding the fog and the invisible claws that dug into her brain, made her feel like she had been given a new body like she could do anything.

Now, onto the first order of business. Beigaldi, her neighbour, was a cunning little man who, despite his overt religious beliefs, did not think that the rules of living in a civilized society applied to him. Most people who lived in the building avoided him, mainly because he always tried to impose his ideas or sell everyone holy booklets. He and the family could have done better at managing their money. Still, somehow, she saw them carrying at least one new piece of used furniture into their apartment every week. Dacy was unsure if it was the fact that he lived in what looked like poverty that gave him the creative freedom to feel entitled to any parcel that came to her door, but this certainly would need to stop today.

And while Beigaldi lived a few doors away and was not a natural runner, she needed to hurry if she wanted this done.

Striding towards the front door as fast as she could, Daciana pulled her hair tie and threw it somewhere behind while the other hand ruffled her hair down in a cascade. With a swift motion, she pulled the dark, long, silky robe from the hanger in the hallway and used it to cover the old grey t-shirt she had on from the night before. Because a "homeless-chic" look would not be as efficient at educating Beigaldi. Definitely not as efficient as a "Goth-matron" look would. "Almost perfect," she said to herself when she saw her image in the entrance mirror. Only one thing missing.

Luckily, she happened to have left the one item that would make her outfit complete right by the small table she used for her mail and keys: a devilishly dark lipstick, which Daciana applied carelessly onto her pouty lips... and then her eyelids... and, just for fun, she drew some random symmetrical lines on her face and two reversed Vs on each side of her forehead.

Time to open the door...

"Hello, Beigaldi!" she said in her deeper, sultriest voice to the man hunching with one arm stretched forward over her package. Was the fact that he was caught in the act what startled him, or was it that she knew his name as if a darker force had told her of him? Never mind that the dark force was actually his wife who screamed her lungs out whenever they got into a fight for the entire apartment building to hear.

"Would you like to join me for a drink?" she purred. "I have prepared something really special for you."

While her whole being was about to burst into laughter at the sheer horror in Beigaldi's eyes, she forced her mouth to lift only one side into a wicked, promising grin. And that's all it took to set him running faster than he ever had, his bathrobe flowing behind him and a terrible shriek that must have woken up the entire floor.

"Come back anytime! I can wait!" she cried back, causing him to stumble and lose a slipper that he never bothered to retrieve before hiding in his apartment.

The last time. This would be the last time Beigaldi stole something from her because, over time, he had taken many things meant for her. Mostly items of small value, such as foot cream, supplements, or detergent, that she ordered online because she did not want to carry them herself. But it was the principle, not having those things when she needed them, going to the trouble of reordering items and having to plan that everything would arrive on a weekend so that she could intercept the package before it got stolen.