Soft Hearts Hold Secrets

Rising Debts

As expected, it was around seven o'clock at night when Muriel heard a knock at his door. He hadn't bothered going to work that day -- so all Muriel could do was sit around his clean apartment and wait for that knock. Muriel had been watching the flowers as he waited, fingers absently tracing each word of Asra's note, all the way down to the heart. The six hundred and something dollars still rested in his pocket, feeling heavy the moment he stood up from his seat at the table to answer the door.

The five hundred dollars, that little present Asra had mentioned in his note, still sat on his pillow, too important to touch so soon.

Muriel made his way up to the door, pausing the moment his fingertips touched the cool doorknob. He was about to blow six hundred dollars -- all of which having been from Asra's wallet. There was nothing he could do about it though. Even with all of the new locks Asra had installed onto his door, Muriel couldn't just keep the door closed and locked forever. So he took a deep breath and unlocked the door, only opening it up a crack and peeking out into the hall at Ludovico's tired face.

"Where's Bludmila?" Muriel asked, unimpressed. The two usually took turns hounding him for money.

Ludovico frowned at him, his lips curled into a cool scowl. His eyes were dark and haggard, his skin pale and his hair ruffled. He looked a bit sickly, actually. Muriel knew the feeling all too well.

"I'm collecting. Again," Ludo growled, rolling his bloodshot eyes. He held out his hand, wiggling his fingers. "Boss wants eight hundred. Hand it over so I can go."

Muriel began to reach towards his pocket, but he froze, eyes widening and flicking back up to the tired man in his doorway.

"Eight hundred?" he echoed, voice a little quieter than before. "It... it was only six hundred last week. Why eight hundred?"

Ludovico's features, to Muriel's disgust, lit up at the slight fear in Muriel's tone. He looked up fast, previously narrowed eyes widening as he leaned forward, lips twitching into a smile. "You don't have it? The money?"

"I do-" Muriel watched Lucovico's shoulders slump, "-I... I just didn't think it would be that much."

Sighing, Ludo rolled his eyes, leaning back and stuffing his hands into the pocket of his sweatshirt. His cold scowl was back, and as obvious as ever. "I told you. Boss wants you back bad. He's gonna keep raising the price until he can drag you back to the Palace." Ludovico's tone was blunt and gruff, words grumbled out through his curled lips. "Just pay up so I can get the hell out of this place."

Muriel's features darkened a little, but he nodded, mumbling something about being right back as he shut the door. He turned to the five hundred dollars on the bed, his posture falling into its usual slump, brow pitching a little above his eyes. Inanna, who'd been curled up beside the bed gnawing on her chew toy, whined at him. Muriel ignored her as he reached for the five hundred Asra left him, taking out two hundred dollar bills. He made his way back to the door, and opened it up again, wearing his own frown as he counted out his money from his pocket and handed it over.

"I'm guessing that means next week is a thousand?" Muriel mumbled weakly, watching Ludo count over every bill again.

Ludovico scoffed. "I'm not telling you," he said icily, hatred sharp on his tongue as he stuffed Muriel's cash into his back pocket. "You're making my life a living hell, you know that right?" He gave another sarcastic huff when Muriel didn't respond, shaking his head as he turned around. "See you next time, Scourge."

Muriel watched him walk off, eyes narrowed, jaw muscles pulsing as he grit his teeth. It took a few moments for him to step back from the door and push it to a close, locking every lock again before he let his system relax a little. He lifted a hand to his head, rubbing his temple. It seemed as though Lucio had been raising the price up about two hundred dollars every other tuesday. Next payment would be a thousand. The one after that would be a thousand two hundred. And then on and so forth until Muriel's never-ending debt was paid off.