Diamonds Dancing

Two

By the time Rika had arrived home, her bad day managed to get even more disastrous. Ebony eyes watered immensely, following after the burly man with a receding hairline. The soles of her battered heels were falling apart making it harder for her to keep up with him.

"Nope, no. I don't want to hear it. I've told you, time and time again, rent needs to be paid on time. I gave you until Friday to sort it out." A familiar gruff voice clarified in an unconcerned tone, the landlord barely gave her a second glance as he sat down on his leather chair. He turned slightly around to point at the calendar hung above a poster board. "What day does it say up there Sato?"

She looked over at the date written in bold letters, wanting to inwardly cringe. Friday, she could've let out, but she didn't dare to answer his condescending question.

As she came up to the front desk of the dingy lobby, she grabbed ahold of the edge of the desk and leaned her front against it. "I know! I'm so sorry, I'll do anything, Marco. I promise I'll have the money to you by Monday." She begged, on the verge of tears. "I need a few more days, three tops."

After her relatively humiliating interview with the famous music producer, she underwent a long journey home- cramped on a sweaty and loaded subway, in which she rethought her tragic life. Once she reached her sorry-excuse-of-a-room that she called home, the day-to-day trouble she harvested, became that much more pressing. If her current dilemma wasn't obvious enough, she was in dire need of some money. Any amount offered to her, and in any currency, she didn't mind as long as it could be exchanged for. Rika would take just about anything.

Marco Finchley, otherwise known as her landlord, merely shook his head at her poor attempts to sway him. After all, he had heard them all before. "I've already given you three weeks." He tsked, picking up the catalogue on his desk and flicking through it mindlessly. "Tell you what, I'll give you one more day to pack your things, how's that?"

Staring at him unblinking, the overwhelming emotion bubbled inside of her waiting to explode. And that it did.

Marco was the typical landlord that the wonderful city of New York had to offer, he didn't care much about his tenants as long as he was getting paid. Owning a dingy motel that was infested with rodents and ridden in undesirable qualities was nothing to gloat about, nor was residing in said dingy motel. However, it wasn't like Rika had any other choice, it was the cheapest thing she could find that fit into her budget.

Well, a budget that no longer existed anymore.

All thanks to a certain producer, she had this bubbling urge to cry her eyes out for the remainder of her evening. And since she hadn't been able to let out her miseries yet, she felt it was the appropriate time to finally unleash her despair in front of her unimpressed landlord.

"Please?" Her lips puckered out and out came the waterworks before she could help it. She couldn't stop the tears from streaming down her face rapidly. "I've had the worst day ever, the job interview I told you about went horrible. The asshole made a complete fool out of me, he said I needed new clothes. B-But I can't..." Pausing to cry harder, she shoving her small face into her hands. "I-I can't even afford to buy myself new clothes when I'm struggling to pay the bills on time! I'm trying my hardest I really am but every time I go for an interview, no one wants to hire me..."

"Rika." He bluntly interrupted, showing absolutely no remorse for her tears whatsoever.

She sobbed uncontrollably, her shoulders trembling violently. "I need three more days, please. That's all I need. I'm begging you, three more days."

With a loud sigh, piercing blue eyes honed into her own watching her face fall. "If I say yes will you quit blubbering? You're ruining my evening and staining my new desk." Marco grumbled, gesturing down at the grubby burgundy desk.