TURF

Welcome

It was the long awaited weekend before orientation week at the University of Hatfield, and Anderson Street was buzzing with young student personalities looking for a place to call their home for the upcoming year. The Monrowe brothers were on top of their game, marketing all of their buildings in every corner of the city.

Brian, the second eldest brother was looking over buildings on the east of the city. Andrew, the third eldest, was responsible for buildings on the west. Ethan and Nathan, the twins, had the south covered. Since the north brought in the most revenue, it had to be attended to by 3 brothers: Vinny - the eldest, Caesar - Matthew's immediate older brother, and Matthew himself.

The brothers took their jobs seriously. Anderson Street had a festival feel to it with loud music playing, lots of carnival games with prizes to be won, and free food available on stands. It was obvious that the higher the serotonin level, the more likely people were to sign contracts.

While the other two brothers were working the street alongside hired promoters, Matthew was stationed at the information desk in the center of the hive.

Matthew was the youngest and most handsome of the 7 brothers, but had the worst people skills according to the family. They needed him as bait for young girls, specifically, without letting him do a lot of talking.

The 7th Monrowe brother sat lazily behind the desk while scrolling through his phone with a cherry flavored sucker tucked into the side of his cheek. Like moths to a flame, two girls eventually approached him. "Hi" one of them greeted.

Matthew secretly rolled his eyes before looking up from his screen. His eyes toggled from one girl to the other, trying to figure out who was calling out for his attention.

"My sister and I love that building, Seoul by Monrowe." the same girl continued.

"You can just call it Seoul." Matthew replied with a decent attempt at a smile. It was quite superficial for the boys to name their buildings after capital cities, it made them feel like they had the world at their disposal. "Seoul is the best in my opinion, followed by Abuja."

"Abuja did have a sleek feeling to it," the girl continued "but Seoul apartments are bigger so..."

"Fair enough." He chuckled as he leaned back into his chair and pulled out the sucker. The girl's eyes were undoubtedly allured by the round red candy being produced by Matthew's seductive lips.

"My sister and I can't decide on whether we should get a two-bedroom apartment from Seoul or each get a one-bedroom apartment..." the second girl stepped in before her sister could embarrass herself.

The answer was simple for Matthew, they should choose whichever would make Monrowe more money. "Well," he started "if you two are sisters, you probably grew up together and always had to share a space. Consider this a chance to each have your own space. You can decorate it however you want, mess it up however you want, you can invite whomever you want at whatever time you want. Sneak in a boy at 3am if you want..."

The first girl burst out in a flirty laughter, but the second was unimpressed. "What are your names?" he asked them.

The first girl jumped to answer "I'm Amanda, and my sister's April." she blushed.

Matthew took out two blank pastel pink cards from the deck on his desk and began to write in both. Amanda was desperately trying to sneak a peek, while April was shrinking from secondhand embarrassment. When he was done, Matthew took two tiny tins of Lindt Chocolate from a basket behind his desk, and got up to stand right in front of the ladies.

He handed the cards and candy to each respective girl. "Can't wait to see you both in Seoul." he winked and plopped his sucker back into his mouth. He then left the girls at his station because he desperately needed to stretch his legs.

'Choose a single bedroom apartment, April, and I'll personally make sure that you and your sister are neighbors. -Matthew'

'Amanda, leave it to me to find you an apartment with a view as gorgeous as your ocean-blue eyes. -Matthew'

"We're staying in Seoul, call dad." Amanda asserted.

"Seoul is pricey! Unless we share, but-"

"I don't care if I have to sacrifice the car I was begging dad to buy me this year, I'm staying in this building with my cute view!" Amanda dragged her sister to an area where they could make the call. Her decision was final.

Matthew didn't even have to take two steps before he found himself across the street from Dianne's mansion. She had done an amazing job of patching up the house and readying it for presentation in a matter of 4 days. If you didn't know better, you would say that the fire had never happened. But Matthew knew better, he could see it in the blackened tree branches above Dianne's property.

He spat out the sucker and made his way to cross the street. Dianne had a similar event going on which was smaller scaled. She managed to also spring for a stand with colourful carnival snacks and stood out handing out flyers. It was a one-woman operation, and she was definitely getting it done.

Matthew noticed that Dianne didn't struggle to attract customers, and he knew this was because parents felt more comfortable leaving their adult children in the hands of someone they perceived as nurturing - a woman. The brothers had used that marketing technique at some point, but it stood no chance against selling a luxury party lifestyle to said children...

He waited patiently and respectfully for Dianne to finish speaking to a prospective customer before approaching her. She thought that Matthew was another prospective, but her bright smile soon turned sour after recognizing the face. Matthew was apologetic upon seeing the profound anger in her eyes, which was shadowed by the pain of losing someone you loved.

"I'm sorry." he said sincerely.

"Get off my property!" she replied coldly. Upon seeing an approaching customer, she brightened her face up once again and gladly handed them a flyer and cotton candy on a stick.

"Let me help you."

The words were a trigger for Dianne. "You've done enough helping! Fuck off!" she lashed at him, but luckily her voice drowned into the upbeat festival music. He heard her loud and clear, but luckily, no customers could. That, at least, preserved her nurturing image and marketing strategy.

Matthew didn't blame her for feeling how she did, and although he had nothing to do with the explosion, he felt that it was all his fault. He somewhat knew that it was coming. Everyone who took on the Monrowes faced a similar fate.

He wanted to buy Dianne all the time in the world, so that she wouldn't have to be another statistic. The morning he found out about the 'failed bomb' it became apparent how urgent the matter was.

When the brothers announced that they had 'accidentally' killed her son instead, Matthew began a mourning process of his own. Dianne had meant more to him than he had initially understood. He felt her pain!

Matthew picked up some flyers from her stand and began to hand them out, regardless of how he was wearing a conflicting Monrowe-branded T-shirt. When Dianne saw this she yanked all the flyers from his hands. Matthew was paralyzed from seeing the devastation in the broken woman's face.

Before he could plead one more time, Dianne took a decadent cupcake with royal blue icing and shoved it on his lips to shut him up. "Don't make me call the cops." she threatened.

Matthew felt someone pull him by the left arm and simply went with it. His brother, Caesar, pulled him to the other side of the street - the safe side. "I saw all of that!" he huffed in disbelief.