Pursued by Apollo

01

Chapter One:

In which best is never enough.

-

[Vien Tzuyu.]

“I’ll be leaving now, boss.”

She lifted her head to offer me a glance. A smile slipped her lips before waving a soft parting greeting. “Take care out there, kid. I’ll see you later!”

“See you later!”

It was already 2 am when I got off my work, which is not out of the ordinary. Even with me heading out at this hour, there is still several customers inside the diner. I would offer some help, but they already have enough help to handle everyone else. Not only that, but my replacement for the shift already arrived. My eyes moved to the path before me, with the blinking LED lights that announces that we are still open.

Despite my age, I am one of the cook in a popular diner in town. It is a 24 hour diner, catered to serve mostly highend people.

2 am is my normal time from getting off work. If ever I needed some hours because of some school expense, I usually would stay until 6 in the morning. The place was not always serving in such hours, but as a diner who gathered enough recognition—the boss reckoned that it would not hurt to push hours.

The age range that the diner serves is one of the reason that I applied in the place. Not only is the location good from where I am staying—but it serves people outside my usual sea of people. It gaves me privacy from my private life, and the unnecessary whispers that I would get from walking down the hallway. I already have enough of those.

Despite the busy load schedule, the pay was good, which always helped me with expenses. Besides, it offers free food for students like me who make this out of their living.

“Vien Tzuyu.”

Swiveling back to the voice source, I was faced with my landlord. Ugh, this old hag again. With the dim cast of the post light hitting her round face, she looked like a witch that is here to take my life. Her brows were raised while she continuously hit her palms with her newspaper. It surprised me to see her at this time of the hour; but then again, seeing the chair that was neatly prompt here—I guessed that she purposely waited in this location.

“It’s time to pay rent!” she announced with that familiar reech, one that I always fought back not to cringe.

Confused by the words, I only offer her a soft frown, “No, it is not. That is a two weeks from now.”

“No, today’s the p*****t! If you can’t pay, then get out of my apartment!” She hastily screamed, even adding some unnecessary violence in her way.

There is not a chance that she was saying the truth. For someone who has to manage everything on my own, I have a proper list to when thing should be paid. For her to openly say that I needed to pay my rent when it is fourteen days ahead from its usual due, it was unexceptable. Most tenants would have paid for her to shut up, but I would not fold as easily as they do.

“But—” my hands paused from grabbing the paper in my bag as she shrieked.

“No buts!” She yelled again, eyes full of dread as her mouth smelled with liquor.

Great.

My hands folded to my side as I finally caught what was happening. The landlord was not just simply mistaken about what had happened, but she was obviously scamming me. The landlord does not handle her money well, and from what I gathered, she must’ve lost in her gambling, which made her drink more than she usually does and even do this: scam the tenant in her apartment.

I must have been her last victim.

With my sigh, I muttered out the words. “I will then pack my things. Rest assured that I will let the police handle my security deposit, as I doubt that you have a penny on your name right now.”

The landlord seems surprised by my words, but I am in no mood to argue. My feet waltz back to my room. I worked for what seemed like hours in the deadpan of night, and she decided to scam me just for what? Her gambling addiction? Not even that, but her p*****t of a son always try to make a move on me. He was ten years older than me; what a f*****g creep! With the landlord trying to pull a sneak one on me, just gives me a proper way to depart from this place.

Looking back at my place, I know it wasn’t much. This isn’t what most people could call home. But for someone like me, it was more than enough. Sure, there wasn’t much of an item inside this place but it was a roof below my head. It served as it was—a place where I could bathe and rest.

“Damn it,” I grumbled, packing my things with an angry shove. Most items in the room were already here when you rent it, so it had always been a steal for me. While I knew that I was doing the right thing, my mind did wander to the possible things that I could do now. Most important one is, “Where could I stay in this unholy hour? I do not have any relatives to call.”

When will life get more comfortable?

I have done everything in my life, why does it continue to get harder from here?

What did I even do to deserve all of these?

“Wait, my love! Don’t leave me!”

I grimaced the second I walked out of my room. The landlord was shoving his son away from me, as I frowned looking at this older man who had no problems showing interest for someone my age. My biggest fear was always boys like him. The kind who screams nothing but the obsession with my physical appearance. Walking out of place, he leaped into me, making me cry.

“No! Don’t leave me!”

That scene alone made me run away out of there, running out of that place that only screamed insanity. He still chased me, calling my name in full panic, which just set a vast alarm in my head. It took me a whole 20 minutes to reach the park, hiding behind the benches while the man looked for me in panic.

He is most definitely crazy!

“Vien?”

My eyes looked behind me, panic seemed to fill through my mind as I did, worried that the p*****t had found me. However, as soon as I saw a glimpse of blonde haired woman, a sigh escaped through my lips. It was Mxen Moreau, my bestfriend. She was looking at me with a slight worry in her eyes. She stood in a distance away from me, still in her cheerleading uniform with two prominent men idling behind her.

“What are you doing out in this hour?” She asked, c*****g a brow.

I puff out a sigh, “I—I could ask you the same.”

“We need to finish some routines which ended up later than it should, which made me give Claudine a ride here.” She answered in glee, excited about their routine. It seemed to remind her of the situation before her, for her lips formed into a frown. “What about you? And why are your things...”

My mouth didn’t form any type of words, but her eyes already gathered on my appearance. This woman had always been a constant in my life since I entered school. She knows me like the back of her hands, and I couldn’t even deny anything that happened as she’ll see through my lies.

“I thought you got the rent this month?” Her words depicts that she knew exactly that the large bag behind me was the only necessity that I would bring when I get kicked out of my place.

“I do have it.” I grumbled, sighing as I remembered the anger that I felt because of that crook of a woman, “but she’s trying to scam me. Making me pay two days early, I don’t have that on my budget.”

Having to live on my own prose some hardship in my case. I needed to provide everything that I need, and most of the time I would spend my break in work to do my assignment—as I did not have enough expense for electricity on some months.

Mxen offered her hand to my side, uttering, “Then you should stay at my place.”

“I can’t do that, Mxen.”

“You can’t? Then,” she pointed around the place, as if showing me the whole park. It was dark; the only illumination formed was the light posts close to burning out. “Are you telling me that you plan to sleep here? On your own?”

My eyes followed both of the men behind her, making me giggle at their eyes that scream my answer. We all know that I couldn’t say no to this girl. Nobody ever could. Thankfully, I have someone like her as a friend who could rely on these kinds of problems.

Mxen lives a different life from mine. Since her parents does have loads of money, and would often be away from work—she had two bodyguards that watch over her 24/7. Both men would update her parents to whatever she is doing, so she could hardly have enough privacy as she pleased.

She could have everything she wanted, but Mxen is more than the money that her family has. The woman has a heart of gold, one that is uncommon for someone of her status. She has the kind of laughter that could light up the room and kindness that could warm the devil’s heart.

She chose to be my friend—one who didn’t even have money for lunch.

“Mxen, I am eternally thankful for this,” I muttered, grabbing both of her hands.

She only answered with a giggle, granting me a hug, “Of course! You’re my best friend! At times like this, you could have called me.”

My eyes watered at her words, making her gasp.

“Oh no! Let’s talk about something else; you are an ugly crier.” She teased, but I already knew that she just hated seeing me cry.

I laughed, “Hey! That is a terrible thing to say!”

Mxen walked back to her car, with me following behind her. She animately talk about the routine, and I found myself understanding most of her lingos. We have been together through a number of years, so it is not surprising that I would caught everything she is passionate about.

“Are we stopping to grab some food, miss?”

Mxen paused from what she was saying, her eyes following mine with a smile. “No. Vien will probably faint if we did. We best lock her up when we could.”

“Understood.”

I simply rolled my eyes, knowing damn well that she just wanted to eat my cooking. Mxen could hardly cook for her own, and she is not fond of how the servers of her home would prepare her foods. You would think that she would get used to it after years of eating what they serve—but she does not.

“Do you have anything in mind?” I asked, listing what she usually liked to eat.

Mxen hummed, a smile casted on her lips. “Chili shrimp, please.”