Chapter 40: Erik's Story (Part 1)

[Two years ago...]

Erik worked at a local bar in Fiorentina as a waiter. His father was in debt, so he needed to work almost every night to get some money for him. Even though he was not his real father, he did raise him up. So, paying his debts was the least he could do to repay him.

Erik sighed as he wiped a round table clean, "Just three more hours."

After he was done with his shift in the bar, he needed to head to the nearby diner for his other shift. There was a two-hour interval between his shifts, so he would usually take this time to have a quick nap before starting the next. It was extremely brutal for him, but he did not mind it.

"I should get some breakfast for Zack and Kate." He thought as he pushed in the chairs neatly so that the next customers could use them.

Just then, he felt a smack on the back of his head.

"Hey!" A familiar voice called out.

He turned around as he rubbed his head gingerly to see who it was.

It was Lilian.

She grinned charmingly upon meeting his gaze, "What are you thinking about? I called you like two times, you know?"

Lilian was his co-worker, she was a waitress. She was the first-ever person, who talked to him when he first arrived at the bar. Her outgoing and kind-hearted personality was what drew him to her. She had this (pretty) auburn hair that was usually tied up in a ponytail and very pale skin. Her brown eyes complimented her hair and the freckles across her cheekbones and nose was just too cute.

Not that Erik had ever told her that.

However, her smile was her best feature. Every smile she gave was genuinely true and every time she does that, Erik's heart could not help but skip a beat.

"Oh, really? Sorry, I didn't hear. I was just thinking about some unnecessary stuff." He replied as he smiled back at her.

"Like what?" She questioned as she eyed him suspiciously, "Oh. Don't tell me... You have someone you like?"

He immediately averted his eyes as his face turned tomato red, "What?! ...No."

"Hmm. Are you sure?" This time she walked around him slowly, trying to look him in the eye but, he kept looking away. She inspected him closer, before calling him out. "...Liar."

"Tell me who are you in love with?" She requested as she wiggled her eyebrows, "...Is it someone I know, is she here?"

Erik rolled his eyes and said nothing, he pretended he did not hear anything from her and went back to cleaning the other tables.

"Hey, don't ignore me. Just tell me. I would not judge you if you say it's a 'he', you know?" She shrugged as she followed quickly behind.

She took a step forward, but he took a step back. She took another step forward, but he took a step back again.

After a few of that same exchanges, she finally gave up and huffed, "Alright, alright. I'll stop teasing. I brought some food, do you want to take a break and have some?"

He considered for a few seconds. He was indeed hungry, but he was too embarrassed to have someone else's food, especially how he had been doing that for the past few months.

"It's alright, but thanks. I'm not that hungry... To be honest." He rejected nicely with a smile.

Just as he said that, his stomach called out his lie.

Lilian heard the growl from his stomach loud and clear.

She laughed and nudged his side, "Pfft-- Looks like you got betrayed."

She continued laughing for the next minute like it was the best joke that she ever heard while Erik went on to wipe the next table with his reddened face, pretending as if nothing had happened.

When she finally pursed her lips to stop, she held on to Erik's arm while she wiped the imaginary tears off her bottom eyelids, "Come on now, I actually made extra for you. It's not the first time you skipped your meals, so I came prepared."

Erik wanted to protest, but Lilian gave him no time to do so, as she practically pulled him into the employees' lounge, where most employees rest during their breaks.

She sat him down on a bench while she pulled out a container that was filled with sandwiches.

"There you go, this isn't much, but I guess this is something. So, eat up!"

"I think this is more than sufficient, thanks, Lilian." He then took a sandwich and bit into it. As he did that, she looked at him, waiting for a response of some sort from him.

"How is it?" She asked as she sat next to him.

He swallowed before he spoke, "It's pretty good."

"Better than the last one?" She asked once more.

"Yeah." He assured.

After finishing one, he took another and then another.

Lilian noticed and his huge appetite and her expression saddened, "You haven't eaten anything today, have you?"

Erik paused and looked at her, "Um... Nope."

"You promised me last time that you will eat properly, have you forgotten? If this continues, your body will fall apart, you know that, right?" Even though her voice was strict, her expression showed nothing, but concern for him.

"Yeah, I know. But, it can't be helped. I need to get money as quickly as possible, so the quickest way is to save some while you earn some." He explained while staring on the floor, almost as if he found some sort of new fascination with the tiles. He then took a deep breath and continued, "You don't have to worry though, I mean, I've been doing this for months, so I'm getting used to it."

"Getting used to it doesn't mean that our body is going to be fine!" She chided as arms rested on each side of her waist, "I still don't know why you're still working for the sake of paying your father's debts. The last time you gave him money, he spent it all on alcohol. He didn't even bother paying his debt."

Erik did not correct her or anything, because what she said was actually true. Nowadays, his father did nothing but drink, gamble and fool around with random women. His debts were already due, but he did nothing about it, he did not even think about working to get money. He took money from Erik while, at the same time, let his son deal with his debts. He even told the creditors that Erik was the one he would settle his debts, so now they are looking for him, instead of his father.

Suddenly, a loud thud was heard from the outside of the room.

"What was that? Don't tell me it's another one of those drunkards. Man, just give me a break already." Lilian sighed irritatingly as she stood up and headed for the door. Erik then rose to his feet, following her behind.

"WHERE IS THAT LITTLE PUNK?! BRING THAT LITTLE SHIT OUT!" A rather burly looking man demanded while swinging his makeshift bat, which looked more like a club, carelessly, knocking down a couple of chairs in the process.

When Erik saw that man, he could already recognised him.

It was one of his creditors.

Erik cursed under his breath and decided to walk forward to meet him so that he would stop the chaos that was currently happening at his workplace. Most of his salary from this month was already taken by his dad and which by now should already be spent. So, he did not have much money on him, probably just enough to buy him two meals, which he wanted to use to get exactly two meals for Zack and Kate. "I'll just be honest with him, at the very least I'll just get some extra bruises, here and there."

However, just as he was about to do that, Lilian stopped him.

"Lilian?" He called out as he was a little puzzled by her behaviour.

"Don't go, I'll go talk to him instead." She volunteered. She knew that if Erik were to go, he would no doubt get beaten up and she did not want that.

"No, I'm not letting you do that." He answered rather sternly.

"I don't care if you're letting me or not. I'm still going to do it." She retorted and before he knew it, she went forward.

"Excuse me, sir. Why are you looking for Erik?" Lilian asked with a calm voice.

"HUH? That guy owes me money and I got to get it from him!" He barked back.

"I'm sorry but he isn't here right now." She stated with a smile, "Even if he is. Why are you looking for him? He isn't the one who took up the debt. It was his father. Not him."

She said those last two words slowly with much emphasis.

The man looked at her for a second, not saying anything. That made her thought that she talked some sense into him, but she doubted that after he started to laugh.

"I was told that this 'Erik' guy is the one I'm looking for. So, I'm just following my orders. Look, telling me all this isn't going to stop me from finding him. I don't care who took up the debt, the only this I care about is getting money from this 'Erik' guy. I got a family to feed too." The man then continued with a sickening grin, "...Don't you dare lie to me that he isn't here. I saw him a while ago by the windows."

"So, tell me. Where. Is. He?" Those words came out menacingly, indirectly warning her that she should not try lying to him further.

"Or... Did he ask you to come here to talk to me, while he hides at a corner, cowering in fear? How pathetic can he be? He is just like his father. Useless."

All of a sudden, a hand flew across the man's face.

It was Lilian's.

"Who gave you the right to talk about him like that? You don't know him personally, so don't talk as if you do. He is nothing like what you said!" She yelled, feeling no remorse for slapping him.

"You little..." The man snarled as he grabbed her wrist and yanked it towards him. She fell forward, towards the man and he grabbed both of her cheeks in one hand. He pulled her face close to his in order to inspect her face. "You have a great face, too bad your attitude isn't as great."

"But... You can help us in our line of work, like spending nights with some of our clients and maybe then you could help that guy pay his debts as w--" Before he could finish, he felt a blow on his left cheek.

"What th--" Again, he felt another blow, but this time it was on his chin.

In the next second, Lilian disappeared from his side and ended up in someone else's. He looked up and see who it was.

It was Erik.

Erik held Lilian in his arms and growled, "Don't talk to her like that. She got nothing to do with this, leave her alone. I'm here now and I want to let you know that I don't have money. Can you give me three more days? I'll figure something out."

The man rubbed his chin and glared at him, "What kind of business do you think we run? A charity? Do we look like those that would agree to such negotiation? Stop dreaming." Just as he said that he swung his bat towards Erik.

Erik immediately dropped Lilian and dodged his bat.

The man swung once more and this time Erik grabbed the other end of the bat so that his idiotic swinging would stop.

"I really don't want to fight you," Erik said as he broke the bat as he tightened his fist.

The man staggered backwards and yelled, "Y-You're a monster! I'll get you next time!" He then went for the door and left.

Erik let out a sigh of relief, he was glad that he did not need to use any more energy to scare his creditor away. Otherwise, something destructive might happened and that would be unpleasant for him and his workplace.

He would honestly prefer to stay under the radar.