[TIDK] 30 – Work, Boss

Scarlett lit the brazier again, flamed her grill and pulled out her Moka pot. While she waited for a while with coffee beans and water, she put the frozen bread she had bought the day before and baked it on the grill until slightly burnt. And when she opened the lid of the butter, it was hard.

“It’s all frozen, everything.”

Scarlett scolded herself, scooped up the hard butter that glided off, and placed it on the toasted bread. She began to drink the finished coffee with bread in the cup. Then, her tears suddenly fell, and she wiped her eyes with the palm of her hand.

“I can’t live,” she muttered.

She couldn’t forget Isaac’s subdued voice, telling her they must have been scammed.

Engrossed in her thoughts, Scarlett missed the sound of someone calling her. Thud. She was startled by the sound on her window. She opened it. 

Below, a girl delivering her newspaper waved her hand.

Scarlett raised herself immediately.

“Sorry, Julie! I couldn’t hear it because I was thinking about something else!” She shouted.

“It’s okay!”

The news girl skillfully threw the newspaper into the window.

“Today’s newspaper is interesting, Miss Scarlett!”

“Thanks! I’ll read it right away!”

She spoke loudly, and as she breathed the cold winter air, she felt much better.

She started reading the newspaper with her meal. In today’s newspaper, two well-known singers were in a public relationship with a special note about them.

Scarlett read down their testimonials one by one.

It was nice to read about other people’s love. Besides, it was even better to see love come to fruition.

For Scarlett, love was an extreme and a treasure. Love was something, Scarlett believed, to be worth dying.

So, as long as she loved Viktor Dumfelt, she could die for him at any time.

Perhaps, her love, Viktor, might have hated that and gnashed his teeth. He might have thought scantily about Scarlett.

Even disgust could describe it. She kept giving gifts he did not want to receive. Truthfully, she very well could have been one of those overbearing fans of what singers often say in interviews. Either way, it was Viktor who looked more and more like a victim when she came to think of it.

The top corner detailed Priest Delphio’s execution as she flipped through the pages. 

He had killed three believers so far and had been convicted.

If Scarlett’s husband had not been Viktor, if he hadn’t promised to come to pick her up a hundred days later, Scarlett wondered what would happen. Her head buzzed.

She came to her senses, retook her teapot, and started brewing tea this time. She had to touch small parts, and her hands were frozen; they were numb. She worked as she warmed up the room as much as possible and defrosted her hands with a hot mug of coffee.

She then heard her name called outside.

“Scarlett!”

It was Liv next door.

Scarlett sighed and opened her window, and Liv sputtered.

“Come over now! There’s even a cherry Danish that you like!”

“I have to work.”

“If I were you, I’d just cross over instead of being so stubborn like this!”

As Liv raised her Danish basket and spoke, Scarlett nodded.

Andrei, who tacitly agreed to work for Scarlett, did not greet her upon coming in. Upon seeing her come down to the first floor, he asked.

“Where are you going?”

“Liv keeps calling me.”

“I can hear her screaming well here. I’m sarcastically asking where you’re going to play during work hours when you should be crafting watches.”

“Andrei, I am the boss. You are an employee. Why do you keep trying to make me work?”

Andrei sighed in exasperation.

“If this store goes bankrupt, I will become unemployed. Employees have the right to make their boss work.”

“I have the right to work when I want.”

“A worker has a greater right to get paid, boss.”

Andrei’s rights won. She prioritised paying employees over the freedom of the boss.

“…You can come soon,” Scarlett said, buttoning her coat, a slight pout on her face.

“If you play too long, I will go find you.”

After leaving Andrei’s nagging behind, Scarlett went.

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