Oscar looked up at the ceiling for a while after waking up. He hadn't woken up to the sound of birds, he had woken up to the loud noise of the machines that had come to do the roadwork that hadn't been completed for a long time in his neighborhood that was looked down upon as a slum. The restless words of workers who had to work in the cold weather echoed through the side streets. He checked his phone hopefully, but there was no good news. His phone was full of "Sorry, but you are not qualified for this position." messages. He even visited his old workplaces for a few days, but they all rejected him without a second thought. Oscar could of course guess what was going on. There couldn't be many criteria for being a waiter even in a simple restaurant, and Oscar could meet all the criteria as someone who had worked in many places. Victor was behind this, and Victor had already admitted it with his own mouth. And that day, Oscar would see once again how far Victor could go.
Oscar decided to stop by a few more places even though he knew it wouldn't work. But just as he was going downstairs, he saw an envelope that hadn't been fully inserted into the mailbox. Who would send him a letter? Oscar thought it might be an official document and took the envelope from the mailbox. He tore off the corner, looked at the papers inside and started reading. There were many writings on the papers, but only one point made Oscar's blood run cold.
"IF DEBTS ARE NOT PAID, THE LENDING PARTY HAS THE RIGHT TO INITIATE LEGAL PROCEEDINGS."
Of course, the party written here who lent or borrowed money was not Oscar. These were debts inherited from his mother years ago, when he looked at date, it was possible to understand which period they belonged to. But why were the men who were afraid to take action for so long now asking for the debt back?
"I'll make you accept."
Suddenly Victor's words rang in Oscar's ears. That man seemed really confident the other day. As if he had planned something... Oscar quickly crumpled the papers, what he guessed was making him angry. Of course, the debt written on the paper wouldn't have been much in the past, but over time, the debt had increased due to interest. Oscar couldn't even sigh as he looked at the number written on the paper. "Is that how you're trying to scare me?" he thought to himself and turned around. He went up the stairs two by three, stopped at the door of his apartment, went inside and walked towards the living room. There it was, the card Victor had given him. He took the card involuntarily, as if he were touching something poisonous, and dialed the number on it into his phone. He was waiting for the secretary to answer.
"Kane. Your call took longer than I expected." Oscar paused for a moment, why had Victor answered the phone?
"Didn't you say this number belonged to the secretary? How do you know who the person is without even hearing their voice?" In contrast to Oscar's skeptical and cold voice, Victor had a more confident and annoying sarcasm in his voice.
"Only you know this number, it's not hard to guess who it is." Then his voice got a little quieter. "Why did you call me?" Oscar clenched his free hand into a fist, but tried to keep his voice as steady as possible, not wanting to entertain the man on the phone.
"Debt papers. You did it on purpose, didn't you?" A low laugh was heard from the other end of the phone.
"Am I the only person in your life who wants to mess with you? It's flattering that you think even the smallest problem is because of me." There was a moment of silence. "Yes, I did it on purpose. In fact, we can say that I had a hand in the transfer of the debts to you. After all, someone has to be responsible for unpaid debts, right?" Oscar didn't respond. He had guessed it. Victor had deliberately put him in a difficult position.
"Tell me, what do you get out of this? I wasn't the one who reported you to the police. But you're preventing me from getting a job, and you're passing on debts from years ago to me."
"You ask too many questions."
"You cause too much trouble." Oscar sighed and continued, "I don't know what you're trying to do. But what is this job you mentioned?"
"So you're finally listening, huh?" Victor chuckled softly. "Be ready in half an hour." And he hung up.
"This idiot... I want to shred him." Oscar put the phone back in his pocket as he stared at the disconnected call. Debts, slander, Whitmore... He didn't know why he still couldn't give up on life.
After about twenty minutes, Oscar got up from his chair and opened the door when he heard the doorbell. Victor looked down with a smirk on his face.
"I didn't know you could use the door," Oscar muttered. "I'm ready, where are we going?" Victor looked Oscar up and down before answering.
"Are you going to go out like this? Put on something warmer."
"What's it to you? Just walk." Oscar left the house and closed the door before Victor could object. Victor frowned as he followed him down the stairs.
"Should I give you my jacket?" he asked when they finally reached the door of the building, but Oscar rejected the offer with a sharp look. Victor directed him to a nearby black car. The windows were covered in black tint, but of course someone like Victor wouldn't get punished for that. Wealth was a strange thing.
Of course, it was cold inside when they got in the car. Oscar had heard that alphas were resistant to cold, but he understood it a little more clearly when he got in the car. Although his house was usually cold, he turned his head to the side, trying to get used to it. But suddenly, he heard the low sound of the car engine mixed with the sound of a fan. When the warm air wave reached his skin, he looked at Victor's hand adjusting the air conditioning settings in the reflection on the glass.
The car ride was very quiet, neither of them saying anything. The only sounds that could be heard were Victor's fingers tapping on the steering wheel to the beat of a familiar song. Oscar had thought they had a long way to go, but when he looked at the large building in front of which the car stopped, he saw that the way was actually quite close. The building was a bar attached to a nightclub that Oscar didn't really care about. It actually seemed like a pretty decent place, but Oscar didn't like it very much.
They walked in, and Oscar glanced at Victor to see that he was already looking at him.
"Why did we come here?" Victor turned his head without answering, and Oscar wanted to grab a tray from a nearby waiter and hit Victor in the head, but he forced himself to stay calm. He followed Victor, eventually reaching a man who was shorter than the other waiters, wearing a white shirt and loose-fitting pants.
"Mr. Whitmore! How nice to see you here." The man said excitedly, then looked at Oscar. "Is this the friend you mentioned?"
"Yes, Alec." Suddenly he put his hand on Oscar's waist and pulled him a little closer. "Oscar Kane." Oscar glared at Victor, while Alec smiled and extended his hand.
"Nice to meet you, Oscar. I'm the head waiter, it's my duty to teach you the job." Oscar gently shook the hand that was extended to him. His hands weren't exactly soft, and there were a few bruises from years of work.
"Nice to meet you, Sir," he said in a calmer voice. Alec seemed to like him.
"You seem like a nice person, and Mr. Whitmore asked you here. Come back tomorrow and we'll talk about the details of your job."
Oscar smiled without hiding his surprise, finally feeling relieved. He said he would come tomorrow and left the bar with Victor. Victor started the car without saying anything and this time took a shorter route to Oscar's house. Oscar unfastened his seat belt, turned his head and looked at Victor.
"Remember I'll be back when the casino opens." He broke the awkward silence with the reminder and got out of the car and got inside. Victor looked at the door that Oscar had closed behind him for a while longer. Then he went into the air conditioning settings of his car and turned off the hot air.
"He's warmed up by now, isn't he?" He didn't know why he was taking longer to drive just so Oscar would warm up a little more, but he frowned at the stupidity of what he was doing, started the car and drove away.
Oscar had gone to bed that night with a little more peace of mind. It was true that there were debts, but at least he could make enough money to get by until the casino opened. Maybe he could also get away from this house that was torturing him because of his sensitive sense of smell?
He didn't know what would happen, but for the first time, even for one night, his nightmares weren't so scary.