Ajax and Shaula continue walking down the street towards a traffic intersection; their school is three blocks away now.

They've gotten past their laughter and move on to talk about the English test that they'll be working on soon. It's just some small talk to help with Ajax’s anxiety. His dread in preparation for tests is quite a bit hopeless. He believes that talking through it will help his anxiety when it, most likely, will pile onto it.

"How do you think it'll be?"

"Don't worry so much, Ajax... Regardless of how it'll be, you're gonna to have to do it. You've done enough prep for this. Calm your tits..."

"Easy for you to say, Shaula! I'm not as smart as you, you know!"

"Aw, shut the fuck up. I'm not thaaat smart. I mean, look at you, going to your fuckin' fancy-schmancy chemical engineering program; like, you haven't forgotten where I'm going, right? Don't you think I should be more worried about this test than you? I mean, I hardly studied for this, you know, like, all I did was help you study. And, look... it's just English class! She doesn't even give difficult assignments..."

"...the fact that you think she doesn't give difficult assignments isn't really helping your case here... are you really trying this late in the game to say that you're not smart? Like, I mean, just two weeks ago, we did that... uh... that uh... fuckin'... practice exam! Yeah, we compared answers and shit for that, right?"

"What? You're still on about that? That was, like, a 30 minute thing, at best..."

"I know it took you 30 minutes but it took me a full two hours! You fucking demon! That kind of pace isn't normal, you know!?"

Shaula flips him off again while they both come to a stop at the intersection with a glowing red traffic light and a Don't Walk sign.

In truth, Shaula is a much more academically gifted student than Ajax. However, she couldn't stand a future sponging off of the goodwill of Ajax and his family or a future in immense debt. In thinking about her future deeply, she stepped on the path of skilled trades.

She chose an industrial electrician earn-as-you-learn apprenticeship rather than an ivy-league STEM program. She made this decision because she could earn money right off the bat while gaining knowledge in a skilled trade currently in high demand across the Federal States of Great Britannia. After four years of her apprenticeship, she would be an industrial electrician, an occupation currently in high demand, especially in New Amsterdam City.

Shaula hated the thought of working herself to death to pay off a loan over $100 000 just to spend time at a prestigious university like Samuel Johnson. She just knew that she wouldn't be fulfilled in the end.

Going to a cheaper school in another state or country was also not an option because she wanted to remain near Ajax, the sole person in this world she loved.

Even if she got a scholarship, which, in the best case, would cover two-thirds of her tuition for colleges in this area, she wasn't interested in that kind of future. She's not someone who seeks intellectual fulfillment on the caliber of pursuing a degree. After studying enough subjects ad nauseam, she realized finally that pursuing any kind of math or technical science that she was interested in for her entire future would only make her hate the subject in the end. The same could be said for a liberal arts degree.

Shaula appreciated subjects for their initial novelty when viewed and examined from a distance. None of it was interesting enough to pursue for life.

Furthermore, Shaula personally disliked white collar work a lot. Sitting in an office, being forced to interact with urban professionals who had either oblivious or pompous attitudes, was one of the worst outcomes for her.

A skilled trade placed less of a burden in that respect for her as long as the skill was at least slightly interesting to her. Industrial electrical work was a perfect skilled trade in this regard.

Shaula was accepted to the Annaeus College trade school for her chosen apprenticeship in the first week of April. This institution was a trade school with a high reputation in New Amsterdam City that allowed her to stay close to Ajax and his family over the next four years.

The program did have a tuition fee but she would become eligible for student housing assistance from the government; she had also received a full-ride scholarship (only offered through Annaeus College) as a reward for her sustained academic excellence. Combined with the earn-as-you-learn structure of the apprenticeship, she would be able to find a place to live and have some money saved up by the end of the four years.

Considering her more money-secure future, Shaula could get her own cheap place, or maybe even move in to an off-campus apartment with Ajax as her roommate, during her apprenticeship without issue. She wouldn't have to live rent-free at Ajax's family home anymore.

She would have time to spend to think of ways to pay Ajax back for the debt she feels she is currently incurring from him rather than spending decades paying off another massive debt to some bank or the state.

Ajax doesn't consider her living with him a burden or a debt to be paid off at all, of course.

Ajax's own college tuition is to be funded through his parents' college fund. He has to take out a small loan nonetheless but his circumstances are fundamentally different from Shaula in this regard. He wouldn't be burdened financially by the end of his degree no matter which school he goes to or what program he takes.

With regards to letting Shaula live at his home with him and his family, Ajax sincerely considered it a friend helping out a friend in need and, by the time Shaula had actually moved in, he had already considered her a very important person to him.

Ajax, at least, doesn't think he would be so good a person that he would do this for just anyone in need; but for Shaula? For his precious Shaula? Anything. He'd do anything.

⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟⃟

Ajax and Shaula continue talking to each other about the test, waiting at the intersection for the light to turn green. It's mostly just Shaula consoling Ajax’s anxieties.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the crosswalk is a man. He's a tall, physically fit, middle-aged man with a thick head of messy, slightly greying hair, shiny with pomade.

The man is wearing a navy-blue business suit and a pair of yellow-brown tinted sunglasses. His collared shirt under his suit jacket is bluish-white and wrinkled and around his neck is a blue, diagonally-striped tie. His shoes are black and need a shine and his silver watch on his right wrist is particularly expensive, both in appearance and actual price.

The man, who was looking at the passing cars obstructing his path across the street, looks past the moving vehicles towards Shaula on the other side of the crosswalk. He stares at Shaula... particularly her chest.

Shaula sees the man on the other side of the crosswalk and, while he continues talking about the test, she ignores Ajax's words, concentrating on the man staring at her.

Her face changes, from its smile towards Ajax, to take on a sharp look of focus. She feels like she has seen that man before. Who is he to her?

Ajax notices Shaula's concentration on something and sees the direction of her gaze; Ajax sees the man, a vulgar expression appearing on the man's face across the street from them.

The man licks his lips.

Perhaps, if the man was looking at just any beautiful woman walking down the street with such an expression, his tasteless, disrespectful behaviour would be taken as just tasteless, disrespectful behaviour.

However, both Ajax and Shaula are wearing their high school uniforms. Even though Shaula is already 19 years old, for all this man knew, she could be a 9th grader.

There are also many high school girls walking in this area wearing the same uniform. He's undoubtedly passed a few of them already from the direction he's coming from, walking away from the school area. Ajax frowns.

It is very clearly a school uniform, you creepy fuck...

The only inference Ajax can make is that the man is a pervert, perhaps a pedophile. He tries to ignore the man's obscene expression towards Shaula. Ajax is someone afraid of confrontation, a coward in this sense. Thinking about facing a hostile party, as well as the underlying threat of violence and actual violence associated with such encounters, is something he doesn't want to face in reality.

However, he glances at Shaula's face again.

It changes from her initial sharp look of vigilance. It is now one of pure hatred.

Hatred of the darkest colour, of the brightest shade, of the highest level, of the deepest hell.

Ajax has never seen hatred on Shaula's face like her hatred towards this louse, still standing on the other side of the crosswalk.

Ajax understands, in theory, why Shaula is currently feeling this hatred.

You would feel disgust and repulsion towards someone openly leering at you as if you were a sexual object and not a real human being. The details of what the man is feeling aren't vague either. Ajax could tell by his expression that the man was only thinking thoughts most perverse.

This man would treat Shaula like a toy if he could. Someone he can repeatedly violate and defile before throwing her away like trash, leaving her traumatized and unable to find or even make eye contact with another man ever again.

The kind of man who has raped before and would rape again. The kind of appearance and face that screams "wealthy human trafficker".

This is how the man looks like to Ajax, who isn't even the object of the man's perverse interest. Ajax imagines what this man looks like to Shaula and it must be a repulsion an order of magnitude higher.

But, nevertheless, Ajax has never seen Shaula display such burning hostility before. Probably because they don't often run into such vile individuals like this middle-aged wretch who openly leers at high school girls.

Shaula does hate this man. She hates him because she has recognized this man’s face. It's that scumfuck. It's Martin Jevgeni.

What the fuck? What the fuck is that piece of shit doing here? What the fuck!? I had hoped I would never see your stupid fucking face ever again!

Martin is the man who got Shaula fired from her part-time waitressing job. Shaula could never forget Martin's face. Shaula is cautious if Martin recognizes her. In preparation for such an eventuality, she opens her purse. She reaches into it for her curved Karambit hunting knife, a weapon that she carries in her purse for self-defence.

She doesn't really believe he would attack her in public; but if he does, she is prepared. She keeps her right hand in her purse on the grip of the knife. Her body tenses as she prepares for a potential confrontation.

Shaula had worked for a long time as a part-time waitress at Nero's Seafood Bar and Grill, a subpar seafood restaurant located in a less densely populated borough of New Amsterdam. She earned a low salary but if she worked hard and smart she was able to scrape up a lot in tips, which would be split between the owner, the other waitstaff and herself.

She needed money so she worked there since no other businesses were hiring someone of her economic class; in exchange, she overlooked the poor working conditions and labour code violations, not that she could do much about those to begin with.

Then, in walked Martin, this disgusting sleaze bag, with three of his scumbag friends, into the restaurant at 8pm. They were favoured patrons at this restaurant and had interacted with the waitresses often. They were notorious sexual harassers but they mostly only come to eat on weekdays at lunch so Shaula had never had to deal with them or witness their behaviours; she would be at school during the day, after all.

Today was an exception. After they sat down and ordered some food and drinks, they eventually turned their attention to the waitresses serving them. Shaula noticed these men harassing her fellow waitress, Lisa Reyes, a young hispanic woman. Lisa was sending signals out to the waitstaff nearby to help her walk away from the table. Shaula obliged her.

Shaula made up an excuse to help Lisa escape the situation and as Shaula and Lisa were leaving, Martin groped Lisa while his shitty friends cackled away. Lisa, in return, out of shock and fear, broke Martin's nose in one strike to his face, leaving him bleeding profusely. When one of his friends tried to attack Lisa in retaliation, Shaula had grabbed the wine bottle on the table and smashed it over his head, knocking him unconscious.

The other two scumbags did nothing out of fear towards both Lisa and Shaula.

Martin and the three shitheads couldn’t press charges with all of the witnesses around in the restaurant who saw how Martin and his friends were harassing Lisa. Nevertheless, the owner of the restaurant, who was good friends with the group of scumbags, fired both Shaula and Lisa for their defensive actions. Shaula had lost her job in the third week of November of the previous year, during her first semester of the 12th grade.

Shaula's mind races thinking about what Martin is doing in this neighbourhood near her high school. If he lives in the area, it doesn't seem possible for her to never have seen him before.

Does he have a kid at our school? Does he know one of the teachers? Why is he in this area!? I've never seen him here before, what the fuck!? Why did it have to be today of all days? Oh... I bet he fucked someone in this neighbourhood.

Shaula thought so because he was dressed too impeccably and his watch looked too expensive to actually live in this neighbourhood; furthermore, his collared shirt was slightly wrinkled and his hair was messy but shiny with pomade, indicating he had used pomade the day before, mussed his hair and clothes up during intercourse and wasn't able to reapply product to his hair or iron his shirt in the morning. He must have just left his lover's place. Shaula gritted her teeth in frustration

Don't these middle-class bitches have better things to fill their snatches with!? Whatever, whatever... fuck... Now, how are we gonna to do this...?

The traffic intersection lights signal for Ajax and Shaula to proceed along the crosswalk. Shaula walks, her gaze of hatred not fading, her hand still reached into her purse.

Ajax doesn't notice her actions however, nor her preparation for violence. He is too busy thinking about this scumbag looking at Shaula with a gaze of predation, with fear and loathing. Martin starts walking along the crosswalk. He licks his lips once more.

Shaula imagines how she'll cut him down if he reaches for her. A kick to the pelvis and then break his jaw? Or a strike to the solar plexus and then gouge out his eyes with her knife? One stab between the ribs maybe, to perforate a lung? Cut off the fingers of the hand he groped Lisa with?

But... Martin does nothing.

Martin doesn’t say a word, he doesn’t make a move, he doesn’t even signal to them as he walked past. He behaved towards Shaula as if he was examining a pornographic image on a computer screen believing that the girl in the image couldn't see him, oblivious to his own vulgar behaviour.

Shaula and Ajax pass by the man, suffering no issue except shame at their lack of opportunity and lack of strength, respectively. Martin didn't even seem to recognize her. Shaula is annoyed that he didn't try anything and frustrated that he didn't seem to even remember her.

She wants an excuse. An excuse to slice him apart.

To pull out his jugular with her serrated knife.

Shaula had seen how Martin had grabbed Lisa. He had reached under Lisa’s skirt to fondle her rear, and tried to advance with his groping hand towards her genitalia. Lisa had responded almost unconsciously, in shock at his repulsive action, to prevent being penetrated by his fingers; she was traumatized.

Lisa was a shorter, more delicate woman than Shaula. Shaula didn't socialize with her coworkers but Lisa was friendly to everyone, even people like Shaula who weren't necessarily friendly back. Shaula had even stepped in a not-insignificant number of times to deal with customers berating Lisa. She felt sick allowing the more sensitive Lisa to handle those pricks.

If Shaula hadn’t dealt with the second man coming to attack Lisa herself, Lisa would have stood there in a daze as the second man came for a left hook to her jaw.

Lisa was in tears while the owner fired the both of them, uninterested in Lisa’s humiliation and pain.

In order to save face, the owner had tried to point out Shaula’s increasing series of on-the-job mistakes over the past few weeks. Shaula was trying to balance school with this stressful, low-paying job and it was finally starting to eat at her.

The owner had embarrassed Shaula in front of the entire restaurant, although that was nothing compared to his indignities towards Lisa.

The owner of the restaurant had threatened to call the department of Immigration on Lisa; Lisa was a permanent resident but if she lost her place of employment, a visit from the department of immigration would not be good for her. The owner even screamed at Lisa in front of the customers at the restaurant while she was still crying next to Shaula. Shaula was trying desperately to console her but it was getting harder to hide the anger in her voice.

One of Shaula’s greatest regrets was preventing herself from acting violently in that situation; she had stopped herself from, right then and there, castrating the owner and the man who groped Lisa, out of fear for what legal action they would pursue. If she was put in prison, she would be separated from Ajax, a fate worse than death to Shaula.

As Ajax and Shaula walk past the man on the crosswalk, Shaula takes her hand out of her purse and Ajax notices that she’s had her hand in her purse while walking along the crosswalk with him. He doesn’t understand the significance of that action however. He’s never even seen Shaula’s Karambit knife before.

Ajax, still in anger at the man, Martin, simply continues walking. He can’t help but feel fear towards Martin, who is both taller and more built than he is; he feels small because he allowed his fear to stop him from confronting this bastard who disrespected Shaula right in front of him, with his vulgar gaze.

But, as they continue walking to the other side of the crosswalk, Ajax and Shaula hear something.

It is the man, Martin.

Martin turns his head and wolf-whistles at Shaula. He turns his head back and laughs to himself. With that sound from behind him, Ajax slows his pace and stops; he turns around. Martin is walking away without looking at them, laughing to himself; he's dressed like he's clearly off to a business meeting to do some business.

Ajax hesitates for a minute in fear of this man. A man who's taller than him, with a well-defined body and who appears wealthier than both of his parents combined. Ajax looks at Shaula once again, who continues to slowly walk forward in frustration. She doesn’t turn back towards the man. She looks humiliated; rather she was humiliated, humiliated by this man.

His hesitation quiets; Ajax walks forward towards Martin. The blood is rushing through his arteries and veins as his body takes a response in preparation for what could be a physical altercation. His eyes form tunnels blocking out everything but the back of this man.

He can’t comprehend the noise on the streets anymore, the cars rushing past parallel to the crosswalk. He can only hear the thumping of his own heart. He can’t feel the cool breeze anymore, he can only feel the blood flowing to his head; not the rational part but the animalistic part.

You think you just can walk away after disrespecting my friend like that, you fucking prick!?

But... but Ajax is stopped from moving forward.

He feels someone grabbing his left arm as he's about to walk to confront this reprobate. He turns his head abruptly along the hand grabbing him and sees Shaula looking at him, with anger in her eyes. A kind of hasty anger she is directing at his current steps towards making a big mistake.

Shaula pulls him forcefully to their destination on the other side of the crosswalk.

"Ajax. Please. Please don't be so fucking impulsive. I appreciate the effort and you know I love you and I know you love me but please! If I see you get hurt for me, don't think you can get away with it, you asshole. If I see you in the hospital with a broken arm from fighting for my sake, I’m going to break your legs next."

Ajax looked at her in confusion and then looks back at the man. He wanted to defend Shaula's honour. She knew that as well. He wanted to not be a coward. She knows this too. He wanted to rise to the challenge. His mind races for a rationalization.

He tries to think about what he would have done if the guy tried to fight him. Did he even think that far? What fighting tactics would he have used? He didn’t even have a weapon.

"E-Even if he was bigger than me and maybe stronger, I... I could still kick him in the balls in a surprise attack, don't you think?"

"All that looks like to the surroundings is an unprovoked attack on a rich, old fuck. Then you might even have to deal with the pigs. This shithead would then sue your ass and your parents. Not to mention if the guy had a gun or a knife..."

Shaula has to consider such a possibility because she has a knife herself and she had taught herself self-defence knife techniques as best she could. She couldn't simply judge a book by its well-dressed cover.

"It's better to leave with your life; any fight can turn badly. Every day... every fucking day people ruin their lives for stupid reasons thinking life's a game or a movie that just... works out in the end. Trust me... I know..."

Ajax looks at her realizing his mistake. She does know. Ajax knows she is speaking from experience.

"Life isn't a game, Ajax. Things don't always work out. You can't wish it and make it happen. For some people... they never work out. Don't attempt something like that again unless it's a matter of life or death."

"... ok, Shaula. I'm... I'm sorry."

Shaula looked at his face, twisted in sadness at his own impotence. He has never forgotten he lives in the real world but it pains him to be reminded of that fact during a situation like this. Shaula looks at his face with a sad smile, holding back her tears.

"I love you, Ajax."

"I love you too, Shaula."

Ajax pulls Shaula towards her and gives her a deep embrace. Shaula wraps her thin, toned arms around him and rubs his back slowly, consoling his shattered pride. It isn't his fault. She has made the decision to stop him. Even if she wanted to stab that man’s joints and slice off his tendons, she has to also remind herself that she lives in the real world.

A world with consequences towards not only her but to the people she loves.

Such actions would not be worth being put in prison away from Ajax. Maybe if Martin had done to Shaula what he did to Lisa, Shaula would have been more reckless, rather, more certain that not achieving revenge would leave her gnashing her teeth.

Ajax wraps his arms around her as well and gives her a kiss on the cheek. Shaula is almost as tall as Ajax, her height being 5 foot 11 inches. While she continues to embrace Ajax, Shaula looks at the man care-freely proceeding down the street with her continued look of hatred.

The man doesn't care, he simply moves on to ruin more lives.

Ajax doesn't ask if Shaula recognizes the man. He knows that she does recognize him but he doesn't want to pry into something that she doesn't seem to want to talk about.

The time is almost 8:50am. The English exam starts in a few minutes. They'll enter it with a bad taste in their mouths.