A Visitor

Cautiously, Lenny stood up from where he sat and slowly advanced towards the apartment door.

Knock. Knock. Knock. 

A light rap resounded once again from it. 

Passing by the small kitchen, he paused for a second and apprehensively grabbed a fork, arming himself against any sudden mishaps. 

Upon getting to the door, he gently put his left eye on the peephole, and to his surprise, standing there was a bespectacled woman, presumably in her early 20s, with almond skin tone, a delicate oval face, and dull brown eyes. She also had a slight swell on her cheek from the fat-tattooed man's assault.

'…The new neighbor lady from last night? Why is she here?!' Lenny was taken aback. 

He dashed back to the kitchen, dropped the fork, and then to the bedroom. He quickly changed his sweat-soaked shirt into a black turtle neck. For the sweat smell emanating from him, he quickly applied some body spray.

"My goodness, this is so unexpected…" Lenny muttered. However, he wasn't annoyed at this development. He was curious to know why the good-looking lady visited him.

Returning to the apartment door, he checked his breath, cleared his throat, then twisted the door knob.

Already about to turn away to leave, the lady in distress from the night before paused as she saw the door open. 

With a laid-back tone, she calmly greeted first, "Good morning."

"Good morning," Lenny said with a straight face and slightly baritone voice, attempting to give off an air of confidence.

Donning round-framed glasses, an oversized cream fluffy sweater, with her light brown curly hair tied behind her neck, the young lady gave off an air of refinement. This was in direct contrast to the times Lenny had seen her in skimpy dresses. However, to Lenny, she looked the most beautiful.

"How are your hands?" She asked, almost sounding cold due to her neutral tone, however, her eyes showed concern.

'…Dammit, they're already healed…' Lenny calmly put his left hand behind him, hiding it. Then, he let out a soft smile and replied, "They're fine, thank you."

She continued, "And um… about last night, I'm sorry if you felt insulted by what I said…"

'…She came to apologize?' Surprised a little by this rare act of kindness directed at him from the female species of his generation, he immediately forgave her.

"Oh, it's fine. I didn't think much of it anyway."

"I'm Imani, by the way…" said the lady neighbor, extending her right hand for a shake.

Seeing her in a brighter light and not willing to reject the good gesture, Lenny returned the shake, but slightly tilted his hand to the right. He couldn't let her see his knuckles, where the bruises from the punches he threw the night before were supposed to be.

"Lennard, but my friends call me Lenny," he blurted out confidently, much to his surprise. The words just rolled off his tongue.

Imani smiled slightly. "Lenny. It's simple. I like it. Are you from here?"

'…Did she just compliment me?! Well, it's my name she complimented, but it's still my name!' Lenny, having only received compliments from his mother, Sarah, and Nana—Han's mother, was elated to have another woman join the roster. 

He forced himself to maintain composure but his face was slightly flushed. However, it wasn't too visible since the acne on his face was also red.

"Yeah," he replied, implying he was from Neapolis. "You?"

"Same, actually," she said.

Studying Lenny's face, her eyes gleamed with admiration. She found him slightly charming and sort of innocent. 

She voiced, "You helped me last night and I said something wrong. Have you had breakfast? I was going to have breakfast so, I was wondering if you could allow me to treat you…"

'Is... Is she asking me out on a date?!' Lenny's mind sprung into an immediate frenzy. 

Bzzz~

Just then, his phone rang out from his pocket, he quickly asked her to excuse him before answering it.

"Dez?"

From the other end, Desmond spoke out, "You're in luck. Three of the boys volunteered. They'll be at your place in 20 minutes."

Lenny nodded. "Okay, thank you." 

Ending the call, Lenny turned his attention back to the young and stunning lady neighbor in front of him.

In response to her invitation, he wanted to scream 'Yes', but he knew he couldn't. Boss Falcone's goons could be keeping their eye on him from a distance and if they saw her with Lenny, she could get involved in the whole mess too, one way or another. 

Firstly, they could use her as bait to lure him out in the future or employ her to work against him in some way. Secondly, he simply didn't want too many people to know about his business with the loan shark.

'…I've already involved Mike in my mess, I shouldn't endanger more people if I can help it…' he thought. Lenny felt highly responsible for the fact that Mike now basically had a target on his back, despite not having anything to do with the massive debts he—Lenny—owed.

Regrettably, he sighed, "I'm very sorry. I have something to meet up with…"

Imani, slightly taken aback, smiled softly. Still calm, she voiced, "Oh, ok… Maybe tomorrow then? Or…"

Lenny, however, now sporting a sheepish smile, just shook his head. 

"Sorry, I'll… I'll be busy then too."

Understanding the cues hidden beneath Lenny's words, she softly nodded her head. 

"I understand. Maybe some other time then."

 "Yeah, definitely," Lenny concurred and muttered under his breath, "...some other time, then."

What other time was even there? He wasn't truly sure he could escape his current predicament alive, considering the ever-increasing grudges Boss Falcone and his goons held against him. The added phrase was his attempt to convince himself that he would emerge victorious from the entire ordeal, but for some reason, it felt like a blatant lie.

"Okay, bye. Have a great day," she said as she waved slightly, turned, and with graceful steps, walked away.

"You too," Lenny said. With a gentle thud, he closed the apartment door.

Frozen from the encounter, Lenny remained standing at the closed apartment door. A sheepish but sad smile plastered on his face.

Suddenly, he blurted out in frustration, "Dammit, the one chance I get!"

He despondently walked over to the small dining and sat on the chair, his hand on his face.

'…I shouldn't be sad. I did what was needed. She's just a new neighbor, so she doesn't know about the rumors yet. She doesn't know that you're a debt-ridden failure with a supposed gambling addiction, taking on clown gigs and occasionally begging for scraps from the few neighbors who are kind to him. When she learns of it, she'll just start to ignore you like the rest anyway.

'Coupled with that, there's no point in letting her into my life, as a common friend even. Just like Mr. Stranger said: don't fool yourself…'

He let out a self-deprecating chuckle and voiced the last words of his thoughts, "…You're still a walking disaster, Lenny."

Silently sighing, despite the hunger he felt, he got up and went to prepare for Dez's boys' arrival. He had to shower again and change into the clothes he had set out for the 'outing'.

As he proceeded, the tugging and gnawing feeling coming from his abdomen gradually increased, starting to feel almost unbearable. 

Lenny regularly only ate once a day to save money, so he had learned how to endure it.