Broken Hearts On Boulevard Unirii novel Chapter 10

Sebastian took a wad of bills out of his pocket and counted out one thousand dollars and put them on the table. "They are yours if you get up and come with me."

Roxana looked at the money and many thoughts went through her mind. At that moment she must have been thinking about her unemployed father and her mother who was forced to clean stairwells for ten dollars per apartment building. She must have thought about her living conditions at the university, where she had to share a room with four other girls in one room, so that she could continue her studies at university.

Sebastian would have had to say just one more word and she would have gotten up and gone with him.

At that point I decided to intervene.

"Take your money and get out of our sight," I began. "You ought to be ashamed of your behavior. You were a jerk as a teenager when I first met you and you have remained that way. I thought that by this time you would have grown up and learned to behave. It seems that that hasn't happened."

Sebastian gathered the money, put it into his pocket and stormed out of the restaurant.

"Forgive us, Roxana," I said. "I'm sorry for what happened but we don't think the same way he does."

"Nothing happened. I said I wouldn't go with him and I didn't go," she replied.

I sensed dishonesty in her voice. Had I not intervened, she would have surely gone with him.

"These girls survive a whole month on what one meal in a restaurant costs" Angelo explained to me as we were leaving. "That's why they could not eat; it would get stuck in their throats."

That evening we went out to the local disco. There were loads of young boys and girls standing near the door while a deafening rhythmic music playing inside. The girls had made themselves up for the occasion and dressed in the latest fashion. They wore very short skirts that revealed the entire length of their shapely legs.

When we entered, I was sure that all eyes would fall on us. We looked like a bunch of unrestrained old men carrying on with girls the age of their daughters. Much to my surprise, we became integrated almost immediately. After sipping several tuicas, Angelo and Claudio joined the tempo rather quickly. They began dancing with the rest of the crowd.

Carmen and Simona jumped on a table and danced wildly, occasionally showing their underwear.

"They are totally drunk," someone yelled.

I found a relatively quiet corner, where the noise didn't perforate my eardrums. I sat down with a glass of local beer, when Mirella suddenly emerged from the dance floor. The local was filled with smoke and alcohol fumes.

"Come, let's dance," she said.

"No, I'm not a dancer. Sorry."

As time passed and I saw that no one had collapsed or was leaving, I decided to go outside. The DJ had decided to really get the party started. His speakers were cranked up to "full volume;" that shook all my internal organs. I felt as if any moment one of my kidneys would pop out or I would suffer a heart attack.

"What were you doing in there all this time?" asked Elia, who was standing and smoking with Claudio.

"I was waiting for you. I didn't know you were outside."

"And where is Mirella?"

"She mixed with the dancers and I have not seen her since. The others also didn't see her. There is choking smoke and deafening noise in there."

Suddenly Fabrizio and Luciana appeared, holding hands; both seemingly happy.

"Shall we go back to the hotel," I suggested. "It is nearly two o'clock in the morning."

"What about the rest of the group? How will they know where we have gone?"