Chapter 7

My muscles and feet were hurting me, so I stopped then slowly pushed myself on the dirty ground. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. The tears were still falling from my face but not as rapidly as they were a few hours ago. I opened my eyes at the sound of a car passing, and it was then I saw the number that I had been trying to remember for the past forty-five minutes. A vast 150 concrete sign was directly in front of me. I looked up at the building and smiled with relief. Uvaldo lived at 150 Main Street north. I slowly push my self off the ground and started to walk to the pedestrian crossing. As I walked across the street, I pray that I was on Main Street North and not south. I laughed between my tears when I saw in the small letters 'main street north.' I entered the apartment complex and started walking towards the lobby door. A million thoughts running through my head. What if he changed his mind? What if he realised asking a homeless girl to move in with him was a stupid idea? As I pushed open the lobby door, I saw a male receptionist. I walked up to him, "Goodnight. I'm here to see Uvaldo Dakoda. I don't remember his apartment number, but he told he lived here this morning." The older man around fifty looked at me from head to toe and frowned. "I'm not authorised to give you that information, Miss." "Please, I need to see him. Call him. Tell him Jakoby is here to see him." I persisted, but his facial expression remained blank. "Mr Dakoda is not expecting anyone." I shook my head, "He's not expecting me, but he knows me. He told me to come here. I need to see him. Please." I begged for the thousandth time today. In the morning I begged for money. An hour ago, I begged for my life, and now I was praying to see Mr Dakoda. What a beggar I've become! "Miss, I'm going to have to ask you to leave." I shook my head. The tears were threatening to fall faster once more. "Please, I need to see him. I can't go back out there." There was no way I could put my life, and my baby's in danger like that again. Not when someone had offered to help me and give me somewhere safe to stay. "Miss, I'm going to have to ask you to leave," he repeated ignoring the fact that I was a pregnant teen who had tears in her eyes and was terrified of going back outside. "Please, I'm begging you. Pick up the phone and call him." I tried it again. There must be some emotional bone in this man's body. He couldn't be as heartless as he looked. "Miss, I'm going to have to call security on you if you don't leave this instance." I could see that he was getting angry by the second, but I couldn't stop, not when it meant the safety or my life and my baby's. "What's going on here?" I turned my head, and my eyes met Mr Dakoda's blue enchanting ones. "What's going on here?" I turned my head, and my eyes met Mr Dakoda's blue enchanting ones. Mr Dakoda was no longer wearing his tailored business suit. He was instead wearing knee-length jeans, pants and a white shirt. He looked as handsome as he did when I met him the first two times but what was even more adorable was the dog at his feet. I could tell that the dog was a mixed breed, between german shepherd and something else. He was beautiful. His hair was black and soft. His tail was wagging, which meant he was amiable. The receptionist broke my thoughts from the dog as he spoke, "Mr Dakoda, I was trying to get her to leave, but she wasn't listening." Mr Dakoda frowned at the receptionist, "Why? I told her to come here." he turned to me and saw the tears his face immediately changed to concern. "What's wrong?" he let go of the leash and walked up to me. "Did someone hurt you?" I looked in his blue eyes then turn to look at the receptionist who was too eager to hear my answer. I didn't want him to know about my business. "Can we talk somewhere else, please?" He nodded, "Sure." He took my elbows and pulled me in the direction he was coming from. "C' mon boy; it looks like you won't be going for a walk tonight," he said looking down at the dog. The dog whined but followed behind us. We entered the elevator silently, and Mr Dakoda pressed a button on the wall. I didn't look up to see which it was because I had a staredown with his dog. "His name is King." I lifted my head to meet the blue eyes, "Ugh?" He looked down and pointed at his dog, "His name is King." "Ohh. That's a weird name for a dog." In my small town, dogs were named after songs and cars. They have never called a title. It was new to me. "He's a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel mixed with German Sheperd." I frowned when he said that. Weren't Cavalier King Charles Spaniel tiny dogs and German Sheperd big dogs? He smiled, "I know. I had the same reaction when I adopted him. I don't know how his parents did it, and I don't care because he's amazing." I gave a small smile at his words. It was obvious he loved his dog. Maybe he was, after all, just a regular man. Serial killers don't have dogs, do they? We stayed silent for the rest of the journey. When the elevator stopped, he mentioned for me to follow behind him, so I do so quietly. He stopped his door apartment and started to take his keys out of his pocket. He pushed the key in the locket and turned it, and in a few seconds, the door was opened. He pushed it wide and gestured for me to enter.