One hour ago.
"I'm leaving now, Mom. I'll come back as soon as possible, don't worry."
"Come back soon, Tory, remember that I'm preparing a very special dinner for you." Tory's mother replied from the living room while she watched the television with a faint smile on her tired face.
Tory is a fifteen-year-old girl, a high school student who frequently paused her studies to help her mother and support her in every way she could. Similar to Jackson, she had so many problems in her mind that she could barely list them.
When she left the house, she stopped for a moment to breathe emotionally at ease and headed toward a supermarket near home, where she usually bought the groceries they needed.
"Hey, miss, you haven't paid this month's rent. I hope you're not going to be late like other months, did you hear me?" A man in his thirties came out of an apartment as soon as he heard someone coming down from the second floor, and when he saw it was Tory, he reminded her about the late rent.
"I'll bring you the money when I come back home."
"I hope so. I don't want to go collecting from your sick mother." The man looked at Tory with disgust, and before she walked away he muttered, "You can always pay me in other ways, it's not that hard, you damn bitch."
Tory clenched her teeth but said nothing. She couldn't argue with her landlord simply because there was no better place than this for her to rent.
Not only was the rent cheap, but it was also close to the hospital where she often took her mother in severe emergencies.
If for any reason they had to move, they wouldn't be able to afford the costs.
Her mother had recently gotten sicker than usual, and the expenses for her medication were so high that they barely had enough to eat, which is why she needed to work part-time at least to cover her school expenses.
She barely had time to dedicate to herself, so her only concern was being able to pay for the things her mother needed so frequently.
As Tory walked away from where she lived, her appearance was highly appreciated by the people who looked at her, especially her disgusting landlord.
But to Tory, that was insignificant, because being pretty to others was the only thing she had. No one could understand her—only herself, who struggled day by day to survive. Even so, the world was too irritating for her; she got angry at the fact that she had to try hard to be a good person when others who had easy lives were complete bastards.
Throughout her life, she hadn't had a good childhood due to her father's death. The deterioration of her mother over the years—because she was the only one fighting to move forward—was evident and devastated her deeply.
The expenses were sometimes so high that Tory had even thought about dropping out of school long before she actually did, but she knew that if she did, there wouldn't be much of a future for the two of them alone.
If for some reason she got sick, her mother would have to take care of her, and then she wouldn't be able to work. Expenses like paying rent, utilities, and many other things such as her mother's medicine would become far too short on budget. Tory cried silently every night; she had no one else, and it was suffocating her.
She had no friends, didn't go to parties, and the only person she talked to was her mother.
Right now, she couldn't even spend money on trivial things like phone data, much less try to pay to make calls, because recently her mother's medicine had run out, so they had to buy more.
"What can I do? I'll see if there are some discounted items before getting the vegetables…" Tory crouched down near some shelves right after entering the supermarket. Her indifferent face gave her a unique attractiveness that captivated many men, but to her, they were all just lying idiots who only cared about physical looks.
It goes without saying that some of her old friends, whom she stopped talking to, had been deceived after having intimate relationships with their boyfriends. That was the only thing many men looked for in pretty girls. Although that wasn't the majority of cases, it was obvious that having a relationship at a young age always came with risks.
Young love meant that both the boy and the girl were not mature enough to understand what each was willing to offer the other. To do that, you had to know perfectly well what your worth was; otherwise, the relationship would only last a few years, if not less.
"These seem to be at a good price, they fit my budget…" Tory extended her hand and grabbed some bags of pasta, but at that moment she felt a piercing stare that made her frown.
Right behind her, a man who seemed to be looking at the televisions was actually staring at her shamelessly. Not that this hadn't happened before, but now it seemed different because that man in his thirties seemed to be drunk, and there were obvious signs he was also high.
"Just what I was missing… an idiot like you…" Tory was furious, but she chose not to make a scene and continued her shopping. However, wherever she went, that drunk man followed without exception.
Several minutes had passed, and Tory was losing her patience. The moment she turned her head, the man's footsteps sped up, so she grabbed a glass bottle, ready to defend herself.
"Hey, asshole, I was ignoring you, but it's very obvious that you've been following me for the last ten minutes, so stop or I'll call the police." Tory's voice was filled with coldness, with no fear at all facing the man in front of her.
"Pretty girl, I'm just going the same way. Who do you think you are to talk to me in that tone, you damn bitch?" The man asked while staring at Tory intimidatingly. From his tattoos and the bandanas in his hands, it was obvious he belonged to a gang.
"Just go to hell and stop following me." Tory turned around with her cart, feeling increasingly worried, but even so, the only way to get rid of a stalker like that was to go somewhere with lots of people.
"Hey, I'm talking to you, so listen when I do."
"Go to hell, I told you to stop following me!" Just when Tory was about to throw the bottle at the stalker and run, a voice she wasn't familiar with echoed behind her.
"Hey, she told you to leave her alone."
"Huh?" Tory let out a surprised gasp when a tall figure stepped between her and the man. She didn't know him, but she knew he was a good guy willing to get into trouble to help her.
"Didn't you hear?" Jackson looked coldly at the tattooed man and asked again. This time, his hands left the pockets of his jacket—he was ready to fight if needed.
Idiots like the one in front of him were common in New York, and usually he and his friends dedicated themselves to hunting them down and giving them a good beating. Of course, now that he was in a new city, Jackson wanted to leave all that behind, but he couldn't ignore this situation.
"Stupid kid, if I want trouble, you don't have the balls to deal with it." When the man said that, he lifted part of his shirt, revealing the handle of a knife above his underwear.
Jackson smiled and said, "If you pull out a weapon, you better know how to use it. Is a drunk like you faster than me?"
When the man heard those words, he saw brass knuckles in Jackson's hand and frowned, but knowing the other person was also armed, he said, "Screw both of you, I'm leaving this stupid place."
"Shouldn't you apologize? Damn gangster…"
"Screw you!"
Jackson was about to follow him just to see where he was going, when suddenly a slender hand grabbed his arm.
"That's enough, let's get out of here." Tory said while looking him in the eyes. She wanted to end this as soon as possible because getting into more trouble was something she didn't want.
"Did that idiot do anything else to you?" Jackson asked while looking into the girl's eyes. His eyes showed calmness. He wasn't nervous at all, not even excited; he had learned to control his emotions, so something like this wouldn't affect his mood.
Tory shook her head and said, "I'm fine. He just followed me from the moment I entered the supermarket, but he didn't do anything."
"You should've called security immediately or someone around. Are you the type who always wants to handle everything alone? It could have been dangerous. What would have happened if that idiot had attacked you?" Jackson asked, slightly confused by Tory's actions but more annoyed by that idiot from moments ago.
"I'm fine, that's what matters." Tory only now noticed that Jackson's ears had a strange shape she had never seen before.
But she didn't care about that, and showing a relieved smile, she said, "I'm Tory, thanks for the help."
"I'm Jackson…" After seeing that the guy disappeared, Jackson, relieved he didn't have to fight in a place like this, walked beside Tory without worry.
"Do you know how to fight?" Tory couldn't find a way to continue the conversation, so she asked something silly.