Volume 10 – Chapter 8: Work (Part 1)

Caroline had no dreams because she only wanted one thing: to make a lot of money.

Strictly speaking, becoming rich should be considered one of the dreams. However, in this world, probably everyone wants to become rich. So in this way, wanting to make money did not seem to be a dream worth showing off.

Her life was simple enough to be fearsome and expected in this country where the conflict between poverty and wealth was immense.

When she was three years old, her father was hit by a stray bullet in an armed conflict and died.

Later, she heard from her mother that the effort of saving her father went futile when he was sent to the hospital. But when Caroline grew up, she seriously suspected that her father’s death was because the family couldn’t make up the money to pay for it.

She hardly had any impression of the man who gave him her life. Only after getting along with her mother did she know a bit of this man through her mother’s occasional reminiscents

This man had been hustling for money all his life. It was a greedy and gloomy life, but in the end, he lost his life because of the lack of money. Caroline felt that only money could give her enough sense of security in this world.

Later, when she was five years old, her mother remarried an old man in his forties.

This old man was naturally poor when he was young. Otherwise, why would he only save enough money for marriage only in his forties? Moreover, it was a widow with a young child like Caroline’s mother. As for young girls, the old man who would later become her stepfather could only sigh in helplessness.

In the end, it was still because of money issues.

Of course, she felt that this old man was indeed good to her mother.

The stepfather himself ran a shop for repairing motorcycles. It was not big, and the business wasn’t good, but it was enough to maintain the family’s livelihood. But, Caroline still hated this kind of life.

She couldn’t bear the stench of the motor oil. She couldn’t bear the feeling when the old man’s palms tainted with motor oil touched her head. The hands looked horrible, like they had been soaked in the stinking ditch for three days and three nights.

She envied those girls who could wear beautiful clothes and sit in nice cars.

When Caroline saw a child about her age lying on the car window and looking at her through the car’s window on the road, she would deliberately put her hand in the back. Also, she would try her best to hide her shoe that had a hole.

She didn’t want others to see her dark palms, the black edges in her nails that couldn’t be cleaned no matter how many times she washed them. She didn’t want people to see her wearing shoes that reveal her toes.

She watched the child sitting in a good car far away (though she later learned that such a car was low-end). She would be awed at the buildings in front of her. Those buildings were in a completely different world in comparison to the shanty she lived in. But, it was also ridiculous at the same time that there was only a street separating her shanty from the luxurious building.

Indeed, a street marked the difference between the two worlds. It wasn’t like the luxurious building was at the beginning of the street, and the shanty was at the street’s end. Instead, they were opposite of each other.

Caroline hoped that she could become rich one day.

Later, the mother gave birth to a child with the stepfather, which naturally added a tremendous expenditure to the family.

Due to the addition of a younger brother, the initially narrow room became even more limited. Caroline couldn’t bear the cry of her new brother in the middle of the night. She could only move to sleep in the dirty maintenance – her house’s frontal area.

Caroline hoped that she could become rich, at least owning her room.

When she was fourteen, Caroline met a man. This man came to his stepfather’s maintenance department to repair the car. She then heard that this guy was a pimp. Having been in this place since he was a child, Caroline naturally knew what a pimp was.

The man claimed that he could give her a chance to make a lot of money.

Without any hesitation, Caroline agreed with the man. She remembered that the first business she took was on the night of her fourteenth birthday. Due to the exhaustion of work, the family fell asleep early and forgot that it was her birthday.

Caroline didn’t feel how sad it was to sell herself out for the first time on her fourteenth birthday because the man told her that she could often sell it for a very high price for her first time.

She didn’t think it was despicable to sell her body. It was just like his stepfather, who worked to make money. It was just that the stepfather used his hands, and she used her body.

For Caroline’s first time, she slept with an old man almost the same age as his stepfather. The old man was obsessed with her body. He even kept in touch with Caroline after enjoying Caroline for the first time.

Caroline began to get acquainted with more clients through her first pimps. She also got to know other sex workers and learn more skills. She knew if her skills were excellent, she could charge more.

Then, she began to know more pimps, and her customer base gradually increased. At the age of sixteen, Caroline had begun to do her business alone. Without the referral fee for the broker, Caroline felt that she could make a lot of money.

When she was sixteen, she left home.

There was no particular reason. It was just because her family knew about her work, and conflict arose.

Oh, it was the night of her sixteenth birthday. Two years after the first time she sold her body on her fourteenth birthday.

Initially, she planned to tell her mother that night that she already had the money to buy a decent two-story small building, and the family could move in.

…

“Mr. Neymar’s party?”

Caroline was putting on makeup in the living room. Due to the hot weather, she just wore a pair of underwear. The air conditioner here was a second-hand product that consumed hefty electricity, making the electricity bill more expensive.

The one who was talking to Caroline was another woman with the same profession, and she was also only wearing underwear. Her name was Livia. She was older than Caroline, in her twenties. At this time, Livia put on heavy makeup and was about to put on silk stockings.

Before that, Livia had just answered a phone call. Now, she was telling Caroline the content of the phone call.

Livia said, “Yes, they said they needed two women for that place, and they asked me if I’m going.”

“How do they charge?” Caroline frowned.

There were many kinds of parties. Some parties were used as a ‘trading area.’ Such parties generally didn’t have any direct transactions. They just invited women over. Of course, like Caroline, the ladies could discuss business with party guests in private, but this was based on luck. Some parties were like full reservations. It could be taken as collective prostitution.

“A full reservation with tips available,” said Livia with some joy.

Caroline thought for a while and thought it was indeed a good job. Mr. Neymar was naturally not a big deal in consideration of the eight slums in Rio. But, he was the emperor of this place.

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