Hilda went downstairs once again, this time with a mad expression and firm, loud steps as she made it into the kitchen. Kaisa was waiting down the stairs with her usual smile. As she finally reached the floor with her feet, she then went to the table and immediately sat down and just laid her head low on the table as she waited for breakfast.
After that whole thing in the street, David just quietly freaked out as he passed the same street before walking towards Frida's house, this time without any books in his hands.
He arrived and knocked on the door and waited for Frida to come down but it took a few minutes so he sat down near the doorway to wait but as 13 minutes go by, he starts to get worried over his friend's situation now.
He got up and started frantically knocking on the door while also trying to peer into the windows around the house, even looking up at her bedroom window but he never saw her and as he was about to knock frantically again on the door, the door opened.
"Is this David?" A tall and dark-skinned man asked, looking over at him with confusion.
"Uhhhh, yes and is Frida here today?" David responded to his question by telling him that he is David and then looked right behind the man to see Frida sitting right next to a table doing something.
"Well she's not available today, you might've needed to come back at another time." The man explained that she can't be with him for now but David can hear something at his back and it sounds like an argument is happening so he's not listening to him.
"David, look I know you're worried for her but all I'm asking is for you to come back another time." He noticed him looking into the back and just politely told him that he can visit her again at another time.
"Oh, I'm sorry but I have something to tell her, it's about your situation." David heard him and apologized before telling him his intentions to get inside which made the man suspicious for a bit.
"Sir, you don't have to deal with our situation for now," The man politely tells David that he doesn't need to help since they can handle it on their own, "but if you want to help, get in and make it quick." But he then allows David to tell her whatever he has to say about their situation and how he could help and he thanked him before walking his way to the kitchen where an argument between Frida and her mom is happening.
As he walked into the kitchen, he wasn't noticed yet because both Frida and her mom are at each other's throats over Frida's education and are also fighting over how they are gonna deal with their debt.
While he wasn't still noticed, David's mind starts reminiscing their fight to one of Hilda's fights with her mom when he was living at her house and as it goes on, he couldn't handle his mind that is reminiscing back the past and just sat down at the table which made him immediately noticed by the two.
"David?!" Frida and her mom were surprised at him that sat down right near them and was shocked that he got in but then her dad came in and then they both knew how he got in.
"Look, I may sound crazy but," David then tried making a first impression with his plan on helping them out and now he got all eyes on him, "I may have a way to help you fellows from debt." David finishes it up after some heavy hesitation but he finishes his statement without getting weird looks.
"Wait, really?!" Frida immediately exclaimed as she stood up from her chair and placed her hands hard on the table, "tell us how, please!" Frida then begged David to tell them his plan before being told by her parents to shush herself down to give him some space to explain.
"Well, maybe I would try to ask my parents to pay you in-" David then went through to his plan but then was interrupted by her parents that were immediately asking him questions.
"How much?" Frida's mother began asking which prompted David to begin answering her but her husband made a question, interrupting him.
"When will the check be sent?" Frida's father then asked David a question, interrupting him from answering his wife's question, having her make an angry face at him while he focused on him to answer him.
"How long will these payments last?" She then asked a question back, interrupting her husband from getting an answer from David and he had to focus back to her so it can end quick but it didn't.
"When will they be arriving?" He then continued asking, but instead of giving out a random question, the question was a question to her question which added unnecessary confusion between the two parents.
After that question, they both began asking more and more questions at him which drove him into more and more confusion until he then just slammed his hands at the table before breathing back to normal.
"Look, my family may have to buy you guys up-" As David began his explanation to his plan, he immediately heard the louder slams from her parents, making him shudder in fear from their statures.
"What do you mean you had to buy us up?!" the man slammed his fist on the table.
"Well… uh… you….." David tries to explain himself so he doesn't get kicked out by her parents and to help them out, "guys own quite a lot, so the most reliable way I found was a semi-flexible labour contract…. Uh…" he swallowed dry as he hesitates on continuing, "...I would like to say it is something… other t-than voluntary…. S-slavery…. b-But DON'T get mad! It is very flexible and will pay off all the debt!" David finally finishes his explanation but as he reads the room, he sees that he's still screwed.
"This is outrageous!" Frida's mother yelled as she stared at David with pure anger in her eyes as she stood over him with such frightening stature.
"W-Well. You are….kind of nearing poverty but i don't recommend being picky… besides it's the best I can do, I can't convince my dad to print out monthly paychecks, otherwise he'll buy you himself." David then explained to his very best to get them to see the plan in his way.
"David…" Frida said as she got up and laid a hand on his shoulder, "I know you are trying to help but, I feel like you have more important problems to deal with… y'know… her…" Frida had to forcefully remind David of Hilda which made him nervous but he was determined to help her out in a way he could do.
"Wait, Frida," David then paused Frida before she could even speak, "I think I may find a way to resolve this." David then continued with him telling them how he could find a way so they could make ends meet without turning to slavery.
"Oh yeah, and what will that be?" Her father then said in a stern but normal voice, hitting David with a strong sting of fear but he sets it aside for Frida's sake.
"I will arrange a meeting between our families, see if we can reach an agreement between us." David then answered his question, a first in this entire ordeal, that a meeting between his and her families will be arranged for their debt.
"I hope you're correct about this." Both parents relented as they both realized the possible benefits of his arrangement of their meeting so they accepted his offer.
"But if this is some sort of trick…" Her father threatened but paused to think of a unique threat and after a few seconds of thinking, he found it, "when we're free, we're gonna cut off that hairless little prick before you know what it's for." He then used his threat on him by looking at his groin before pulling him closer to bring his threat more fear, which he indeed understood quickly.
Then he waved goodbye at Frida before leaving the estate, ready to ask his parents about considering slavery.
Meanwhile, Hilda was at her home, having her own mental problems to deal with. She was simply sitting at a chair, looking outside from a window to the back of the house, as Dagger took a nap on her lap. She was still mad over her mother not accepting the facts and also is getting a little hungry but she held it in.
She patted him in the head as she let out a sigh as she looked out and just kept looking until she heard the door open.
Kaisa noticed that and approached her with her usual smile.
"Do you need anything, mistress?" she said, bowing down slightly to get on the same height before standing back up.
"It's okay, Kaisa…. You are free from your duties until…." she looked at the clock "Until someone asks you to start working again." Hilda sighs, looking back out of the window to peer into the street she lived in.
"T-Thank you, mistress." she said with a slight tone of surprise as she closed the door and went ahead to clean the floors.
She kept looking out the window… with a quiet, but neverending hate. A hatred that she felt needs finishing.
"Those two are already getting on my nerves just thinking about them." Hilda just shuddered at the mere thought of them before looking back out of her window.
As she was looking at the lanterns being opened by newsies and factory men while multiple carriages cross the street with the sound of hooves dominating the sound of the street, she then heard a knock from her door.
As she turned her head again from the window to the wall, she then saw the door open and saw Jared and his other friend, George, appearing from the door.
"Okay, George. This is her room." Jared then introduces him into her room while George looks around, ignoring Hilda for a bit before bringing her back in his sight while still focusing on the stuff Jared was describing.
"And the person living in this room is my other friend, Hilda." Jared then sat down near the bed where she was sitting and he placed his hand on her shoulder and bringing her closer to him, making it a little uncomfortable before pushing herself away from his grip. "Please say hello to George, Hilda." Jared requests as he brings out a nervous but polite wave at her.
Hilda simply raised her arm slightly and opened her palm in a very simplistic greeting.
"Well, you weren't kidding when you said she was eccentric…." he said looking at her and her "dog", just behind her.
As George greeted Hilda back, Kaisa came into the room to see if their visitor needed something.
"Hello sire!" said Kaisa coming from downstairs, holding a broom with her usual smile "I d-didn't knew we had guests, i am terribly sorry sir!" Kaisa profusely apologized to the people in the room.
"It's okay, little maid, you had no way of knowing. Now, could you prepare us some tea and biscuits?" Jared said with a slightly enthusiastic tone.
Kaisa bowed down with her smile and went back to the kitchen to attend the orders, as Jared and his friend sat down at the table.
Hilda was simply…standing, pondering what to do as Jared and his friend started chatting on their own.
"Well…." she started, looking away from the guests "How did you two met….?" she then suddenly turned around and slammed her hand on the table in front of Jared "And why is he here?" Hilda demanded to ask him why he brought George into the house without any of their permission.
As Hilda then opened her blind eye to him, Jared began thinking of an excuse and needed it fast. Thankfully he was a fast thinker and came up with a good excuse that will surely get through Hilda.
"Uhh, I wanted him to see the house for a change…." Jared hesitantly says, now thinking of another good excuse of how he got George in and after a while uses George's meetup with Johanna back then to back it up, "and George got invited by your mother in the past, so I gave your mother a favor and let him in." Jared finally completed his lie and after a few minutes, Hilda was somehow convinced and stayed silent until the tea and biscuits arrived.
Meanwhile, two families meet up in Frida's living room to discuss matters on the agreed purchase of their entire family in exchange for a paycheck.
"So, son," Stephen asked David, looking at him with a disdained face as he sees this entire arrangement another waste of time, "I hope this is gonna fix our financial problems." Stephen requested from him, seeking that this should fix their still dying economic problem at home.
After being requested to fix their problem, David then walked to the middle of the table and then began the discussion between two families.
As the first minutes of the discussion begins, it became heated immediately between the two families as Frida's argued about keeping their freedom while under their hand while David's argued about what work will they do and where will they work and both argued on how much pay will they get and as they argued for forever, David was forced to moderate the discussion many times and there are some times where he was unable to moderate the discussion enough that Frida was forced to moderate the discussion along with David to help him out.
And finally, after a few hours of arguments and discussions, everyone agreed to rest for now and discuss more agreeable terms and decided that a break is needed.
"Hey son," Stephen called, bringing David from the kitchen to the living room where his father laid on a couch where he got tired of arguing with Frida's family, "could you please bring me a beer?" Stephen requested from David as his voice started becoming a little hoarse from arguing too much and David agreed with his request.
David then walked to the kitchen and opened the pantry to look for any beer or liquor available at the time and as he looked around, Frida saw him and raised her eyebrow as she became confused about what he was looking for in the pantry.
"David, what are you looking for?" Frida asked, looking at him with a confused face as she was weirded out by his perceived action.
"I was looking for any liquor around here, my dad needs it." David explains, opening more and more cabinets around the kitchen, "he got a little wobbly after that whole...thing with Hilda so he needs it." David then explains why he needs it because after the whole arrangement thing, it drove him to drinking because now there is no hope for his family to survive in peace.
And as he continued looking, he then saw an ice box and opened it, showing 5 bottles of red wine and 3 bottles of liquor nestled in with the ice.
"Nice," David muttered as he grabbed one of the wine bottles carefully and then pulled it out, "I think he would like this one." David examined the bottle and then closed the ice box shut before grabbing a glass and then walking to his father, laying on the couch.
"Here it is, father," David said as he poured the cold red wine onto the glass and then placed it on the table and woke him up gently, "it's your favorite drink." David uttered as he showed a smile and showed him the bottle before placing it on the table too.
"They have this?" Stephen asked as he gently grabs the bottle away from David's hands and into his and he examines the brand and drank the wine from the gĺass to see if it's really his favorite.
"Oh, thank thy Holy Christ they have this." Stephen muttered as he begins to pour another shot into the wine glass and begins drinking.
With his dad now satisfied, David then looks at the clock which also has a calendar underneath the clock and it says:
April 12, 1749
And as his eyes shift from the calendar to the clock, he sees that it's now 9 PM since their start at 5 and he just sighed at how long it took just for it to reach this late at night.
He then walked to the stairs and went up to Frida's room where he would ask where he would sleep. He knocked gently on the door to see if Frida by this is sleeping or not and as he waited for a few minutes, the door swung open with a tired Frida wearing her nightgown on while also rubbing her eyes to see what David would want at this hour.
"What do you want, David?" Frida begrudgingly asked as she was just about to sleep at this hour.
"Weird question but," David asked but he wanted to not seem like he's lost so he paused for a bit before continuing, "where do I sleep?" David finished.
"I don't know, the guest rooms are already full." Frida explained that the guest rooms are full since her parents and his mom are sleeping there. "But you can stay in my bedroom if you want." But Frida then told him that there is spare space around her bedroom for him to sleep.
"Oh, that's neat." David just said as he finally found a spot where he could sleep and was a little relieved.
"But you stay on the floor, you don't own this bed yet." Frida joked about him owning her yet but she's also telling him that he couldn't sleep on her bed nor sleep right next to her.
"Oh, okay." David accepted as he laid on the wooden floor and just laid there silently as the crickets start chirping outside the house.
"Hey, maybe you could use a pillow for that." Frida suggested to David as she grabbed the stuffy pillows that were on the other corner of her bed and placed them over David's stomach area.
David felt the pillow fall softly into his stomach area and reached out his arms to grab it, which was easy. He then placed it under his head and then laid down on the pillow, which felt like laying down on a hay bale but it was enough for him and then slept into the night.
The next day arrived and everyone in the house went back down to the living room to discuss more about the contract and the agreement but everyone agrees that they should eat breakfast first before they begin negotiating. Frida's mother was in the kitchen, cooking up some simple eggs and bringing out the salted meat out of the pantry to be placed near the stove.
David woke up alone in Frida's bedroom. It seems that she has woken up early and walked downstairs already, and so he got up and placed the pillow back on her bed and walked downstairs as well. As he walked down, he saw the living room and saw his dad laying messily all over their couch, the bottle just left behind at the floor and the glass missing from the tables.
He walked down to the living room and just cleaned up all of his stuff and placed the bottle back onto the table. After he was done cleaning his dad's mess, he then shoved him gently to wake him up but the wine has made him sleep for long hours and so after a few more gentle shoves, David just gave up and went to the kitchen table, where he saw Frida sitting down on a seat near the kitchen table, with her head bowed down since she woke up.
He sat down right next to her and also waited for breakfast to arrive while also looking over at his drunken father in silence, which filled the house for an hour until Frida's mother brought out their breakfasts on plates.
"Here's breakfast, you too." Frida's mother said as she placed them right on David and Frida's spot on the table. "Don't wanna moderate a huge discussion on an empty stomach." Frida's mother smirked at him as she went over to the living room to clean up some litter.
"Wait," David exclaimed, interrupting her from moving to the kitchen to the living room, "What's your name, I haven't known you guys yet." David asked, wanting to know their names so he can properly moderate the arguments later in the day.
"I'm Abigael, by the way." Abigael introduced her name to David. "Why do you need to know anyway?" Abigael asked as she was curious why he'd ask at this moment.
"Nothing. I hadn't asked yet because everytime I visit Frida, I never ask." David explained the surprising question being asked at Abigael.
"Oh, if that's the case," Abigael said as she then cleaned up some litter in the living room and as she finished, she turned to him to finish, "her father's name is Henrie, just so you wouldn't ask again." Abigael then introduced Henrie's name to David just so he wouldn't ask about their names again.
"Thanks, also I should be eating now." David thanked while he poked the now asleep Frida at the table at the arm while he ate the eggs and meat that were on the plate.
As he continued eating his breakfast at her place, Frida woke up and just began eating her breakfast which brought the entire house in silence until it reached 10 AM. As they were finishing their plates, they then drank their tea before they finally talked.
As David and Frida began their small talk while they finished eating and cleaning the dishes and as they began collecting the dishes, Stephen finally woke up from his drunken slumber last night.
"So…." Stephen started, trying to not seem as drunk as he was "I suppose you all can do some labour on the caps… so get your asses out there!" Stephen demanded, mainly looking at Frida because he thought that the agreement was already agreed upon and that the place was his.
"Dad, we hadn't agreed on….anything yet" he said, trying to not anger his drunken father as he silently persuaded Frida to keep doing what they were doing.
Stephen sent out a death stare at Frida, who tried to remain as confident as possible while still focusing on the task, after all she was still a 16 year old black girl, not yet under the legal ownership of a drunken, high class white man and his son.
"Fine, but you better be really good at cleaning stuff…" he said, once again, trying to look as sober as he could as he got up from the couch where he laid.
"T-Thank you S-" she was interrupted.
"I hope you were going to say "SIRE!", lady…" he screamed as he slammed his fist at a nearby table to intimidate Frida before starting to head upstairs to get some more appropriate clothing, now that he had some of his senses back.
After that, they were all standing in silence before David walks back to Frida to help her out with the dishes before letting the discussion continue.