6.3 Struggles

In the evening, once their friend was sound asleep, Yomo and Jin sat in the living room with a cold lemonade. They needed to take a breather. It had been an exhausting day.

Jin sighed.

"Do you think this thing with Inja will ever end? That one day he'll really be free of that viper?

Yomo waited for a little while before answering. He could feel the fatigue weighing on his mind after the morning at the police station and the afternoon attending classes and taking care of Nils.

"It will end one day, that's for sure," he answered. "But when will it be, that's another story. In any case, Nils will find it hard to get over it mentally. For him, even if the Matrone leaves his life for good, her ghost will surely haunt him for the rest of his life."

Jin sighed again and nodded. His friend was right. The Matrone. That was the name the media had given Inja. The woman who ran the most successful prostitution ring in the area. And with that, of course, came drugs. But that was the second right hand of the gyriad, Chisuo, who was in charge of that. She was only the pimp of the Gyriad, the left hand as she was often compared to Chisuo. But knowing her personality well, there was no doubt that she had desires of conquest for the group or perhaps for herself, who knows. Everything about Inja was uncertain, as she was so unpredictable in her madness.

"I think we should take turns looking after him, never leaving him alone, or at least as little as possible, while the police solve the case," Yomo said.

"I'm going to move in here,"

Jin's sudden statement made Yomo's eyes widen.

"You're going to live here? With him?"

Jin nodded, then downed his lemonade in one gulp.

"We can alternate if you want, you don't have to deal with him alone all the time. You know how intrusive Nils can be sometimes, especially when he's not well..."

Jin smiled.

"Yes, I know, but I think that's the best solution."

He set his glass bottle down on the table and resumed, arms crossed on his knee bent in front of him.

"Of the two of us, I'm the one best able to handle Nils when he's in this state. He's complicated, but he makes less of a fuss when he's with me."

Yomo nodded slowly. He recognized that his friend was right. Given Nils' tendency to be emotionally excessive in his bad phases, Jin was far more competent to handle him without letting himself get eaten up at the same time. Their character kind of symbioses well in situations like this.

"Besides, I don't have the same constraints as you, Yomo. I know you want to take care of your aunt and can't afford rent now. Besides, if you're going to do a traineeship course next year, you'll have to be a major or it'll be more difficult for you. I don't have any constraints, I can make this choice with few sacrifices compared to you. Concentrate on your studies and your first place, that's all that matters for now!"

Yomo replied with a grateful smile. This was also one of the reasons why he liked Jin. He could trust him to understand a situation as a whole and take into account the feelings of others. He didn't look like that when you didn't know him very well, but behind his tough look and sometimes very dry words, Jin was actually a keen observer with a great deal of sensitivity. A perfect combination for someone as sensitive as Nils in Yomo's opinion.

"Thank you, Jin. I'll be there for him in and out of college anyway, but it does make me feel better knowing you're there for him the rest of the time."

Jin replied with a brotherly hug.

"I don't know if we should tell his parents though," Yomo sighed.

After one problem there was always another. But for now, Jin seemed to have the situation under control.

"I think we should let Jin decide what to do and who to contact. I don't think his condition is too serious for us to make that choice for him."

"You're right," Yomo wearily nodded again. Fatigue had drained his body of all its energy since he had sat on the couch, and he no longer had the strength to hold a conversation. Seeing his friend's condition, Jin stood up and handed him his things.

"Go home, you're exhausted. It's been a long day and tomorrow we have class again."

Yomo got up and followed his friend's advice. He grabbed his bag and collected his things. There was only one day left before the weekend. He had to make it until then.

Heeding his friend's advice, he went out into the dusk and got on his bike. Passing between the cars of the last workaholics on their way home, he pedaled to his aunt's house to recover from this crazy day with a good night's sleep. The weekend. Soon the weekend. How he needed it!

It was then that he remembered his planned meeting with Rau on Saturday. The thought immediately brought a smile to his face! Man, was he looking forward to Saturday! He picked up the pace and started to pedal energetically. He even whistled to himself, surprised at his good mood, and thought that if the idea of seeing Rau this weekend put him in such a good mood, the key to happiness might not be so far away... but he was too tired to think about it. Another day he would face his feelings and denials. For now, he savored the joy of the moment. For these moments were too rare to be neglected!