Taxes had to be paid.
Insurance premiums increased.
And unexpected repairs sometimes required difficult decisions.
But he believed there was a difference between earning enough to maintain a property responsibly and using every opportunity to extract the highest possible payment from people who had few alternatives.
For fourteen years, he worked to maintain that distinction.
And during those fourteen years, he continued living in apartment sixty-eight.
It wasn't the largest unit.
It wasn't the most luxurious.
But it had a view of the courtyard, good afternoon light, and enough room for his books.
He loved it.
On weekends, he sat beside the window grading essays while children played below.
Sometimes tenants knocked on his door to report maintenance issues.
Sometimes they brought him homemade food.
At Christmas, the elderly woman from the third floor left cookies outside his apartment.
And during the summer, he organized a reading program in the building's community room for children who needed extra academic support.
He wasn't perfect.
There were repairs he delayed too long.
Some tenants disagreed with his decisions.
He occasionally struggled to balance the building's finances with his teaching responsibilities.
But he tried to be fair.
And when he made mistakes, he listened.
That was the kind of landlord his mother had hoped he would become.
Then the neighborhood changed.
The older grocery store across the street closed.
A chain café opened near the main intersection.
Several small houses were demolished and replaced with expensive townhomes.
A nearby industrial property became a luxury apartment complex with rooftop terraces and underground parking.
The area began attracting investors.
Property values rose.
And developers started approaching owners of older buildings.
Some offered reasonable prices.
Others applied pressure.
The teacher received his first serious purchase offer four years before the confrontation in the mailroom.
A developer wanted to buy the apartment building, renovate it extensively, and charge luxury-market rents.
The proposed price was generous by the standards of the time.
The teacher considered it.
Then declined.
The developer seemed surprised.
“You could make a substantial profit.”
The teacher nodded.
“I understand.”
“Then why refuse?”
He looked toward the courtyard.
“Because twenty-four households live here.”
The developer frowned.
“We'd handle the transition.”
The teacher looked back.
“What does that mean?”
The man began explaining relocation assistance and projected construction schedules.
The teacher listened.
Then asked whether existing residents would have the option to return at comparable rents.
The developer hesitated.