*****
Although Alex was physically and emotionally broken to the extent that he could barely stand up straight, he knew he mustn’t be lazy, not yet, not even if he was only left with just a thread of life.So, upon leaving his former workplace, Alex instantly rushed to his and his grandmother's house which was located in a slum area.On his way there, it was as if he was a jinx or something nobody wants to get close to. Everybody he passes by would Immediately cover their mouths and run away from him as far as they could, but Alex simply wasn’t bothered by this.He doesn’t even have the time to notice them.Rushing back home, he took a cold water bath to wash away all the dried blood and dirt on him despite the extremely biting pain killing him.When he was done, he hurriedly treated himself with the expired first-aid kits in a corner at home.Just as he was done and deliberating on where to go work next, Alex received a call from one of his customers, and although his face changed slightly when he saw the caller's ID, he still Immediately picked up the call.“Bastard, where the fuck are you, I need you here ASAP!”This was what Alex Johnson heard the moment he connected the call, but not having the courage to complain, he told the caller he would reach him very soon.But before he could even finish his sentence, the call was already hung on him. Thankfully, he wasn’t bothered about this.Cringing with intense pain, Alex forced himself to stand up, then he limped out of the neat but dark old apartment.…….“Bastard, didn’t I tell you I need you ASAP, how dare you be this late?”At this moment, a young boy in his 16 – 17 years could be seen seated facing a gaming computer in a café while howling at the utterly sweating Alex Johnson who just arrived.Upon hearing this boy's roar, the groups of equally jobless young boys also in the café instantly paused their respective games and turned their gazes at the duo interestingly, while Alex Johnson only shook his head gently.Although he was already used to things like this, his heart still couldn’t handle the fact that everybody, including the people younger than him, always treated him in ways worst than a useless piece of trash.Knowing that there was nothing he could do to change this, Alex could only lower his head and apologize.“I left where I was the moment you dropped the call. But because I was somewhere very far away and I had to trek, I was late.”“How the hell does that concern me, hun? I told you I needed you here ASAP, but here you are, only arriving five minutes later, I’m I not going to pay for your service?”The boy snorted coldly, then gazed at Alex Johnson as though even his life and death meant nothing to him, the boy put the headphones he had removed just now after Alex reached him back on and continued playing his game.Seeing him like this, Alex could only remain quiet while standing at the side as he continued gazing downward with a soulless look in his eyes.As for the rest of the boys, they also returned to their respective games when they realized that nothing interesting was going on.Just as Alex Johnson was about to become helpless again and start thinking of a way to ask the young boy what he want him to do, he saw a twenty dollar bill flying toward him before landing before his feet, then Alex raised his head with a start.But as if he knew nothing, the young boy who looked utterly engrossed in his games continued enthusiastically.Just as Alex was about to think the money has nothing to do with the dude, he heard him.“I need those pieces of trash to be dumped into the recycle bin.”Alex, “_”He was directly left speechless as he watched the young boy point his mouth toward the pieces of trash. He then looked towards the nearby bin which was only three steps away. Despite himself, Alex Johnson ended up shaking his head speechlessly.‘All these wealthy people.’ He moaned softly to himself, then he bent over and picked up the money before pocketing it.But just as he was about to pick up the pieces of trash which contained all sorts of junk food receptacles, a slight thud sounded, then Alex felt a tinge of pain on his head, the sign of something hitting it.Immediately, a frown formed on Alex Johnson’s face as he raised his head with question marks in his eyes.“Oops, sorry about that. I never knew I would actually miss and mistakenly throw the can on your head.” He heard the young boy apologize with an unhidden sarcasm in his voice, which instantly made the group of young boys gaggle hysterically.Once he heard this, the expression on Alex Johnson’s face returned to normal as he wasn’t new to this treatment, then he continued parking all the refuses before depositing them into the nearby trash can.“Is that all you have for me, sir?”“Yes.”Alex instantly sighed and turned around.“The next time I call you and you delay, I'm done with you.”Alex's footstep instantly faltered when he heard this, then sighing softly to himself again, he began to think of a solution to quicken his pace the next time so that he wouldn’t lose another source of income again.Just as Alex was about to exit the café, his little buttoned cell phone began to ring, then he instantly became enthusiastic and forgot how animalistic he was just treated.Thinking the call was from another customer, Alex directly connected it, but the moment he placed the cell phone against his ear, what he heard directly shattered and broke him completely, making his head start ringing and causing him to feel like he was descending into the deepest layer of hell rapidly.“How… how… where…. Where would I find one million dollars in an hour?”Alex muttered to himself with dead eyes, then his blood pressure began to increase at a fast rate with each passing second.He felt like he was going crazy and he would soon die from depression.Suddenly, his eyes slightly regained focus as he convinced himself hysterically. “No! I must find it or else I wouldn’t be able to see my grandmother again!”The call he got just now was from the hospital where his grandmother had been admitted for over a year, receiving treatment.It was because of this grandmother of his he had been enduring all sorts of humiliations and the entire world's bullies, just so he could find the money to foot her weekly hospital bills.Just now, he received a call from the hospital t his grandmother had entered critical condition, and an amount of one million dollars is needed in less than an hour to rescue and perform surgery on her.“Where would I find that huge amount of money?”Alex began to fidget and rack his brain when suddenly, he remembered something, then a drop of tear-filled with a massive amount of joy fell from his eye.“I… I almost forgot I still have some savings with Shana. Although it wouldn’t amount to much, I would beg anybody I could and add everything I get together, then I should be able to beg the hospital to accept and start grandmother's surgery first, before finding the rest.”Thinking like this, Alex Johnson became out-of-the-world excited, then without bothering about the busy road, he limped across, causing the drivers of the passing-by vehicles to start cursing and roaring furiously at him, but he simply doesn’t care.***** Presently, Alex Johnson could be seen gazing at his front with a dumbfounded expression on his face.Looking at him now, it was as if he was witnessing the most unbelievable and unexpected thing in his life.That’s right.After leaving the Café, he started searching about worriedly, but no matter how much he searched for her, she was nowhere to be found.He went to her hostel and was given cold shoulders and treated like a beggar by her friends before he was contemptuously chased away.Just when he was about to become overwhelmed with extreme nervousness, he found her, but never in his entire life had he imagined what he saw her doing.Growing up, because Alex Johnson was almost the twin brother of poverty, he has no friends apart from one.Although her family wasn’t as poor as his, they had clicked perfectly well right from toddler, and they became best friends who couldn’t do without each other for just a single day.They even promised to marry each other once
**** Standing before Alex Johnson right now was a disheveled and vagrant elderly man who was clad in a raggedy brown garment whose initial color should have been pure white, and his grey hair was filled with bits of flower seeds and small twigs from trees and the woods.It was as if the old man just came out of a jungle.Seeing this elderly man, Alex suddenly looked stomped for a while, then a bright and foolish grin appeared on his face as if the old man was his long lost friend, completely forgetting his troubles for a second, then suddenly, he sighed pitifully with a nostalgic expression on his face.Before two years ago, when their circumstances hadn’t gotten this worst, Alex and his grandmother were always able to eat their fill every day despite their struggles. However, ever since he knew this old man which was ten years prior, he was always homeless and extremely impoverished.Because of how pitiful he felt the old man's life to be, Alex always made sure to sneak f
***** “Old man, I need to go urgently,” Returning to his senses, Alex hurriedly uttered before turning around.As he prepared to hastily hobble away, an object unexpectedly landed in his hand, specifically wrapping one of his fingers. Because of his extreme nervousness which caused him to be unaware of what had occurred, he instinctively clenched his hand around the object.Although all that happened, he has no idea at all, so he continued scurrying away as if someone was chasing him.Without realizing it, the hand with which he grasped the object was the one he had previously used to wipe away blood from his nose. As he does so, a faint bluish light suddenly appears, intensifying and piercing through his skin before vanishing entirely.The old man who saw all this watched Alex's back with a thoughtful expression on his face for a while until Alex disappeared, then suddenly, a bright smile appeared on his aged face.“I knew it! I’m so smart!”He chuckled happily to himself
***** The moment Alex reached the hospital, he raced once again like he was being chased by a hungry lion, startling everybody he met on the way.With a loud bang, he entered the public ward where his grandmother had been admitted for over a year now, then to the bed she has been using.But the moment he got there, his eyes widen and his body trembled slightly because the person on the bed was unknown to him, and he knew that there were only three possibilities for that, one, his grandmother has been discharged, two, she was moved to another place, and three, she was gone.Knowing well that nothing could be done without his consent, he automatically cleared the first two possibilities, then his breathing abruptly quickened and his legs began to tremble.He suddenly gazed at the faces of the people within the ward, but most of them were unknown to him and were presently staring curiously at his face.Just as he was having a high hope, thinking he had entered the wrong ward,
**** “So… what you mean was that you, the Divine General Rex Magnus is my godfather and she, the leader of the most prominent family in our nation is my Aunt?”Currently, Alex could be seen seated on a couch in a lavishly decorated room in the hospital with his handsome and weary face frozen in disbelief as he stared at the stunning couple before him.As for the attractive man who had been staring at him with an apologetic and guilty expression on his face all along, the moment he heard Alex’s perplexed inquiry, he nodded his head in response to it, and upon seeing this response, Alex became more thunderstruck, then after a while, he breathed out deeply before he eventually opened his mouth again.“And my fa…” He suddenly trembled slightly as if he was about to say a word that was extremely heavy for his mouth to utter, then he breathed out deeply again before he ultimately continued.“you also said my… my fa… father was your… your beloved brother-in-arm and the first son of
**** “Grandmother, how're you feeling now? You're okay, right?”Alex could presently be seen inside a private ward in the hospital, sending tons of questions to an old woman who was lying on the bed.Upon hearing and feeling her grandson's worry, the old woman couldn’t help but smile apologetically.“Yes grandson, I’m now much better than ever, sorry for all the troubles, pains, and nightmares I’ve caused you all this while.”“No… no grandmother, you haven’t caused me anything, and I’m very happy to do all those things,” Alex hurriedly interrupted his grandmother, shaking his head.After studying his grandmother for a while and becoming certain that she truly has recovered completely, Alex became greatly amazed.Previously, his grandmother looked like someone who would die at any moment, completely weak and with close to not a single vitality, but looking at her now, her face is red, a sign of liveliness and vitality.For a brief moment, Alex couldn’t help but suddenly fee
**** Upon returning home that day, for the first time since he could remember, Alex slept soundly and blissfully like a baby, not waking up until the next day when a sun ray gently woke him up. Upon sitting up, Alex couldn’t help but stretch with a bright smile on his face when suddenly, his face changed greatly and he began to check himself all over, not noticing the ring with all sorts of engraving around his finger. “Was that all a dream?” He muttered to himself and suddenly lifted his arms to inspect his elbows, then he proceeded to check his entire body. When done, he spun around the dark and damp room which resembled an abandoned store, then a mocking expression appeared on his face. “So everything was just a dream, hahaha. I almost convinced myself just now that I had become the heir to the most influential family in the country and that the most respected and powerful man was my godfather. What a ridiculous notion!” Alex gaggled sarcastically to himself for a while befo
**** Presently, Alex Johnson could be seen standing before a huge bank with a strong nervousness etched all over his face. He had been standing foolishly like this for over an hour, not having the courage to enter the bank because he was too scared of getting disappointed. Poor Alex, well… it wasn’t his fault though for not believing the memories in his head were real, why? Alex had suffered too much since he could remember, this was especially so during the past few years, which made it extremely difficult for him to believe what occurred the previous day, so he assumed it was a dream despite his subconscious mind repeatedly telling him it was real. Alex was just too scared shitlessly that he would be utterly broken and wouldn’t be able to handle it if he were to believe his memories but ended up realizing that it was still an ordinary dream at the end of the day. Still staring unblinkingly at the bank, Alex finally breathed out deeply. ‘Should I enter or not?’ His brows beca