03. The Debt

With the help of his personal chauffer, Van was finally able to locate his mother's house.

His heart sank in his chest when he saw the old, beat up house his mother lived in.

When Van was arrested, he felt he didn't have much to worry about, since he had already bought a house he would live in with his wife after their wedding. And Bianca came from a good home, so he thought his mother would get by just fine.

However, if Bianca had been unfaithful right from the onset, he wondered how his mother's life would have been for the whole five years he was gone.

"Mom, I'm so sorry you had to live such a tough life because of me." He muttered to himself. "I swear I'm going to make it all better." Remembering Bianca and Moses, he clenched his fists tightly and his lips was pulled together tightly. He couldn't just let them get away with their actions just like that.

At that moment, he saw a woman parking her electric bicycle just outside the gate. She was wearing a helmet, and appeared to be a delivery person, judging from the logo on her dispatch bicycle, Van guessed it was probably a restaurant. After the woman entered the yard, she placed something near the door and knocked the door several times before running out quickly and speeding off on her electric bicycle.

The door finally creaked open, and a silver-haired woman with an abundance of wrinkles on her face walked out. After glancing around in all directions, she picked up the package left behind by the delivery woman.

Van couldn't believe how much his mother had aged in five years. Her dark brown hair had more grays than brown and it was obvious that her wrinkles were born from stress, rather than old age.

Tears filled his eyes as he watched her and he felt a lump in his throat. "Mom…"

Upon hearing that familiar voice, the woman stepped forward and stretched out her trembling hands to caress Van’s cheek. “Van, is it really you? I…I’m not dreaming, am I? My son is back? You're back.”

Guilt engulfing his heart, Van dropped to his knees and hugged his mother's mid section. "This is all my fault. You had to go through all these pain and suffering alone because of me."

Van was never a man to get emotional but after seeing the state his mother was in, he couldn't help himself. For five years, he had been oblivious of the pain his mother was going through.

Looking at her, she looked like she was well over sixty, when in reality his mother wasn't even fifty yet.

“Oh don't say that my dear. I’m so glad that you’re back. I've spent far too long without my son, and you have spent too long in that confinement. It is finally your time to start over.”

His mother pulled him up to his feet and hugged him once more, still hoping that it wasn't a dream or a hallucination. "How is this even possible? I thought they had given you a longer sentence?" She asked, still not letting go of him.

Van made no attempts to free himself either, rather he held on tighter to her, like she was going to disappear if he let go.

“Don’t you worry, Mom. Now that I’ve been released earlier than expected, I'm going to take care of you. I promise you, no one will ever look down on you again." He finally removed himself from her hold and smiled at her face.

At that moment, a bulky man walked into the yard, with two smaller men flanking him on both sides. He stopped right in front of Van and his mother, but his gaze was directed at his mother. "I don't think we need to tell you why we're here. Just go in, and bring the payment, and no one gets hurt." He had a deep voice that would have normally intimidated anyone, but not Van.

He watched with anger as his mother scurried around, obviously terrified by the presence of the men.

They might have been intimidating his mother while he was away, but now that he was back, Van was going to make sure that no one ever treated his mother less than she deserved.

She had been through a lot on her own, and it was time for him to change that.

"You don't have to hurt anyone, I have already prepared your money. Just wait right there while I go get it." She ran into the house, almost falling as she stubbed her toe but Van was there to catch her.

She didn't give herself anytime to recover as she rushed to her bedroom and returned with a small bag.

She held it out to him and he ordered her to open it up and show him the content. She opened it to reveal money consisting of one, two, and five dollars, along with a whole bunch of coins. As for dollar bills in bigger denominations, there are only three or four of them.

“F*cking change? Again woman?!” The bulky man, who seemed to be the leader growled impatiently. "Do you think we have all the time in the world, you old hag?!"

"Do you know how long it's going to take to count that?" One of his henchmen said, eyeing Van's mother with anger.

"You're seriously asking for a beating, old woman." The third man said, crunching his knuckles.

Van couldn't take any more of that. "How much does my mother owe?" He demanded in an authoritative tone.

“Well, I’ll be damned! I thought you were some street rat who came here to beg for scraps. I would never have recognized you if you hadn’t defended your mother. Aren’t you that loser who made an attempt on master Moses's life five years ago?”

The bulky man mocked, smirking at Van. He took a step close to him, his gaze scanning Van's profile. “You’ve been released? Already? Wow, you are one lucky fella. You know, no matter how much I think about it, I can never tell if you're really brave, or just plain stupid, doing something like that to the young master of the Wilson family. Well, you got what you deserved. I'm just surprised they let you out this quickly."

"Why the hell are you dwelling on the past? I did what I did and I regret nothing. Just answer the damn question I asked. Why are you talking money from my mother?"

"You didn't think you could go scot free with that stunt you pulled with Master Moses, did you?

Well let me tell you kid, it didn't end with your prison sentence. Compensation had to be paid…and your poor mother has been paying it. She has a deadline to complete her payment in a month's time, or it'll be the end of her."