"Sir?" Harlan asked in confusion, he stopped walking and held the phone closer to his ear.
"Ever since I adopted you, you have brought nothing but failures and misfortunes on me. So, I am ending all those failures and misfortunes now. If you go near my house, you will be arrested because there are policemen there.""Dad… what… what are you telling me, dad?" Harlan stuttered."Don't call me your father again. I am only the father of my Myzska and Justin. I adopted you, you know that much, and I have disowned you. Don't call me again. I am sick of you already!""Dad…?""Even your father disowned you. Your rich father sold you to me because you were an unfortunate child, I don't want you again. What I want now is the refund of the money I have used in feeding you all these years. You have grown up to be a fool, I don't want you infecting my children with that foolishness of yours; the earlier the better.""Is that Harlan?" A background voice asked at the other end. Harlan's Mom."We have done our best for you, but we are starting to realize it is all a waste now. If you can refund the money we have spent on you till now, it would be really good," his mom said and hung up on him.Harlan was dazzled. He walked the rest of the journey to the house dead to his surroundings. What his parents told him echoed in his ears. He knew fully well that he was an adopted child and that his parents never really did like him, but he had tried to get their affection by having high grades and securing scholarships. All the funds for his schooling till now has been scholarships.He had thought he would be able to live with the cold attitude of his parents to him, but now it turns out that they are tired of him already.He stared at the gate of the house which used to be his parents' house, it was guarded by policemen like his father had mentioned.He blinked back the tears in his eyes as he trekked to the one room that has always been his house from the time he started college, since his parents' house was too far from college.Harlan inserted the key in the door and sighed. Things were bad as they were, he needed to think, but not now. He already had a spinning headache.He pushed the door open and turned on the light. A gasp escaped his mouth as he stared at the figure sitting on his tattered bed."Welcome home, Harlan. I have been waiting for you," the man said with a grin."Who are you?!" Harlan yelled."I am sorry if I startled you, Sir. My boss is waiting for you outside," the man said, standing up from Harlan's bed.Harlan looked at the man suspiciously, he was dressed richly. It would take Harlan all his yearly pay from four jobs to buy a similar pair of ties that the man was using. Instead of being scared, he got curious to know who the man was."Who is your boss?""He is Mr Smith, Sir," the man said.Harlan stared at the man, unbelieving. There was only one Smith he knew, and that was the billionaire law firm owner in the city. Why would a man like that be looking for him?"After you," Harlan muttered.The man smiled and went out. Harlan carefully followed him. Outside the compound where he lived, he stopped walking, dazzled at the number of expensive cars parked there. He didn't see the cars while he was coming, why would cars as expensive as these be somewhere like this too?"Sir, Mr Smith is in the third car, you can go meet him." The man Harlan has saw in his room said, making Harlan to snap out of his thought.He glanced at the man, he could really not make out his features again in the dark. Harlan nodded and went to the third car. There were about ten of them there.Just as Harlan neared the car, the door opened and a man came down from it. Harlan held his breath… Maybe… maybe Jason had finally filed a suit against him. Damn him! He panicked as he waited to hear Mr Smith tell him the worse."Hello, Harlan. I want to adopt you, what do you think?" Smith asked.Harlan looked at him sharply. He couldn't have heard rightly."I don't think… I mean… Sir?" Harlan stuttered.Smith smiled and reached into his pocket, he brought out a card and waved it in Harlan's face."I would love for you to think about it before tomorrow. Meet me in my office tomorrow and tell me your conclusion. Meanwhile, here is a debit card, you can use the money for your transport," Smith said and stretched the card to Harlan with a paper with the password.Harlan looked, eyes widened at the man in front of him. This must be a dream. He shook his head and bit himself in the tongue. He felt that sharp pain. Definitely, he thought, this isn't a dream.He collected the card from Smith and felt it. It seemed real. Very real."I will be expecting you tomorrow, Harlan… son." Smith said and got back inside the car he had come down from.Harlan watched as the cars left. The man who had been in Harlan's room too entered one of the cars, and soon all the cars were gone.Harlan stared at the card in his hand. If it was just for transport fees, it would be just a few dollars. Notwithstanding, since he didn't have any money on him, he decided to go withdraw the money.When Harlan got to the bank, he checked the amount in the card. He wiped his face severally to be sure he was seeing well.He had only seen figures like this while doing arithmetics!$5,000,000He counted the zeros several times and checked the balance over and over again to be sure the machine wasn't making a mistake. It was just the same!He smiled first. He checked the balance again and covered his mouth. This is too much isn't it?"Are you not done?" Someone asked behind Harlan.Harlan turned to look at the woman's whose voice he had heard."Huh?""It's taking you ages, just remove your card from there if you have no money left," the woman said in disgust."I am sorry for taking your time," Harlan said and turned back to the machine to withdraw the money."If you are sorry, leave the place, I want to use my card too." The woman snapped."I will Soon be done," Harlan replied."Damn it. Do I have to wait here till tomorrow when it is obvious that the amount in your account isn't going to magically increase, you this filthy rag?" The woman said angrily.Harlan stared at her. She stared back at him."You can't just conclude without…""People like you are all over the city, you come here and keep on checking your account balance, wasting the precious time of people like us who have important things to do. Aren't you ashamed of yourself?" The woman said in disgust."I am going to pretend as if I didn't hear that, ma'am," Harlan said quietly, trying to control his anger."If you don't get out of here at this moment, I will teach you a very important lesson." She snarled.Harlan took a deep breath, the last thing he wanted was to cause a scene. He waited for the machine to process his request.After Harlan had gotten the money he needed, he turned around to go. He noticed that the woman was no longer there. He shrugged and walked off.Two men stopped him from going further. One of them gave Harlan a blow in his face. Harlan held his face in pain, it had been totally unexpected and he had been unable to defend himself."So, you are the stupid idiot who has kept Miss Maria waiting?" One of the men accessed Harlan as if he was a piece of disgusting material."Who is Maria?" Just saying that earned Harlan another punch, this time, in his abdomen."Idiot, how dare you pronounce her name without regarding her with the due respect?"Harlan groaned, "get out of my way, you punk!" He shouted."Well, shouting is all you can do, isn't it?" The other man sneered."Next time, when you come across important people, you will hide your face." With that, the two men plunged at Harlan.Unable to take it any longer, Harlan blindly threw blows at them too, but they were no match for him, they seemed to be professional boxers. A few of his blows hit them, but Harlan got more blows."Stop right there." A voice ordered.Harlan wiped the blood that came out from his mouth with the back of his hand as the two men stepped away from him to look at the person who had dared to stop them.They trembled in fear when they realized who the man was. No one messes with Jack, and a lot of times he had been billionaire's protector. No ordinary person can afford to make Jack his or her personal bodyguard."Sir, are you here to see us?" One of the men asked Jack in a trembling voice.Without saying anything, Jack strolled to them and held the two men at once, he glanced at Harlan."What do you want me to do to them, young master?" Jack asked Harlan.Harlan stared at Jack in surprise. Did Jack just call him 'young master'? One of the men whose collar Harlan was holding burst into laughter."You must have made a mistake, Mr Jack. This scumbag here cannot be any young master, he isn't even fit to be my servant at home…" Jack angrily released the two men, kicked them with his foot and sent them sprawling on the floor.
More people threw more money at Harlan and the crowd was starting to become too much for a law firm like Keith and Mint. The gatekeepers continue giving scornful and snippy remarks. Harlan knew he would leave the place in shame. He glanced at the gateman, they were having a nice time capping on him."I think our boy is greedy too, if not, why is he still waiting here after all the not thrown at him?" Robinson asked the other gateman who in turn laughed."Don't be shy… don't be shy, Mr beggar, just pick your money and go away."Harlan sighed. He wondered where Jack was. He could have rescued him in a situation like this. Just when he was about to take a step toward the gate, silence descended on the place.People who had been together before, made space for someone to pass. Smith stopped walking and stared at Harlan. They maintained eyes contact. Smith felt weak in the knee as he stared at Harlan. He had grown really well."What is going on, son?" He asked quietly, still not taking his
In Harlan's school, Jason is the richest student. At age twenty two, he was already the owner of two Supermarkets, presented to him as a birthday gift by his father, that earns him nothing less than two million dollars yearly each. Although not the most handsome, he pulled a lot of crowd because anyone who got in his bad books would remember it forever, the only way not to annoy him was to be one of his fans.The second richest student is Elizabeth, considered as the school beauty goddess. She rarely talks, and most of the students in the law department claimed not to have heard her voice before. The rest of the students in the class come after those two when it comes to wealth.Harlan was too surprised to answer her question. He stared at her. As if by a command, there was silence in the class as every eye watched Harlan and Elizabeth.Harlan cleared his throat, " yes, sure," He said and moved to the farther end of the seat.Elizabeth sat down and pulled back her headphones. Harlan g
Smith pushed the file on the table to the judge who in turn placed his glasses on his eyes well to check the medical report."Are you fully convinced now?" Smith asked, carefully looking at the judge's reaction as he went through the report."So you really have a son?" The judge muttered, still staring at the sheet of paper in his front that held the evidence of Mr Smith having a son.He had often heard about Mr Smith having a son but he couldn't believe those rumours no matter how curious he had been to know the truth. The judge knew Mr Smith was divorced but the fact that he has a son has not been clear.It was not until a week ago that the judge had the chance to satisfy his curiosity. He asked Mr Smith to bring evidence of having a son in return for making him win the case against another big firm in another city."I hope the DNA test convinces you this time around. The test, as you can see, was carried out in the best hospital in this city, if you still have some doubts, you can g
Thinking that Harlan was telling lame jokes because he was going through a hard time because of the fact that his parents disowned him, Kelvin slowly covered his mouth with his palm, the other hand holding the phone remained where it stayed hung in the air.Suddenly, Kelvin moved closer to Harlan and pulled him in a tight hug, surprising Harlan himself. He had thought Kelvin wouldn't believe him."I am sorry, Harlan, I should have asked about how you are coping with the reality of being disowned by your parents," Kelvin said, choking with emotion."You don't need to make a big deal about the fact that my parents disowned me, I have forgotten about them already," Harlan muttered, trying to pull away from Kelvin."I should have known you would be greatly affected by it, no need pretending to be tough, we can both cry over it if that is going to make you better, man."Harlan finally pulled away from Kelvin and stared at him in confusion."I am now Harlan Smith, so my parents disowning me
"Everyone is free to go without paying, your bills have been settled by an anonymous person," the president of the restaurant said, trying to get a grip on himself.When Mr Smith had called him and informed him that Harlan Smith was in the restaurant, he had almost fainted. It got even more worse when Mr Smith told him that should Harlan Smith pay for anything he eats in the restaurant, the president of the restaurant would have himself to blame for whatever the consequences are."That is ridiculous. How could you say someone paid for all of us? Don't you know how much that is?" One richly dressed customer asked rudely."You are free to even eat more, to any extent you eat, your bills have been covered already," the restaurant President said and tried to guess who Harlan Smith could be among the many people in the restaurant.The restaurant's president's eyes never lingered on Harlan for a second. When he got back outside, he called Mr Smith to inform him that he had made sure Harlan
Harlan waited for the landlord's hand to hit him in the face again but after some seconds when nothing happened, he looked at the landlord and could not help sighing in relief when he realized what had made the man's hand cease from working.Behind his back, was Jack, who held the landlord's hand who seemed really shocked and was wondering who on earth had stopped him from teaching the tenant who thinks he is wise enough to go away with his money. His shock increased greatly when he managed to turn around and he saw who had held his hand."Jack?" The landlord muttered in disbelief.Harlan had almost forgotten that Jack was nearby and had been watching him, it didn't feel real yet that he had a bodyguard."I want you to teach him a lesson never to look down on someone again," Harlan said when he finally could talk. He rubbed his cheek as he could still feel the pain from the slap.The landlord couldn't help but laugh. He thought his tenant was in a fantasy of some sort, or probably insa
Harlan smiled, "I could have told you to do that but I am not someone who will do something like that. I am not going to give back to society the bad I have received from it. Instead, I am going to make it different."Jack glanced at Harlan through the mirror. Talk about being weird. Jack Had worked with billionaire kids but none was like Harlan. The ones he had worked with, even the older men, took pride in seeing their victims suffer. That way, Jack had gotten used to being tough, but working with Harlan calls for a really big difference."I understand that, Sir," Jack said.Harlan looked out through the window. The night view looked so good that Harlan found himself wondering if had been on this same planet all these while. He had never really enjoyed looking at things with such admiration.His mind went back to when he was younger and his foster parents gave birth to their first child, he had become a slave to them and was often being reminded that he was an adopted child. He tri