System Within: Million Dollars From Today

After losing his delivery driver job for thinking his female manager liked him and saying to her ‘I love you’, Gabe Brando was without a doubt experiencing the lowest, crappiest phase of his life. Being used by women, only to then be treated like trash was not new to Gabe, but it would still shock and break him every single time. At present, seated in the opposite row to him in the bus was Sheila, a divorced woman from the same neighborhood he lived in, and she had this ‘I’m too good for you’ look. Gabe couldn’t even make eye contact with her for long. He felt too inferior for many reasons. He was jobless. He had thin hair. He was slightly cross-eyed, and he didn’t consider himself handsome, either. He thought, no, he knew he had no chance even with a divorced woman who he also owed some money. Such was the state the no-teen-ever Gabe was in. “I washed my head today, and I lost more hair today,” he muttered under his breath. “Is it because I’m buying cheap shampoo, or is it just t

Mia Reyes.When Gabe was in sixth standard, Mia joined his school. She used to wear glasses and also cough most of the time because her health wasn’t good. Gabe immediately pitied her because his aunt’s health also wasn’t good. The other girls in the class teased and mocked Mia a lot in the beginning, but after the quarterly exams, Mia was ranked third in the class, and so most of their mouths naturally shut up.Mia wouldn’t talk much, but she would help anyone that asked her to help clarify their doubts on any subject.Gabe also went to her a few times, and she helped him. Gabe didn’t talk to her much other than a limited number of times, but he gave her something that would benefit her health every single time he met her, whether it be blueberries or beets. And he probably looked at her the most than anyone else in the class. He was highly innocent and utterly clueless about the type of feelings he had for her back then.After growing up, however, he realized that she was his first

The system forced Gabe to spit, and the half-chewed chicken piece and bones flew out of his mouth and fell on top of his friends.Utterly shocked, Gabe thought everything was over. He thought they would gang up and beat him so badly he would take a few weeks to recover.However, to his shock and relief, they didn’t even react.They were already too drunk at that point to realize what had happened.“Whew…” Gabe breathed a sigh of relief but then scolded the system. “Are you trying to ruin my relationship with them?”[What sort of relationship is this? You should be alpha, not a freaking beta when you interact with others!] The system also sharply responded. [Don’t show me this type of behavior again, or you’ll lose my respect.]Gabe felt threatened by the system’s words. “But, didn’t Jesus tell us to be meek and humble?”[There’s a difference between being meek and miserable. Jesus is the alpha of alphas. He never begged people to believe in God. He commanded everyone to repent from th

Gabe’s mind went blank when he saw Mia. Her facial features were not something he could ever forget. Even with glasses on, he immediately recognized her.She went and stood behind the other people that had gotten out of the car and patiently waited.A lot of thoughts flooded through his mind, but he wanted to confirm about one thing, so he walked up to her and said, “H-Hi.”Mia glanced at him and recognized that she met him recently.“Do you remember me?” he asked.She nodded, though only very slightly. “The guy who fought Bart.”“Actually, he attacked me first,” he explained.“I guessed that might have been the case,” she said in a low voice. The movements she made were very delicate and attractive. “What are you doing here anyway?”“I live here,” Gabe pointed toward his house. “That’s my house.”“Oh…” Mia looked a little surprised and went silent.Gabe felt like she wasn’t inclined to continue the conversation. Not wanting to spoil her mood, he turned around but after taking two ste

Gabe froze in his steps, for Mia was talking with his aunt, and for the first time in many years, he had seen a smile on Nicole’s face. Mia saw Gabe and stood from the small stool where she had been sitting. “Gabe is here.” “Gabe…” Nicole tried to sit up, but she couldn’t do it by herself. Gabe hurriedly helped, and Mia also gave a hand. “Look. Your friend brought us sweets,” Nicole spoke excitedly, though only slowly. There were two sweet boxes on the bed. Gabe looked at Mia as if telling her that there was no need to bring those sweets. Mia, however, tilted her head and gave him a similar look but with exact opposite intentions. He used to give her berries when they were young, so she was just returning a little bit of that now. Moreover, they were neighbors now, so this was pretty normal, she believed. “If it was any other kid, they might have abandoned me,” Nicole told Mia, “but Gabe isn’t like that. He’s a good boy.” “I will always love you, Aunt,” Gabe quickly replied, “an