The Heir's Redemption; Leonid Triumphs Over wealth

CHAPTER 2

SHIFTS.

20 Years Later.

2pm.

The light was flickering on and off, the room was dark and bright at the same time. He wondered what was wrong with the lights, the light went out again before fully turning on. He raised his head to stare at the bulb, waiting for it to turn off again. He was not alone in the building, there were other people staying there with him.

"Maybe he fixed it." He muttered, before picking up the laundry basket that had fallen off his hands.

He bent, kneeling on the floor with one knee and gathering all the fallen clothes and putting them in the basket. The clothes were all white and he shouldn't have let them drop on the ground. He was glad he had not washed them yet, besides even if they got stained the washing machine was going to do a great job getting the stains off the clothes.

He stood up immediately and he was done picking up the clothes. He pushed the basket under his arm and whistled as he walked down the floor. The stairs were dusty like no one was living there. The cleaner had not arrived and Leonid was earlier since he needed the money. Instead of taking the stairs one at a time, he skipped three at a time and by the time he got to the last stairs. A blond was standing there staring at him with a frown on her face.

"You were early today." She said,

He glanced at her before walking to a table and placing the laundry basket on it. She was adding soaps to the washing machine and also staring at him.

"Yes, I was." He replied, moving away from the table and walking towards her. "I was done with my other shifts earlier than I had expected, so I decided to come early so I would be home early…"

"Amelia is sure getting into your head, Leonid." She said, giggling slightly.

Leonid smiled, "Of course, she is my wife Millie. Husband's should have time for their wives."

Millicent closed the machine and turned it on, looking at various baskets on the table filled with neat clothes. Leonid knew Millicent had done almost all her works. The clothes he was supposed to wash were already on the table, he had been gathering them in one basket.

"Sure, that's right." She agreed. 

Leonid walked towards the table he had kept his clothes earlier and took the basket. He glanced at all the washing machines which were five in number and decided to use the one beside Millicent. Millicent smiled at him as soon as he stood beside her, she collected the basket from him and opened the lid of the machine.

"I can do that by myself." Leonid said, he snatched back the basket.

Millicent chuckled and went back to work, Millicent was the only one who spoke to Leonid at the laundry. She owned a small orphanage where she took care of little children that had been abandoned by their parents before sending them to a bigger orphanage. Though her plan does not work as she planned because as the kids come up to a certain age, they refuse to leave because they don't want to leave their mother who was none other than Millicent.

She had told Leonid she took a part- time job at the laundry to have time to breathe and earn money. She was a kind woman that never bullied him like others did.

Leonid began putting in the clothes into the machine, he took them one after the other. He threw the soap in it and was about to turn on the machine when he heard a voice.

"Leo, what do you think you are doing at the washing machine?" 

Leonid recognized the voice immediately, he turned around to stare at the person. It was his boss Mr. Thomas, the man was a little bit old, with a pot belly and a big mouth that Millicent jokingly called the Elephant anus at the back of their boss.

"Washing sir." He answered.

"Washing?" The old man thundered. "Can you pay for the damages if anything happened to the machine? Even if you were asked to borrow some money to pay for it, you would not be able to."

Leonid tried really hard to smile. "I would be extra careful sir."

"Extra careful?" Mr. Thomas questioned as he ran down the stairs. His big belly dancing in front of him.

Leonid wondered how the man was able to walk with such a big belly. It was as if he had swallowed a baby elephant. Mr. Thomas stopped running when he was down the stairs. He was breathing heavily as he walked towards the machine.

"Yes sir, I would be extra careful." Leonid said.

Mr. Thomas frowned at him, he walked to the machine, opened the lid and began throwing out all the clothes in it. Leonid watched Mr. Thomas indifferently, he gazed at Millicent who gave him a look that said 'What is the man doing?' Leonid was sure the man was going to ask him not to do the laundry with the machine. 

"I don't want to see you near my machine Leo, you can scrub the clothes with your hands. I would not want someone as wretched as you to spoil my properties." Mr. Thomas yelled.

Leonid nodded. "Yes sir."

When Mr. Thomas was done throwing out the clothes, he stood up and glanced at Leonid. Leonid was looking all over the floor. This was the second time he had to pick up all these clothes.

"You use the washing machine, I deduct the money from your paycheck." Mr. Thomas warned.

"Yes sir." 

"Good." Mr. Thomas said before turning to leave. "Make sure you are done before the hours are over."

"Yes sir." Leonid responded.

"Umph!" Mr. Thomas grumbled before leaving.

Leonid watched him struggle to climb the stairs until he was out of sight. He glanced at Millicent who was also looking at him.

"Wasn't so bad after all." She said immediately he left.

"Um." 

"He didn't scold you like he used to, he would be like do this, do that." Millicent said, moving her hands like a perfect animated character.

"It isn't in the middle of the shifts and I only touched the machine." Leonid replied.

He bent down to pick the basket and began picking up the clothes on the floor. Millicent went over to help him, she picked up the clothes with him and kept it in the basket. 

"How do you endure all those insults?" She suddenly asked.

Leonid had not expected that question, he gave her a glance before looking down at the floor.

"You just act like you didn't hear it."

"Does that work? Leo you're so tough! I even read an article about you owing a huge amount of money, why aren't you rich?"

"What article?" Leonid asked, he was not surprised about it. Besides, it was not his fault.

"You haven't seen the article? It's currently trending, you're getting popular Leonid."

"Trending? And me being popular? Would you like it if you were featured in a newspaper as the most powerful debtor?"

Millicent waved her head, "No, I wouldn't like it, I don't like the way you were on the article. It's just that I happened to come across it when I was surfing through the internet. I can show you if you want to see it."

"I don't want to read it, I know they would say a lot of bad stuff about me." Leonid eyes darkened.

"They did." Millicent admitted. "It was awful and there was this stuff that said about your mother…" She trailed off when she saw how dark his eyes had become.

She moved away from him, "I would just get back to work."

Leonid burst into laughter at how ridiculous she was acting. He stood up since he was done picking the clothes all thanks to Millicent. "You said nothing wrong, like I said earlier, you just act like you didn't hear it or see it."

"Does your wife know?" Millie asked.

"Yes, she does and she's okay with it. And I would love to check the article later, I would love to know the latest gist about me and damn washing clothes with hands isn't going to be so bad."

Millicent nodded. "It wouldn't, I can help you if you want." 

"No thanks Millie but I am not ready to share my paycheck with anyone."

"I am not asking for your paycheck silly, get to work or you would not receive that paycheck." 

Leonid turned around and left for the stairs. He knew his boss plan was to make him to lose his paycheck and he was not going to let his boss win. Beside he had been doing the laundry with his hands ever since he was little so why was he going to be scared now.

He walked up the stairs, skipping three stairs at a time and whistling. He almost lost his balance when Millicent yelled.

"Leo, you are not a kid anymore. What's with skipping stairs?"