My Billionaire Ex-boyfriend

Keno The rain fell on my head as I tried very hard to gather all the clothes and clutched it closer to my chest to prevent it from slipping through my arms. Of all the times my back pack’s lock would give up and it chose to give up now. I bit on my lower lip as I squeezed my eyes shut and fluttered it to shake the raindrops off. I snickered bitterly as I shook my head. If you look at me from the outside all wet and tired with only a thin shirt on and a very weary and old house shorts with a five year old adidas slip ons—all soaking wet, on a deserted and now flooding street under a very heavy down pour of the rain on that stormy night, you would think that I was filming a very emotional MV—a music video that was meant to move everyone who would happen to see it. But no—this isn’t and MV, this is real life. My life. A very shvtty life at that. And to top it all, it was my birthday. It should have been a joyous occasion. But not for me. It stopped being one five years ago when my parents died from a car crash leaving me alone. My parents were small time business owner who traveled a lot buying and selling farm produce. Life was good then. We had a house and a car, apart from the one we had to use for traveling the products from the province to the city. We ate more than three times a day and could afford pleasure travels once in a while and I could have anything I want. I had friends and was attending a private high school. But a drunk driver changed everything in just a matter of seconds when his motorcycle crashed into the car my father was driving on their way to the city from a business meeting in the province. The driver died on the spot while my parents were both unconscious in the hospital for a couple of weeks before the finally succumbed to their injuries and died almost at the same time. I had no clear recollection of the events that had happened right after I was informed about their accident. All I remembered was I cried the whole night at home while they were in the hospital and I refused to see them and it was only Aunty Ling, my mother’s distant cousin who helped arranged everything. After that, I was on the hospital with them day and night, not speaking and or talking to anyone—I couldn’t even bring myself to drink and eat if not only for my body protesting. I guess, over those days I was with them in the hospital, I unknowingly had prepared myself for the worst to happen. But still, I hoped. I prayed so hard for my parents to be okay, but in the end they didn’t. And that was when some more things changed. Even Aunty Ling, who was very kind to me then. She was my only relative as both my parents were also orphaned and were only child of their respective families. She took me in and promised to take care of me. But it only lasted as long as my parents’ assets did. She would not have met me attend colleges back then only if I didn’t promise here I would work part time and not bother her with the expenses. In the end, I could only give myself two years of college since my work as a part time crew at a fast food chain couldn’t afford sending me to college and providing for myself and my relative at the same time. At twenty, I was a full time employee, hoping from one job after another just so I could make ends meet for me and the family I live with—a family I couldn’t really call as such. It was clear how I was only with them because they needed the money I could give. Every time I hinted about moving out, Aunty Ling would always mention about how hard she worked to help me out and my family during those time my parents where at the hospital and when they were finally laid to rest, and that’s why I could not move out even if I badly wanted to. But I finally had enough tonight. As if it was not enough that I was fired from the English Centre where I was working as an English Language tutor for almost two years, because I would not give in to a female student’s advances towards me which made her angry and reported to my supervisor twisting the truth which eventually rendered me jobless on my birthday, I came home and found out that the money I was saving up was taken by my dear cousin. I shouldn’t have been complacent about leaving my ATM card behind with my mother’s birthday as the passcode. “Tili, that was my money.” My eighteen year old cousin who had been a fourth year high school student for three years now and had been changing private high school since then glared at me. “I know. I didn’t say it was mine. I just borrowed it so I can by myself the latest iPhone. Duh, why are you so stingy about it? It’s not like it’s a big amount. I’ll tell mama to pay you back the forty five thousand.” I rolled my eyes at her. They can’t even pay me back for the three thousand they ‘borrowed’ a year ago and that five thousand last month and some others I could no longer remember. On top of that, I was the one paying for the bills in the house. “Tili. I was saving it up for college. It was not meant for you to buy a phone.” I tried to talk to her calmly as I know form experience that she was not really the sharpest tool in the shed. “I haven’t bought a new phone yet, thanks to your broke ass your savings couldn’t afford the price at once. Mama still needs to look for additional funds.” Wow! So it’s my fault then!?! And she really had the nerved to call me broke when she was the one who practically stole my money. But at least I was able to heave a relieved sigh with what she said. There’s still a chance that I could take my money back. “The point is. It was my money.” I said as I tried to tell her that stealing is a bad thing. “Keno, it’s not my fault that I needed money and your ATM was just laying around for me to use. I thought it was my mother’s so I just casually used it.” She told me as she waved her newly manicured nails in front of me. She was lying very poorly. If only her mind could be as sharp as her nails, maybe she’d finally finish junior high school at least. “My ATM, was in my room, inside my dresser and my room was locked when I left. And how could you mistook it as your mother’s when you used my mother’s birthday as it’s passcode?” I said matter of factly as I heard her groaned and regarded me with a bored look. “You are so annoying Keno. Can you just shut up? I already told you, my mother is going to pay you back. And if you have problem with your room being unlocked, talk to her and not me. Because she was the one who opened the door and asked me to look around.” I gaped at what Tili said. I mean, I was not surprised, back then, when I still didn’t deposit my money in the bank, me losing it in my dresser of night stand was a common occurrence and every time I talked about it, I’d get yelled at for accusing them of taking it. That was why I decided to open a bank account to keep my money safe in the bank. When that happened, the ‘borrowing’ of money started and I’d get an earful if I couldn’t give it to them and so I just had to let on. And then finally, Tili outed her mother. So he was really the one who rummaged through my stuff and took my money all these time!?! Not that I was surprised tho. “You can’t take people’s money just like that.” I said under my breath. It’s not like I could really do anything about it. But now that I’m out of work, I could not not ask them to pay back. “Did you just call us thieves?” I heard Tili gasped at me. Yes! I badly wanted to yell at her face but didn’t. I was already stressed out from my last day at work, I just wanted to have at least half of my money back and rest. “I didn’t call you that. I didn’t want to argue. I just want my money. Give it back!” I stepped towards her and made a move to take her satchel to check when she screamed like a butchered pig. “Get your hands off of me! What are you doing!?! Help!!!!!” She was screaming as if her life was threatened when I was just standing in front of her waiting for her to stop with her deathly scream. “Tiliii!?! What’s wrong!?!” Aunty Ling came rushing in and checked on her daughter who thankfully stopped screaming already. “What did you do to my daughter!?!” She glared and pointed a finger at me as the rest where still holding a few mahjong tiles. Yes. She was playing again. As always. I wonder if it was the money they took that she used to wager. “I just asked her to give my money back.” I said plainly. The anger I thought I didn’t have earlier suddenly felt so heavy in my heart when I saw aunty Ling. The audacity for her to be the one looking so furious at me! “What money!?!” She asked as if surprised. “The money you asked me to withdraw from his ATM so we could—.” Tili bit her tongue wide eyed when her mother shushed her. Apparently, you could not trust a dumb bimbo with a crime. Yes! I called my distant cousin that. “We’re going to pay you back. Don’t worry.” Aunty Ling said proudly after being tongue tied for a minute because of her daughter’s stupidity. “No.” Two sets of brows furrowed at me. “What do you mean no?” Aunty Ling asked. “I mean no. You don’t have to pay me back.” The mother and daughter duo looked at each other and were about to smile when I continued. “I was not lending it to you so you don’t have to pay me back. Now, give it to me.” I extended my hands for the both of them the same time I saw their faces soured. Much more so, aunty Ling. “What did you just say?” She gave me her usual demeaning look. The one she always used to intimidate me. In normal occasions, I would have stepped back and kept quiet to avoid chaos. But not today satan. You couldn’t even remember my birthday and worse—you stole from me. “I said, give me my money back.” I said firmly which obviously irked aunty Ling up. “Watch your mouth, Keno! You make it sound as if we stole your money. How dare you!?!” She stepped closer and pointed her fingers at me yet again. “Then what would you call it aunty!?! You unlocked my door without me and rummaged through my things and withdraw my money without my knowledge, what would you call it then, huh, aunty!?!” I replied without backing down and met her gaze as fiery as mine. “You ungrateful son of a bvtch!” I bit on my lower lip with what she said. The last thing I would want right now is hear her speak ill about my mother like that. “Is this how you’re going to repay me for everything that I did to you huh!?! That amount was nothing compared to all the sacrifice I made just to raise you!” I was waking back towards my room as she kept on pointing at my face and advancing towards me. “Please don’t insult my mother like that.” I said firmly the moment she stopped nagging. “Or what? Huh? You’re acting all tough now just because you think we stole your money is that it!?! Keno, let me remind you, you wouldn’t be where you are now if not for me.” I couldn’t help but chuckled with what she said which surprised her. She was not used to me defying her this way. “You’re right, aunty, I wouldn’t be here if not for you. If not for you, I would have finished college and have a good life and not be swindled and stolen from by the people I thought were my family.” Aunty Ling’s face reddened and her eyes rounded towards me. She was about to raise her hand and made a motion to stop me when I met her eyes with mine and her hand stopped in the air before she regarded her daughter. “How dare you! Tili, go get your Tito Raul! Let’s see if you could still talk like that if your mouth is all broken and bleeding.” Raul was aunty Ling’s current boyfriend of three weeks after living in with a tomboy for almost a year and broke it off just a few months ago. This was also one of the things I didn’t like about here. Tili never knew any constant partners of her since her husband died from a heart attack and rendered Tili fatherless when she was just five. But that was not my pressing concern at the moment. I need not to have Raul here or there would be blood because damn if I would let him touch me without a Goodman fight and I didn’t have any money for the hospital if worst comes to worst. “Do that. And I’ll make sure you’ll not only gonna pay the forty five thousand you stole from me today, but I’m also going to make sure you’ll pay for everything you took from me from the start. Do you like that aunty? Don’t think I didn’t know what you did to our old place. You really think I didn’t know you sold it and used the money for personal purposes?” I tried to be as stern as possible so I could intimidate her and finally found out the truth behind my hunch all these time. “I used to pay—.” I snickered and didn’t let her speak. “For the hospital and the funeral bills. Yes. You did say that. And I believed you for a while until I realized, my parents had insurance. And that the money you had for our old house was the one you used to build this.” I found some papers about it littered around the house as I was cleaning it last week. “This house that I had been helping maintain all these time. From paying all the bills to repairing and you still had the audacity to steal my money and threaten me!?!” I didn’t know how it come from this. I just wanted my money back quietly. But seeing how aunty Ling still acting superior after what she did just pushed me off the edge I guess. “How dare you!?! Get out! Get out of my house and I’ll forget you even said this crazy thing today! Get out!” She was now hitting me with her fist but I was quick to dodge all of it and held her hands instead. “Don’t worry aunty! I really don’t have any plans of staying here with you any longer. I’ll just go get my stuff.” I said and pushed her hands away before I made my way towards my room. I had no plans of running away tonight, specially with the sky grumbling but I guess, it’s the unplanned things that would brought me solace in this case. “What!?! No! Get out now! I don’t want to see your face in here ever again! Get out!” Aunty Ling followed me inside my room as I was stocking my stuff inside my back pack. There were only my clothes that I needed to secure and my pertinent documents. My room was almost bare anyway as I did not buy any more stuff than necessary. “You ungrateful—ingrate! After all that I did for you and this is how you’re going to repay me!?! Get out! Get out now!!!” I rolled my eyes as I walked out my room when I finished packing all of my stuff all the while aunty Ling continued ranting until I was finally out the door. “Don’t come back here ever again! Do you understand!?! You’re not welcome here anymore!!!” I heaved a sigh and stopped midway to the gate before I pivoted to face her. “I’ll be back. But only to get my money. And you should make sure you already have something to pay up when that time comes!” I said before I continued walking with aunty’s curses and yelling in the back ground. I felt heavy but I also felt light at the same time. Finally, I was able to get away from them after all those years. Broke. But free. And very wet as the rain seemed to have no plans of stopping. I was taken out of my trance as I wiped my face to get the rain out of my eyes and I tried my luck in getting a ride despite the zero chance. For one, I was soaking. It would take a miracle for a public transport to take me in. Two. There was hardly any vehicle on this side of the city as it was already flooding and as per the previous incidents of storms, it could get worse from there. I had been walking for almost an hour under the rain now and I thought I needed a place to stay. That was yet another problem. I only have about less than a thousand in my pocket and about five thousand or so in another ATM aunty Ling and Tili had no idea about. Stupid me! It should have been the other way around and that other ATM should have been the secret one. I groaned in annoyance with myself before I made a move to cross the street when out of the blue, a black van stopped in front of me. Two men in dark suits came out and stood on either side of me. “Kenneth Angelo Serrano?” The shorter guy regarded me. I wondered how he knew my name all the while I nodded at him. “Come with us.” The taller guy said as he stepped aside and made a way for me to the open van. “Who are you? What do you want with me!?!” I finally found my voice when the shorter guy motioned for me to head to the car. “Just get in the car!” The taller guy said before he held me by the shoulders and pushed me towards the waiting vehicle. What is happening!?! Am I being kidnapped!?! I was about to shout for help when the other guy raised a hand to stop me. “Don’t ever think about it!” He said as he pushed me inside the van together with my equally soaking stuff and closed the door on me. I then saw the other guy on the phone as he positioned himself on the passenger seat in front. “It’s all done. We have him.” What. So is it tonight? Am I gonna die now!?!