As soon as Madling and his troupe left Rino back in the building, he jolted from the chair he had been tied and staggered to the door.
The tal door that privated the room in which he was creaked open behind him as he stumbled out of the room, giving the cold wind of the night chance to bite into his bruised skin. His steps as well appeared heavy, wounded not just in body, but in spirit as well.
His breath was ragged, warm in the air around him, shallow and shaky too. The tornt he did endured inside was nothing compared to what he struggled to comprehend within him. He didn’t want to believe yet that the figure he had seen was Madling’s.
He looked at his bloodied hands in sha, "The briefcases..."
Not only was the money he was asked to retrieve left its course from him, but the loan he and borrowed was also off him. Just the mont he had been wishing for a very long ti ago, ca only to crumble monts after.
He laid his knees on the ground, and covered his face in disbelief. The earlier he realized what had happened wasn’t a dream, but reality, the better for him.
Bracing himself, he rose from where he knelt and continued to stagger the road. He reached his hand into his trousers’ pocket, a d pulled his phone with trembling hands. ’...a voice note on your resignation letter...’ was the exact words Madling used.
If only he could predict what the voice ssage would say. Of course, his father would once again be cursing him, but to think the company frad the letter as a resignation letter instead of Sack letter was—
Without wasting much ti, he halted in his track on the empty road, and played the ssage.
> "Rino. I would be telling a great lie if I said I’m not highly disappointed in the kind of sha you grew up to beco. Deeply, bitterly, I’m disappointed in you."
If only his father understood what Rino was passing through at the mont, he would know his voice was like an acid on old wounds. But, Rino still played it on.
> "How could you resign from Carter Group? How could you, when you know that’s the only ans of your family’s survival? Do you even know what being a Senior Finance Manager entailed? Do you know how much many n dreamt of that position, especially in Carter Group? Of course, you didn’t not know."
Rino’s lips opened, as if he wanted to explain what had happened to the voice of his invisible father.
He wanted to tell his father that he planned to resign from the company, but not as soon. He wanted to let his father know what he was passing through, that he was currently in pain and should not hear those kind of words from the only support he should be getting at the mont.
But... be it as it may, no words ca out. He was only forced to keep hearing the words that sounded from his father’s voice.
> "...of course, why will you know what that kind of position can offer you. You think you can beco a digital investor? A scam businessman? Is that why you quit your future to chase after a dream?"
> Rino, what ca over you? Worse, you got involved with collecting a loan of $100,000 behind our backs—and now, Oga Branch Bank says you’re trying to disappear with their money!"
> "I still find it a difficult challenge to believe I raised a son like you. Better find your way and clear your debt with that bank of yours, before the end of three days—that’s the limit you were given."
Rino clenched his jaw as hot tears blurred his vision. He didn’t understand why the bank will suddenly turn up in this kind of situation. Even, he was sure what he signed was 60-day and not 3-day repaynt window.
Just as the whole situation wanted to reveal itself, the confusion of why it had to happen creeped in.
Why does it seem there was a connection?
He looked at his phone which still played the voice ssage sent by his dad, and wanted to toss it away but sothing stopped him. He heard his brother’s voice.
> "You’ve ruined this family’s na. You have been disgusting to stay with from onset, I just had to keep up with you all the ti."
The first phrase that got Rino’s concern was ’family’s na’. Did his family really got a na to protect? And, is it his younger brother calling all his effort to make sure he doesn’t end up like him, a disgust.
Rino had dropped out of school a few months after the death of their mother, just to find a way of living for the family, since his father was incapable. He never liked the idea of not getting educated formally, and he had sworn to make sure his younger brother won’t end up like him.
He was going through all these at just the age of eighteen. Just, what did he do wrong?
The last words Rino heard from his brother’s voice hit hard.
> "I cannot call you a brother, can I? I never had a brother."
He still wanted to comprehend what those words an when his father’s voice ended the ssage.
> "I’m done with you, Rino. You are no longer my son. Don’t ever co back."
Rino let the phone slip off his hand, dropping on and cracking against the hard pavent.of the road.
"..."
He stood still for a mont, allowing the weight of everything settle imnsely. It started with a harsh betrayal, now rejection and worst still, broken dreams crashing down on him all at once. He had lost all he thought he had—his family.
The pain he felt... if only words will be enough to explain it.
He staggered forward, his legs numb.
At the mont, it wasn’t Rino walking, it was a corpse. He is now body present, soul absent.
The world around him blurred. He sobbed—no, he shouldn’t be as a brave boy—but the tears rolled down uncontrollably.
His palms went over his cheeks as he wiped tears each ti, until he heard it.
A loud, blaring horn that scread in this quiet night. He had stood in the middle of the road for quite a while without noticing an incoming truck, or hearing its horn.
And now, it was too late. The truck, sped as though it were without brakes.
"Get off the way! Get off the way!!!"
The driver of the truck kept shouting, clutching the brakes of the truck which screeched slowly against the asphalt.
Rino only gazed at the incoming truck with eyes wide opened. Was he just hearing this horn, or did he think it didn’t matter when he heard it?
That was a wise thought for soone who would be eting the end of his life in a short while. He still didn’t move, or maybe, he wanted to but couldn’t.
Gbimmmm!!!
Ti froze. Rino flew in the air, lifelessly.
In the slow motioned mont, he thought himself engulfed in a complete, absolute, cold darkness.
Not until he heard a strange voice.
"Master Rino, everyone is waiting at the dining for you."
"..."
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