"What? Just go straight to the point, what's the matter?" She asked calmly.
"Listen there miss pretty, I don't want to cause any harm to anyone just tell that little thief t....
"Just go straight to the point mister" she interrupted his long ruched description.
"That little thief stole my wallet, I'm new here in manila, and that money is all I have, I want it back" Aiden enraged.
"What?! John is he telling me the truth" she asked the boy, hiding behind her. He couldn't lie anymore, he just nodded his head positively.
"Ah ah! You see, I'm not lying, that innocent face of his is more dangerous than the venom of a black mamba"
"I'm very disappointed in you John, how could you?" Amelia scolded.
"I'm sorry miss Amelia.
"Don't tell me sorry, apologize to him, he's the one you offended, not me," she instructed.
"I'm sorry mister, I won't ever do it again" the kid apologized.
"Well I hope those words are sincere," Aiden said.
Amelia took the wallet from the boy, then, brought out a huge sum of money from her bag, and put it in the wallet.
"Here mister, that's for the trouble" she said, handing over the wallet to Aiden. Who didn't want to receive it, he felt humiliated for a girl to give him cash.
"Hey don't try to bribe me I don't...
"Just take it, don't pretend like you don't need it"
And indeed he really needs it, so he received the money.
"But that doesn't mean, the child is free, he needs to be punished" Aiden suggest
"Just go home, mister, you already caused a lot of problems here, I already apologized to you, and so does the child, so please to avoid any more trouble just go, or else I'll call the security" she threatened.
"What? Such a rude person as a teacher, hey I'm not leaving until I teach that kid a lesson" he boomed.
"What did you just say?" She asked.
"Yeah, you might look pretty and attractive, but you're surly...Aaaahh!
Aiden screamed as she twisted his arms behind him. "I'll show you what rudeness looks like," she said, adding more pressure.
Aiden screamed more loudly as all the children came to look, and all laughed at him
"So will you go now?" She asked,
"I will, i will, just let go of me" she finally lets him go. Aiden was choked, he had never seen a girl as strong like this before, he walked of the school humiliated, today was surely not a good one, it brought bad luck upon him, first he didn't received a job, and second a lady kicked his ass, but at least he got some cash, his next thought was where to crash for the night, it'll soon get dark.
"Aiden!" He heard his name from behind. He turned, and it was someone familiar.
"Ben?" Aiden said
"Hey man, long time" they both hugged each other.
"Ever since you left the province, I haven't heard from you, no call no chat no nothing" Aiden said, feeling excited.
"You won't understand man, I've been so busy ever since. Life in Manila isn't a joke" Ben said.
"Yeah I can see that, it's indeed not a joke, it's worse than a horror"
"Anyways, just forget about that, do you live in manila now, where is your house located?" Ben asked in curiosity.
"Well about that, I just moved to Manila today, I was actually thinking of a house to rent, before something occurred" Aiden said in dismay.
"Good thing you haven't, let's go to my house, and continue our gist" Ben suggested.
"Wait, you have a house," Aiden asked in shock.
"It's not actually mine, I'm a tenant" Ben explained better.
"You almost surprised me," Aiden sighed.
"Come on let's go, it's not too far from here, so let's leg it"
The duo went as they chatted along.
Benson Ortega had been the friend of Aiden since childhood, and they also attended the same school, but after they both graduated from the university, his dad moved him over to manila, since his family was a little bit rich. Unlike Aiden, who has to save for two years, in order to afford the transportation and other expenses, plus he got assistance from his neighbors too, they are all aware, life in the city is difficult and expensive.
They both arrived at a building, it was more like a self-contained apartment.
"Welcome to my kingdom Aiden" Ben said, opening the entrance door wide. Inside of the house was stylishly designed, just as a young man's house is supposed to be. The first room was the parlour, it has in it a plasma tv, and radio set, and other entertaining things.
"Woah man! You rent this, I'm sure it's gonna be so expensive, how do you have such money, or is your Dad responsible for the expenses" Aiden wondered entering the house.
"Nope, it's all as a result of my hard work"
"Uhm? Hard work, you've only been gone for two years….
"Don't worry, I'll explain everything to you, come lemme take you to a room where you can freshen up. You're lucky I rented a two bedroom flat"
"Whoa! Nice"
Ben took Aiden to the room.
Aiden entered the room, there's nothing much to talk about the room, it has all the necessities a room is supposed to have, bed, ceiling fan, a wardrobe and of course a television. "Nice room" Aiden said, after a minute of observation, but the room was untidy, since no one had been living in it. Aiden was still choked on how Ben could afford all these, I mean to his little experience manila is a tough city in the Philippines, he put his bag inside the wardrobe, after seeing some dust and cobwebs. "Looks like I'll have to do some cleaning in here".
Two hours later, aiden was done with the cleaning and arranging of the room, and he has also taken a bath, it was obvious since his hair was wet, and his clothes we also changed, he was now wearing a white T-shirt and a black short, he walked to the sitting room were Ben was seated watching a movie."hey you're done, alright dinner is ready already"
"dinner?" Aiden asked.
"yeah? It's past 5:00 already, or aren't you hungry?"
"no, not that, I am starving, ok? It's just, when do you learn how to cook? Aidan mocked.
"well when I started living alone".
"I hope you didn't put some alcohol in the food, because I can still clearly remember you love whiskey a lot"
"hey cut that off, I'm a good cook ok?. Come on let's go the food is getting cold, it taste better when it's hot"
"I wonder what you prepared for dinner"
"well you'll see ok".