Six years had passed since I got reincarnated into this world. I wasn't dependent on breast milk anymore for survival, I was eating solid food now.
I didn't need to be sleeping in a cradle anymore. And I could walk properly now, no more crawling.
Yes, I was growing, and it was so fascinating to see myself grow again after reincarnation. Since six years had passed since I got reincarnated into this world, that only meant that I was 6 years old currently.
What was the relationship like between me and my older siblings? Well, we were close. They do take me like a baby brother, and pamper me sometimes.
What about my mum? Well, she loves us equally. She doesn't discriminate when it comes to her children.
I'd started attending school by now, and I've even made friends at school. School was fun, it was fun for me because the education system in this world was way more developed than the education system in the world I reincarnated from.
I remember the first day I started attending school after my mum registered me, I was fascinated by a lot of things...
Now, my mum was really trying, raising three kids on her own wasn't an easy task at all. She does struggle a lot, and I do notice it along with my siblings though she tries her best for us not to notice it.
And she didn't want to rely on any man, she promised herself not to get married again. So she was determined to keep doing her best alone even though it was hard.
She was working in a certain factory, and the pay wasn't that huge. In fact, it was barely enough, that was what made it harder for our mum.
Paying the house rent, paying bills, feeding us, and handling our school expenses though we were all attending public schools...
Yes, our mum had to enroll each of us in public schools so it would be easier for her. The ones that were attending private schools before the death of our father and before my birth had to transfer to public schools.
..But just because we were attending public schools doesn't mean there weren't some school expenses to be handled, and my mum had to handle them when they come up.
Due to all these, there were times when my mum had to work other jobs after she was done with the factory just to earn more money. It wasn't easy for her at all.
But whenever she gets home, she tries her best to put a smile on her face even though she was struggling.
My older brother and sister had learned to cook some foods, especially my brother. So sometimes, before my mum comes back home from work, they would have already cooked as far as there were ingredients at home.
They were doing this to make it easier for our mum. They wanted to reduce the workload on her head, she was already stressed out from work, if they'd cooked before she got home, then she wouldn't have to start thinking of how she'd prepare dinner for the family.
And whenever she comes home and sees that they'd already prepared dinner, she was always so happy.
All she needed to do was to shower, eat, and spend time with us.
There were times when my mum couldn't afford to pay the house rent at the normal time she was supposed to pay them.
And we were living in a one-room self-contained apartment. The house rent wasn't too huge, it was just lack of money...
She would always have to beg the landlord during those times, and sometimes, get on her knees to beg him. We'd stand there watching our mum beg the landlord while feeling extreme pity for her.
There were times when my older brother had suggested that he should just drop out of high school and start working just to support our mum.
Or better still, be going to school and be working part-time at the same time just to earn money to support our mum. But our mum never agreed to any of his suggestions.
She said she wanted all of us to complete our studies, and be focused on our studies. Working part-time after school wouldn't let us concentrate on our studies properly...
All she wanted from us was to be getting good grades, that would go a long way in making her proud. And since that was what she wanted, we always try our best to get good grades.
Watching our mum being the strong woman that she was even though it wasn't easy for her at all, I was always so inspired.
And I promised myself that I'd do everything in my possible best to become successful once I'm done with school, and probably done with college as well, so I can give my mum a better life.
I wasn't the only one that promised this to myself, my siblings also made this promise to themselves as well.
One thing I've come to understand after living in this world for years was that the rich keeps getting richer, and the poor keeps getting poorer.
This also applied to the world I reincarnated from. There were rich, average, and poor people in that world as well.
And the same fact also applies in that world...the rich keep getting richer, and the poor keep getting poorer.
You'd even see the rich stepping on the poor sometimes just because they possess power that the poor doesn't possess. I've seen many of that scenario in this modern world that I reincarnated into.
You'd see the poor ones working as servants for the rich ones, and you'd see the rich ones mistreating them just because they can do so.
The poor ones struggle to make ends meet, which was our case sometimes. But you'd see the rich ones living in mansions and driving cars worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, or millions of dollars.
The kids of the rich ones live like princes and princesses, while the kids of the poor ones suffer...
Seeing all these things just makes me more determined to become successful when I grow up. I was determined to change our family's story and status if my siblings wouldn't be able to achieve it.
There was a private school for wealthy people close to the public school I was attending. Now, the private school wasn't too close to ours, but it wasn't too far from it either.
There were times when I'd be heading to school or my older brother, Evan, would be dropping me at school before he'd head toward his, and I'd see expensive cars driving past.
Lamborghini, Ferraris, Bentleys, and so on, would be driving past us. And I wouldn't be able to help but to be glancing at them.
And if my older brother was with me, he'd be glancing at them as well...
We couldn't help it, they were complete luxury, there's no way we wouldn't glance at them. And the people that would be in these expensive cars were students attending the private school close to the public school I was attending.
Many of them had drivers that do drive them to and fro from school everyday, while some were being driven to and fro by their parents everyday.
All in all, they were being driven to school everyday by expensive cars. They were living like princes and princesses, they weren't struggling to make ends meet.
Their future was secured, and they haven't experienced a little of life's hardship.
There was this close friend I had, he was the closest of all the friends I have, and his name was, Eric. He was the same age as me, 6 years old.
He was from a poor family as well. In fact, almost everyone attending the same school as us was from poor families, if not, why would they be attending a public school?
There were some who were from average families though, but their parents still chose to send them to a public school.
There were times when Eric and I would be heading home together, and we'd see many of those expensive cars driving past with those rich kids inside them.
And we'd just be staring at the cars wishing we were the ones inside them, wishing we were the ones from rich families, just be envying their lifestyle in general.
'How I wish I was the one inside that luxurious car'. We'd always say to ourselves while glancing at the cars.
There were times when we've made promises to each other to become successful when we grow up and buy those kinds of expensive cars for ourselves, and also for our families, including expensive houses.
..We were only 6 years old while making these promises to each other and filling ourselves with big dreams.