A Chance To Rise

Chapter 13, The New Hobby.

Zaid was leaving his math class when he spotted Ayman on the phone, laughing loudly. "He must be talking to that sneaky girlfriend of his," Zaid thought.

As soon as Ayman ended the call, he immediately dialed another number—his parents. Zaid lingered close enough to eavesdrop.

"Baba, I need you to send more money to my Visa card," Ayman said, his tone casual, as if asking for pocket change. "Just a little extra this time."

Zaid's eyes widened. The amount Ayman was requesting was absurd—no school student would ask for that much, not even a spoiled rich kid.

On the other end, his father must have refused, because Ayman's voice sharpened. "No, listen!

it's completely reasonable! I'm working on charity projects to boost my GPA. Volunteer points, remember? I just need a small budget to get started."

Zaid raised his eyebrows. Charity projects? Since when did Ayman care about that? The lies were so bold, he almost admired the audacity.

After a few minutes of back-and-forth, Ayman's voice suddenly brightened. "Shukran, Baba! You're the best!" His laughter rang out, loud and exaggerated, like a clown performing for an audience. The hypocrisy in his gratitude was palpable.

He hung up, slipping his phone into his pocket with a smug grin. Then he strutted down the hallway, chest puffed out as if he'd just won the Champions League.

At night, Zaid was doing his homework in his room, thinking about the Ayman situation. He had exposed his secret, but still hadn't received the money from the system. Could the system really want him to handle this situation the same way he did with Salim?

Zaid shuddered at the thought. Ayman wasn't his friend, not even someone he could sympathize with. His only problem was that he was spoiled and stupid, and Zaid didn't think he deserved any sympathy.

After some thought, Zaid considered that maybe he could simply tell Ayman's friends he'd accidentally overheard him on the phone talking to some girl about sending her money, then let them deal with him. The problem was they might suspect him if they were even slightly smart—or worse, they might tell Ayman he'd been eavesdropping, and Ayman would cause trouble for him. In the worst case, Ayman and his friends might start bullying him for spying on them.

Zaid finally decided to drop the whole thing. Whether the system sent him money or not didn't matter anymore—he wasn't going to get involved. He packed up his things, put his head down, and went to sleep.

Zaid woke up in the morning and checked his phone to see the time when he noticed the system had sent him money. The full amount had been transferred to his wallet. Zaid jumped with joy and woke Bassam up.

"Why are you jumping around this early?" Bassam asked.

"Nothing, just doing some exercises," Zaid replied.

Bassam gave him a sharp look before saying, "Go exercise somewhere else, not in the room," then put his head back down and went to sleep.

Zaid left the room and called his mother to check on her. She was already awake and told him she was feeling much better - she'd woken up early today, read some Quran, and felt at peace. She told him that she might be able to go out today.

"Stay home a little longer just to be safe," Zaid told her. "And don't worry about the hospital bills - I can pay them now."

His mother asked, "How? Where did you get money?"

Zaid realized he'd spoken too quickly and said, "To be honest, I've been working online and earned some money for the first time. I wanted to surprise you."

"What kind of online work?" she asked. "Since when? And why are you working when you're still a student?"

He explained he wanted to help because she spoiled him too much and he could see she was pushing herself beyond her limits for him. "The work is very simple and doesn't take away from study time - just doing small tasks."

"What kind of tasks?" his mother pressed. "I hope it's not suspicious work!"

Zaid hesitated, not knowing what to say, then told her, "I do voiceovers."

His mother was surprised, saying she never knew he had this talent. Zaid explained that at school he'd heard a classmate talking about a voiceover website, tried it himself, and it worked out - earning him a small but decent income for a student.

His mother clearly hesitated but tried to encourage him, saying it wasn't bad as long as he enjoyed it as a hobby and could earn some spending money. She agreed on the condition that it wouldn't distract him from his studies. He promised it wouldn't.

"It's almost time for your classes," she reminded him. "Go get ready for school."

"Yes mom," he replied and hung up.

As he was walking inside, he received another message from the system :

[ New Task: 300 dinar re

ward. convince Ayman to stop sending money to the scammer]