Chapter 2: The Choice
432 Words
Tredy stepped out of the Royal Heights Hotel, the envelope clutched tightly in his hand, his thoughts a whirlwind. ₱700 million. Controlling shares. Hidden power.
It didn’t feel real.
The streets of Gran Santiago were still the same — loud jeepneys, blinking sari-sari store lights, the scent of grilled isaw in the air — but something inside Tredy had changed.
His phone buzzed again. A second message from the same unknown number:
> “Do not reveal your inheritance yet. Watch. Learn who respects you… and who doesn’t.”
He didn’t reply.
---
The next day, Tredy returned to the Gran Santiago Technological College to drop off some old papers. The guards barely glanced at him. No one ever did.
That’s when he heard it—mocking laughter.
Marco Villanueva.
Leaning against his matte-black sports car, laughing with his crew. Hair slicked back, polo worth more than Tredy’s entire closet.
“Well, well, if it isn’t Sales the Salesboy,” Marco sneered as Tredy walked past. “Still wearing those bargain bin shoes?”
Tredy didn’t answer.
Marco smirked and turned to his friends. “You know, I heard he still takes tricycles. Must be a real catch for the ladies, huh?”
The group laughed.
Tredy kept walking. He wasn’t the same as yesterday. And soon, the world would see.
---
Later that afternoon, in the campus café, Tredy saw her — Leira Mendez.
She was surrounded by friends, flipping through her designer wallet, sipping milk tea without a care.
He used to admire her from afar. The perfect face, the soft voice, the unreachable dream.
“Tredy?” she said when she noticed him standing in line behind her.
He smiled faintly. “Hey, Leira.”
She glanced at his outfit — old jeans, frayed backpack, dusty shoes.
“Oh... you still go here?” she asked, tone neutral but eyes sharp. “Didn’t you, like, drop out?”
“Yeah. Just running errands.”
She gave a polite smile — the kind people give when they want to end a conversation.
“Well, good luck with that,” she said, turning away.
---
Tredy sat at a far corner of the café, alone, watching them.
Leira. Marco. The world that once ignored him.
He pulled out the envelope again. Inside were access codes, property documents, and a letter from his grandfather.
> “The Sales bloodline thrives on silence, not arrogance. Observe before you strike. Never show your true cards until the table is yours.”
Tredy smiled.
They would all know.
But not yet.
---
©Treloce Amaris
- Writer
