The Billionaire's Secrets - Book 1 & 2

Book 1-New Environment

John stopped picking scraps. With sad eyes, he looked at Allen. “Mama Terie is not my real mother. She found me in the trash when I was a newborn baby.”

Allen was surprised and felt sorry for John’s story. “Mama Terie is so kind,” he said proudly.

“Yes, and if I were to be born again, I would still choose Mama Terie to be my mother.” John smiled proudly, then continued his trash picking.

Allen could feel the resentment in John’s voice over the latter’s parents, so he stopped asking. They were both parentless, but they had a caring mother in the presence of Terie. He just followed and mimicked what John was doing, digging out recyclable scraps from the pile of garbage and picking them up using his metal stick.

“Oh boy, today is our lucky day,” John said gladly after they sold out their collected scraps to a scrap buyer. He counted their earnings and divided them into two, and gave half the earnings to Allen. “These are yours.”

“No, I can’t take it,” Allen declined to get his share. He knew that it was John who almost did the task.

“Take it so that you have coins for the pay toilet,” John said, chuckling.

Allen also chuckled and accepted the coins.

In their spare time, the two young boys hung around on the bridge and assisted Terrie with selling bottled water and assorted candies to the passing vehicles.

“Please, Malik, give me a few more days.”

The two boys overheard Terrie’s plea to someone.

“No way, Terrie. You owed me a lot. Pay me now.” An angry voice was scolding Terrie.

Allen came closer and asked, “What is it, Aunt Terrie?”

“She can’t pay her long-time debt,” the bearded, dark, and tall man said sourly.

“I've been paying you for more than two years. How come I still haven’t paid my debt?” Terrie said, disgusted over the inconsiderate lender.

“Pay the principal amount plus the accumulated interest so we are done,” the angry man said.

Allen took out his cell phone from his pocket and showed it to the man. “Can I pay you with this?”

“Is that yours?” the man asked. His eyes widened after seeing Allen’s expensive cellphone.

“This is mine,” Allen replied, “I’ll give it to you if you stop charging and collecting interest from Aunt Terrie.”

“No Allen, don’t give it to him,” Terrie disagreed, barring the man’s hand from reaching Allen’s phone.

But the man took the phone from Allen’s hand abruptly. “Terrie, this boy is too generous to pay for your debt,” the man said while scrutinizing the gadget.

“No!” Terrie said outrageously, “Please return it to him!” She tried to reach for the phone from the man’s hand. “Give it back!”

“Never mind, Aunt Terrie,” Allen said. He could no longer contact Miss Montes, so his gadget had no more use for him.

“Okay, Terie. The boy agreed. You have completely paid your debt.” The man rode onto his motorcycle and left quickly.

Young Allen found happiness and care rather than discomfort in his stay with John and Terrie. He found the love of a mother and a brother in a place of adversity. He got used to their surroundings, to the stinky smell of the polluted river and the rotting smell of the mountainous garbage.

John became a friend and a brother to him. At night, they would read his books in front of the candlelight. There were times that they would dare each other to open the metal cylindrical tube by switching five different letters, which they tried a hundred times but never succeeded.

One morning, Allen walked along the stretch of the road, and he discovered a public school located just two kilometers away from the bridge. He saw an announcement banner. ‘Enrollment is going on'. The thought of going back to school again excited him, and he courageously approached one of the teachers.

“Excuse me, Ma’am,” Allen said, smiling shyly.

The teacher looked at Allen, then smiled at the boy, “Yes, Son.”

Allen gained confidence. He thought the teacher was nice, so he talked to her. “I want to study. Can I enroll?”

“Sure you can, but where is your mother or father?” The teacher looked around for Allen’s companion.

“My parents were dead.” Allen’s answer was almost a whisper. Mentioning his parents revived the pain in his heart and the sadness of losing them.

Pity registered on the teacher’s face. “A guardian? Do you have one?”

“Yes, Aunt Terrie,” Allen replied.

“Bring your guardian here,” the teacher said.

“Yes, Ma’am.” Allen made a series of nods out of joy.

Though Terrie could not write or read, Allen regarded her with much respect and admiration. Despite her incapacity to walk, she went to school for his enrollment and accepted the task of being his guardian. With the teachers’ guidance and support, Allen’s enrollment was processed.

Allen and John became classmates. Their school uniform was old blue shorts and a white T-shirt, nearly worn-out black shoes, and old white socks, which were handed down to them by the old graduates of the school.

The boys found their daily morning walk to school more exciting and enjoyable. For John, the school was a diversion from his ugly environment, while for Allen, it was a place to accumulate a stock of knowledge. He kept in his mind his mother’s advice to finish his studies.

Good-looking Allen had been noticed by most girls in the school and, later on, befriended them. Because of his smartness, he was elected as the class president of his class organization.

The bell rang at seven in the morning. Allen and John proceeded to the grade six room.

“Allen.” A sweet voice called.

Allen turned his head to see who was calling him. It was his classmate, Hera, smiling sweetly at him.

“What is it?” he asked while walking continuously.

“I brought spaghetti for you. Here.” The girl drew out a lunch box from her bag.

“No, thanks. I am full,” Allen smiled and declined shyly, then walked fast and left Hera.

“Whoa, the Amboy is too shy,” John, who was walking behind Allen, remarked his constant jest to his friend.

Allen frowned and looked at John annoyingly. Still, John did not stop teasing and mimicking the words, “I brought spaghetti for you. If I’d been offered it, I would accept it right away. Do not waste food just for pride,” John said with a tone of regret.

Allen just walked quickly and quietly, or else John would not stop teasing him.

The school was a new addition to Allen’s preoccupation. The first time that he experienced self-confidence and freedom. No bodyguards. No nannies. No more homeschooling. But still, the tragedy that happened to his parents was engraved in his mind. The pain was deeply rooted in his heart. Perhaps time will tell when all his questions are answered.

One morning, Allen was so happy because he earned more for a day. He usually stayed long hours in the market so that he could fetch more goods and earn more, while John left him earlier to assist Terrie with selling bottled water. Allen counted his money. He earned a hundred pesos more in just a day. Enough for his food until the next day and for his savings.

“Give me your money, Asshole!” a hoarse voice yelled.

Allen was startled. ‘Oh no, it’s Lucas again,’ he whispered to himself. His eyes darted around, and he prepared himself to escape the thief.

Boys of his age, who also worked in the market, were afraid of Lucas because the small man always snatched money from them. But Lucas never succeeded against him, which made this gang leader more furious.

“I said, Give me your money!” Lucas ordered angrily as he walked towards Allen.

“Work for your food, lazy man,” Allen said. He put the money in his shorts pocket and ran as fast as he could. Never that he would give his hard-earned money to that indolent man. Never.

Lucas chased Allen inside the bustling market. Allen hid in the midstream of marketgoers, crawled on the market floor, and hid from stall-to-stall to mislead his chaser.

When Lucas was out of sight, Allen bought a kilo of rice, a pack of dried fish, a pack of charcoal, and some packs of porridge, then headed home.

As Allen went down the narrow and steep pathway, John, who was scratching his head, approached, “Allen, this Math assignment is making my head hurt. Can you teach me?”

Teaching John was not new to Allen, since his friend always complained and hated Math subjects. “Sure,” Allen answered willingly. “I’ll cook our meal first, I’m famished,” he added as he entered his shanty.

“I hate numbers,” John was still complaining.

Allen chuckled. John was always problematic when studying math subjects. “Don’t hate numbers. We count our income by numbers and so is our age.”

“I can count money, bro. I only hate those x’s and y’s.”

“Easy, bro. I’ll help you do it later.”

Allen entered his shanty. With John’s help, he made his shanty adjacent to John’s. His utensils came from the recyclable trash way back the first time he came to the place. He pulled out a wooden floor cover and then placed the remaining of his earnings inside the tin can, which he secretly buried in the ground, including his photo and the cylindrical metal tube, then replaced the tin cover and the wood cover.

Allen prepared the charcoal on the improvised stove. Light a fire using a match and a piece of Styrofoam. He poured the rice into his small pot and washed it, put enough water in, and then settled the pot on the stove. While his rice was gradually cooking, he toasted the dried fish over the flaming charcoal.

John entered Allen’s shanty. “Hmm, smells good. I’m hungry.” John was grinning, snuffing, and holding his belly.

“Later,” Allen said, then he set aside the toasted fish on a plate. “Can you give these to the kids?” He handed over the packs of porridge to John for their neighbor’s children.

Food for them was scarce. He experienced eating only once a day. They always shared food with everyone. Some of his neighbors left the children with nothing to eat. He felt sorry for the young children who were left all day by parents who could barely earn money through trash picking.