Chapter 3

The voice on the phone changed.

It was my father.

He had been listening quietly the whole time. Now that he saw I had no intention of giving in, he finally spoke.

Yet, his tone was still cold and proud. “Don’t you know what you did wrong?”

I asked calmly, “You have money. Why didn’t you lend me any?”

“You—”

“Eighty-eight tables. Each table costs two to three hundred dollars. You had money to make her look good, but no money to help me in an emergency.”

As a professor, my father stayed very calm. “That is my money. I have the right to decide how to use it.”

I nodded. “I know. It’s your money, your connections. You can use them on whoever you like.”

“Then my future money and my time are also my own. I can decide how to use them, too.”

I hung up, turned off my phone and the world finally became quiet.

Adults did not have time to cry over feelings.

After I failed to enter Northbridge’s graduate school, I went to another university. Still unwilling to give up, I tried to start a business with friends.

The result was clear. It failed. I owed tens of thousands of dollars.

I asked my parents for help, but they would rather spend money on Celine Rivers’s party than help me even a little.

So, I had to find my own way to pay it back.

The rent in my area became too expensive. In the end, I moved back to campus.

The graduate dorm had two people in one room. It wasn’t very comfortable, but I only had to pay utilities, so I could save a lot of money.

Without my parents’ help, I believed I could still pay off this debt. Even though the business failed, I had built some connections.

Some outsourced projects still paid well, but I became extremely busy. I had to handle both my studies and project work.

Every morning, I started working the moment I opened my eyes. At night, I fell onto my bed and fell asleep right away.

Even in the bathroom, I was thinking about what data needed to be improved.

One day, my mother, who hadn’t been able to reach me for a long time, waited for me at the campus gate. She brought my aunt with her.

“Stefan, why are you living in the dorm? Don’t you hate sharing a room with others? The dorm is so small and uncomfortable. Why did you give up your old apartment?”

I checked my phone anxiously. My meeting was about to start.

“Because I can’t afford the rent. Living in the dorm only costs utilities.”

My mother’s eyes immediately turned red.

My aunt then tried to persuade me. “Stefan, you still need to talk things out with your parents…”

“Talk about what? Aren’t I already doing what they want by avoiding suspicion?”

“Mom, you shouldn’t come here either. People might say I only got in through connections and damaged Prof. Rowan Dalton’s and Prof. Natasha Fallon’s names.”

I turned and ran to catch the bus.

If I missed it, I would have to take a taxi. Before my debt was paid off, every dollar had to be used carefully.

The moment I walked away, someone suddenly shouted behind me.

Bang!

An electric bike came out from a blind corner and hit me. In that split second, I managed to protect my laptop and rolled on the ground.

The laptop was fine, but my left foot twisted badly. The pain was so sharp I couldn’t even stand.

“Son, are you okay? Don’t move. I’ll call an ambulance. How could you ride like that?”

I took a deep breath and said, “Please give me my phone first. I need to tell my team what happened.”

My phone had flown away when I fell.

My mother suddenly got angry. “At a time like this, you’re still thinking about work and money? Is money more important than your life?”

She picked up my phone and refused to give it back. She even hung up my call.