CHAPTER 6: ROOM 72

3:00 A.M.

This was the time I got back to my apartment.

I couldn't even change my clothes anymore because of how exhausted I was. I went straight to my bed and collapsed onto it; my eyelids suddenly felt so heavy that my eyes closed, letting the drowsiness wash over all the fatigue I felt—until I couldn't hear the noise around me anymore, until I couldn't feel the aching in my muscles, until the problems constantly visiting my mind faded away, and until I couldn't feel anything except the exhaustion that completely pulled me into a deep sleep.

I woke up to the sound of honking cars right in front of my apartment.

Right, the apartment I'm staying in is located right next to the road, where massive vehicles constantly pass by.

I wanted to stay in bed, but I couldn't fall back asleep—not with the roar of traffic and the neighbors screaming at each other right outside.

I went down the stairs; my room is on the second floor, after all. Aling Mars, Liz's mother, greeted me when she saw me coming down.

"Good morning, Neo," Aling Mars greeted me cheerfully. She was always like this on rent day. It was that fake-polite smile where she didn't outright say she was collecting, but you knew damn well what she was after.

"Aling Mars, I'll give you my rent later, okay? I'm going to take a shower first," I told her.

Aling Mars's face brightened up upon hearing that. "Oh, Neo, look at you! I'm not here to collect rent, I was actually going to invite you over to our place for breakfast," she feigned.

I just offered a polite smile and headed off to the bathroom. Man, Aling Mars...pretending she wasn't here for the rent, even pulling out the breakfast card as an excuse. If I didn't have the money to pay her, she'd practically kick me out on the spot.

I guess it's fine, though, because even if I've been late on rent multiple times and have heard her passive-aggressive remarks around the house, she still hasn't kicked me out.

Sometimes my daily allowance really isn't enough because I have debts to pay off. These debts I'm talking about are my dad's. They reached billions, and even though I sold everything I inherited, I haven't even paid off half of it.

There were times those inherited debts almost cost me my life. Whenever I fell behind on the monthly payments to my dad's loan sharks, the threats would start pouring in. It happened more than once. Honestly, there were days when I didn't even care if they ended up killing me.

I smiled at the memory.

Yeah, sometimes I just laugh at the tragedies that happened to me. The reason? Simple, I don't want to satisfy karma by letting it see me suffer.

That's right—in this life of mine, my real enemies aren't those who almost killed me or those who looked down on me, but karma itself.

It might sound funny, but that's really what goes through my head. It's like every single day, whenever something bad happens to me, I always tell myself not to lose, because if I do, I'm letting karma win in this life.

Fuck you, karma!

I went into the bathroom and draped my towel over the door since there's no clothes rack. The bathroom isn't that big either, but it's fine since I have it all to myself, unlike my first apartment, which only had a shared bathroom.

When I finished taking a shower and getting dressed, I went straight to Aling Susan's bakery shop to buy some pandesal. Even from a distance, I could already hear the people shouting outside their shop. The local tambays were probably there again to watch PBA on the TV.

"Shit, he's so handsome!"

"Please be mine!"

I heard the girls shouting in front of the bakeshop. When they saw me walking in their direction, they immediately smiled at me.

"Hi, Neo! How are you?" Cassandra asked me, giving me a wink.

"Hey Neo, did you hear me screaming? That was totally for you, darling," said Sussie, Aling Susan's daughter.

Turns out they were the two girls screaming like crazy over whatever they were watching on the TV right in front of the bakeshop.

I just ignored them because teasing me was really their thing. When I shifted my gaze to the TV screen, I happened to see the guy I got into a fistfight with yesterday—Juan.

The camera was zoomed in on him while he was drinking water from his bottle. It was obvious the camera focused on him just to give exposure to his handsome face.

"Shit, why is he so perfect?" I heard Cassandra squeal.

Well, I have to admit, he really is good-looking. Maybe it's because of his sharp jawline and blue eyes that go so well with his blond hair. You don't see eyes that color around here very often, so I guess that's part of what makes him stand out.

"But why does his face have band-aids on it?" I heard the people beside me at the bakeshop whisper.

I crossed my arms and smiled.

Just so you know, I'm the one who did that to your idol. All I can say is he really deserved what I did. I didn't do anything wrong—he threw the first punch at me, and since I'm nice, I punched him back.

He should be thanking me. My punches aren't free, you know.

"Aling Susan, I'd like to buy some pandesal, 20 pieces please." I grabbed my wallet from my pants and handed the money to Aling Susan right away.

After Aling Susan handed over the bag of pandesal and my change, I immediately sat at an empty table in front of their bakeshop and began munching on a piece of pandesal.

"Neo, do you want coffee?" Sussie handed me a cup of coffee, which I took right away.

"Thanks, Suss," I said, winking at her.

She smiled widely. "You're welcome, handsome."

I dipped the pandesal into the coffee and ate it.

"Come on, take him out of the game! He doesn't even know how to play," a local guy hanging out at the bakeshop yelled.

"Shut up, Jonard! Keith is actually really good, you know," Cassandra chimed in.

"Yeah, he's an MVP!" Sussie added.

"Then why has he been missing his shots this whole time?" the guy asked defensively.

My eyes shifted to the TV to see what they were arguing about. Right on cue, I saw Juan getting passed the ball by his teammates. Multiple defenders tried to block him, but he blew past them using a zigzag dribble.

Hmm... he's good, and he moves pretty fast for that kind of move.

Just as he was about to shoot the ball, someone tried to strip it, but his movement was actually a shot fake that threw the defender off.

He plays smart, I can't deny that.

After the shot fake, he finally went up for the shot with no defenders left on him. But he missed it.

I saw the frustration written across Juan's eyes when the ball didn't go in. Their coach called a time-out and seemed to give him a piece of his mind.

"That's right, Coach, don't let him back in—he keeps missing!" Jonard shouted.

The two girls gave him a sharp glare.

"Shut up, Jonard, or I'm really gonna kick you out of here," Cassandra added.

"Tsk, why? It's true! He's been missing his shots for a while now, so their coach should really benched him," Jonard retorted.

Tsk... Honestly, it's normal for a professional basketball player to miss a shot, but if what Jonard's saying is true and he's been missing all day, then there's definitely something wrong with him, or maybe it's just not his day.

"Keith is great, okay? He just hasn't been feeling well lately," Sussie defended.

Keith? Are they talking about Juan? Is Keith his middle name or something?

I scratched the back of my neck. Tsk. I really can't remember. Even now, I don't know why I forget so many things, especially the people I've interacted with before. Is it a side effect of the suppressants I'm taking, or do I just genuinely not care about the people I encounter? Tsk. I really don't know.

"Yeah! He has insomnia, so that's probably why he isn't feeling well."

Juan has insomnia? Is that why he's so hot-headed—because he lacks sleep?

I should've punched him harder then—a punch that would've actually knocked him out so he could get some sleep, right?

If we ever cross paths again, I'm definitely do that to him.

Yep, that's just how nice I am.

"What does insomnia have to do with—"

Jonard couldn't finish his sentence because Cassandra covered his mouth, and then she and Sussie teamed up to drag him out of the bakeshop.

I chuckled while watching them.

You know, Jonard, I actually agree with you. You're my guy, but when it comes to fangirls, us haters are always gonna lose the argument.

After breakfast, I headed back to my apartment. I got ready, grabbed my helmet, and headed out for my first job of the day—working as a delivery rider.

But before that, I stopped by Aling Jeje's store to buy a pack of cigarettes.

Cigarettes are part of my daily routine because they help me feel calmer. Even though my doctor told me not to smoke, I still couldn't bring myself to quit. I really need cigarettes, especially at the club where I work, where all kinds of scents get mixed together.

After making my purchase, I started up my motorcycle and headed straight to the hub.

Once I arrived, I parked my motorcycle in the designated parking area first before going inside. I grabbed my phone and checked into the system, then approached the staff to find out which area I was assigned to and which parcels were designated for me.

After verifying the details, I picked up and scanned the parcels one by one. I arranged them in my delivery bag according to the order of their addresses so I wouldn't struggle to find them while on the road.

Once everything was complete, I made sure the parcels were placed neatly and securely before starting up my motorcycle again to begin my deliveries.

The pay for being a delivery rider isn't that great, but I enjoy it because I get to go to different places. The only catch is that there are plenty of obstacles—like the scorching heat of the sun, heavy traffic, and customers who constantly cancel and waste your time.

Even though it's hard, I keep pushing forward just to cover my daily expenses and put a little toward my debts. So, I guess it's really a pretty decent job.

I read the first location I was supposed to head to. It was at Yukihira Condominium again, but Room 72 this time.

Too bad it wasn't Room 50—I could've carried out my plan to knock that guy out.