6 6. Hidden Title At The End.
Disclaimer: The story takes place in an Alternate Earth with a slightly different timeline of events. So people may be born early, some may be born a few years later or maybe not at all.
This gives me more freedom to write characters as I want, also the characters in my story are obviously not an accurate portrayal of their characters.
Please remember that this story is a wish fulfillment story set in Urban Hollywood with some Fantasy elements because of the system's shenanigans so please don't take it too seriously.
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Recap of the previous chapter –
Mark explores the system shop. He really likes the skills available for purchase. After buying his first unique skill, he discusses with Vani on how to expand the shop's catalog and also upgrade his newly bought skill.
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~ Mark's POV ~
April 11th, 1990, same day, 2:17 pm, in his apartment.
[The shop's catalog isn't randomly generated, Mark. The systems shop analyses and caters to the user's needs and wants.]
[The knowledge script was available for purchase because you wanted to recreate more movies from your past but lacked the technical know how. The shop was able to sense that and provided with the knowledge script to fulfill that demand]
[The first two unique skills available for purchase in the shop were chosen for you Mark deliberately. Because one fulfilled your hidden desire of having a harem for yourself. Like every other male does when in a position of great power and authority.]
[And the other fulfilled your need of knowing everything you possibly could about any person you would be close to you, whether he was being genuine or was he just wearing a mask and trying to deceive you.]
[It's why you read all those psychological books and guides, Mark. Trying to learn how to identify when someone is lying. How to read someone's body language, their micro facial expressions, their subtle tells, etc.]
[All that just so you could manipulate them without them even knowing, all that effort just so you could feel safe again. So that you could never be betrayed again and this skill • Character Evaluation • is the answer to that intense obsession of yours, Mark.]
[I am sorry about what you went through in your past life even despite that miserable childhood you grew up to become a good man. But I guess what happened with your girlfriend totally broke you from inside.]
Hearing that, Mark started recalling those memories, his eyes turned slightly red. His pain and suffering clearly etched on his face.
"Yeah, that was a very dark moment of my life. Even when I still look back to those moments, all I think about is, how could I be that blind. She did all that behind my back, and I was just completely oblivious to it. I trusted her, and she betrayed my trust."
"Loved her with all my heart, and she stomped on it. Not even feeling a shred of remorse when I found out about the truth and was barely hold back my tears about the mess my life had become because of her infidelity."
"You know what I found the most funny, Vani? When I asked her why she did it? Why did she cheat on me? Had I ever failed to satisfy her in bed? Or some other part where I was lacking?" Because I knew I was not failing on that part, as I was very reciprocal when it comes to making love.
"She told me that sex with me was one of the best she had ever experienced. That the only reason she even cheated on me was because of her kink. She got off on the excitement of having sex with a stranger while she was in a committed relationship with someone."
{Author's note: I am lucky enough to have never personally experienced this, I saw it happen to my friend. It took him 2 years of his life to stand back up on his feet again. To all the guys and gals reading this, choose your partner carefully, trust is important but never blindly trust them, or you guys might end up getting burned. Sorry, I got sidetracked. Let's get back to the story.}
"Then that bitch had the audacity to say that if I didn't mind her sleeping around with other men, we could still be in a relationship."
"I had completely lost it at that point in time, I was seeing red."
"I was about to beat the crap out of her, but remembered my promise to my mother to never hurt a woman physically, so I somehow stopped and recollected myself."
[Your, mother was a wise woman Mark, if you had hit or done something. She would have been easily been able to twist the narrative of the story in her favor.]
"That my mom was, so then I told the bitch to leave my apartment and that I am breaking up with her."
"That incident scared me for life and, I guess, I am still dealing with my inner demons."
[Why did you never talk about it with anyone else or try to go see a therapist? Mark]
"Well Vani I didn't really have any close friends at the point in my life when it happened. And men's mental health issues and problems wasn't really something looked upon in a good light." Mark said with a forlorn look on his face.
"So I had to just bottle up all those feelings inside me and carry on with my life. By the time men's mental health became an issue of focus for society, I was already in my late 30s, and over a decade had passed since then." He sighed and continued his tale.
"Now that I look back at, it was just an excuse I came up with to run away from my fears, that maybe nobody truly cares about me. That I would never make whoever I end in a relationship happy, so I just ran away from the idea of a committed relationship." He said admitting his own cowardice and flaws.
"I even only married due to my mom vehemently insisting to me to get married before it's too late in my life. But I guess that's a good thing, I didn't get time to have kids due to my busy schedule, and I was reluctant to take on that responsibility so soon."
"But after I died and got reborn here, I am happy I didn't have kids because it would be easier for my wife, not my ex-wife, to move on, restart her life and get married again." he ended with a smile as it was the only silver lining in his life.
[You could never really refuse your mom for anything could you, Mark, not after all she did for you.]
"Yeah, she was my rock, her presence was the only good thing in my childhood memories. She used to take me to the movies whenever we had something to celebrate. But for the life of me, I still can't figure out how my beautiful and kind mom got married to that man."
"Maybe he was a good man once. But after he got discharged from the army due to a permanent injury to his left knee, he was nothing but an empty shell."
"He had given up on himself then and there I think, my mother still tried to help him out of his slump. But he just didn't care, he became an abusive alcoholic and used to hit my mother. I was too small at the time to do anything about it. But just be a passive observer to my mother's abuse."
"I still remember the day when things changed. It had been just two weeks since my 7th birthday. It was a Sunday. My father had come home drunk, like he always does. He called out to my mum, but she wasn't there, as she had just gone out shopping for groceries."
"Dad kept shouting for her, not getting a response. I, being the naive kid, thought I should inform my dad that mom had gone out. In hindsight, knowing his nature, I should have just left him alone."
"I just told him about mom and I think that triggered him. He shouted at me, "how dare that bitch leave me" and he threw the empty bottle of whiskey in his hand at me. I was lucky enough to duck and not get hit, but I still got hit by the shattered glass pieces from the bottle hitting the wall right behind."
"I quickly ran up the stairs, frightened about what he would do next to me in his alcohol induced rage. I had never been more grateful for his disability not allowing him to run, as he just kind of hobbled after me, and I was able to get away. And locked myself in the bathroom till mum came home."
"When mom arrived, my father had somewhat calmed down, but he still wasn't all there. My mother just stood her ground and gave him the ultimatum."
"She could endure him hitting her but when she saw that he was so far gone that he would try to hurt his own son she knew that she had to take me away before things escalated even more."
"She packed an overnight bag and took me to her friend Nancy's place. I thought that would be it, but suddenly after dinner she told me to get dressed. The next few days were some of the most saddest of my childhood. But I still had mom."
Mark reminisced with a fond smile on his face, "I will never forget the smile on her face that she had put on for my sake, trying to be strong.' She said with a warm smile, "Rather than sitting around moping here, we should go to watch a movie and forget about what happened with your dad, for at least a few hours."
"And so we went to the movies. The predator was screening. It was a decent movie, but for my child brain it was phenomenal. I was so engrossed in the movie that I had completely forgotten about what had happened with dad."
My mother, after coming out from the cinema hall, told me "See? You arent sad anymore right? I nodded at her. She explained to me, "that, my dear, is the magic of movies. It can be so immersive and impactful that it can make you forget about all your worries in life. For at least 2–3 hours, you get to experience the life of someone else and forget about your own."
"It was then that I had decided what I wanted to be when I grew up. I told my mom, "Mom, I will make movies when I grow up." She was very supportive of me, and she told me she will wait to see what kind of movies I will create on the big screen."
"My mother got a divorce, we moved cities and a lot of things changed, but something which didn't was our shared love for movies."
"We went to see many other movies together, but my favorites were Action-thriller and Sci-fi, whereas my mother loved murder mystery and marvel, with Spider-Man being her favorite superhero."
"Her dream was to watch a marvel movie with all the prominent superheroes on one big screen. From the avengers, to the fantastic 4 and all the X-Men fighting together to protect humanity from a universal threat."
"But that dream was simply impossible to fulfill because the copyright of most marvel characters were sold out to many different studios even before the 2000s."
"And even though Disney acquired marvel and bought back nearly all the different superhero IPs, it still wasn't the same. The films and TV shows will be influenced by the corporate agendas or some BS movement. Like she-hulk or Velma that were ruined by their studios in recent years before my death."
"Thanks for listening to my rant, Vani. I know you already know all this from watching my memories but just somebody to listen to me. I feel much lighter now, like now I can finally begin anew." Mark thanked Vani, feeling relieved and unburdened after a very long time.
Maybe he just needed someone to listen to his problem, but who could he go to, who could he share with; his past life, his regrets and his mother's unfulfilled dream.
Chapter title revealed –
6. Past life, regrets and a mother's unfulfilled dream.
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{Author's Note: When I was writing the previous chapter. I was just hit with some inspiration, I guess and I just kept writing, and this chapter was born. It was never my intention to write it, but I guess not all things can be planned for in life. This chapter establishes Mark's Character, his motivations, his dream's, why he wants a harem, why he isn't so trusting with people, etc.
To some readers who I told that chapter 6 is going to be the studio establishing, I am sorry for being unable to keep my word. Wait for the next chapter. I got some surprises for you all.
I am partially motivated by praise and interaction, so leave a comment or review, and I'll probably write faster.
If you like my work please throw a power stone my way so my book can climb the rankings and add my book to your library/collection. I hope you all have a beautiful day
Update schedule for this book: 1 chapter every 2 days.}
