Prologue (1)

After my part-time job as a construction worker, I am now traversing the usual street to my apartment during the middle of the night but I heard a muffled scream and some noises from the dark alleyway; pausing for a moment my heart started to beat frantically, it was not of fear but adrenaline. My mind was curious about what was happening, but my body did not move. Fortunately, the screaming stopped and I forced myself to walk away and forget what happened but...

The muffled screams came back like it was teasing me and with haste, I rushed back to the alleyway and searched the place with the flashlight from my phone.

"Who are you?" Two men were holding down a girl that seemed to be a student, and another was molesting the girl who is crying half-naked; her mouth gagged with a cloth.

"Scram right now, or I will smash your noses." Flaunting my tall and muscular body with the light from the phone, I tried to instill fear to the three young men that seemed to be students also. But as I positioned my phone towards them, they seem not troubled.

They were surprised and a bit blinded by the flash of light from the phone; with panic two of them charged at me with the intent to subdue me but considering my built, I gave them a beating without even using my left arm which is holding the phone. When I noticed the two were not responding anymore, I looked at the last person but it was too late.

As I turned my head, my vision was filled with something and the next thing I realized was I stumbled into the pavement face first bruising and scratching my handsome face while my phone was flung away.

"A baseball bat." My left eye was hazy, my knees shook, as I forced myself to get up. The young man who seems to be startled after I stood up, opted to attack again targeting my head. I gritted my teeth and lifted my left hand to receive the blow and the bat just bounced off.

"Ahhh." With a thud, I manage to block the attack but it seems to damage my left arm numbing it in pain, "Bastard." Stunned with my loud shout, I countered with a punch in the face knocking the young man in the ground.

I examined the girl who was also frozen in fear but started embracing me with her half-naked body. "Are you fine." I manage to throw some comforting words, trying to be the hero even though my mind was screaming in pain from the injuries. I took off my clothes to cover the girl then escort her to the police but some men arrived from inside the dark alleyway.

"Hey, Miles...What is the commotion about..." The man with his cigarette froze in place, wide eyes staring at the three in the ground while the girl was behind a tall man half-naked and somewhat bruised.

"Go now call the police," I ordered the girl, and without delay, she runs the opposite direction out of the alley.

Hearing Daren; they panicked and scrambled, "The girl...get the girl immediately."

They tried to get the girl but it was in vain. I sacrificed myself by blocking the narrow alley, "Shit heads, I know this street is a dead end." I wiped the blood in my nose and forced a smile provoking them.

But instead of victory, he was mobed soon and left half dead in the same spot where he saved the girl. With a bit of consciousness left, gazed at the night sky with no stars and thought that at least manage to embrace a half-naked girl before I proceed to heaven. "Mr. Stiff you finally manage to feel some boobs." Struggling to even hear my heartbeat I also strived to breathe properly with blood in my throat, I coughed to force the blood out but was so weak to do so. My vision started to dim and remembered almost everything from the past. "Shit, I am still a virgin." I thought to myself as my consciousness faded.

<>

My head was hazy, and my vision was blurry but managed to open my eyes. The bright light obstructed my vision but can see the blurry white ceiling, "Heaven." I said in a hoarse voice and a woman's laugh surprised me...

"Can you hear me, Mr. Daren?" With a lovely and soft voice, Daren force himself to look at who the woman was and with his vision slowly returning. "An Angel." The woman covered her mouth trying to not laugh again.

"Mr. Daren, I regret to inform you that you are not in heaven yet." I heard another voice and looked on the other side of the bed; there is a white-robed man with glasses checking the monitor beside him. "I am, Doctor Neil Legstrong. You certainly are lucky to survive so rest well and you will be out soon." With the doctor's calm and confident voice, I was relieved but I turned to the nurse again to check her beautiful face.

"Miss nurse, I am single and you are?" I was supposed to introduce myself but because of my lack of socialization and hazy mind, I blurted something ridiculous coming from the depths of my consciousness; making the doctor almost spat blood.

It made the nurse blush but she replied properly like nothing which I also did not notice. "I am nurse Joy, glad to meet you." Her smile somehow made me comfortable. "Is it because I almost crossed the other side that I am getting desperate?" I thought to myself as I smiled back to nurse Joy.

After everything was explained to me in detail by the visiting policeman; I now understand what happened. I was rushed pale and lifeless to the hospital but just barely revived inside the ambulance. The bruises were numerous but it was not serious compared to the blood that choked and almost killed me.

Now that it was settled, I was transferred to a private room in the hospital as thanks for my exemplary bravery by the police department and will soon be awarded lumpsum cash from the government and the family of the girl that I saved.

Alone in the room, I finally realized why I was nickname Mr. Stiff by others. It was my first time involving myself in with other people's problems. The pain in his heart again surged remembering his past, with tears in his eyes and heavy breaths he blurted. "I miss you, mom and dad."

Both parents are drug addicts, I was born unintended by my young parents both having drug problems. If not for my granduncle's intervention, I might have been aborted but even that our family did not last long when my mother left my jobless father and me around 10 years old; devastated, my father started to change and worked but he struggled to fend for the both of us.

My grand uncle who was the only one left in my father's side of the family was the one regularly helping us, but one after the other; struggles piled up and pressured my father. He became restless and returned to his vices.

Since then, there was no day that he was not drunk or high from drugs. I was 15 years old then when he started to punish and hit me for the small mistakes I made. I endured all the suffering not blaming the slightest to my parents, "It is not their fault, It is not their fault." I kept saying till I manage to sleep after a brutal beating from him.

I manage to reason the teachers and my classmates at first but teachers soon noticed the increasing bruises and finally reported to authorities. The commotion calmed down for a moment, but my life changed when news of my father was shot dead by a policeman.

The cheerful me struggles to accept the reality, I understood the report of him taking drugs but could not believe that he was part of dealing it. "I will not sell drugs to anyone, I am into this but never will persuade anyone to be like me." It was the words of my father that made his mother left in an argument. They are both addicted but mother started to get into the drug-related business which my father objected to.

He was passed to his grand uncle's custody until he graduated high school. So he continued his high school in the province.

Of what is the truth, no one will know except for the people involved but Daren started to get cold, stiff, and stubborn with all the people around him gaining him the title Mr. Stiff. When there is commotion Daren did not look, when there is a fight he did not bother, and even when he was even verbally assaulted he just smiled.

With bullying, he gradually distances himself to the people but not long he was confronted by his worried grand uncle, "Daren, there is nothing wrong with being reserved but socializing from time to time is crucial in your growth. I know it was hard for you but, with friends that you can share happiness and sorrow you can grow." Those words gave him hope again but his stiff attitude was etched in his soul that it was not easy to change. More than a habit; it became an attitude that is difficult to adjust.