Chapter 2 - Doubt

"Hey, don't block the path; can't you see there are a lot of people?" A tired and annoyed scold sounded from behind, interrupting Peter's thoughts.

Turning around, he encountered a young man, not much older than himself, bearing a sack of vegetables on his shoulder. Beads of sweat adorned his body, and the weariness and frustration in his expression became evident as their eyes met.

Noticing the young man's struggle, Peter felt a twinge of embarrassment. Shaking his head with a rueful smile, he apologized, glancing at the heavy bag of groceries the guy was carrying. In a hurry, Peter deftly maneuvered through the narrow path, ensuring there was ample space for people to pass more comfortably.

Anyway, Peter wasn't playing the role of a righteous Chinese protagonist from those novels who'd confront anyone that scolded him. He chuckled to himself, recalling a phrase they often used: "Meet God, kill God; Meet Buddha, kill Buddha!"

Tsk.. how domineering.

Unfortunately, things don't work like that in real life. Face-slapping might sound cool to others, but for him, it only means trouble. A wise man once said, 'every action has consequences.' I mean, what if the guy he faceslaps turns out to be a gangster's younger brother?

No, sir, Peter thought.

 He already had enough on his plate; juggling work and personal matters left little room for additional troubles. The prospect of more challenges weighed on him, and he genuinely felt that he would collapse from the mental exhaustion it would cause. 

Peter chuckled to himself, finding his inner monologue a bit messy yet amusing.

...

8:34 PM.

Making his way back to his apartment, Peter fell into his usual rhythmic routine. He carefully hung up his worn uniform, exchanging it for a cozy T-shirt and a pair of well-worn shorts. In the small kitchen, he rustled up a simple dinner, the aroma filling the air as he cooked.

A bit later, Peter sat down quietly at his small dining table, the aroma of his simple meal filling the air as he ate in silence. When he finished, he carefully went to wash the dishes, ensuring no crumbs remained to attract bugs.

A while later, Peter found himself at the corner of his bed, taking a drag from his cigarette. He breathed out a thick cloud of smoke, enjoying the rare moment of silence in his room.

"Smoking sure sucks, as they said..." he mused, feeling ironic as he remembered how he hated the acrid scent of smoke. Yet, here he was, sitting in the quiet corner of his room, taking slow drags from the cigarette. 

But then again, he can't be solely blamed; his life was incredibly stressful. With a lot of struggles, isolation, disappointments, and pains, he doubted that he might do something he'd regret to relieve his frustration.

Shaking his head, he turned on his phone to check the time, only to find that it was only 9:30 PM. Seeing that it was still not too late, he decided to open his TokTok and browse some short videos.

"Huh? 11:10 PM already?" Peter couldn't help but groan, thinking that he still had to wake up early tomorrow. "Damn, this app is really addicting."

Shaking his head, he turned off his phone and went to sleep for tomorrow's work.

...

The next day.

Waking up early in the morning, doing his usual routine, around 7:00 AM, Peter arrived at the convenience store.

Greeting Mr. Sanchez as usual, he entered the store, started restocking the shelves, cleaning the floor, etc., and then lazed around the corner.. honestly, 70% of his time was spent doing nothing.

As for the remaining 30%? Well, 20% was spent on mopping the floor (even though it was clean af) and 10% was spent on customer service, restocking, blah blah blah.. His job was simple, to be honest. The only hard part was that it was extremely boring.

Around 7:16 AM, Susan, the young female clerk, arrived, cheerful as usual.

"Good morning~ and in case I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night!" She theatrically said.

"Is that from truman show?" Already been used to her antics, Peter amusedly asked.

"Yes, Oh My God! I've just rewatched it last night; Jim Carrey's acting is so good, and the plot was crazy..."

"..."

"Like, how the heck did they manage to build such a gigantic studio? Imagine how much it would cost—the island, the metalic dome that surrounds it, etc.. I bet it cost trillions."

"..."

"Also, is it worth it? Can they recover the cost? Damn? Saying that there's billions of viewers, 1 minute advertising should be around millions of dollars, but still, I doubt they can earn as much as they spent.." Susan began chattering about the specific maintenance cost of the whole studio and even went to talk about the economy, geopolitics, and society.

'F*ck it's just a movie; why are you taking it so seriously? 'Peter complained inwardly, feeling headaches as he could not understand what she was saying; however, he did not show it on the surface, not wanting to offend her.

"Speaking of, are you still attending school?" he asked after a while.. Well, he won't ask this kind of question normally; the two of them are just acquaintances after all, but he was really tired of her chattering about such complicated things, so he decided to change the topic.

"Yep, why?"

"Nothing, just curious; are you a working student? How can you have time to study if you work?"

"I'm taking an online class, obviously." She answered as if it were a matter of fact.

"Online class? Isn't there a face-to-face class already?" Peter asked, raising an eyebrow. As far as he knew, a year and a half after the global pandemic, COVID-19, many public establishments, businesses, and various government facilities that were previously suspended had already returned to normal operation. He couldn't help but wonder why she was still taking virtual classes.

"There is, but the school I attend offers online classes, so I take it. Schools are boring as hell, they're so messy, and the students are so noisy, always talking about stupid things like dating, sex, alcohol, games, tsk, I can't learn anything from it," Susan explained simply, seemingly annoyed.

"I see." Seeing that she doesn't want to talk about it anymore, Peter stops inquiring. Anyway, his goal has already been achieved; as long as she stops talking about 'The Truman Show,' it's good.

...

8:00 PM

Biding his farewell to Mr. Sanchez and Susan, his fellow colleague Peter did not waste much time and went back home.

Arriving at his apartment, Peter did his usual routine: changing into casual clothes, eating, and washing the dishes.

A while later, Edward found himself on the balcony of his apartment unit, admiring the neon lights from below. He took a sip from his cigarette and breathed out.

*Rinnnnnng*

Surprised at the sudden ring from his phone, Peter took out his phone, only to have his lips curled up upon seeing the caller's name.

"Hey, what's up, mom?" He answered with a soft smile, very different from the usual impassive looks he wore.

"Still Good... How are you doing?"

"I'm fine.. Just a little tired. How's dad doing?"

"Sigh, fortunately your dad's health is getting better... It's just the hospital bills.." His mom hesitated from the other side.

"Tell me how much," Peter asked directly, feeling slight dissapointment upon knowing the purpose of his mom's call... It turns out that she called him because of money.

However, he wasn't disgusted or anything,  atleast, he knew that it was for his dad.. he love his dad.. It's just that sometimes he's so tired,which makes him think about things uncomfortably.

'Tsk, how hypocritical.' Peter thought wryly.

"Nothing much; most of the hospital bills have already been settled through health insurance, but there's still some miscellaneous things that need to be paid. Can you send 600?" His mom asked, and from her hoarse tone, embarrassment and desperation could be heard.

"Y-yes mom, I'll send it to you're E-cash right away."

"Thanks... Oh, by the way, how's your job?" His mom, as if wanting to change the subject, asked.

"It's fine.." Peter did not mind it much; his head was already hurt from all kinds of topics about money all the time.

Time passed, and the two of them talked about it for half an hour, sharing stories about the people around them and some casual stuff, until his mom dropped a bomb, telling him about his younger sister's new sideline.

"Live streaming?" Peter raised his brows in doubt upon hearing his mom's words. He had always had regular talks with his sister, but she had never told him about it.

"Yes, apparently, one of her friends invited her to live stream to earn some pocket money... Why ask? Didn't she tell you?" His mom asked hesitantly at his confusion.

"Of course she told me, she just doesn't tell me the specifics." Peter lied shamelessly; her sister says no such thing about him. 

'Perhaps she's shy? ' Peter thought and smiled wryly. Shaking his head, he inquired further. "Speaking of, how much did they earn in live streaming?".

"Ah that.. I'm not sure either; they've just started streaming a few days ago. I'm also very busy, so I don't know much about the specifics of it."

The two chatted for a long time before finally bidding farewell to each other.

Letting out a sighed, Edward went to open his E-Cash to send money to his mom, type the amount, type the phone number, and then select'send' after double checking the details.

"Huh?" Just after he sent the money to his mom, he was once again greeted by the nonchanging value of the E credit on his E-cash.

As far as he knew, after spending 400 yesterday, it should have been into 1400, and after sending another 600 to his mom, it should've turned into 800..

"But why is it still ₱ 1,800?" Peter couldn't help but feel doubt at what he was seeing. 

Peter couldn't help but mutter out loud, "Is it a bug? Did E-Cash malfunction or something?" The sudden situation piqued his curiosity.

Shaking his head and deciding to investigate the matter, he opened his phone's browser and searched for related news about the mobile wallet's current malfunctions. However, as time passed and he found no information, his disbelief grew until finally, his suspicion was confirmed.

"My E-Cash is malfunctioning..."