Bab 18: "The chance to wake up."

A few hours before Jerrod comes into Larissa's house, she was already thinking about him before he visited the convenience store.

Jerrod was a man who would be hard to forget once you met him.

A wealthy billionaire heir who attended schools for the elite.

A wealthy man, even when he was a child, could gather prominent people in one room just to meet him.

A man who could be successful wherever he goes.

A man with a lot of connections.

A man who has both looks and wealth.

However, the same person who should have everything is buying his dinner at an average convenience store.

He is now a man who drives his luxurious car into a shabby convenience store parking lot and walks inside a store to buy cheap food while wearing his branded clothes.

What more would Larissa think after seeing Jerrod loitering around her workplace?

She thought more about him after a convenience store employee commented, "He might have gone bankrupt but still couldn't accept a downgrade in his lifestyle."

It was not only Larissa who saw Jerrod at the store daily. Almost every staff member working at the convenience store knows him because of how he visits the store every afternoon and evening. And everyone had one impression of Jerrod: "He's a poor man who recently went bankrupt."

Jerrod looked pitifully into their eyes.

At first, they thought he was a narcissistic person who just wanted to brag about his luxury car, branded suits, and pure gold watch, but after seeing him drive his car every day and watching him eat cheap food alone inside his car, they concluded that Jerrod is an unfortunate individual.

"What are you talking about?" Larisa asked, as if she didn't get what the stock man was saying. She knew he was talking about Jerrod, as their eyes were both looking at Jerrod entering the store.

Larissa is now assigned to the inventory, which is why she and the stock man are checking items at the back. The back room floor is a bit higher than the store, which can make anyone watch whatever is happening inside the store through the one-way mirror.

They watch Jerrod pick from the on-sale items and check them out at the counter.

"See, he is buying cheap food again. How can he not afford decent food for himself if he is not bankrupt?" The stockman added.

"But James, he's still bringing his car. I bet the gas for luxury cars is pricey too. There must be another reason he keeps buying cheap food." Larissa stated.

The stockman suddenly becomes worked up after seeing Larissa, not yet convinced that Jerrod was a wealthy beggar.

"You know what, there are a lot of wealthy men who go bankrupt who still cannot let go of their luxurious lifestyle and plough on even if it will only make them even poorer. That's how this type of person will only become miserable in no time." James mentioned as he stood in front of the large one-way mirror and pointed at Jerrod as if he was presenting.

"Let me present to you the evidence that this person has recently experienced his downfall. The first obvious evidence is his daily purchase of cheap food. The second piece of evidence is his often stay in the parking lot. It was not only once that I saw him sleeping in his car. I bet you saw him, too. Last, didn't we see him more than once having a breakdown? It's pretty obvious that he's not mentally prepared for his bankruptcy," James presented confidently.

It made Larissa think again and agree with what James stated.

"You're right. I saw him collapse twice and bump his head on his steering wheel. He must be going through a lot of hardship." Larissa commented, but then she looked at James with a deathly glare after seeing him sneer in front of her.

"Haha. Sorry for my reaction, but isn't his problem so easy to solve?" James stated while shrugging his shoulder. "He will be fine as long as he accepts that he is no longer wealthy. He just needs to downgrade. He should stop using his exorbitant items and start a new one befitting his current financial status."

"You talk like it is easy to accept things like that. You don't know what really is happening in the person's life." Larissa defended.

Larissa could feel that something else was happening to Jerrod, and it was not right to judge him based on how they saw him every time he visited their store. It is not like they know the whole life of Jerrod, which is why they don't have the right to judge at all.

"Are you talking about that handsome customer?" Another store employee joined their conversation and shared something about Jerrod. "I think he is not bankrupt at all. I think he is suffering from something else."

Their co-worker's statement made them feel intrigued with his other perspective. Larissa and James both came up close to him and looked at him with curiosity.

"What is it? Heart broken? Love broke him?" James guessed.

"Haha no. I think it's worse." Their co-worker said in a suspenseful way.

"Ah! Migs! Tell us now!"

Migs, their co-worker, looked at the window first before responding in a hushed tone, "I think he is terminally ill."

Larissa and James immediately backed away after hearing the ridiculous statement. They returned to work, which made Migs flustered.

He then exclaimed, "I saw him sleeping in the car, and when I woke him up, he acted as if he didn't expect to wake up like that again!" The others just scoffed at him, thinking he was just making up stories to hype up the topic.

Migs won't accept that James and Larissa see him as a liar, and he thinks of a way to prove his statement.

"Ah! I was talking on the radio at that time! Wait for me! I'll show you I'm not lying!" Migs rummaged through the security desks and looked for the radio they used when roving around the area of the convenience store.

"Got it!" he happily raised the radio and showed it to James and Larissa. They were still skeptical about Migs, but they still gave him a chance to prove his claim.

Before pressing the radio to play, Migs exclaimed, "I woke him up by knocking on his car. He was sleeping in the parking area, and when he went out to his car, he happily grabbed me and said this to me. Listen carefully."

Everyone looked at the radio and opened their ears to hear Jerrod's voice on the radio: "I never thought I would ever have the chance to wake up like this!"