"Hold on, Tobey. I want to be on top."
"You mean, you want to ride me?"
"Yes, babie. I want to ride you so hard, more than I ever did with that poor rat."
A young man walking hastily in the hallway with a smile on his face suddenly froze upon hearing those lines.
The smile faded almost instantly, and for a moment, he couldn't process the weight of what he had just heard.
That familiar voice... Or if he could guess correctly, those familiar voices had made his heart skip.
"No, it must be the neighbours. It might be the sound of a TV show or something..."
Ryan refused to believe that those voices were coming from his girlfriend's apartment, but no matter how hard he tried, reality kept pushing the obvious.
He was holding a flower bouquet, and was about to gift it to her.
He knew how much he had worked to raise money for it, because it wasn't one of those cheap bouquets. This one was something that Audrey would really like.
Ryan and Audrey had been dating for three years now, and they had both already agreed to get married after university. Fortunately, what he had hoped for was already drifting close, as today was their Graduation.
Ryan had purposely brought the flowers as a Graduation gift, and also as a reminder that their dream of getting married was already coming true.
But then, the moans inside her room were already giving him every reason to believe that it was real.
"Yeah, babie."
"Harder... Ahh..."
When he approached the door, he knocked several times and got no response. All he kept hearing were the crazy, gut-wrenching moans that wouldn't stop.
Soon, he happened to notice that the door was open, so he decided to step in. It was his girlfriend's apartment after all. He had been the one paying the rent.
He stepped into the living room and found no one, but the moans were still being heard loud and clear, and Ryan had no choice but to trace them with his heart almost leaving his chest.
Ryan walked over to the bedroom, and that was where reality hit him like a thunderbolt.
The flower bouquet he was holding didn't waste another second before dropping to the floor.
Right there on the bed, he could clearly see his girlfriend Audrey on top of another man, riding and gliding like a biker, completely naked.
Those moans were noticeably more passionate than the ones she used to express with him. He couldn't deny that, but overall, he still couldn't believe this was happening.
"Audrey..."
The moment he spoke, they both flinched and Audrey moved off the guy's body at once. She quickly covered herself with the blanket, shocked and... maybe embarrassed.
Turning to the young man, Ryan soon realised it was someone he knew. No wonder both voices had sounded familiar.
It was really Tobey. His best friend since high school.
It was the most unexpected thing he had ever witnessed in his life, second only to the tragic deaths of his parents and sisters. His best friend and his girlfriend. It was the craziest combination he could have ever imagined.
Because ever since he started dating Audrey, Tobey had never gotten along with her. They wouldn't even spare each other a glance, much less say hi.
Ryan had no idea they had probably been having an affair behind his back.
"Tobey..."
"What's going on here?" Ryan asked, his shivering voice a clear outcome of his shock and his refusal to accept what he was seeing.
While Audrey was visibly unsettled, Tobey happened to be smiling, despite being caught betraying his best friend. That alone didn't just stun Ryan, it lit a fuse of rage deep inside him.
"Well, what does it look like? I'm having sex with my girlfriend," Tobey said, that smile still sharp on his face.
"Your girlfriend? Are you out of your mind? Audrey?"
He turned to Audrey, who was staring at Tobey with an unreadable expression.
"Don't be scared, sweetie. Tell him. He can't do more than a dead rat," Tobey told her with a bold tone.
And somehow, his words seemed to steady her, because Audrey turned to face Ryan with a calmer expression. There was a trace of hesitance, but the boldness was dominant.
"Umm. I've been waiting for the right moment to tell you this, Ryan. And I guess, unfortunately, this has turned out to be that moment," she said.
"I don't want to have anything to do with you anymore. Tobey is my boyfriend now. We've liked each other ever since the first day we met. I was just a bit hesitant to leave you, and out of pity, I decided to stay.
But now, I've figured that it's high time I settled for more and stopped letting my emotions hold me back. I mean, who would want to spend the rest of her life with a poor orphan with no future?"
Ryan's eyes widened at that, unable to believe his ears.
"Are you kidding me? Are you really saying this to me, Audrey?"
"There's only one Ryan here, I guess," she replied, glancing over at Tobey, who gave her a smile like she had done something worth rewarding.
"Well, you see, my friend. It just so happens that you can't keep up with her anymore," Tobey sat up and said. "She wouldn't want to waste her life with a reflection of poverty like you, not when she's got someone with enough cash to spoil her to the peak."
Tobey reached to the side and pulled out a thick bundle of cash, then tossed it toward her. Audrey caught it with a cheeky smile, giving it a dramatic hug like it was the most precious thing in the room.
Ryan's eyes locked onto the bundle the moment it left Tobey's hand. The bills were all in thousands, and if his guess was anywhere close, that bundle could easily be a million dollars.
His first thought was... How did he get that kind of money?
Sure, Tobey came from a middle-class family and had never lacked much, but that kind of cash was both shocking and suspicious.
"Surprised?" Tobey asked.
"Well, let me tell you how this came about," he continued. "My father finally secured the five-billion-dollar deal. He's officially one of the richest men in Paragon City now, which makes me one of the richest guys around too. And trust me, it'll be every girl's pleasure to be with me."
"So, Ryan, I'll kindly advise you to leave. And this should be the last time you set foot in here or even try to talk to her."
"She's mine now."
All Ryan could do was stand there and process the whole scene. His girlfriend, whom he had loved so deeply. His best friend, who had known his secrets and weaknesses for years.
He had just been hit in a way that might never heal. And at that point, he knew that no words could express even a fraction of what he felt.
So Ryan gave them both one last glance and let out a single word.
"Okay."
With that, he turned and walked out of the apartment.
Several drops of tears had already rolled down his face before he even noticed. He moved fast enough to reach his bike and rode back to his apartment without looking back once.
...
Ryan dropped his keys on the counter without a sound upon reaching his apartment.
He didn't turn on the lights.
The apartment was small and quiet, the kind of quiet that felt heavy, but today it felt suffocating. He sat on the edge of his bed and stared at the floor, elbows on his knees, and just stayed there.
Today was supposed to be the happiest day of his life. Graduation. The finish line after years of scraping through with barely enough for rent, barely enough for food, barely enough for everything. He had pictured it so many times, him and Audrey in their gowns, cap in hand, smiling like they had finally made it.
He wasn't going anymore.
There was no point.
What was he even celebrating? The fact that he was broke and alone? That the two people he trusted most in this world had been laughing behind his back the whole time?
He pressed his palms against his face and breathed slowly, but the images kept coming back. Audrey on top of Tobey. The way she hugged that money. The way Tobey smiled.
'A reflection of poverty.'
He had heard those words before, from strangers, from people who looked at him like he was an inconvenience. But never from someone who was supposed to love him. Never from someone who was supposed to be his brother when he had none.
Ryan lay back on the mattress and stared up at the ceiling. The flower bouquet was still lying inside her room before he left. He had forgotten to pick it up, but he figured that it don't matter anymore.
He figured that leaving it there was the best thing.
After an eternity of thinking and contemplating, Ryan finally decided to rest. After all, the sleep was already drawing him away from his sorrows in the first place.
But then just when he was about to close his eyes...
Ding!
His eyes opened.
A faint glow pulsed in the air above him, soft and blue, like something had been quietly waiting for this exact moment.
[Money Multiplier System Activated!]
[Host: Ryan Calender identified.]
[Host Status: Broken. Frustrated. Poor.]
[Remark: Host is a reflection of poverty, indeed.]
Ryan sat up slowly, eyes fixed on the floating text hanging in the air before him like it was the most natural thing in the world. He blinked once. Twice.
Then he looked around the empty room, and back at the glowing words.
"...What."