"Man, what a pain" Tim sighed internally. A customer was going on and on about how 'rude and insulting' he came across as, but he was just trying to do his damn job. All he did was ask her if she would like to donate to a charity, she said no and he proceeded to giving her the bill.
However, she believed he was 'stifling a smirk', which considering Tim didn't even remember the last time he smiled at someone was rather ironic.
" I apologize for my lapse in judgement ma'am and will make sure to never repeat this mistake" said Tim in a very deferential tone.
The woman stopped rather abruptly and seemed to be taken aback by how quickly he had apologized. She decided to not escalate the matter further and quietly left after giving him one last glare.
As she walked past him, he wondered how it had all gone so, so wrong. A graduate from a prestigious law college, now settling for a minimum wage job with neither the motivation nor the drive to rise any higher.
What people don't understand is that after getting a law degree the formative years are of particular importance. Once you have a few years of work experience under the belt, taking a sabbatical doesn't really hurt your career much. But going to law school and then kicking off your career with a non-legal job is definitely not a good idea, only making it extremely difficult to get employed later on.
Not that Tim particularly cared about his career prospects or his future, it was only a passing observation.
Things used to be different, he wasn't always like this. Not particularly amazing, just a normal kid from a wealthy family, fairly talented at academics and looking forward to the future.
At least until that incident happened. The incident that shattered something inside him. Tim lost his girlfriend in a tragic accident.
He still vividly remembers how, in the beginning everyone they knew from college attended the funeral, some even cried. Many of his friends reached out to comfort him.
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.
Two years later, and they're gone. All gone. Earning six figure salaries by selling their souls to law firms and defending criminals or maybe even wall street trash if they're lucky. Too busy to care about some failure who gave up and shut himself off from the world, "I'll always be there for you if you want to talk" my ass. Nothing but empty platitudes, some even urging him to move on.
Tim was reminded of their fake, strained smiles that tried to mask their condescending attitudes as he watched the woman exit the store. Perhaps the only reason they approached him in the beginning with such fervor was because he was the heir to his father’s business empire.
Tim had never felt so powerless and vulnerable before. No matter what he had done, he couldn't have prevented what happened that day. Yet, he would almost trade anything for the chance to change things. A chance to control his own destiny. His anger had no outlet, there was nobody he could scream at, no one he could beat up, no one who was in the wrong. One poorly timed turn can lead to such tragedy. He could only look at the skies and ask “Why?".
Unfortunately, all humans can do is move on.
Yet, move on he could not. It hurt, it hurt so so much. The days he spent with her were not something he could just cast away. His parents had been supportive throughout at least, it was the cornerstone that kept him sane. His father was a self-made man, so he did not see his only son running away from his responsibilities and working a minimum wage job a stain on his reputation but in fact was rather proud. Well, at least he wanted Tim to believe that. And the psychologist that his dad hired allowed it. His father was fiercely protective towards him, as an only child, which he always found rather irksome until he reached his lowest point. Now, all he had was gratitude.
After completing his shift, he was walking down the street on way to his rented condo, when a bright light flashed and his eyes hurt like a bitch. He couldn't see anything, stumbling around in the darkness, as he tripped over something hard and fell.
“WHAT THE FUCK!! WHO THREW A GODDAMN FLASH GRENADE AT ME YOU RAVING LUNATIC!” Tim screamed like a maniac, still unable to see and terrified, thinking he would be either assaulted or abducted.
He suddenly heard a loud, booming voice.
[Beginning integration into the Multiverse ]
[Human race is being assigned stats]
[Tutorial phase being initiated]
[Titles are now available!]
[Skills, cultivation techniques, mythical creatures and Dao fruits being randomized!]