All of a sudden, Antonio was faced with two gigantic walls!!! He needs to break either one of them for him to advance in the road!!! But...!!! Breaking one of these walls will be potential death for them!!!

"Now, Jose... Antonio... will you come with for a chicken race?"

In this kind of situation, It's natural to fold!!! Calling a bet of 10 Million Pesos would mean betting a total of 9 Work Years with no salary!!! Jose works for a total of 13 hours a day, then 24 - 13 = 11!!! 6-10 hours of that will be going to his sleep!!! In short, he only has an hour or so to work for real!!! Unless, he won't sleep, It's impossible!!!

If his salary for working 13 hours is 500 Pesos, then if he only worked for an hour, then his salary would be... 10-50 Pesos!!! It's still good, you can still buy the cheapest food in the Philippines, Egg, and Dried Fish. But...!!! It will never be enough for Allaine to study!!! He has to give up to that dream, Allaine's dream, and future!!! Will be crushed, shattered like a glass who has fallen from a table!!!

But...!!! If they Folded and gave up the one million, there are still 2 rounds left, they could take it back!!! Even if they won't, Jose could still work with salary, this is the ideal escape situation!!!

So It's normal for him to Fold!!! But Antonio can't!!! The Serpent seeped into his mind!!! Leaving his first and maybe last 1 Million Pesos would hurt like stabbing the pupil in your eye!!! He can't leave it!!! His hands won't leave it!!! He already tasted it!!! Even If he wants to fold, even if that's the right answer, he can't!!! The money he has right now became addicting drugs that you won't let go if you took a whiff of it!!!

"No!!! Stop!!! Let it go!!! This is the right answer, so why!? Why are my hands shaking!? Why the hell!? It's for the better!!! Throwing the money would be the best..."

While stopping his hand from shaking, he didn't notice that tears are already falling from his eyes. Throwing the money would mean throwing their future too, throwing their one and maybe last chance they've got to change their lives you can't even call living.

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Even if he knows there are still two rounds left and they could just make a comeback, there are no guarantees that he could actually make a comeback!!! He doesn't know what the future holds!!! He shreds a tear, a tear for a piece of paper that circulates around the world. It's just a piece of paper but holds so much power. This is the power of money!!! Just this one bunch would make people steal, kill or even hurt others, just for this one bunch of paper!!!

Just for this one bunch of paper, there's so much frustration and anxiety welled up inside Antonio!!! He's enduring it until now, but...!!! It goes out!!! Those tears are the symbol of his frustration and anxiety!!!

Yanlei just stares at Antonio as if he's seeing an ant. He likes to step on it, but he took a deep breath and didn't do so. Antonio just slowly shreds a tear for remembering these papers instantly disappear.

"Antonio..."

Antonio, while having his own little darkness... someone called out to him. A familiar voice he always hearing at the slums, at his house, last night, last afternoon, earlier, last year, It's the voice of his friend... Jose!!!

+++++

"Calm down, Antonio! You're not going to be the one to work if we lose!!! It's going to be me!!! So calm yourself and take the right judgment!!!"

"Jose, what should I do? I don't want to let go of this money... but I don't want you having debt and working for this piece of shit guy..."

Jose was just following Antonio's instructions because he believes that Antonio is someone smarter than him!! So he trusted at his judgment and took action!!! Antonio is the brain and Jose acted as his body. Despite all of his Antonio's mistakes and misjudgments, he didn't say a word and just believed in him!!! Jose says the next words that put a stop to Antonio's frustration and anxiety:

"How should I know!? You're the one doing the thinking here!!! I'm just going to shut my trap and listen to you!!!"

"Jose!!! I already did countless mistakes and I'm a coward!!! Folding at his obvious bluffs is the absolute mistake I've ever made!!! That proves that I'm just a coward!!!"

"Shut up!!! Even I am a coward!!! Every one of us is a coward!!! But we need to look forward!!! To these last 2 rounds, we need to look forward. If we don't throw away this 1 Million we have, we're just going to lose. Take the jump, Antonio!!! Don't be afraid!!! Throw it away!!! Throw this bunch of papers who drives people insane and gave you so much anxiety!!! Throw this piece of shit paper!!!"

At these words of Jose, Antonio finally...clenched his fists... and... destroyed the second wall!!! The serpent that poisons his mind was gone and the wall was... destroyed!!! With this, he paved open the way... a direction for him to go!!!

"Fold!!!"

At this declaration, the coward called Antonio who chooses to avoid the problem and just run away... changed!! He became a coward who can look forward to the future...

END OF CHAPTER 20