The crack of dawn, shrouded In its glorifying light, set New-York to be one of the most gorgeous cities in America. One resident, however, didn't seem to care much about the weather.
Shades of pale skin made him stand like a sore thumb at times. His dashing youthful face spoke of annoyance and subtle envy. At the early age of 23, Matthew Roberts kept a healthy routine of visiting the gym and staying on a strict diet, which helped his arm muscles to develop quite nicely. A black mattress of short curls worn to the side made his haircut look cleaner than ever.
"huuu" the young Matthew sighed. He was looking at the new Google post exposing another famous influencer for his crypto scam, the said influencer seemed to have ripped off approximately 500k dollars from his young and supposedly 'poor' fans, or at least that's what the article says.
'No matter how many times it happens. It still amazes me how can people genuinely fall for this' Matthew thought, his jealousy and frustration caused him oftentimes to curse in silence.
'Damn it, people are out there making millions just from introducing this basic pyramid scam bullsh*t. Yet here I am, barely paying off the bills, not to mention the college debt. Seriously f*ck america'
Matthew is struggling, working a part-time job at McDonald's for about 5 months, earning 10$ per hour, his life seems to be going nowhere any time soon. He always dreamed of being rich, having enough money to not worry about literally anything. Being constantly under the pressure of paying bills, saving up as much as possible, even going as far as cutting off his diet, caused bad habits to grow on him.
'f*cking rich people' he was always jealous. He loathed them, thinking they were pretentious in everything they did. Imagine having so much money that you literally have no idea what you could do with it, and then you go off to complain about 'mental health problems' and say the infamous "money can't buy happiness" line'.
The young Matthew, looking a bit more frustrated than usual, got up from his bed. He marched toward the kitchen to get himself something to eat. Chicken salad sounded like a great choice for this day, especially if he dressed it with the sweet'n'sour vinaigrette, topped it off with a couple small lemon slices, it made for a delicate meal. he liked both sour and citrus flavors since he was a child; basically anything that had lemon in it. A lot of the time at school was spent convincing his friends that lemon cakes are underrated, only to earn gestures of mockery in response.
"haa" after eating his fill and changing to his workout clothes, he went out of his apartment to visit the gym. Picking up his phone, he hurriedly called his 'best friend' jacob.
"Yo Jay, hit me up at the café later on, we need to discuss something" Matthew talked calmly on the phone.
"what do you want d*ckhead, you know I'm busy as hell this weekend" an annoyed young voice came off as a response, something Matthew expected.
"hmm…why do you think I'm calling you if it's not important?".
"... Okay fair enough, but we can't take too long".
"I promise you we won't, I'm going to the gym right now. after I finish, I will take a quick shower and then we meet 2.5 hours from now".
" It's 8:00 am right now. Hmm… yeah sure, see you later Matt" says Jacob or 'jay' as he hangs up.
'What a prick' thought Matthew as he continued towards the neighborhood gym. His friend was never such a douchebag before. It made him pause from time to time in wonder, feeling a certain hollowness plague his chest. Curiosity was the most annoying, unnerving thing to satisfy.
After a 2 hour session of lifting and bench pressing, Matthew made his way back home. He took a refreshing shower that lasted longer than usual, before changing into a new pair of black pants and a classic white T-shirt. Taking his phone he noticed that there's still some time left before the meet up so he decided to check out the new one piece manga chapter that just dropped.
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'oda is really something else, that old man somehow managed to drop chapters every week for the past 20 years. I would turn senile if I attempted to do it myself. not to mention the quality stays pretty consistent thought-out the one piece story' Matthew mumbled his own thoughts, one of his many terrible habits, as he just finished scheming through the chapter's content.
'Maybe I should just make my own manga, have it published. gain an audience. gather enough reputation. And only then would I start my own NFT scam' matthew often wondered why his high-school 'friends' called him a piece of shit , ' It's not my fault if people actually buy into it, right?' he had to suppress his wild fantasies for a second
Entering the café, Matt took a seat near the window, not minding the occasional stares that people give him due to his athletic body… And the unique choice of clothing. He sat down, waiting quietly for Jay to show up. And sure enough, a couple minutes later, a 5'9 tall fat young man made his appearance in the café. Jacob wore a classic business suit with his signature stylish brand of sunglasses on. Five expensive rings that decorated his right hand spoke of the youth's rich background. His above average looking face that even the body fat around it failed to hide its charm cut his figure to be a graceful one. The fat young man was the embodiment of what you would call a young master.
'again with those rings, each of them cost almost 5k each, that's almost a third of my student debt' Matthew eyed Jacob with the same emptiness that struck him from before. He knew what he might ask this time would perhaps disappoint one his long time friends and strumble their relationship down to a tragic gaping pit. Jacob quickly took a seat on the other side of the table and ordered a shot of espresso, seemingly uncaring of Matt's distress.
"say Matt, what do you wanna talk about?"
"Jay how has your day been, we haven't-"
"just get to the point. I haven't got all day for you"
"u-umm s-sure" Matthew knew he shouldn't press this issue… but he couldn't help it. "Jay how about you lend me some money, not much, just 7k to start off"
"..."
"the money will obviously be returned after, so just give me some time" knowing that this isn't enough to persuade he continued.
"..."
"there is this etherium crypto currency That I wanna invest into, with its value skyrocketing this week I'm guaranteed to make a decent profit" Matthew held every urge to cringe at his own words.
"... you haven't changed at all, you are still the same" Jacob knew better than to feed into a mummer's farce. Time was money. Time was more precious than gold.
"huh? What do you mean Jay?"
"tell me Matt, how long has it been since you graduated college"
"w-well, you could say it's been a year"
"And I imagine you have been unemployed since. Working a sh*tty part time job certainly doesn't sound pleasant, does it?"
"... You are correct" Matthew's heart was stabbed many times throughout this conversation. A man's weak point is his work life and salary, everyone knew that.
"So now tell me, how many times did I loan you cash? Without getting any of it back" the other simply tapped the table rhythmically while awaiting his order. Their discussion was a sensitive one, but again time spoke louder than words.
"Wait, this time it's really gonna be different! Aren't you my friend?" Matthew's initial mild expression slowly receded to show a forced smile that hung from ear to ear.
" 'a friend', that's a weird way to describe it, as far as I recall, we rarely met each other since high-school, I would say acquaintances' is more like it" says Jacob, his tone never changing from its usual casualness. Only when the his order arrived at the table did his unbreakable façade show any signs of cracking.
"... We are not friends?" Matt was shocked to speechlessness for a moment
" *sip* oh Matthew, you remember those days? I'm not sure you noticed but we used to be quite popular back then. Working together as the classic school thugs duo who both were desperate to make money suited us a lot. The tall athletic 'red beast' Matthew, and his Lackey, the fat 'yellow beast'. To this day I'm still wondering why they called you the 'red beast' . Nothing spoke red about you, nor yellow about me." spoke Jacob quietly while twirling the spoon. This was one of the few times he enjoyed a cheap cup of espresso, it felt good to let your feelings overflow.
"but you know since my father's awaited success. bringing his company's net worth up to a six digit figure, my family situation turned into sh*t. My parents Matthew… they gradually grew further apart, separated by a bunch of invisible strings as if it was a puppeteer's work. They barely interacted with each other, as if they were never a part of that loving family of three." his tone slowly exuded many unhinged emotions for a second before dwelling back to its usual calmness. Matthew flinched and fidgeted in his seat sensing the change .
"... " Matt kept silent for a moment, that ghostly uneasiness that festered his unopen wounds further widened. Bringing his skin to tingle and teeth to squeeze.
"you know, it somehow changed me… to this day I'm still unsure of my own personality. seeing the ones I love so unemotional, so indifferent kept haunting me for nights. People grow ignorant of their own blessings, only when they lose some of their gifts do they realize how sheltered they were. Those restless nights … It's something I don't wish to experience which is why our relationship deteriorated, or more so why I changed as a whole person… you know, sometimes I wonder if this wealth is a curse. Matt, I no longer wish to be your fat buddy. the 'yellow beast' they called me, I loved that title once, now I hate it" jacob finished his speech. he stood up, ready to leave the café.
"..." Matt's fake smile disappeared, as quick as it showed. His feelings were in shambles 'Jacob just what the hell happened to you'
A couple minutes later. "huuu" he sighed as he paid the bill. Turning back to exit this cursed café, he spotted an old man entering in a hurry. His clothes were haggard, the hair was a mix of gray and white just as someone would expect from an old man. slowly opening the unkempt coat, the old man revealed a bomb attached and his expression turned mad. The people watching wore expressions of fear and confusion, Matthew Roberts included.
"TERRORITS–" yelled a lady as the bomb detonated, the fire engulfing Matthew as his mind is still in shock ' what the f*ck'