Secrets and Things (MxM)

Chapter 33 - Where is the love?

"Money."

"Ah. The classic. Do elaborate."

"As you already know. Well, should know. I hope you know. Anyway, as you know, I founded this company from the bottom. My journey began at the age of 20 and after 7 years, I have a successful company that I could call mine. Now before my success, I used to live in an average household in the UK, raised by a single mother after my douchebag father cheated for a younger woman. I don't where he is nor do I care. We soon moved to here and lived our life. Although it was difficult here and there, mother and I were content and happy. We had a good relationship and everything."

"I think I know where this is going."

"Do you still need me to continue then?"

"Well duh. I said I think. Now continue."

"How demanding."

"You're not allowed to say that. You're a CEO who asks for impossible shit to be done."

Leo laughs at that. "Only because I know you guys can pull it off. Now where was I?... Right, so I decided to start up an app, mother was supportive and yada, yada, yada, fast forward to a couple of years later where I have a decent income and the app is pretty big. I've moved out, MegCorp just formed and it's doing pretty alright. Now, this is where things begin to change. Since I have a decent salary now, I start to send money to my mother on a regular basis as appreciation for raising me. She denies it at first but eventually accepts it. She's happy and cries happy tears and everyone is happy. As the company gets bigger, I send her more money. I've apparently sent her so much money, she decided to quit her job and retire. Which is perfectly fine. She deserves a break and have some fun with the rest of her life... right way that is."

"Uh oh."

"Yeah. She reached a point where the money I send her monthly allowance isn't enough. At some point, she kept asking for more. And it's not little. It's absurd amounts like 50K or something."

"Jesus fucking Christ."

"When I asked the first couple of times why, she wouldn't tell me and I let her off the hook because I trusted her. But at one point, I got so sick of it, I demanded it out of her and as a result, she broke down and I had to comfort her. She then said something about helping her friend out and I was reluctant, mainly because I didn't know who this was. It was possible she could be extorted but she said she's fine and I complied. This happened for the next couple of months as well."

"Oh you poor, innocent thing."

"What?"

"Even I can tell she was lying to you and I barely know the woman."

"What? How?"

"No one asks for money on multiple occasions to help out a friend or multiple friends, especially with this kind of absurd amount. People who genuinely mean it are rarer than us Oddity users. Also, she's clearly extorting her son and she knows it for sure, yet she continues to do so."

"Hey, my mother is not a bad-"

"Prove me wrong then. Prove that your mother is one of those kind-hearted people."

Leo was quiet for a moment before mumbling something.

"What?"

"... I said... I can't"

"You can't prove me wrong?"

"No..."

"Why not?"

"Because you're right. Turns out the money was indeed just for her and her selfish needs slash bad habits. Initially, it really was to help out a friend and their business but then their business succeeded and they even paid her back. Yet for some reason, I never saw the light of it."