Beyond the Welcome

"From now, you will be staying here with us. Take this; it's the key to the room in front of you," Joseph said.

"Thank you, sir," I replied, wondering why Joseph had brought me here. I had been summoned to this big city by him, but the purpose was still unknown.

"So, after everything I told you, you still went ahead and brought that child here to live with us. You may think you're doing some kind work, but I assure you he will do more than his dad did to you," said a displeased Monica, Joseph's wife.

"Do you expect me to leave him all by himself there, especially when you know his future could be shaped into a good one? You expect me to let him waste his talents there."

"Whatever comes next is your problem," Monica retorted. I peeked to see who it was, and it turned out to be Joseph's wife. She wasn't happy I was here, considering all that my dad had done to their family.

"Well, I think Monica thinks I'm the same as my dad. having the same interests doesn't mean our personalities are the same," My thoughts as I walked to the door.

"Let me settle down first. I think I should use this opportunity to prove how I'm different from my dad. I will grow up and become the richest being ever to exist in this world" My thoughts as I organized my stuff to settle.

[Knock knock]

" Com---, Well, you're already in."

"Don't think we are the same just because we're in the same house, and don't expect any special treatment or benefits from our family, especially from me." A lousy, arrogant girl appeared.

"Okay, ma'am," I said calmly, though I was furious inside.

"Who the hell do you think you are? Just because I'm here doesn't mean I'm here for any personal reason," wished I could have said that loud to her, but it was just my thought as she leaves the room.

"Hey Bixbix, my stay here won't be very pleasing," I said into my phone, addressing my digital personal assistant.

"Hello Wuntuma, don't forget I'm always here to help you out."

"Thank you."

Bixbix is my only true friend; I always share my thoughts with it. I find it conflicting to call it 'it' as it's my friend.

[Knock knock]

"You're already in; why do you have to say it again?"

"Am I? Yeah, I didn't realize that. Sorry."

"I'm not here for any personal reason, so you can relax."

"Is that how to talk to an elderly person like me? Don't you know you're my little brother?"

"Huh, just how many years do you think you are to call yourself an elderly? Just because you're taller than me doesn't mean you're the oldest."

"Well, I'm 17, and from my dad, you're 15. You see now, 2 years, 2 damn good years. Do you know how proficient two years can be in terms of maturity, growth—"

"Okay, my great-granddad, who may you be?"

"Sorry, my grandson, I'm David, the first son of my dad, and do you know you're living in my dad's house now?"

"Just what the hell is wrong with rich people's children; they think they own the world?"

"Yes, we do. Just kidding. Never mind me; I'm here to apologize for what my little sister did earlier, and I think you also overheard my mom too. I'm sorry for all that."

"Did I just hear sorr--?"

"Hey, anyways, I don't judge a cover by its book," David interrupted, and I smirked. "I think you'll be the worst. It's not 'don't judge a cover by its...'" "Yeah, it's 'don't book a cover by its judge.' Sorry, anyways."

"Hm, okay, granddad, but why is your stuff here?"

"Since I learned you will be coming here, I told my dad I want to be in the same room with you, but he refuses. So, I took a spare key to this room and packed my stuff here. We are roommates now. What do you say?"

"What can I say, but I personally think living in the same house with you will be a pain in the ass. I can't imagine sharing a room with you," I admitted.

"Well, you can just kick me out."

"Okay, then leav—"

"What did you just say? I’m sorry I can’t hear you; you’re stuck with me forever."

We talked for a while before bedtime. At first, I thought he was a pain, but he turned out to be a really nice person. He was more focused about knowing much about me and my hometown.

I moved to Eris on his dad's call after what my dad did to their family. My dad was always passionate about technology, as I am. He learned many things at a young age, even "hello world in hacking."

My dad had great potential at a young age, but all of this was ruined because the place he grew up was the worst place in this nation, full of corruption, theft, drug addicts, and all sorts of bad things.

My dad was influenced by his peers into drugs and gambling and became obsessed. My life back then was like hell; I never really had much left with me as he always lost in betting. I lived as though I was okay, but I wasn't.

My dad wanted a huge amount of money for his betting, thinking it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that could change his life. My dad's high school friend was Joseph, who is now the CEO of a huge tech company in Eris, the dream town of everyone in Vorax.

I was challenged by my dad on a little competition of who could create a convincing phishing site. As I always liked to show off my skills, I programmed a fake site of some popular bank, but it was made in a way that if a device was attacked by it, any URL going to the original site would redirect back to mine.

I just built it for fun, but I later found out my dad modified my software into a life assurance company's system. He used that and found a way to infect Monica's device, gaining access to the life savings in Joseph's account and forwarding almost all of them to a different account.

The unfortunate thing was that he lost the bet he was confident about. A few days later, Joseph received a call about a huge transfer of his money to a different account. He was really shocked; he hired some cybersecurity experts, and they did their investigation. My dad was finally caught, sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Although I didn't know what I built could be used for such cybercrime, I felt responsible for it, even though no one knew I created that software except my dad. Joseph didn't want my life to go to waste, so he brought me in to live with them. As a child, my dream was to grow up and become the richest person to ever live on earth to repair our society, as there are many people facing challenges, especially where I came from. Coming here was one of my milestones, and I never knew it would happen this way. This is a great opportunity for me.