The poor Billionaire novel (Ethan) novel Chapter 16
Horace was used to having a simple lifestyle. He intended to keep it that way even though he was a billionaire now. Since Farris drove a Rolls-Royce, he was afraid that he would attract unnecessary attention to himself if he went to the Lake Hotel in it.
Cara came to start her duties in the afternoon. Horace instructed her to take good care of his mother and then left for the Lake Hotel alone.
The Lake Hotel wasn't as luxurious as the Sea Pavilion, but it was still a top-notch and expensive hotel in Zence, one of the districts in Rinas.
From the hospital, Horace went to the nearest bus stop and boarded Bus No. 36 to the Lake Hotel.
It would have been more convenient for him to take a taxi. After all, he had enough money to pay for one. But he didn't want to change his lifestyle too much because of his newfound fortune. Besides, there was still plenty of time before five o'clock, so he took the bus.
Soon, the bus bell rang. An automated voice announced, "We have arrived at Dragon Community. Passengers, please get off the bus through the back door. Be careful when the door opens. Have a wonderful day!"
A group of passengers orderly got off the bus through the back door. Another set of passengers entered the bus via the front door.
"Hey, sir. Please pay the fare with a bus card or in cash."
A new passenger was about to go in and take a seat without paying the fare, so the driver reminded him.
"I should pay with a bus card or in cash? I don't have any change on me, nor do I have a bus card!"
The new passenger was angry at the driver. He just refused to pay shamelessly. Seeing that the driver wouldn't allow him to take a seat without paying, he turned to everyone seated and shouted, "Does anyone have a dollar? Can you give it to me?"
Before taking the bus, Horace withdrew one thousand dollars in cash from an ATM. He also went to a convenience store and broke the money into lower denominations. He put his hand into his pocket and was about to give the new passenger a dollar, but the beautiful young girl next to him held out a dollar bill before him. She said to the new passenger, "Here you go, sir!"
The new passenger took the money from the girl and didn't appreciate her at all. He just went straight to the money box. Waving the bill, he said to the driver, "Can you see? This is a dollar. I will pay for the fare now. Stop making a fuss over it!"
He threw the dollar bill into the money box and snorted with disdain. He was behaving as if the one dollar he dropped was actually one million dollars.
With an arrogant look on his face, the man took his seat. Horace furrowed his eyebrows. He was annoyed by the man's shameless behavior. The man had acted as if he wanted to borrow the money, so he had thought the girl would be paid via an online transfer. It came as a surprise to Horace that the man went to his seat as if nothing had happened. Worse still, he didn't say thank you.
One dollar didn't seem like a big deal to the girl next to Horace, but simple courtesy demanded that the new passenger expressed gratitude for her help. Now the girl felt wronged. A trace of displeasure appeared on her face.
"Hey, boy! What are you looking at?" The new passenger noticed that Horace had been glaring at him for a while. After the man shot him a scowl, he turned to look at the girl and asked casually, "Hey, girl, do you still have a dollar? Give it to me. I'm thirsty. I need to buy a bottle of water when I get off at my destination."
This ridiculous request surprised the passengers close by. They didn't expect that a full-grown adult would be so shameless to ask a girl for money twice. Some of them even mumbled in annoyance.
"No!" The girl outrightly refused. She was still upset that he was unthankful to her first kind gesture. There was no way she would give money to such a person again.
"Did you just say no? Why are you lying, girl? I saw you take out two dollars from your bag just now. How come the other dollar bill disappeared? Don't play with me. Give me the money now. My destination is only a few blocks away!" After saying that, he grumbled, "The driver of this bus is a scammer. He's ripping people off. My destination is only after two stops, but he charged me one dollar. In fact, this is daylight robbery!"
The man's audacious words caused the young girl's face to darken. She had been in a good mood today, but her mood changed because of this man.
She snorted and snapped, "What's with you being so entitled? Why should I give you the other dollar bill? It's my money! Besides, I didn't gift you that first dollar bill. I lent it to you. Repay me right now!"
"Eh? Young girl, have you no respect? Didn't your parents teach you to be respectful to your elders? How dare you talk to me like that? When did I say I wanted to borrow the money? I asked if there was anyone that had one dollar to spare. You willingly gave it to me. Why do I have to repay you now? I can't believe this is happening!"
As the man spoke the last sentence, he shook his head and sighed. He behaved as if he was sad about the moral decadence in the society.
He looked like he was in his fifties. Although he still looked agile, he considered himself an old man that had weak bones and deserved maximum respect from young people.
"Sir, why are you disturbing the peace of this bus just because I refused to give you a dollar? Are you trying to behave like a grumpy man in his eighties or nineties? Well, from the way you look, you are in your fifties. Stop pretending like you are an octogenarian or nonagenarian!" The young girl next to Horace was a no-nonsense person. She believed that respect was reciprocal, so she didn't hesitate to fire back at the man even though he was older than her.
"Shut up! You are a rotten child. Since your parents failed to instill good moral values in you, I will teach you how to respect elders today!" The troublesome passenger was embarrassed that the young girl called him out on his bad behavior. He stood up from his seat and walked towards her.
The other passengers were unhappy that the man was causing trouble and they wanted him to be punished, but they didn't dare to meddle in the quarrel. They were afraid of causing any more trouble. They all sighed and insulted the man under their breath as they watched the scene.
"What do you want to do?" the girl next to Horace shouted when he got in front of her.
"Are you scared now? I only want to teach you a lesson that you will never forget!" The man scowled and then raised his hand, intending to slap her.
Horace took action at this moment. He stretched out his hand and blocked the slap. With his voice filled with disgust, he said, "Sir, respect is reciprocal. Being poor and elderly is not an excuse for you to be mean and shameless. She was kind enough to lend you one dollar. It's only right that you pay her back or express gratitude to her for the help, but you did none of those. You didn't stop there. Now you have asked her to give you another dollar to buy water. Just because she refused, you want to hit her. I've never seen a shameless person like you!"
"Ah! How dare you? Young people nowadays are ill-bred. This girl spoke rudely to me. Now you want to beat an old man!" With these words, the troublesome passenger held his chest and lay on the ground as if Horace's words had hurt him and he were dying from a heart attack. After putting up a show for a while, he said to Horace, "It seems your fucking parents failed to train you well. Go and tell them that they don't deserve to be called parents!"
All his life, Horace only knew his mother. He had never met his father and only found out about him yesterday, so he didn't have any feelings for him. On the other hand, his mother had suffered to take care of him. What he couldn't tolerate was someone insulting her like that.
Horace's blood boiled as he heard his parents get labeled as failed parents. He just couldn't take it anymore.
With bloodshot eyes, he looked at the troublesome passenger and said coldly, "Well... Don't blame me for being rude to you since you have crossed the line!"
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