Chapter4
I turned to look at Goden, and his eyes darted around nervously.
He lowered his head, avoiding my gaze.
It was like someone had tossed my heart into a freezer, and it was growing colder by the second.
I first met Goden at a party.
He was an alumnus from my junior high school.
That day, my friends were all clamoring to make me drink. Just when I was in a tough spot, Goden stepped forward bravely.
“Hey, leave her alone! If you want to drink,
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drink with me!” he said, and took all those drinks for me.
To show my gratitude, I added him on whatsapp. Later, I invited him to dinner. As time went by, we got closer.
Goden’s family background wasn’t good.
His father passed away when he was young.
After his mother remarried, she didn’t care about him anymore.
He was raised by his grandparents.
In the past two years, his grandparents passed away one after another.
Their illnesses left him with some debts.
When we met, he was working two jobs
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every day, struggling to pay off those debts.
But since it was usury, no matter how hard he worked, he was only paying off the interest.
It was like a drop in the ocean.
At our third meeting, I handed Goden a bank card with the exact amount of his debt on it. He took it, and seriously wrote me an IOU.
“I’ll pay you back with bank – level interest,” he promised.
“If it weren’t for the suffocating interest of the usury, I would never take your money.”
I didn’t say much.
To me, that amount of money wasn’t a big deal.
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The dignity he helped me maintain at that party was worth far more than that.
To my surprise, a year later, Goden really paid me back, and he even included extra interest.
He smiled and said, “Consider it a principal – guaranteed financial investment.”
At that moment, I felt like he was glowing.
After that, I would ask him out for dinner from time to time.
Every time we were together, he always brought me new surprises.
Sometimes, he would take me to try roadside snacks I had never tasted before, or make small handicrafts I didn’t even know existed.
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BeBeing with him made me really happy. So,o, halfalfa year later, we got together.er.
Godeden awasevery motivated.
After evevicececame a couple, he worked evenen harderer.
Often, he wouidiki stay up late in the living room of our sinsatiathome, typing away on his keyboard. Listeningng to that sound, I felt so at
ease.e
Since I was a child, hladadanever wanted for anything.
I had never had to strivevsoslochard for something.
But watching Goden work is oskanand made my life feel full of sunshine.e
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Another half–year passed, and I took him to meet my best friend Aya and my dad,. That was the day Goden found out just how well – off my family was.
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