Dling, a message came in. Noah took his smartphone from his pocket and checked the message, seeing that his payment had been deposited into his account. After checking, Noah continued his journey to the red-light district.
When he arrived and parked his motorcycle, he entered a fast-food restaurant building through the back door and went up to the second floor, which was a private host club for women, with an inn on the third floor.
"I'm here," he said.
"Noah, hurry and change. You have a lot of clients waiting," replied a neatly dressed man wearing a manager's tag.
"Okay," Noah replied.
He went straight to the locker room to change clothes. Noah put on a white shirt with the top buttons undone, revealing his thin but muscular body. He also put on a black suit jacket and black dress pants.
After putting on his shoes, he looked in the mirror to smooth his hair back and practiced smiling. His face was surprisingly handsome, as if he had transformed from the nerdy student he was before.
Once he was done, he walked out into the pub, where most of the guests were working women, rich middle-aged women, and girls from wealthy families.
"Noah, get to table number 8. Your client is waiting," said a middle-aged man with a gold necklace and fingers covered in rings.
"Got it," Noah replied casually.
He walked toward the designated table. Rika was waiting for him there, with her arms crossed over her chest, holding her drink. Rika glanced at Noah.
"Finally here," she greeted, smiling.
"I'm here, Rika," Noah replied, sitting next to her.
Rika immediately put an arm around Noah and showed him her smartphone. The woman was showing Noah a photo of the muscular, tattooed man's lifeless body lying on his back on the floor with a hole in his forehead.
"Next time, be a little neater... if it's like this, my boss will ask questions," Rika said.
"But... isn't that the cleaners' job?" Noah replied.
"Yes, but they'll have a hard time cleaning the splatters on the wall. So, did the girl's parents transfer the money?" Rika asked.
"Yes. I'll transfer your share to your regular account," Noah said, showing her his smartphone.
"Don't bother. Just keep it. I'm not supposed to be involved... but it turns out the girl's parents know me." Rika replied.
"Okay, thanks," Noah replied.
"That stupid girl is probably being taken to the police station now, because she was involved in a blackmail scheme run by this guy. Her so-called loving boyfriend used her to lure in perverted men, and then when they got a little handsy, her boyfriend would come in and 'save' her, take pictures, beat the guy up, and then blackmail them by threatening to expose everything to their families. And of course, the perverts paid that bastard a regular sum... all because she ran away from home after a fight with her dad. So much trouble," Rika said, pointing at the photo of the dead man.
"Hmm... I see," Noah replied.
"And as usual, you don't care, do you, hahaha... that's fine. Just do your job like you always do," Rika said.
"Yep. I don't care because I have my own problems," Noah replied.
"I've got some time now since I'm not taking a cut this time. How about we go upstairs for a little while? I'll take a different kind of payment, hehe," Rika asked, spreading her legs wide.
"Hmm... okay. Since you gave me all of the payment, this one's on the house," Noah replied.
"Oh, wonderful. Let's go up to the room," Rika said, delighted.
Finally, Rika finished her drink and took Noah's arm, walking toward the elevator to go up to a room.
***
In the afternoon, at a hospital, plip...plip, a quiet EKG machine could be heard inside an isolation room. Noah, who had finished work and come to the hospital, opened the door and went in. He saw an old woman lying in a bed with many tubes attached to her and surrounded by medical equipment.
The old woman's eyes were open, staring blankly at the ceiling. Noah walked over to her. He walked to the flower vase on the table next to the bed and replaced the wilted flowers with the bouquet he had brought. After that, he pulled up a chair and sat next to the bed.
"Hey, Grandma. I'm here again," Noah said, holding her hand.
The old woman remained still, but Noah kept talking to her. He told her about school and his part-time job without mentioning his real job, and many other things without mentioning Grace at all.
The old woman didn't react. Her blank eyes continued to stare upward, and her hands didn't move. Only her lips trembled slightly, just as they always did. Suddenly, the room door opened. Noah turned to see a bald, middle-aged man with a thin beard, a muscular body, and a long scar across his face.
"You're here, Noah?" the man asked.
"Hi, Uncle Mike," Noah replied, standing up.
Mike approached and put his hand on Noah's shoulder. He then looked at the old woman and sat next to her, taking Noah's place. He began talking to her while holding her hand. Noah stood behind him, not disturbing him, and checked his smartphone, which he had turned off for work.
He saw twelve missed calls and about fifteen messages from Grace.
"What does she want now? Isn't it all clear? She already said what she wanted and showed me who she is. There's nothing more to talk about," Noah thought.
Without reading the messages, he deleted all of them and put his smartphone back in his pocket. Mike turned and stood up, then put his arm around Noah.
"Come with me for a minute. I need to talk to you about something," Mike said.
"Okay," Noah replied.
They walked out of the room and sat on chairs in the quiet hallway right in front of the room.
"Noah... there's something I need to tell you," Mike said with a serious face, staring intently ahead.
"What is it? Why are you suddenly so serious?" Noah asked.
"First of all, happy birthday," Mike replied, extending his hand.
"Oh, thanks, Uncle," Noah said, shaking Mike's hand.
"You've always thought you were an only child, right? Because you've always been alone with your grandma," Mike said.
"Yeah... why?" Noah asked, growing more curious.
"You're not actually alone. You have siblings," Mike said.
"Huh?" Noah was shocked and tried to process what he had just heard. He had always felt alone and had no siblings. He also didn't know who his parents were because the first person he saw after he was born was his grandmother.
Mike unzipped his jacket, then took a rolled-up folder from inside it. He gave it to Noah, who was still trying to process what Mike had just said. Noah looked at Mike, who was watching him while gesturing to the folder.
"What's this, Uncle?" Noah asked.
"Just open it," Mike replied.
Noah opened it. Inside was a copy of a will from his grandmother in the room, stating that her antique shop was to be inherited by him and his siblings. The shop was a house on a 2000-square-meter plot of land, with a second floor that could be used for living, and it was a family inheritance passed down through generations.
"Hmm... so that's what it is," Noah murmured.
"Yes, so this Saturday, when you're off, I want you to go there. Your siblings will be there too," Mike said.
"Alright, I'll go this Saturday," Noah replied.
"Now, let me take care of Mom... ah, your grandma here. You go home and get some rest. Oh, I almost forgot, take this," Mike said, putting his hand on Noah's shoulder and giving him a key.
"Okay, Uncle. What's this key for?" Noah asked.
"It's a copy of the shop key. Oh yeah, by the way, where's your girlfriend? You're by yourself?" Mike asked, looking from side to side.
"Uh... she's not with me anymore," Noah replied.
"Oh... hahaha... congratulations. Now we're both single," Mike replied, squeezing Noah's shoulder.
"Hahaha," Noah forced a laugh. "With a face like that, of course you're still single," Noah thought.
After that, Noah said goodbye to Mike and walked down the quiet hallway, looking at the folder in his hand.
"Hmm... I wonder what my siblings will be like? At least something good came out of this miserable day," Noah thought, smiling.