From Rags To Silk

Chapter 3

With a racing heart, Daniel scrolled through the message photos of his ex-girlfriend Shelly and one of the popular boys on campus, Micheal Meyers kissing. The photos popped up one after another.

Daniel didn’t know much about Micheal except that he was one of those rich guys who roam around the campus in groups now and then in their expensive running cars. It looked like Shelly had successfully gotten taken away by the cars. And from the look on Micheal and Shelly’s faces, they appeared to be enjoying each other's company. Two people in love displaying the love they had for each other. 

Congratulatory messages from the other students began flooding the chats. They all kept tagging Shelly, who kept responding with loving emojis. He took a long, hard look at her reaction.  

He couldn't believe that was the same girl he spent the previous night pouring his heart into. The same girl that reciprocated his love. 

Craig noticed his long tense face as he looked over at his bed. He could tell he was reading the chat messages, so he walked over to the bed and asked for his phone back.

"Just a second, and I'll be done," Daniel said, his voice shivering slightly.

"You don't have to read those messages," Craig said as he sat next to him.

"It's fine, it's not ..., it's okay."

Despite his best efforts to hide it, the two friends could tell he was in pain due to his broken voice.

"Forget about her! I've always despised that slut, but you two...", Max, the other roommate, spoke up.

"Shut up, Max!" Craig retorted.

"No, he is correct. Many people warned me, including my aunt, but I ignored you all." Daniel sighed deeply, “It’s all over now.”

Hearing this, the two friends were rather relieved as they noticed that Daniel meant what he said, so they quickly changed the topic.

"Is it true you were fired from Biopharm?" Max inquired, sounding more concerned. For him, losing a job was much more serious than losing a woman.

"Yes, I was set up by that supervisor," Daniel gnashed his teeth, his fist tightened at the mention of the man.

"What? How? I thought he was helping you with the BP prototype?" exclaimed in shock.

Daniel took several deep breaths as he narrated the ordeal telling the two how the supervisor plotted against him bit by bit, and eventually got him fired without giving him the chance to even prove his innocence.

"I just knew something was fishy the second he became nice to you," Max grunted, clenching his fist angrily.

"Hindsight boy, just shut up!." Craig rolled his eyes at Max before he tried to comfort Daniel, who was still scrolling through the messages from time to time. 

The photos of Shelly and Micheal kept popping up, distracting Daniel from the conversation. The new relationship appeared to be the next big thing and interested every student on campus.

"This bitch!" Max spat out irritably as he too went through the chats. Although breaking up didn’t mean the end of the world, he knew these annoying photos could still act as a knife that stabbed deep into his friend’s heart.

"Can you guys ignore the useless chats," Craig kept insisting. He really wanted to get his phone back and delete the app once and for all now.

Daniel, however, continued to fix his gaze on the screen as if obligated to read every message. It was painful doing so, but he needed that pain to keep him alert. He needed to learn his lesson! And most important of all, he needed it to distract him from this bad feeling he has just had. 

Most of the girls in the chats were envious of Shelly and kept wishing it was them. Daniel laughed with disdain as he watched how happy Shelly looked. She had obviously forgotten about him in less than twenty-four hours. Look! She had already found his replacement!

Was he that easily replaceable? Was he just a data boy for her to use as she saw fit? He kept asking himself questions even when he knew the answers.

"Daniel, please stop and hand me back my phone," Craig requested, sighing hopelessly. "It's getting late, and I'm hungry. I need it to order a pizza."

Before Daniel could respond, a new message from their class coordinator popped up in the group. It was a link to the successful scholarship applicants for the following semester.

“Wait a minute, the scholarship ...” Without hesitation, Daniel quickly opened it and began looking for his name. Craig shrugged understandingly. 

Because of his bad day, Daniel had completely forgotten about the scholarship list. He went through it from the top to the bottom, searching for his name. However, he couldn't find his name; instead, his class's scholarship slot had a new name on it, and it was Shelly's new boyfriend, Michael Meyers.

Daniel now knew where that bad feeling had come from. Misfortunes never come singly, and here came even worse news!

He froze in his stupor; his heart beating to the rhythm of his rigid breath. The scholarship program was his last card. It was the only way he was able to afford university as well as support his aunt. And now, after getting fired from his job, he had no way of paying his fees the following semester.

Craig, who had been waiting for his phone, saw Daniel’s face turn pale within seconds. He immediately snatched Max’s phone to see what was wrong. 

Max was about to yell but soon realized something was wrong and stopped.

 "What the fuck, Max spat furiously as soon as he saw the result, “Since when is Micheal one of the best students?”

"Holy shit … like seriously,?" Craig murmured in disbelief as he glanced carefully at his friend.

"Here's your phone, thanks," As the last boot seemed to have finally fallen to the floor, Daniel said, finding himself rather calm, dead calm. He handed the phone back to Craig without making eye contact. He then rolled back into bed and pulled the sheets over his head.

No job, no girlfriend, no money, no scholarship. 

Everything vanished in the blink of an eye in one day, and it was his birthday today. He didn't want to cry, instead, he wanted to laugh at his pathetic life.