Chapter 4

Morning came and brought a reminder of the hell he had experienced the day before. Daniel had stayed up awake the whole night while his roommates slept, he lay awake, wallowing in his misery silently, and only dozing off near dawn.

Craig and Max had tried to cheer him up, and Max even sang happy birthday to him, to try and cheer him up but he hid beneath his brackets in his thoughts. Craig, who had a deeper understanding, decided to give him space and dragged Max out with him for pizza. When they returned, they found him still under his bracket and decided to leave him alone, 

The bracket had been his shield during the night, but with the sound of birds, he couldn’t hide forever. 

He had more important things in mind to worry about, his aunt’s health problem, money, and so on. 

Besides, he didn't want to hear Craig and Matt’s sympathy or words of encouragement, at least, not right now. Such never yielded or amounted to anything, especially when his life was wrapped around poverty

 Maybe they could help him out since they were born with silver spoons in their mouths. But that was not the solution he was seeking. 

To Daniel’s surprise, when he quietly raised his head, he found that Max and Craig’s beds were already empty. They have already gone to class, which was unusually early for them.

We left you some pizza. Eat, man!

- Craig

No worries. We’ll take notes for you. 

- Max

Daniel smiled for the first time since last night at the script his friends left on the desk. True friends they are. Good! No worry about being embarrassed now. 

Daniel quickly washed his face and walked out of the room. He didn't feel like going to class and didn't care at the moment. Not after his scholarship was revoked in what appeared to be a case of corruption. 

He first went straight to renew his aunt's insulin card. He should have done so yesterday but had forgotten because of the presentation. 

With that done, he got on the bus and headed straight to the family home to visit his aunt. He needed a break from everything that was going on around him and his aunt was always able to make him smile.

He did not plan on telling her about the scholarship just yet. It was a huge blow that he knew would break her. And for the job, it was easy to make an excuse for it. He was sure he could find a new one soon. After all, he had always been one of the top students. As for Shelly, she was never her favorite, so she rarely asked about her and that would save him a lot of effort.

When he arrived home, he found his aunt Carol making sandwiches. She was a short woman with curly black hair and gray eyes. He was a male version of her. She hugged him the second he walked in.

"How come you didn't tell me you were coming in the morning?"

"Someone required insulin," he replied, a big smile spread across his face. The sight of his lovely aunt really cheered him up a bit.

She paused for a second, staring at him, "But what about school? Are you skipping classes?"

"Class can wait; the errand came first." 

He approached the table and took a seat. He didn't hold eye contact with Carlo for long as her staring would blow his cover and reveal the tears he was holding back. 

She was always good at reading his mood. .d she was very much aware of him bottling his feelings inside instead of expressing them.

"Daniel, do you know how much I despise boys who miss school?"

"There is only one class, Aunt Carlo. In fact, we are already writing exams. Those are just revisions and catch-up classes from the slow lecturers. Anyway, Matt offered to help me take down notes. So don’t worry." 

Daniel knew she had already made many sacrifices for him to be admitted to university which she believed was going to change the course of their lives. He didn’t want her to be burdened with his new problem on campus

Alright, if you say so. I hope you know what you’re doing, my boy." She sighed eventually and inquired instead if he had eaten.

If he said no, she was going to give him the entire sandwich while she starved and he was not going to allow that, not with her condition. He could tell the bread was whole grain, strictly for her condition, and the only cheap food she could find around so he had to pass even when he was hungry.

"I've already eaten, please ignore me," he lied without blinking an eye. And to calm your nerves, I will go and attend the afternoon classes," he added.

She smiled, her nephew's only way out of poverty was education. As for the dangers? She hoped they had faded over time.

"How is work? Ooh and I forgot, how was your presentation?"

Daniel scratched his brow. "The CEO did not show up, I guess they do not care much about intern ideas," he lied once more. He didn't like lying to her, but he didn't want to upset her either. He had already infuriated her by failing to attend class.

"Sure, he was just busy, you know these rich people. One day you will understand when you become filthy rich, just like your ..." she giggled but soon suppressed the smile as if recalling something not so merry. 

Daniel chuckled, pretending to laugh happily along with the joke, and thus failed to take notice of Carol’s odd behavior. He knew she had big expectations for him, and he too was very excited about his future before yesterday.

After watching Carol finishing her breakfast, Daniel went to his bedroom, which he had converted into a small workshop. He always made time to stop by and work on his own inventions and sketches. 

His grandfather, father, and uncle had all been professionals in this field. And he too had taken their path. He was still far from making it big, but he was sure he would one day restore his family name.

Most of his inventions were unique and high-quality, just like the 1300i Insulin Infuser that he had been working on recently for his aunt. He was inspired by one of his father’s notebooks not long ago.

Carol had no idea what he was into, nor did his friends. The portable device was going to be the first of its kind for diabetic patients, particularly type I diabetics who lack insulin needed to regulate sugar levels, if only he could work on some formulation that required a lot of funding.

The machine was his aunt's hope and also the main reason he was pursuing a career in Biomedical Engineering. But now that he was fired, he would need to seek another way out.