I Am Back

Chapter 4

“Miss, get me another bottle!” Eric shouted at the waitress, his eyes rolling around the place dramatically.

“Again?” The waitress asked, shock yet concern filled in her voice.

“Shut up your trash and do as I command!” Eric barked at her again. “This is my money and you can't tell me what to do and what not to do with my money. Is that understood?”

“Yes, sir! I'm sorry,” the waitress replied, her voice sharp with apologies yet respect. “I’m bringing it to you right away.”

“Good!” Eric said, nodding his head. In front of him was a table occupied with just a glass and four bottles of beer he had just drunk.

After the incident at his workplace, he decided to go to a bar to get himself to ease his frustration. To him, it was the best way to get rid of it.

Eric stared at the four empty bottles of beer he had finished drinking. Then he blinked and started to smirk. “They all think I'm a poor person, don't they?” he muttered, his voice thick and slurred. He leaned back on his seat unsteadily, arms stretched out like a man on stage.

“Now look at what only me is pulling out. Ha… ha…” A burst of laughter erupted from him—loud, unfiltered, and a little too long. “They don't know how rich I am.”

As he spoke to himself, his voice a little audible, heads turned, but he didn’t notice.

“He’s been emptying bottles since he entered this place,” a man seated across, in the same bar, pointed toward the bottles, counting them. “That's over four emptied now, and he's still demanding more.”

He shook his head, pitying. “I think something is definitely wrong with him,” he mumbled.

They were all drinking beers at the bar, too; however, Eric's own was on another level.

“It might be that his girlfriend broke up with him or probably cheated, who knows,” another replied, spreading his palms.

“How certain are you to conclude just like that?” The first asked.

The latter chuckled. “That's how most men treat their frustrations when things like this happen. They tend to relieve it by drinking themselves to a stupor.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Or have you forgotten how mine happened when my girlfriend cheated on me with a wealthy guy?”

“Oh, I get it now?” The first replied, nodding. “If I hadn't come to your rescue that day, you probably would have been drunk to death,” he teased.

The latter laughed. “Glad you came, man. That experience was the worst thing I had ever witnessed.” He glanced up at Eric. “That's what he might be facing now. I feel so sorry for him just now.”

“Me too, bro,” the first nodded. “Maybe, he's got nobody on his side.”

Meanwhile, the waitress arrived at Eric's table with another bottle of beer. Placing it on the table, she said, “Here it is, sir.”

“You bitch, get the fucking drink opened!” Eric commanded, his voice sharp with rudeness.

The waitress flinched, her hand shaking. She knew the young man was in high spirits and she needed to be careful.

With a trembling hand, she uncorked the bottle. “It's done, sir,” she said with a shaking voice.

“Then get lost! Out of my sight!”

“Okay, sir!” She hurried away almost immediately, her mind racing.

As she left, Eric started pouring the drink into his glass, and he poured a full glass. And in just a second, he drank it all at once.

It went on that way and in just five minutes, he was done. He called out to the waitress, his voice.

“Come here now, you damn server and name your bill!” His voice was going faint.

The waitress rushed in and quickly calculated the total amount of the beers. “Everything is $120, sir,” the waitress responded politely.

“$120 for just four bottles of beer, huh?” Eric's eyebrows furrowed under his tipsy state. “Are you kidding me or what?”

“No, sir. Each bottle costs $30. And $30 times 4 is $120,” she replied. Reluctantly, she continued, her voice cautious. “So, are you paying in cash or by transfer?”

“Shut up, you fraudster!” Eric shouted, causing attention to be drawn to where he was. “I have just $100 on me.” He struggled to stand up, his composure like one about to fall. “It's what I earned after I got fired and you're trying to get them all from me? You're a thief!”

“That's not true, sir!” The waitress retorted, her voice loud this time. “You're just a nobody coming here to drink expensive beers but can't pay for them.”

She had tolerated him enough. It was time to fire back at him. “Do you think this is a place to play? That you can waltz into empty bottles and can't pay? You have missed your way because you're not leaving here without paying for every scent.”

Right after her words, a man dressed in a nice suit walked him. “What's the matter here?” he asked.

It was the manager of the bar.

“Sir,” the waitress turned to him, her expression softening as she started to narrate, “this man here walked into this place, ordered four bottles of beer, and emptied them. Now, he isn't willing.”

“That's over $120, isn't it?”

“It is, sir,” the waitress nodded in confirmation. “He's come up with the excuse that he doesn't have up to $120.”

The manager turned toward Eric, his expression dark and his voice harsh, ready to take legal action. “Hey, young man! Stop putting on those behaviours of yours now. Dip your hand into your pocket and pay off what you owe.”

“No, I'm ain't doing that!” Eric argued, shaking his head. “You can't take all my hard-earned money just because of these damn bitter alcoholic things.”

Without waiting for any response, Eric took off on his heels and started running outside.

“Hey, stop there! Security, catch him! Don't let him escape!” The manager shouted.

The security guard rushed after him immediately.

Eric, who was drunk, couldn't run properly but swayed from one side to another. Soon, the security guard caught up with him and smacked him down.

“Ah!” Eric groaned, falling gracelessly to the ground.

The manager, who had been running after Eric too, finally stopped, his breath cooling as he saw that Eric had been caught. “Good,” he nodded in approval. “Great job!”

Soon, everyone gathered at the place, looking at Eric with contempt.

“A poor guy thinking he can drink expensive beers without paying for it,” one person from the crowd, uttered contemptuously.

“That’s their tactics,” another said, his voice filled with disdain too. “Feeling like they're drunk so that they can get away easily. But I'm happy he's been caught. A wretched fool like him.”

“You really think you can escape, huh, useless fool?” The manager laughed as he looked down at Eric. “No, you can't and I'm going to teach you a lesson!”

Stepping backward, he instructed the security guard. “Take the money in his pocket and give him punches worth $20, then discard him outside.”

The security guard nodded immediately, following the command. He reached his hand towards Eric's pocket to take out the $100 he said he had.

“Don’t you dare or I'll make you pay dearly!” Eric shouted.

But the security guard gave him a swift punch to the face.

Ah!

In no time, he collected all the coins from Eric's pocket and handed them to the manager. “That's everything I saw in his pocket, sir,” he said respectfully.

The manager counted them, and he nodded, but was unsatisfied. “$100. Now, give him the beating worth $20.”

“Okay, sir.”

Just when the security guard raised his hand to strike Eric, a convoy of black cars like Range Rovers, Mercedes-Benz AMG, Pathfinders, pulled into the compound and stopped in line.

It halted the moment at the scene with heads turned up to look.

A man, dressed in a tailored suit, rushed out of one of the cars with a letter in his hand. Ten bodyguards with fearful bodies followed behind him swiftly.

“Young master!” He called out, his voice in a rush.

The security guard shifted backward, afraid. The manager couldn't speak.

Everyone shifted back too, blinking in confusion yet astonished.

The bodyguards quickly bowed their heads to the ground and greeted each other respectfully. “Young master, we are sorry. We're here for you now.”

One got up and pulled Eric up. The man in the tailored suit stepped forward, bowed respectfully, and handed the letter sealed in gold to Eric. “Congratulations, sir, this is for you. You're the sole heir to the richest consortium.”