4

Gabriel believed he had endured enough humiliation in twenty-four hours. He was excited that he would be able to get his money in a few minutes and that his life would change, so when it was his turn, he walked up to the banker with a huge smile on his face. He thought starting out cheerfully would give him an advantage, but he was about to face a much worse situation than he had anticipated.

"Good day, madam." He spoke to the lady behind the counter, who looked at him through her glasses that hung low on her nose.

She hissed and continued working on the computer, while Gabriel stood moping at her like a lost sheep. This caused the lady to stand up with a hiss.

"Next please!" She yelled, and Gabriel stood stunned for a few seconds.

The lady ignored Gabriel, looking to the side of his head to see if he was the last person on the line, and then sat down immediately.

"I can finally have a break." She said, acting like Gabriel was non-existent.

This irritated Gabriel, but he tried so hard to keep his rage under control.

"What is the meaning of this?" Gabriel asked in a low tone. “Why won’t you attend to me?”

"Mr. You are disturbing our esteemed customers, and I am pretty sure you are here to deposit the Pennies you earned from your menial job. In case you have not noticed, this bank is only for the elites and possibly the middle class, but a low-life like you has no business here!" She yelled.

Gabriel took a moment to look at his clothes and those of everyone else in the bank, and he realized she was being cruel to him because of how he dressed. He thought of how foolish it was to judge someone by their dressing, and he wondered what she would do when she realized who he was.

"You are judging me because of how I dress, right?" Gabriel asked, and she scoffed. "Why don’t you check my account balance then? I am not here to deposit my pennies; instead, I want to check my account."

When he said this, she burst out laughing and sank onto her stomach.

"Look, I am not prepared to play your stupid games with you; please leave or I will call security!" She growled. "I bet my monthly salary is more than you can ever hope to earn in this life or the next," she said, and Gabriel took a step back, taking a deep breath.

He fought the rage that was building up inside of him, and when he was calm, he approached her again.

“Please. A lot of people are entering the bank, and I need to leave." Gabriel said and the the lady rolled her eyes.

"I would like to cash this one million dollar check," a lady said, causing the banker to stand up, her face beaming with delight.

"Finally, a legitimate customer!" She said, gesturing for Gabriel to move away.

"Go over there to check your account. "I do not want to bank with you," she said rudely, and Gabriel walked away from her and joined another banker's line.

"Good day, Sir. Please, I want to check my account." Gabriel said when it got to his turn, and the man behind the counter glanced at him.

“Can’t you check it with your phone?”

"I already did, but I want to make sure…”

"Enough." Gabriel's hope was dashed when the man stopped him halfway, and he feared he would be treated badly again. "Call your account number." Gabriel looked up, hopeful, as the man spoke.

He called out the account number, and the man entered it into the system without including the last number, which he believed was an error because only the Whitewoods had eleven digits as their account number.

"Does this look like a clown show?" He inquired, and Gabriel looked at him puzzled.

The man had checked and discovered that there was not a single cent in the account.

A small voice in his head mocked him for believing he would ever be rich. The an stood up immediately to call security.

"Sir, are you sure you checked it correctly?” Gabriel asked, and the man stared at him with his brows wrinkled.

“Are you trying to teach me to do my job?” he barked, causing Gabriel to shake his head in fear.

“It… is just that here it says I have five hundred million." Gabriel said and the man burst out laughing.

"A low-life like you? Is your name not Gary Campbell?" He inquired, and Gabriel shook his head.

"You think you are a Whitewood?" He asked and Gabriel shook his head.

He went by the surname Oliver.

"My name is Gabriel Oliver.” He said and the man asked him to call it again.

This time, he imputed the number correctly, including the last digit. When the account appeared, his mouth fell open. He shook his head and went for Gabriel's personal information.

"Gabriel Oliver Whitewood." He called out loudly, then looked at Gabriel to see if the photo marched.

"I am sorry, sir," the man said, making a small bow to Gabriel..

The man's expression changed abruptly, and he gave Gabriel a huge grin, which he ignored.

The fact that he was a whitewood was both amazing and scary. How was his father able to keep this from him?

At first, he thought his father was simply wealthy, but he was actually the richest man in the city.

"Sir, do you want to make a withdrawal? You could start with ten thousand, or a hundred thousand." The man said with a bright smile.

The man expected to receive a tip at the end because this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

"Also, do you want tea, coffee, snacks, or anything else while you wait?"

As the man's expression changed, Gabriel realized his crime was being poor. This man once wanted to vomit on him, but now he is trying to be an underdog by any means necessary. Money truly made people dance to upper-class tunes, but Gabriel was never forced to do so. This made Gabriel realize he had to give Lily another chance. Now he was rich, and she could have all the money she wanted.

"Water would be fine. I want a thousand dollars and my card, please,” Gabriel said.

He was curious to know how it felt to touch so much money at once. So he waited patiently for the man to get his money, and when he did, Gabriel was amazed, and the feel of the crisp dollar notes made him feel powerful.

As he walked out of the office with his card and money, he approached the counter where he had previously met the rude lady and tossed a wad of cash at her.

"I would have asked for your ass to be fired, but guess what? I am rich!”

The lady groaned, attempting to yell at him, but the man who attended to Gabriel warned her against revealing Gabriel's identity to her. She quickly apologized, but Gabriel did not care. He ran towards the front door of the bank.

“I’m rich! I’m rich!” He yelled, leaving the bank.

**

Gabriel spent the rest of the day buying things he could not afford. He ate a proper meal, watched a movie, and gave money to the poor, and when it was evening, he decided to go home and prepare for the party that night, but he happened to pass by a shop.

He saw the dress Lily wanted to buy. She hadn’t bought it yet.Although Lily was terrible to him, he still loved her, and now that he was wealthy, he could impress her with his money, so Gabriel walked into the shop to buy the drsss in the hopes of winning back his wife.