"Why are you really here?"
Hazel's smile faltered. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat and looked at her lawyer beside her.
"Actually," she started, crossing her fingers over the table. "Do you know that your mom owned a small house in Zone C? Our late father gave it to her since she was the eldest."
Ren frowned. Why hadn't he known of it in the past?
No, the question was, did her mother even know about it in the first place? Because if she did, then they wouldn't have to live in the slums in the first place, and his father wouldn't have died of pneumonia.
But what was the use? They died either way, even if they lived in one of the luxurious condominiums in Zone A.
However, Ren had to asked, "Does my mother know?"
Hazel shook her head. "No. Our father apparently didn't get the chance to say it in the end, and there's no will from our parents. We recently found out about it when we got the papers. The lot is named to your mother.
"Currently, it's where our brother lives, and his family. Since he is the only son, all of us thought that he would get the house. So imagine our surprise when your mother's name showed up on the property."
Hazel laughed to hide her nervousness, but Ren wasn't laughing the least.
"So what is it exactly that you want?" Ren asked straight to the point.
Hazel stopped laughing and cleared her throat. "We'll since your mother died, by law, you inherit all she owned. But since you're already well off and already have a gorgeous home, we think that maybe you might want to relinquish your right to this very small and old property.
"And since I'm the second eldest, it's only right that the property will belong to me. Don't you agree?"
". . ." Ren was appalled at how thick-skinned his mother's family was. No, even his father's side. They had just died, and they were already contacting him left and right about their will and the things that they left behind like they owned them. They only did so because they knew that he was rich, and they were taking advantage of that to get something from their property that he didn't want.
But in truth, his father and mother didn't wanted anything but for him to be in a stable and comfortable place. Those vultures were probably hoping that he had bought his parents something expensive like a car, jewelries, or a house under their name, and now they wanted to claim it because they were dead, thinking that he didn't want it because he was already rich.
But what did he expect? His parents died in his past life, but not one of them offered even a tiny bit of help.
Ren crossed his legs, and a small smile appeared on his lips. "Is that right?"
Hazel's face brightened, thinking that Ren would give her the property.
Instead, Ren answered, "Do you have the papers with you now?"
Hazel nodded her head, and her lawyer quickly opened the briefcase and handed the papers to Ren.
"You just have to sign there," Hazel said, pointing at the attached papers together with the original lot documents.
Ren's smile widened. "Thank you, Aunt, for telling me about this. I would never have known. You even bother to go all the way here just to deliver this to me."
Hazel was stunned at first before Ren shot to his feet while taking the folder with him. "As payment, you can eat all the meals here. I have something to do, so if you will excuse me."
When Ren took a step, Hazel shot to her feet and asked with a loud voice and wide eyes.
"Where are you going with that? Aren't you going to sign it?"
Ren merely tilted his head. "Sign it? Why would I?"
Hazel's words were jumbling in her mouth. "B-b-but!"
"But nothing. This is mine now. And I would rather donate this property to charity than give it to you or anyone from your family. So stop bothering coming here from now on."
With that, Ren left. He even heard Hazel's loud screams and curses, but he didn't care.
He instructed the front desk never to let that woman step foot inside this place again, and even if he didn't, he doubt that Hazel could enter this place after the embarrassing screaming and cursing she was doing.
Before Ren rounded a corner and went to the elevator, he saw Hazel begin escorted by the guards while she was trashing from their grip.
He only watched the scene with a blank face before the elevator closed and brought him to his unit.
"You're back!"
Upon entering, Ren was immediately greeted by Leonel, donned in a shirt and shorts, already making himself at home while he watched TV.
"Why did you take so long? I've already migrated my things to one of the rooms, hope you don't mind. My mother also cooked us an early dinner. Let's reheat it later. For now, let's watch this awesome movie."
"Don't you have something better to do?"
Leonel threw a chip into his mouth and munched as he spoke, "Like what?"
"Like studying for exams?"
Leonel choked, and he drank a glass of water, and stared at Ren with salty eyes. "How do you even know that we have exams? Are you like psychic or something? And I don't want to hear that from you. A while ago, you didn't even want to go to school."
Ren shrugged. "I'm just making sure that you're only watching TV and eating chips because you're not stressed."
Leonel had that hobbit.
"Haa? Why would I be? I got that exam in the bag!" Leonel exclaimed before his face crunched for a moment, and then he finally succumbed to his true feelings.
He pulled his hair and wailed. "I'm so stressed that relaxing makes me more stressed because I'm not working on what's making me stressed. But if I tried to study math, a.k.a. Mental abuse to humans, I can't understand a thing! And it's making me even more stressed! At this rate, I will fail that subject and have to retake that subject this summer!"
"So what's the problem?" asked Ren, as calm as the ocean.
"Huh?"
"Just take the remedial class this summer. Remedial classes are supposed to be easy. All you got to do is pay double the tuition, and you'll pass. That's what summer classes are all about."
"Egh . . . I thought for sure that you were going to help me study."
"What made you think that I will go through that torture to teach you something that I don't even bother to understand myself?"
Leonel looked to the side and muttered to himself. "You're usually good at this stuff even if you don't bother to learn."
"Anyway, did you transfer your pod here?" Ren asked, changing the topic.
"Yeah. I called the store early in the morning. Since my parents also wanted to enter COVENANT, I bought them pods. It was delivered a while back, so I had mine transferred here with their help.
"Good. How about the missions in World Conqueror so far?"
"The rest of us could take care of it. You don't have to worry about a thing and just do your stuff to rescue Evie.
"Also, Ren. If you're short on money, we could all lend you. You know that, right?"
". . ."
"So you don't have to push yourself so hard. Take a step back and relax a little. Take care of yourself. We got your back," Leonel said seriously when Ren didn't comment.
"I'll take that into mind." Ren then proceeded to his room.
"By the way, don't enter the game yet without eating dinner, okay?" Leonel hollered when Ren shut the door of his room.
