Chapter 1: Rebirth at 2012
The young guy was lying on the bed, breathing and panting heavily as if some ghost was chasing him on his dreams. He feels so hot and his shirt was soaked with sweat. The morning sun slowly shone on his face through the gaps of the bamboo window. When he opened his eyes, shock and disbelief can be seen on his face. He couldn’t believe it! The first thing the greets him was the familiar blue ceiling fan hanged up at the center of the bamboo hut. When he looked around, there was an old tv, well-arranged pillows on a small cabinet beside the door.
The surroundings were very familiar!
When he looks further, he saw his mom on her office clothes filling the old basin with slightly warm water with a clean white towel hanged on her shoulder.
Stephen was in a daze! That’s right! He just saw his mom that he had never seen since he had bought his own house three hundred kilometers away from their hometown and transferred there with his own family. His mom was as beautiful and hardworking as ever.
When he looked at the surroundings again, Stephen realized that he was not in the electronic jeepney but in their old nipa hut in Barotac Nuevo. This was not his home or office, but in the place where he grew up!
Why was he here? Wait…
Stephen tried his best to remember everything that had happened. At the age of twenty-six he left his home and moved to the municipality of Leon with his wife and newborn baby on the house that they painstakingly built after buying a three hundred square meter land with their savings. Because he failed to pass the Electronics Engineer Licensure Exam, it was hard for him to look for a job. And he didn’t want to take the board exam again since he felt that it was clearly just a waste of time. Because of his struggles, his friend Ry pitied him and helped him earn a job using all of his connection. Then finally he was hired as a sales assistant in SM City. Since it was not aligned with what he had studied in college, Stephen has to double his efforts and hard work so that he won’t lose his job.
After a year of working at SM City, he invested his savings on a small fruit and vegetable store in front of their house and doing small crypto trades from time to time. Because at that year, it was very costly to hire a nanny, his wife has to leave her work for a while to attend to the needs of their baby. While he sometimes did not have a lot of time to relax because he was doing his best to provide a good life for his family. He clearly remembered that sometimes he would get sick because of overworking but that didn’t stop him. And in just a few years, he was able to live a stable life.
On a stormy evening, in a busy street of Jaro, Iloilo City, heavy rain pours that it was very hard to see what’s ahead of you. It pours like it wants to pierce through the window glass. Stephen is on an electronic jeepney, calmly sleeping in the front seat despite the loud roars of thunders outside. Suddenly, a very thick bolt of lightning hit their e-jeepney…
So… he died?
Stephen felt sorrow. What would happen to his family? His daughter has just turned five years old. It was still not the right time for her wife to leave their daughter at home so she can work since they lost him. His face is pale.
“No, this must be dream! I should still be sleeping in the e-jeepney,” Stephen thought.
He tried to pinched himself. Ouch… ouch… Stephen couldn’t help but escape a low moan when he felt a sharp and sudden sting.
So, all of this is really real? He was not dreaming!
Mama Arlene heard this and couldn’t help but exclaim, “Ohh, Sj, you’re awake already? Why don’t you sleep more?” As she spoke, she walks over to Stephen with a basin of warm water. She slowly put down the basin beside Sj and just as she was about to dampen the clean towel to the basin, her son suddenly hugs her very tight.
“Ma!”
Stephen felt so emotional that he couldn’t help but hug her mom. He truly missed her so much!
In his memory, Mama Arlene despite being so strict is so loving and hardworking. As far as he could remember, his mom is an English teacher on an academy where Chinese, Koreans, Japanese, Singaporeans enroll to learn English. After his mom got home, she will continue with online classes and will only rest after eleven pm. Then at morning she will have to wake up at five to prepare so she won’t be late because she still needs to travel for ninety minutes from home to her work.
At weekends, her mom would have online classes online from six am to eleven pm. Because his father did not finish his studies, his mother has to take all the responsibility at earning money. After his family transferred to municipality of Leon, he never had the chance to see his mom again.
Feeling the familiar warmth of his mother’s hug, he couldn’t help but cry.
On the other hand, Mama Arlene was a little stunned by his son’s sudden hug. When she felt his son’s cry, she couldn’t help but pat his back and comfort him. “Stop crying now my son, Mama is here. Please lie down. You still have a fever and I still need to place this towel on your head.”
Stephen calmed down a little and lied down. Then he let his mom put the towel on his head. After that, he couldn’t help but say, “Ma, won’t you be late in your work? It should be around six thirty in the morning already.”
Mama Arlene smiled, “I won’t! I already told my boss that teacher Dhorz could get my first class because I have an emergency. So, don’t worry.”
When he heard this, he couldn’t help but feel guilty. Because his mom would be getting two hundred fifty pesos less at the end of this month because of this absent. “Alright son, Mama is going to work now. Just rest here well. Papa should be home soon; he bought some apples and oranges for you.”
When Mama Arlene saw the look of guilt on his son’s face, she couldn’t help but smile in her heart and thought that his son was having mood swings because of fever. A while ago he was crying, now he is feeling guilty.
If Stephen knows what his mom is thinking, he would really laugh. Because all of these feelings are true. And they are genuine than ever!
After his mom left, Stephen’s feelings had calmed down. He began to accept that he reincarnated. Yes, he had really reincarnated! The same reincarnation stories that he watched and read when he was in high school. The weight of this revelation is unbelievable to him, but a small smile had appeared on his face.
If that is really the case, then with the memories of his past life intact, he can make this new life better. He will grab every opportunity that he had missed especially with cryptocurrencies. “Heh! I’ll make myself a millionaire. And if possible, even a billionaire! Just wait!” Stephen thought with an excited smile.
But before that he needs to check what day it is today. He weakly stood up and grab the remote control to turn on the tv.
*Playing Umagang Kay Ganda OBB (opening billboard)
“Basta’t tayo’y magkasama, laging mayro’ng umagang kay ganda…” After watching, Stephen finally saw the date today and he can’t believe it!
Today is May 16, 2012!
He had his rebirth at the year 2012!
*Mama, Ma - mom or mother
*Papa, Pa - dad or father
///Author's Note - Hi there! I am new in this community and honestly I just started writing this novel with zero experience. So, I am hoping to learn from you and tell me anything that will help my writing improve! Thank you so much!
Also, I have already first published this content on https://read.cash/@sjbuendia/rebirth-from-sales-assistant-to-crypto-whale-chap-1-5ddd9ed2 ///