By Saturday afternoon, Damian had done something he hadn’t done in months.
Nothing.
No acquisition documents.
No Westbridge emails.
No spreadsheets.
No checking valuation reports.
He was lying across his bed, staring at the ceiling.
His phone buzzed.
Ethan:
You alive?
Damian typed back.
Damian:
Unfortunately.
Three dots appeared.
Ethan:
Good. Football. 4pm.
Damian:
I know.
Ethan:
And don’t wear those broke-boy shoes.
Damian looked down at his shoes.
They were perfectly fine.
He frowned.
Damian:
What’s wrong with my shoes?
Ethan:
Everything.
Damian laughed.
A few minutes later, there was a knock.
Ethan walked in without waiting for permission.
"You ready?"
"Yeah."
Ethan stopped.
"You’re wearing those?"
Damian looked down.
"What?"
"The shoes."
"You’re actually obsessed with my shoes."
"Because they look like they survived two administrations."
Damian laughed.
"Shut up."
Ethan walked toward the door.
"Come on. I want food before football."
"Where?"
"Somewhere decent."
"Define decent."
Ethan shrugged.
"Anywhere that doesn’t have plastic chairs."
Damian grabbed his keys.
"Fine."
They walked outside.
Ethan glanced at the car parked nearby.
"Wait."
Damian stopped.
"What?"
"Whose car is that?"
Damian looked at him.
"Mine."
Ethan stared at him.
"Since when?"
"A while."
"You bought a car?"
"Yeah."
Ethan walked around it.
"You never told me."
"I forgot."
"You forgot you bought a whole car?"
Damian shrugged.
"It wasn’t important."
Ethan slowly turned toward him.
"You’ve changed."
"Get in."
They stopped at a restaurant Ethan had only seen online.
The place was nicer than anything they usually visited after class.
Ethan looked through the window.
"Bro."
"What?"
"You sure?"
"Sure about what?"
"This place."
Damian pushed the door open.
"It’s food, Ethan."
"It’s expensive food."
"So?"
Ethan followed him inside.
They were seated near the window.
Ethan picked up the menu.
His eyebrows went up.
"Damian."
"What?"
"Look at this."
Damian looked.
Ethan pointed at one of the prices.
"That’s enough to feed me for three days."
"Then order something you like."
"You’re paying?"
"Obviously."
Ethan stared at him.
"Something is wrong with you."
"Order."
Ethan grinned.
"Okay."
They ordered.
For the first few minutes, they talked about football, classes, and one of their lecturers who had somehow managed to give them an assignment nobody understood.
Then Ethan leaned back.
"So."
"So?"
"You’re acting weird."
Damian smiled.
"How?"
"You’ve been weird for weeks."
"That’s very specific."
"You’ve got new clothes. New phone. New car. You’re eating here. And every time I mention money, you act like it’s not a problem."
Damian took a sip of his drink.
"I told you."
"Told me what?"
"My investments."
Ethan narrowed his eyes.
"The stocks?"
"Yeah."
"They actually worked?"
Damian nodded.
"Pretty well."
"How well?"
Damian paused.
He’d already decided what he was going to tell Ethan.
Not the System.
Not the cashback.
Not Westbridge’s exact numbers.
Just enough truth to make the story believable.
"Better than I expected."
Ethan waited.
"And?"
"And I’ve made some money."
"How much?"
Damian smiled.
"Enough."
Ethan stared at him.
"That answer is illegal."
Damian laughed.
"I bought some companies and technology stocks. They went up."
"Companies?"
"Yeah."
"You’ve been doing all this behind my back?"
"It’s not behind your back."
"It feels behind my back."
"You never asked."
Ethan leaned forward.
"Okay. Give me a number."
Damian hesitated.
"More than I started with."
Ethan threw his hands up.
"You’re useless."
Their food arrived.
Ethan immediately stopped asking questions.
For the next ten minutes, the conversation became about food.
It was the most normal they’d felt in weeks.
After lunch, they headed to the football pitch.
Ethan jogged ahead.
"Try not to embarrass yourself."
Damian followed.
"You’re the one who almost broke your ankle last time."
"That was tactical."
"That was you falling."
"Same thing."
Damian laughed.
For the next two hours, money disappeared from both their minds.
They played.
Argued.
Mocked each other’s terrible passes.
Ethan accused Damian of cheating.
Damian accused Ethan of being unable to defend.
Nothing had changed.
At least not here.
Afterward, they sat outside, exhausted.
Ethan looked over.
"You know what?"
"What?"
"I missed this."
Damian glanced at him.
"Football?"
"Yeah."
He shrugged.
"Everything used to be simple."
Damian smiled.
"Still can be."
Ethan looked at him suspiciously.
"You’re paying for dinner tonight, aren’t you?"
Damian laughed.
"Maybe."
"Then life is definitely better."
That evening, Damian returned home and opened his wardrobe.
He stared at it for a while.
Most of his clothes were still the same.
Old shirts.
A few decent outfits.
Shoes he’d owned before his life changed.
He pulled one shirt from the rack.
It was faded.
He looked at it.
Then put it back.
His phone buzzed.
Emily:
You home?
Damian smiled.
Damian:
Yeah. You?
Emily:
Home too.
A pause.
Emily:
Thank you for earlier.
Damian knew what she meant.
Damian:
You don’t have to thank me.
Emily:
Still.
Damian:
Get some rest, love.
Emily:
You too ❤️
Damian put his phone down.
His expression softened.
Things weren’t fixed.
Not completely.
But at least she wasn’t carrying everything alone anymore.
He walked to his desk.
The golden screen appeared above it.
[CURRENT LIQUID BALANCE: $5,099,924.32]
Damian stared at the number.
Five million dollars.
He had spent months treating the money like something fragile.
Like one wrong move could send him back to the beginning.
Maybe that fear had been useful.
Maybe it had also become a habit.
He didn’t need to start throwing money around.
But he didn’t have to live like he still had $47.63 either.
Damian leaned back.
"Maybe it’s time."
The System remained silent.
He smiled.
"Not stupid spending."
He looked toward the wardrobe.
"Just...better."
The screen disappeared.
Damian picked up his phone.
He opened a shopping app.
Then stopped.
"No."
He closed it.
"Tomorrow."
He laughed at himself.
Apparently, old habits weren’t disappearing that easily.
The next morning, Damian received a message from Ethan.
Ethan:
We’re going shopping.
Damian stared at the screen.
Damian:
Why?
Ethan:
Because I saw your wardrobe yesterday.
Damian:
You were not in my room.
Ethan:
Your shoes told me.
Damian laughed.
Damian:
You’re paying.
Ethan:
HAHAHAHA.
A second message came.
Ethan:
Rich man.
Damian shook his head.
He grabbed his keys.
Maybe this was going to be fun.
And for the first time since getting the System, he wasn’t thinking about what he could afford.
He was thinking about what kind of life he actually wanted.