From Pit to Palace: Charlie Emerged

Chapter 4

The woman was old, probably in her late sixties. Despite her chubby nature, she was very agile in terms of action. She was no other than Charlie's landlady.

"Good afternoon, landlady," Charlie greeted in a low voice, knowing the reason she was here.

It is for her rent.

The woman glared at Charlie and pointed her finger at him. "Scrap it, Charlie!" She growled. "I called you earlier and knew why I was calling, but you declined it!"

Charlie quickly recalled his phone had rang for the second time after that scammer called him. He rejected it without glancing at it, thinking it was the same person.

"I'm sorry, landlady, it wasn't intentional. I didn't know it was you," he said apologetically.

But the old woman gave him a fierce stare. "Keep that aside!" She stretched out her hand as if trying to receive something. "Hand it over. My rent! Where is it?" She demanded, not batting an eye.

Charlie swallowed hard, scratching the back of his head. "Landlady, I....." he started nervously, "I haven't been paid, I swear. Once I get paid, I promise, I'll pay you. Please, give me some extra days. Three or four, I'll run around and make sure to get your money."

"More days?" The woman scoffed angrily. "Aren't you any shame, Charlie? You were supposed to be paying monthly, but you're four months' rent behind, and considering you're a student, I decided to stay patient, yet you're still demanding extra days."

She jabbed her finger at him. "Three days, you promised. If nothing is done, I'll have your things thrown out."

Charlie looked helplessly as he watched his landlady exit the room with fury. His heart was submerged, hurt that he couldn't do anything.

He's been owing three months' rent and had been begging for mercy; his landlady had been kind enough to always show him mercy, and it hurt him that he couldn't fulfil his promise. Not because he didn't have that money.

But he had used it to get stuff for Megan on her birthday wishlist.

Turning around, Charlie collapsed again on the bed, completely speechless as he stared at the ceiling, expressionless.

Just as he looked fixedly at the ceiling, the silent moment was suddenly disrupted by the sound of his phone.

Ding!

A message dropped.

Charlie reluctantly took it and glanced down at the screen.

Boom! His heart skipped when he read the content of the message.

'Your account number ending with 7580 has just received a deposit of fifty million dollars. Your new balance is 50,000,010.

He jumped out of bed and sat up straighter. He was briefly startled, reading the message again, this time, with wide eyes. "Fifty million dollars?" He mumbled, disbelief crossing his eyes. "Is this for real? Who could make such a big mistake by sending such enormous amounts of money to my account?"

He paused then shook his head. "No, this must be clickbait."

Just right after he dismissed the thought, about to put down his phone, the phone vibrated and started to ring.

It was a strange number.

Charlie frowned the moment he saw the number. He was a smart person, and he quickly remembered it was the same number that had called him earlier today at school.

"What does he want from me?" He said out of frustration. He wanted to reject the call, but then the thought of picking up and giving the caller a severe warning crossed his mind.

"Let me show him the other side of me. I think I was so nice to him earlier today." With that he answered the call, but before he could say a word.

The man from the other end started before him. "Young Master Charlie, I just deposited fifty million dollars into your account. Did you receive it?" The man asked with utmost respect.