Felix took out a sticky note and began copying out the contacts of those who he still wished to keep in contact with from his old phones, as he planned on changing phones as soon as he stepped out.
The short list was only composed of his mom’s contact, his two best friends, and after much deliberation, Elizabeth’s contact as well—he needed to know exactly what had happened to his mom’s café, and the best person to ask was someone who lived in that neighborhood.
Then he folded the piece of note and slipped it into his pockets and pulled out John’s business card, and dialed his number.
Though he was currently living lavishly in a high end hotel resort, Felix’s bank account was still as red as when he last checked it.
[Account balance: $279.52]
"Hello, John Murphy speaking—" John’s monotonous voice came from the other end of the phone.
"John, it’s Felix. How long till I get my first deal? I’m broke, man," Felix quickly interrupted. He was in a rush as he needed to go check out his mom’s café after this.
"Oh, hey Felix. I was expecting your call sooner," John’s voice became lively as soon as he heard it was Felix. Nothing more exciting than business.
"I was with my mom all day," Felix replied.
"That’s good. So... Felix, can you do something for me?" John suddenly asked.
Felix was confused as he hadn’t answered his own question and was asking for favor. "...What’s that?" Felix asked in uncertainty.
"Great. So, If you’re real, Felix... say banana." John suddenly said.
Felix was dumbstruck at the absurd request that he had to take his phone off his ear to cross-check if he had really dialed the number from John’s business card.
"Felix? Say banana." John’s voice came out as suspicious this time around.
"What the flip? Why do I have to say that shit—why do I have to say ’banana’?" Felix asked with a frown.
"Haha—nice try. I see what you did there. But I just need you to say banana if you’re real, ’Felix’."
"And why the fuck do I have to say banana to prove that I’m real?"
"God damnit, Felix! Just say banana!" John screamed through the phone.
"Okay, okay. Banana. Banana, banana, banana!"
"Great. It’s really you, Felix. AIs are getting scary this days. Gotta make sure you were the real one before I disclosed your networth," John’s voice change once more to a cheerful one.
Felix was speechless, but he understood it was for security measures.
"I plan on changing phones soon, and I don’t plan on saying bananas—or apples—next time." Felix made it clear.
"That’s not a problem. Just send me a text of your next digits through this number, and I’ll know it’s you."
"That’ll be great. So what’s my networth? Cause I don’t think I have that much to be called that," Felix asked with zero expectations.
"Fairs—you don’t have that much right now, and we only have about 73 million dollars from a few deals. But hopefully we should have more sitting in your account soon—"
"Wait—what? What was that again?" Felix thought he hadn’t heard John well.
"Yeah, I know. Just 73 million dollars." John repeated.
"J—just?" Felix couldn’t believe his ears.
73 whooping million dollars and someone had just called that ’just’.
His father only had a few hundred from the company after working for years. While he just made 73 million dollars on the first day of his arrival on Earth.
Felix had to drop the phone to make a small dance around the bed, before remembering something.
"John? How much would house cost? I mean a big one, but not too big, with a nice view of the city?" Felix hurriedly asked.
"I’ll look into that for you, and send you my recommendations." John said professionally.
"Please do that, and... wire me one million—no, two—four million, right now." Felix didn’t ask for everything as John was his manager and would be better off managing his finances.
"Alright. Send me your account details."
Felix ended the call, and quickly typed and sent his account details to John. In a few minutes, he got the credit alert of the the requested four million dollars on his account.
To say Felix was excited would be an understatement. He had never had even a quarter of that amount to his name before.
He was definitely going on a shopping spree the next day to change his wardrobe and to buy his dream car. But first thing first, he needed to investigate his mother’s café.
He quickly texted the number Elizabeth has tagged to her message and asked if she was free that night. A reply came in before he could even stretch. It was affirmative. She was free to meet up with Felix that night.
Felix told her to pick a spot and make a reservation in two hours, then send him the address.
Then he took out his Deathrizzler and was just about to soar away from his hotel room’s balcony, but realized unlike his previous longsword, the Deathrizzler was a short sword and couldn’t accommodate him to stand comfortably on it.
He had tried using the Telekinesis skill on himself before, and it worked, but was harder to control and unstable and unadvisable to use in flying long distance as he might lose control and fall midway.
"Very troublesome," Felix mused thoughtfully.
He didn’t want anyone to know he was gone, and couldn’t just take the elevator downstairs and hail a cab—if they’d let him.
"Need a lift?" Someone suddenly patted Felix’s shoulder that made him draw back in alarm, only for him to see it was beautiful demoness—in person.
"Woah, so you could... come out?" Felix asked in pleasant surprise.
"Yeah. Being in hibernation for so long made me forget just how boring it is sitting down in that gloomy castle. So from now, I might be tagging a lot with you. Hop on!" Lilith said as she spread her dark feathered wings.