A million pesos was a strange amount of money to have when you were fourteen.
It was even stranger when the people who raised you had no idea that you had it.
I stared at the spreadsheet on my laptop, checking the numbers for what felt like the tenth time.
The ₱1,000,000 Mr.
Villareal had paid me for the battery design was still the foundation of everything I had started building.
I had already spent part of it on materials for Aetheris, Mana Crystals, diamonds, metal alloys, engraving tools, other experimental components, and the secondhand laptop sitting in front of me.
I had also bought the prepaid mobile broadband connection I used whenever I needed to research something without relying on the family’s limited access to the internet.
The remaining money was still substantial, but I knew better than to treat it as an endless supply.
My memories of the future gave me opportunities, but they didn’t make me invincible.
The future was already changing because of my actions, and every decision I made created another variable.
Money was no different.
If I spent it carelessly, it would eventually disappear.
If I managed it properly, it could become the foundation for something much larger.
There was only one problem.
My parents still didn’t know where most of it had come from.
They knew I had been earning money from tutoring other students, and I had been giving them a portion of that income whenever I could.
As far as they were concerned, that was the money I had been talking about whenever I mentioned earning something on the side.
They had no idea that their fourteen-year-old son had negotiated a million-peso deal for a battery design.
I closed the laptop and stood up.
It was time to tell them.
I found my parents in the living room that evening.
My father, Eddie, had just returned from work and was sitting on the old wooden chair near the window while my mother folded clothes beside him.
The television was on, but neither of them was paying much attention to it.
“Ma.
Pa.”
My father looked over immediately.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
He narrowed his eyes.
“When you say ‘nothing’ like that, it’s usually something.”
I almost smiled.
Apparently, I wasn’t as subtle as I thought.
I walked over and sat down.
“I wanted to talk about the money I’ve been earning.”
My mother looked up from the clothes in her hands.
“The tutoring money?”
“Yes.”
“You don’t have to give us so much, you know,” she said.
“You should keep some for yourself.
You’ve already been helping with groceries and your school expenses.”
“I know.”
My father nodded in agreement.
“That’s enough, Rafael.
You’re still a student.
Don’t worry about supporting the whole family.”
“I know, Pa.
But there’s something else.”
I took a breath before saying it.
“I want to give you one hundred thousand pesos.”
My mother’s hands stopped moving.
My father stared at me.
For several seconds, neither of them said anything.
Then my mother slowly lowered the shirt she was folding.
“How much?”
“One hundred thousand.”
My father’s eyebrows rose.
“One hundred thousand pesos?”
“Yes.”
He looked at my mother, then back at me.
“From tutoring?”
“Not exactly.”
His expression changed immediately.
“Then how much have you been making from tutoring?”
“Not enough to explain the hundred thousand.”
My parents exchanged another look.
My mother was the first to speak.
“Rafael, are you hiding money from us?”
“No.”
“Then where did you get one hundred thousand pesos?”
I rubbed the back of my neck.
“I wasn’t talking about my tutoring income.”
My father leaned forward.
“Then what are you talking about?”
“The money came from something else I worked on.”
“What kind of work?”
“A battery design.”
My father blinked.
“A battery?”
“Yes.”
“You made a battery?”
“Not exactly.
I designed improvements for one.”
My father stared at me with a completely confused expression.
My mother looked equally puzzled.
“Since when do you design batteries?”
“A while ago.”
“And you sold the design?”
“Yes.”
My father sat up straighter.
“To whom?”
“Mr.
Villareal.”
That name immediately caught his attention.
“The businessman?” Read this novel at g.com for the best experience.
I nodded.
“Yes.”
My father was silent for a moment before asking the obvious question.
“How much did he pay you?”
This was the part I had been dreading.
“One million pesos.”
My mother froze.
My father didn’t move.
I waited for their reaction, but neither of them said anything.
The television continued playing in the background, completely unaware that it had just become the least important thing in the room.
Finally, my father slowly turned toward my mother.
“Did you hear that?”
She nodded.
“Yes.”
“Did he just say one million?”
“Yes.”
My father turned back to me.
“One million pesos?”
“Yes.”
He stared at me for several seconds before pointing toward himself.
“Your father is still working as a janitor.”
He then pointed toward my mother.
“Your mother is still doing laundry.”
Finally, he pointed at me.
“And you are telling us that you made one million pesos designing a battery?”
“Technically, yes.”
My father’s eyes widened.
“What do you mean, technically?!”
I couldn’t help laughing.
My mother covered her mouth, but I could tell she was trying not to laugh as well.
“I’m not joking, Pa.”
“Are you sure this isn’t some kind of scam?”
“No.”
“Are you sure Mr.
Villareal actually paid you?”
“Yes.”
“Are you sure it’s really one million?”
“Yes.”
“Not ten thousand?”
“No.”
“Not one hundred thousand?”
“No.”
“One million?”
“One million.”
My father leaned back and rubbed his forehead.
“Lord…”
My mother finally laughed.
The tension in the room broke, and I found myself laughing with them.
My father gave me a tired look.
“This isn’t funny.”
“I know.”
“Then why are you laughing?”
“Because you keep asking me if it’s really one million.”
“Because I’m having trouble believing my fourteen-year-old son somehow earned more money than I have probably seen in my entire life.”
That made me stop laughing.
“I understand.”
He sighed and looked at me more seriously.
“Where is the money?”
“In the bank.”
His expression relaxed slightly.
“Good.”
He paused before adding, “How did you even manage to put that much money in a bank account?”
“I needed an adult to help with the arrangements.”
He looked at me.
“And you didn’t tell us?”
“I wanted to make sure everything was legitimate first.
I didn’t want to tell you about it before I knew everything was settled.”
My father shook his head.
“You’re fourteen.”
“I know.”
“You should have told us.”
“I know.”
He stared at me for another moment before asking, “You’re really fourteen, right?”
I smiled.
“Last time I checked.”
My mother laughed again, and even my father couldn’t keep a straight face.
After the laughter faded, my mother looked at me more gently.
“Rafael, why didn’t you tell us before?”
I looked down at my hands.
“Because I didn’t want us to spend it all.”
My father frowned.
“We wouldn’t.”
“I know.
But suddenly having that much money can make people think differently.
I don’t want us to be comfortable for one year and then go back to struggling after the money is gone.
I want this money to actually change our situation.”
My father became quiet.
My mother looked at me for a moment before asking, “And that’s why you only want to give us one hundred thousand?”
“Yes.”
“What do you want us to use it for?”
“Whatever the family needs.
Repairs, school expenses, food, things we’ve been putting off, and emergencies.
I want us to have enough breathing room that one unexpected problem doesn’t put everyone in trouble.”
“But you’re keeping the rest?”
“Yes.”
“For what?”
I smiled slightly.
“Research.”
My father sighed.
“Of course.”
I laughed.
“You knew I was going to say that.”
“Every time you say ‘research,’ I start worrying about my wallet.”
“I’m not spending all of it.”
“That’s what every scientist says before buying something expensive.”
My mother smiled while listening to us.
I opened my laptop and showed them the financial records I had been keeping.
My father leaned closer to the screen.
“I’ve already spent some of it,” I explained.
“On what?”
“Research equipment and materials.”
“What kind of materials?”
“Things related to energy storage, electronics, materials science, and experimental engineering.”
My father studied the spreadsheet for a moment.
“How much have you spent?”
“Some of it.”
“That’s not a number.”
I smiled slightly.
“Because I’m still experimenting.
I don’t know which projects will work yet.”
My father gave me a skeptical look.
“And you’re spending money on experiments without knowing if they’ll work?”
“That’s how research works.”
He sighed.
“I suppose that’s true.”
My mother looked at the spreadsheet as well.
“What exactly are you trying to build?”
I paused for a moment.
“Different things.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“I know.”
She gave me the same look she used whenever she knew I was avoiding a question.
I sighed.
“I’m working on energy-related technology.
Improving storage, efficiency, and some other engineering problems.”
That was true.
It just wasn’t the whole truth.
I had no intention of telling them about Aetheris.
There were too many questions that would follow if I did.
Why did I have Mana Crystals?
Where had I learned to work with them?
What were the runes?
Why could I make an artifact that enhanced the human body?
And, perhaps most importantly, how did a fourteen-year-old boy know any of this?
I wasn’t ready to answer those questions.
So I kept my explanation simple.
“I want to develop technology that can actually be useful someday,” I continued.
“The battery design was only the beginning.”
My father nodded slowly.
“At least you’re thinking about something useful.”
“I am.”
My mother smiled.
“And what about the laboratory you mentioned?”
“That’s the long-term goal.”
“You really want your own laboratory?”
“Eventually.”
“What are you going to do there?”
“Build things.”
She laughed.
“That’s still not very specific.”
“I know.”
My father shook his head.
“At least tell me you’re not planning to blow up the house.”
I looked at him.
“I’ll try not to.”
He stared at me.
“That wasn’t a joke, was it?”
I smiled.
“Maybe.”
“Rafael!”
My mother laughed, and I couldn’t help joining her.
The conversation continued for a while longer, with my parents asking questions about the battery deal, the money, my research, and how I intended to manage everything.
I answered honestly whenever I could, but I was careful about where I stopped.
There were things they could know.
There were things they didn’t need to know yet.
Aetheris belonged in the second category.
Once everything was discussed, we agreed that ₱100,000 would be set aside for the family.
The money would be kept safely through a proper bank arrangement with the necessary adult oversight, rather than being stored as cash at home.
The rest would remain allocated to research, emergency savings, investments, and my future laboratory.
For the first time, my parents understood that the money I had been talking about wasn’t simply the small amount I earned from tutoring.
They now knew about the battery deal.
They knew about the million pesos.
They also knew I intended to use the money carefully.
What they didn’t know was what I was really building.
That part would have to remain mine.