The Prince And His Pauper

Chapter 3: Denial is not just a river in Egypt

"Let me do that, Prim. Go back to your online class," Win said sternly as Prim opened the first aid kit placed on top of the dining table.

"I can manage, don't overreact, cuz," Bryce said in a dismissive tone as Prim rolled her eyes but let Win take her place in front of Bryce who is sitting on the sofa with a cut lip.

"I am not overreacting, you're bleeding, Bryce," Win said in a shaky tone as he tried to quell the panic in his voice. He is averse to seeing blood but he is more concerned about Bryce being hurt to worry about anything else.

"This is nothing, far from being fatal." Bryce winced as a cotton bud dipped in Betadine touched the small cut on his lower lip.

"What happened? Why did Mang Kanor punch you? I knew him to be a reserved and sensible old man," Win asked with trepidation, confused at what drove the amiable old man to do something violent while the three kids looked at them with curiosity. The three youngsters are all huddled at the dining table and working on the modules that they downloaded and printed earlier.

"Maybe Alyssa told her father that you rejected her," Prim declared in a bratty tone and her siblings narrowed their eyes at her. Rowan and Mickey couldn't understand their elder sister's preoccupation with their adoptive father's love life.

"You rejected a girl?" Win asked incredulously as he applied anti-inflammatory ointment on the small wound. The prince was just glad he knew how to patch himself up without asking for help from anyone, not even his mother and his trusted maidservant; Mama Elena.

"She was just a kid, Prim and her are of the same age," Bryce said empathically as he gingerly touched his lower lip with his knuckle.

"I'm not a kid, Kuya. I'm already 18 and I am older than her by three months," Prim declared proudly, straightening in her seat as if to show how tall she has grown.

"And her father punched you because of that?" Win ignored the teenager as he is feeling a little annoyed at Prim's haughtiness.

"No, we got into a heated argument because of the transport strike. I was explaining why we had to refrain from plying our routes for a few days and he told me that it was none of my business because he has a family to feed," Bryce scratched his nape in contemplation as he tries to remember if he said anything offensive to warrant the older man's fist.

"And what is this transport strike about?" Win asked in a slightly embarrassed tone. He has been busy lately getting all the required documentation and permits for a small store he plans to put up as Bryce and the kids' additional source of income. He knows he wouldn't be with the man forever so he wants to leave something that would benefit the "family" in the long run. The thought made his chest ache inexplicably but the prince chose to ignore it to focus on the issue at hand.

"The government announced that they would be phasing out ALL traditional jeeps and replacing them with new, modernized ones," Bryce said with an exasperated sigh and Win heard the three youngsters defeated sigh behind him.

"Isn't that favorable for you? You would get a modernized vehicle," Win asked in a confused tone. Surely a new modernized vehicle is better than an old albeit well-maintained jeep like the one Bryce is driving, right? The prince thought absently.

"I can't afford it. Most of us can't. Operators are required to be consolidated into establishing a larger coordinated fleet or cooperative to facilitate the upgrades. Forming a cooperative requires a fee of Php 300,000 and every driver must pay Php 20,000 each. If there are 20 drivers in that cooperative, they must raise Php 400,000 more for a whopping total of Php 700,000. That is money we don't have. Furthermore, Jeeps that are 15 years old and above would not be registered and operated leaving old drivers and operators out in the cold," Bryce explained lengthily and Win felt ashamed at how little he knew about a common driver's struggle.