Chapter 59 59 - Solving Problems

    ??When Liv finally calmed down and managed to let go of the hug, my mother asked me again.

    "Noah, what did you do to earn so much money?" she asked worriedly.

    Even though she knew I was making money from my artwork, she not only had no idea how much I was making, she had no idea how I managed to make more than $8,000 in one month.

    My father, on the other hand, knew how much I earned from each drawing, and this made him even more confused because he could see from the calculations that even if I saved all the money from last month''s drawings and drew every 7 days of the week, I would still have a maximum of $6,000.T/his chapter is updated by

    So I explained: "Mom, you know I draw pictures to sell on the Internet, right?" I began to confirm.

    She nodded because I''d said that before.

    "I get $100 for every piece of art I make, and I usually make two pieces of art a day." I explained, leaving her shocked at how much money I made.

    "You draw people''s characters and they pay you $100 per drawing?" she asked in shock.

    "Yes." I nodded. "I was paid less at first, but over time my reputation grew, and now the amount I charge is $100 per drawing."

    "But even if you were paid $100 for the last 30 days and did 2 drawings a day, that would still only be $6,000, where did the rest of the money come from?" my father asked confused.

    "Actually, the money came from several sources. The initial money was just $3,200 that I had saved from the artwork and the shows that I did, but for every thousand people that listen to my songs on the Internet, I get a share of the advertising money, which was another $3,400 of money." I explained to their surprise.

    "For every thousand people who listen to your songs, you get money?! So how much did you get for The Lazy Song?" My mom asked in shock.

    Since that song had over a million views, the calculation was easy: "About $1,000 on MeTube alone, it probably made another $1,000 on Spokify, so that song alone was responsible for $2,000 of the money I used." I explained.

    "2,000 for one song..." My mom was very surprised. She had heard of people making a lot of money on the Internet, but since it was always far away, she couldn''t imagine that I, her son, could make so much money in such a short time by posting things on the Internet.

    "But even if you add all that to the $1,400 I sent you, you''re still $2,000 short, right? Where did you get the money so fast?" My father asked worriedly. He''d seen the messages coming in on my cell phone about transfers from various people, so he was worried that I was borrowing money just like he was.

    "The waiting list of my clients for the artwork is quite long, so I just accepted some commissions for the drawings and asked for payment in advance. Those who paid had priority for the drawings. They also offered a gift of a cute, simple drawing of their characters to those who paid in advance," I explained. I explained.

    "How many pieces did you offer?" my father asked as he began to mentally count.

    "I received an advance of 50% of the value of 40 pieces of art..." I said laughing as I scratched the back of my head. "Now for the next 20 days I''ve already got my schedule set."

    "Can you deliver all that, Noah?" my mother asked worriedly. "You don''t have to commit so much, if you need any help, just let me know." I shook my head in denial.

    Shaking my head, I denied it. "It''s okay, even though I take so many orders, I was going to take them anyway, so I just moved the process along."

    What I didn''t say was that I don''t usually like to work on Saturdays and Sundays, and with my plans to do weekend shows, this time became even more precious.

    "Just ask me one thing Dad, did you borrow money from anyone other than Karen?" I asked with a worried voice.

    I didn''t even bother to call this woman an aunt anymore.

    Embarrassed, my father nodded. "Yes, but it wasn''t that much money. It was $3,000 for my parents and $1,000 for my other two uncles. I had only borrowed $1,000 from Karen as well, but she offered $10,000 at the time."

    He continued. "At first I thought it was strange that Karen would offer money, but since it would really help with the bills at home, I accepted, thinking that she had improved and started to value family more than money, but now I understand why she offered so much..."

    "All right, Dad, let''s work together to pay off the $5,000 we still owe and then we''ll be free of all this." I smiled and tried to calm him down, which partly worked.

    This was something he already felt pretty bad about, so at least knowing that his son was going to help him pay made him even prouder.

    If it had been my old dad, I wouldn''t have worried at all, because he would probably have borrowed the money to spend it on booze, drugs, or gambling, but my current dad didn''t do that. All the money was spent on the five of us, so I wasn''t angry.

    "Let''s make a big dinner to celebrate today, we''ll each get to choose a dish." My mother said, relieved that she no longer had to worry about the money my father had borrowed from my aunt and that all the debts would be paid off in the near future.

    "I want a hamburger!" Ethan was the first to respond excitedly.

    "I''ll have a salad..." Olivia said sheepishly, making me look at her with a raised eyebrow.

    Seeing me look at her like that made her even more embarrassed.

    "Are you really just going to eat a salad?" I asked confused.

    "I''m on a diet..." She said, making me look up and down and frown.

    "But don''t your measurements go down with the exercise we do together?" I asked confused since we measured each other every week and she started to look slimmer after we started training.

    "But my weight on the scale hasn''t gone down." She complained a little.

    "Silly girl, when you lose fat and gain muscle, your weight stays the same, but the fat is more voluminous, which makes you thinner...you can eat something more caloric, which with the intensity of our training, will hardly make you fat." I laughed as I explained, making her relax while I actually started to think of something she could order to eat.

    "I''ll have fries, lots of fries." I said excitedly.

    After all the time I''d spent on my high protein diet so I could eat during the week, being able to indulge in junk food on the weekend was something I''d been waiting for.

    Especially now that I was very close to my ideal weight, I could give myself a little freedom to eat junk food on the weekends.

    Of course, my mid-week eating would still be controlled, and the system would help me avoid regaining my previous weight.

    But to my surprise, as soon as I answered what I wanted to eat, a notification beeped on my phone, alerting me to a message Selena had sent me.