Japheth had a wife and two children. Because of the economic hardship, he could not take care of his family. He was absolutely broke, so he decided to leave the village where he was staying and move to Lagos to find work so he could take care of his family. Japheth went to Lagos, and one day, he saw an old rich man passing by in his car. Japheth said to himself, "Maybe this man can be of help to me." So, Japheth immediately ran towards him and greeted him. He said to the rich man, "Please, sir, I need your help. I'm struggling financially. I have a wife and two children, and we are always struggling at home. I cannot support them financially. Please, I want you to help me with a job." The rich man listened to Japheth and learned about his difficult family situation. Then he decided to give him a job. The rich man asked Japheth, "Can you work for me as a houseboy? I will pay you 150,000 naira." When Japheth heard that his salary would be 150,000 naira, he jumped up excitedly and said, "Yes, I will do whatever you ask me to do." Japheth called his wife and shared the good news with her that he had gotten a job with very good pay. Japheth and his wife were so happy because their lives had started changing. Japheth worked for this man very well, and the man was so happy with the hard work Japheth was doing. Then one day, the rich man sat quietly, thinking about how Japheth was struggling with his family. The man felt pity for him and called him into his presence. He said to Japheth, "About your family situation, I really feel so bad about it. Because of your hard work, I will increase your salary to 200,000 naira." Japheth thought he was dreaming when he heard what his boss, the rich man, said. He knelt down and thanked his boss excitedly. He told him, "Boss, you won't know what you have done for my life and family, but I really appreciate you sincerely." The boss smiled and said, "It's fine." One day, the rich man was having a business conversation on the phone with a friend. The rich man told his friend, "I have gold in my house, and I want to sell it." Immediately Japheth heard about the gold the rich man was talking about, he said to himself, "So, it means I am staying in this house with gold? I really have to search for the gold, steal it and run away with my family to another country." Early the next morning, the rich man called Japheth and told him, "I will be travelling right away because I have some business to handle. So, I want you to take care of this house. Make sure nobody comes in, and make sure that everything I leave behind is intact when I return. I trust you to do what I have asked." Japheth accepted to take care of the house just as his boss had instructed. And this was how the boss travelled. Immediately after the rich man left, Japheth started searching the house. He checked everywhere in the house to find the gold, but he couldn't find it. Japheth said to himself, "I will not spend my whole day searching for this gold. I have to calm down and take my time to find it gradually." The next day, Japheth said to himself, "I have to hire a houseboy to take care of this house. Then I will concentrate more on finding this gold." Japheth went ahead and hired a houseboy. He told him, "I will pay you 150,000 naira monthly." The houseboy was so excited, but he did not know that Japheth was just pretending and was still a houseboy himself. Immediately after the new houseboy started working in the house, Japheth put in more effort to search for the gold. He checked everywhere in the house, but he could not find it. He then decided to check under the rich man's bed, and he found the gold. Japheth actually thought he was dreaming. He shouted excitedly, praising himself and saying, "I am now a billionaire! My life has changed. I will never be poor in my life again, and I will definitely leave this boring country." It had been about four days since the rich man left, and he had not told Japheth when he would return. Japheth thought he would spend about two to three weeks away, as he normally did whenever he travelled. Japheth decided to spend one more day in that house to enjoy himself and prepare all his things before running away. The next day, before Japheth left, early in the morning, he organized a party in the house. A very large number of people came to the party. They were drinking and dancing to loud music. Japheth and everyone else were enjoying the moment. Japheth was thinking that this was his last moment in the house. That evening, he would run away, leave the country, and he wouldn't even let his wife and children follow him. Immediately, while the party was still going on, the rich man arrived home. Japheth could not hear the sound of his boss's car because the music they were playing was so loud. The rich man stepped inside and saw his house full of people. He couldn't imagine that his house had become a party venue. Japheth was completely shocked when he saw his boss. His body was shivering because he had already stolen the gold. The rich man stopped the party and told everyone to kneel down. He instructed his bodyguard to keep an eye on them. Then he said to Japheth, "I will go inside and check my properties. If anything is missing, you will definitely regret what I will do to you." The rich man immediately went inside and checked under his bed for the gold, but unfortunately, he couldn't find it. He was so shocked and surprised that Japheth would do such a wicked thing to him and steal his gold. He went further and asked Japheth, "Where is my gold?" Japheth said, "I did not steal your gold. I did not even know there was gold in this house." Japheth kept lying until the rich man checked Japheth's room and found all his belongings gathered in one place, showing that he was planning to run away. The rich man went further and checked his bag, and he saw the gold inside Japheth's bag. Japheth was completely ashamed of himself. The rich man could never believe that Japheth would do this to him. He said to Japheth, "I hired you as a houseboy. I picked you from the street because of your family's financial condition, and now this is how you have decided to pay me back." The rich man was so upset with Japheth. He said to him, "I wanted to send you to prison for your actions, but because of how I feel about your family's condition, I will not do that. I want you to leave my house and make sure you never return." Japheth lost the job that could have changed his family's life because he allowed greed to get the better of him instead of being honest.
