"Excuse me Young master"
Were the words that rang out in Elio's ears as he was harsly pushed out of the way by a large basket of cleaning supplies. His frail body crumpled onto the floor and he didn't even bother to try to get up, instead choosing to stay still as a corpse.
As the third youngest and thirst oldest son of the Adair family, he was well aware that he should be treated much better than this by the servants of the family but he had long accepted his reality and instead chose to ignore all of it.
At first the rude old man had kept walking instead of inquiring after the health of the young man but eventually he looked back and realize that not only had he not gotten up and used his position to threaten her livelihood, the young master just stayed still on the floor, not moving.
He sped up his steps and cleared out of the hallway, fully intent on not taking responsibility for his own actions.
As he stayed on the floor Elio registered the light footsteps of the old man echo further and further away and the heavier footsteps of another individual coming towards him. Still he remained on the floor and found that the coolness of the marble was an effective counteragent against the blistering heat of the month. A small smile played out on his tragically handsome face and reflected the contentment he felt at the moment but it quickly fell off his face and he resumed a neutral expression on his face.
The heavy footsteps that he had registered earlier belonged to Belina, an old maid that had been hired as his nanny when he had first entered the house as a three year old.
For a brief second the pitiful sight of him on the floor, with a dead expression on his face and the shallow rising and falling of his chest being the only sign of him still being alive, almost spurred the woman to walk forwards and cradle him in her arms. But after seeing the annoyingly content smile on his face earlier all sentiments were gone.
With a not so gentle nudge of her foot into his rib bones Belina urged the depressed young master up.
" Get up child. You have to get changed and report to the family meeting."
Elio groaned and rolled over instead of getting up, now even more determined to stay on the floor. He looked up at Belinda, the woman who was much more of a parental figure to him than his biological parents ever were and brought out his best pout.
" Belina. Can't you see that I was knocked down and am injured? Instead of trying to force me to a meeting shouldn't you be urgently calling a doctor and ruining that rude guys life? How dare he harm a son of the Adair family!"
Belinda watched, un-amused as the young man finally realized his status and tried to use it to avoid his responsibilities.
She grabbed him by the ear and dragged him up off the floor and then through the large mansion with his ear firmly twisted in her arm.
As they went through the mansion in such a manner the others look on, horrified as they watched the strong and healthy looking old lady drag the sickly looking child like a goat on a leash.
Finally the arrived at the main meeting room, which would have been better suited for a large official building than for a house and Elio was pushed in faster than he could blink.
The heads of the five men already in the room turned to see the pathetic figure of the middle child of the Adair family crouched into a small ball on the floor, carefully nursing his bruising ear with contrasting expressions.
The head of the family and Elio's father, looked at him like one would look at a three legged puppy pushed onto them by their favorite daughter. Annoying and burdensome but couldn't be killed off.
The eldest son of the family and the future heir of their multi enterprise empire at 30, John, looked at him with a complete lack of interest that couldn't possibly be faked and quickly looked away and back onto his folder on the desk.
The second eldest,Chad, 27 the literary genius and future politician looked at his embarrassment of a younger brother with poorly veiled malicious intent that everyone ignored.
The second youngest son, Aloic, 19,looked on at the spectacle with a wide smile and barely held back a chuckle in respect for the atmosphere and finally the youngest son, Bullet, the military talent at the tender age of 17 looked at his elder brother with worry and stood to help him up and into a seat but was stopped by the second eldest.
" Bullet, sit down, he'll find his own way to his seat. As well, you are already 17. You should be more mindful of your status."
Elio slowly got up and resumed his usual dead expression on his sickly face then took his seat at the end of the table, even below the youngest member, despite his age of 21 years.
Still, he didn't try to contest it and instead put his head down on the table as his other brothers reported their impressive results as usual.
John, the eldest began the report.
" Father, I have successfully acquired the XY's companies factories, they should be coming to us for a merger no later than next week."
Chad stood up as his elder brother sat in a practiced motion that showed how many times this had been done before.
" Father, after a week of lobbying with the governor, I have successfully secured his support were I ever to run for an official position. My team is already working on my campaign theme."
In the same practiced move Chad sat and Aloic stood,
" Father, in the wake of our previously successful girl group I'm thinking of debuting a boy group next. Our financial returns are expected to be in the hundred thousands within the first quarter and are expected to go up. I'll be able to use the idols influence in advertisements and help advertise the families wealth and fame."
Finally, bullet stood up as Aloic stood up. Only he stood up in a single, stiff motion, far from the relaxed style of Aloic or the confident manners of the two before him.
" Father, I received yet another medal of valor during my last battle and am set to be promoted once again. Soon I'll have enough influence to aid second brother in his election."
Meanwhile Elio felt his eyelids get heavier and heavier as they reported and a fuzzy memory of his past popped into his head.
Back when he was still in high school he had really tried his hardest, was the best in his class, but failed to break his older brothers records. Achieved student council president but it wasn't with a unanimous vote like the second eldest and even his athletic achievements were soon overshadowed by an apologetic younger brother.
Even his attempts at music were nothing in comparison to his ridiculously talented third brother.
Still the only thing he had yet to be overshadowed at was….