"Sato. You are a very bright and talented individual. Although you do not think so yourself most of the time, others around you must've pointed out that you are a rare genius in the era of Artificial Intelligence." Alex praised Sato.
"I am flattered to hear such compliments, but I am sure that there are many others that are smarter than me." Sato shook his head.
"There is no need to be humble about it. Although you have not done much during your time in University, it only because you have yet to discover what you would like to do in the future, correct?"
"How did you…" Before Sato could say 'know', Alex continued speaking.
"I have connections in University Z and so finding out a student's background information is not exactly difficult. Seeing the way you reacted, I am guessing that you still have yet to figure out your path."
"Yes. I have not gotten a chance to think about what I would like to do in the future." Seeing that he could not hide anything from the man in front of him, Sato came clean. He had never realised how fickle the word 'privacy' was until he had entered Gray's family and came to know what was true power. Things that are shared to others no matter how confidential, would always be more unsafe than keeping the secret in yourself.
"Well, you not knowing what you would like to do in the future is fine at this point. However," The mood got more serious than it already was. "Gray had chosen you over the safer and more secure path in this family. He had chosen love over power. I hope that my son's decision was not wrong. A few years from now, our family would be entering a lightning storm. I hope that you would become a formidable person by that time that would aid our family in the struggle for power."
Hearing what Alex had to say about him, Sato knew that the family head had done everything for his family. Most of the time, he would never rely on others to help in their business. Yet, now, Alex had chosen to trust his son's instincts and had decided to put some faith into Sato. All being well, the Tobion family would be able to face the Lee's and the Tabola's head on.
"I won't let you down, sir." Sato said resolutely. There was a rush of vigour that was injected into Sato's body. For the first time, there was great expectations hanging over Sato. The young man had been able to live a carefree life for the past two decades. Even Gray had hoped that Sato would not have to go through anymore sufferings. However, it was the cruel fate of the young man. His life would inevitably be filled with struggles. Now, coupled with expectations looming over him, Sato had to choose how he wanted to go forward with his life.
"Call me uncle. We are family now." Alex smiled marginally. It was the first time that Sato had seen the middle-aged man show any form of expression other than anger. He knew that his words from before had lessened the weight on Alex's shoulders by a bit. How Sato carried on in the future would determine how much weight he would be able to bear in respects to Alex.
When Sato left back to the room, Gray was already waiting for the boy in bed. The General asked inquisitively, wanting to find out if his father had mistreated or spelt trouble for his lover. After hearing whatever transpired in the room, it was surprising for Gray to find out that his father had chosen to believe in him and Sato this time.
"Gray.." Sato spoke in a quieter voice. He was drained of energy at this point.
"Mm?"
"What do you say I am good at?"
"You are good at anything you put your heart into."
"Thats too vague…" Sato said helplessly.
"It isn't really," Gray kissed Sato's forehead sweetly, "You are able to enter any industry and take it by a storm. And no matter what you choose in the end, you need to remember that I will always have your back."
"Okay." Sato smiled, with his eyes closed. He was very tired. Within seconds after Gray's words, the young man fell asleep.
Gray watched the boy sleep for a while, before getting out of bed and walking to his computer setup in another study room. It was time for him to initiate part two of his plans. Initiating a conference call, the call went through.
"Evening sir, what did you call me for?" The person in the call was Colonel John, the Head of the OPS Division in the Army. Gray was in charge of three units and one of them was the OPS Division that was in-charge of reconnaissance and field combat. Before being promoted to Major General, Gray was in the Secret Operations team in the OPS Division.
"Do you remember the plan I had discussed with you before seven months?"
"What plan?"
"The plan in regards to reconnaissance operations within Country C and Country A?"
"Ah yes. I remember it now." Colonel John opened up the file that he had taken down minutes for that day. He refreshed his memory on what had been discussed. "You were saying that you had plans to send in a covert team into the countries so as to spy on the major two families."
"Correct." Gray said.
"Sir, if I may ask, what is the underlying reason for doing this? The Lee and Tabola has not done anything noteworthy in Country Z so far. Their potential threat is rather low at this point."
Gray thought about it and decided that it was best to tell half of the truth to his subordinate. After all, only when there was an agenda would there be greater motivation in completing the task successfully.
"I received trustworthy intel that the two major families of the world would be having a dynamic growth in power in the next few years. Such cases would result in the destabilisation in our country's economy."