Three weeks have passed by since the first day my host and I arrived in this world.
My host has been living with me since then. We have been sleeping in the same bed, but of course we haven't gotten to that stage yet.
He's also been attending college, his first time doing so. He died at 18 in his original world.
He seems to like the major the original Alex chose, Liberal arts in an art school. He seems interested in the artistic history of this world.
I've also gotten used to ranking in money, growing the Anderson conglomerate even bigger.
During these weeks, I've been playing with the Seahprie company, slowly cornering them.
The Seahprie company, especially Alex's father, Raan, has been going crazy trying to figure out why their partners all backed out of their contracts, causing damage. Their stock value continues to decrease as scandals of high level position holders in the company keep spreading.
But they'll find out, soon, who's responsible. Since none of the other high end family's are helping them, they'll assume they offended one of the giants in this city.
Words going around the upper class. Eventually it'll reach their ears.
But it'll be too late for them by then. In desperation, I'm expecting Raan Seaphire to come find Alex and ask him to beg me to help his father's company.
"...-ake? Blake? You okay?" Alex waves his hand in front of my face.
" Hmm? Yeah, I'm good." I smile at him. " What movie did you pick?"
" 'Shot Gun' it's mainly action and comedy."
" Okay, play it."
We lean back into the couch, with a bag of popcorn between us.
Just as the first scene starts,
"Bzzzzzzzzt, bzzzzzzzzt!" My phone rings. It's Jean. Alex pauses the movie for me.
" It'll take just a minute." I say to Alex, as he gives off a small frown. While still sitting I answer jean, "Hello."
" Sir, sorry for interrupting your date, but your boyfriends dad is at the gate. Should I let him in?"
" Hmm? How did he know I'm currently staying in this mansion?" I didn't know he could reach that far, perhaps I should cut all his limps off before watching him flay around?
" Words gotten around, since we haven't been moving from place to place this past month. All those keeping track of you know this information."
" I know, you've done well keeping the rats out this month."
" Do I get a bonus for all my hard work, boss?" Sigh, this is why I can't compliment him.
" Yeah, sure. Anyway, let in my uninvited guest. Tell the butler to greet him."
" Yes, sir boss."
I hang up on my money greedy, lazy, yet somehow extremely competent subordinate.
I turn to Alex. " Alex, let's pause the movie for a minute, we have a guest."
" Who?"
" Your father." I grin.
" What does he want?" He raises an eyebrow, in annoyance.
" Let's go find out."
" 'Sigh', fine."
We head to the living room for guests. Alex's father already made himself at home, sipping on the fragrant smell of the tea in his hand. " Go fetch more tea for me." He even has the audacity to boss around my butler.
" Yes, sir- ah, master, young master." The butler greets us as we walk in, holding hands.
" Oh, Mr. Anderson!" Raan sets down his empty cup and rises up all smiley. Makes me want to bash his face in.
I ignore him and walk to sofa opposite of him, I sit tugging Alex into my side. I cross my legs and lift my chin in contempt. " Speak. What brought you uninvited?"
" Eh, ah-hem." He probably thought it'd be easy getting my respect and support as the father of my 'lover'.
Feeling awkward he sits back down. " Well, you see, I wanted to talk to my son Alex." He glances, for the first time, at Alex, before turning back to me. " I also wanted to discuss business with you afterwards, Mr. Anderson."
" Hmm." I turn towards Alex and mentally talk to him.
' Should I step out?' Since we've been together everyday lazing around, it's not really a trial world anymore.
I need to find out if he's worth taking care of.
Let's see what you can do, host.
He stares into my eyes for a second. ' Yeah, it's fine. I want to know what he's really here for.'
'Okay.'
"Well, since you are father and son, I'll give you five minutes. Say what you need quickly." I get up and close the door behind me. Before I do that though, I throw in an invisible surveillance camera. I lean against the wall by the door as I pull out my system interface.
Alex is looking down and fiddling with his hands, acting jittery and nervous. Wow, a host that can act, how nice.
Raan leans back, and sneers.
" Leaving for a month without even asking for permission, what an ungrateful child. Do you even know how heart broken your step mother was? At least your brothers cheered her up." Alex's older brother, Ron was from the step mom, when she was just a mistress and the previous madam was still alive. The younger brother, Jean, was born after she became the lady of the household.
" I- I- I'm sorry." Alex bows his head, further hiding his face.
" Ha! And you still stutter? Does that young man even understand what you say?"
" H-he do-does." In a teary voice, Alex replies.
" Maybe, since you walked in holding hands and all. Anyway, after I finish talking to him coax him into accepting my business proposal. Understood?"
" Wh-what? I c-can't." Weakly and timidly, Alex acts scared.
" You can't even do that? It's just asking for a small favor before he throws you away."
" He wo-won't throw me away."
" You're a man, well barely, but it's not like you can give birth. After he's done playing with you, he'll find a proper young lady to build a family with. At least get some benefits while you still can, idiot." Alex remains silent now, but Raan keeps yapping. " If you were female, I could have had you slip him something and get you pregnant to tie our family's but your useless, even from birth."
Finished with the insults, he softens his voice. " Alex, after he finishes playing around, you'll have no where to go. You'll end up coming back to the Seaphire house, and I'll welcome you with open arms if you can just help with asking Blake for a couple favors. Understood?"
" O-okay." Alex finally speaks up.
" Good." Raan smiles, satisficed. He adds sternly, " But you must not tell him I asked you to do so. Act as if it comes from your heart, and you want to help your father from guilt after running away from home."
Alex silently nods, showing obedience. Raan taps his feet in happiness and gets up to call me back in there. I put away the interface and enter.
" Ah, Mr. Anderson, I was just about to call you back."
I walk past him, ignoring him once again.
" Haha..." He tries to laugh off my rudeness. " Ehem, well this is the proposal I wanted to show you. The IT company under the Anderson group, RE: Son, showed interest in my companies new software invention, about a month ago." He places a packet on the table in front of me.
I skim through it for a minute as Raan talks about it's good points.
Placing it down, I say, " I'll think about it. Is that all?"
" Yes, yes, do think about it. Then I'll see my self out, Mr. Anderson. No need to see me out." He scurries out, closing the door after himself.
I turn to see Alex nibbling on a soft cookie . No longer acting, teary eyes cleared and frightened appearance put away. How quick, the switch happened in less than a second.
" What'd he say?"
" You already know." He ignores me as he leans forward to pour himself a cup of tea.
" Really now?" I raise an eyebrow a him.
"Uh- huh. Anyway could you accept his proposal?"
" Why?"
" To string him along and crush him after getting his hopes up."
Alex leans over my knee, putting his weight on me as he reaches to the contract and flips a few pages before pointing out something.
" What about this part?" I question.
" It's either faulty or he's hiding something else about it."
" How do you know that?"
" He was enthusiastic the entire time, except for when you were reading this page. He looked nervous and anxious to skip over it. He also tried to guide you to the next page without making it obvious."
" I see. So I accept for now, then what?"
" Investigate this, focus on the materials used and where they come from, as well as their composition. Keep it a secret though and wait a month. By that time he would have put all his eggs in your basket, without a single back up plan. You can then take out the evidence and berate him. Leave a public statement saying 'you wanted to give the Seaphire company a chance despite it's low performance recently, but was left disappointed at their dishonest means that would have given your company a huge blow had you went along with it without investigating.'"
" Hmm, sure, I'll try your plan." Seems interesting enough for now.
" What do you think?"
" Of your plan? It's interesting."
" Thanks, but I'm not talking about that." He shakes his head while chewing on a chocolate biscuit. " Did I pass?"
" Pass what?" I say innocently.
" Did I pass your test? Am I worth working with now?"