The woman pressed the button that took us to the top floor. The place was like a palace, like the most beautiful palace ever. There seemed to be so much money in this world that no one has any use for them.
The woman stopped in front of a reddish-brown wooden double door and knocked softly twice. She waited for a few seconds and pushed open the door.
I followed her into a library-like study. I was amazed by the ceiling to floor shelves occupied by books that it took a while for me to notice the beautiful mural on the ceiling before the table at the other end of the room before a large bay window.
Behind the door and in front of the window sat was a chair where a man sat with a pipe held to his lips.
I looked from the man to the large black wild cat beside the man which looked like a statue until I saw it blink. I swallowed.
I moved my gaze back to the man who had blonde hair and a fine whisker just like one of those actors in old movies. I bit my lips. The man was not Asian like me but he looked more strict than any Asian father I have ever seen.
His green eyes did not hesitate to glare at me which made me exhale wondering he brought me 'home' when it was obvious that he did not want to be looking at me at this moment.
I had no idea what to do after the meeting. Was I supposed to greet or ignore him? Back at home, I would not have hesitated for a second before bowing to my waist to greet my father whenever I visited his study.
I guess you must be saying, then what are you waiting for, bow, greet and get this scene over with. But—
But firstly, he might not be used to receiving such formal greetings because of a possible cultural difference.
And secondly, I have never rehearsed earth on how to talk to a father as an illegitimate child only if . . . You know . . . Which I strongly believe is impossible because . . . You know . . . my mother is not like that. I strongly believe that!
The man sucked the pipe while flicking his long white fingers toward me. Oh, thanks, man.
That was meant to be an escape from all the arguments going on in my mind and that will save my strength. Thanks, man. I turned and began walking towards the door praising the Lord on my mind.
"Not you, come over here," I heard a raspy voice call out to me.
Oh gosh! Why!? I turned after wincing with my back facing him. When I finally faced him, I tried to smile although I did not know if that was right or not.
I must say that I did not expect his voice to be that raspy. Like it was really raspy. I cleared my throat with my shoulder high as I approached the fat man sitting behind the table with a bow tie around his neck making him look like a pig for slaughter.
Extreme, right? But frank. No offense but I must thank the mother of this boy wherever she was for giving this boy all the beautiful genes he inherited because this man had none of it.
This is where I must take back what I say about this world having only fine people. This man was a complete out-of-place.
"I know you hate me and for that, I have nothing to say," the man continued to talk in his raspy voice.
Since I believe I hate I guess it is only right I act that way because that will make this scene perfect but this time, it will be scripted by me. I had every right to act as it pleases me because I hated him, right?
I would have loved a seat where I would be able to lean back and cross my feet with a bored expression.
Now, that would have been perfect for my script, especially with the dislike I felt towards the man for making my cat so scared of being in his mansion but the set was not right, so...
I was forced to stand and looked at the man who was smoking his pipe as he waited for me to speak. I squeezed my lips thoughtfully.
Yeah, I finally had something to say. No . . . More like a question to ask. "Why am I here? I was supposed to move to the next state and not directly to the capital."
The man gave a loud unpleasant raspy laughter and made me feel a strong urge to cover my ears.
"I was waiting for you to ask," he said and the smile disappeared and got replaced by a sad expression. "You are still so predictable."
"So, why? Why am I here?"
"You are here to replace your brother who got punished by the king for having an intimate relationship with the king's new fiancée," the man said with a trace of embarrassment which he tried to cover up with an almost natural smile.
So, I was here to replace a criminal. A criminal replacing another criminal? I should be happy although I was a replacement because, at the end of it all, I was going to be closer to my escape route.
"Your brother used to manage the mine and with the crime, he commit against the king, the king wanted to take the exclusive mining right from us among many others because my son won't be available to manage it.
"You will go to help manage the mine and I will find a way to promote you to the processing plant. With that, hopefully, you will be able to win favor with the king.
"When you find favor with the king, he will give you a position in the capital, and that way, our family will be able to maintain its position as the third richest in the universe."
WTAF? I wanted to walk over to the man and punch his guts out and it took me a lot of restraint to. Why did he decide to ruin it all just when I was thinking about how close I was to leaving this world.
I could find a way to sneak out to find the passage. I will find time, right? Oh gosh . . . it was moments like this I miss my mother's encouraging motivational speeches of how I was capable most.