"What can I help you with Miss Alina?" The teacher asked. The teacher was a burly man in his middle age with grey hair.
"Hello Mr. Barry, is Neale Blake here?" Alina Blake asked the tone of her voice sweet and polite and her facial expression full of happiness and friendliness.
"Now that's what you call an expert actor." Neale scoffed, remembering her attitude the night before.
"Oh, Neale Blake? He is present. Mister Blake, Please come out to meet Miss Blake." Mr. Barry said to Neale before turning away to continue writing his notes on the board. "Their Surnames are a little similar." He thought to himself.
As the teacher thought about what had just happened, the more it made less sense to him. The daughter of the famous tycoon Lucas Blake, a girl who even had a bright future in the entertainment industry, that girl had just come to meet Neale Blake, an absolute nobody. No, he was worse than a nobody. If people were numbers, Alina Blake would be a perfect 100, and as for Neale? Neale would be a 100 alright, except with a minus in front. He'd be a -100 because in a world where any of the Blakes existed, be it Lucas, Sofia, or Alina Blake, an average person was worth less than nothing.
Furthermore, there were rumors that Neale Blake student that had a past of delinquency. Mr. Blake made a mental note to ensure that Neale Blake didn't get too close to Alina. It would be a tragedy not even comparable to a cataclysmic disaster if Alina got negatively influenced by that delinquent of a student.
Neale who had been close to falling asleep when Alina had come to call him, stood up to go meet Alina outside. Although he had been nearly dozing off, Neale was a pretty hardworking student. It just happened to be the Mathematical lesson, a subject at which Neale was astronomically bad. Despite how much he studied, he never seemed to understand anything.
Neale sighed to himself as he walked over to the door and as he walked, he could feel the sharp stares of his classmates piercing him from all angles. It was clear that all of the students were curious as to why Alina Blake, the superstar of the school, No, of the country, had come to meet this average Joe named Neale Blake. Most of the students were curious about the identity of Neale because even though it was evident through simple observation that Neale had no wealth or status, Not only did he beat up Felix, a student with incredible wealth and status without no obvious consequences, but Alina Blake, a superstar, but had also come to the class solely to meet him. The curiosity was killing the students more rapidly than fire would burn dry grass.
It was only after Mr. Barry had reprimanded the students for not concentrating and commanded them to return to their work, did the students finally retract their gazes. But even after that, Neale realized that Mr. Barry was glaring at him with a gaze more intense than the other 17 students altogether. Neale quickened his pace to quickly leave the class.
"What do you want?" Neale almost hissed to Alina once they were alone in the hallways.
"No greetings? You were the one that gave a speech about how we were siblings and that we had to accept it." Alina grumbled, sounding annoyed.
"Finally, the Alina that I know reveals herself. Just quickly tell me what you're here for, I need to return to class." Lucas said, his face stoic and vacuous.
Alina rolled her eyes before speaking, "Dad said I should let you know that Joshua is going to come to pick you up later."
"Who is Joshua?"
"Dad's driver"
"At what time?" Neale asked, raising his eyebrow in question.
"Dad has that habit too..." Alina thought to herself before answering.
"Sometime around 4."
"Alright, I'll be ready."
~~~
A boy walked alone through the quiet streets of Kennington. He wore a black hoodie and he had the appearance of a 17-year-old boy. The boy strode through the streets and then into the park nearby. He seemed to be searching for something, or something. He looked around the lonely park and looked through the trees, trying to find what he was looking for. The boy listened to the melodious whistling of the wind through the trees and he felt the cold breeze tickling the surface of his skin.
Then there it was, the rustling of the leaves in the nearby bushes was heard. The boy turned toward the direction of the sound. He controlled his breathing and stayed calm as he waited for the person he was waiting for. From between the trees, three men appeared. The men were engaged in conversation when they emerged but they paused their conversation when they saw the boy standing there.
The lean man in the middle came forward, he had stylish hair which was dyed blonde and he wore a vest that showed off his tattooed muscles.
"Hey, kid. isn't it a bit past your bedtime for you to be loitering around?" The man sniggered as he said.
The boy didn't immediately reply but instead inspected the man from head to toe. "It matches the description, "The boy thought to himself.
"Are you the person that bothered my mother?" Neale asked as his gaze pierced a hole in the man's skull.
The man seemed a little surprised by the question but the expression disappeared almost as quickly as it appeared. The man laughed out loud as he swaggered over to the boy. He stopped a short distance away from the boy before he replied mockingly, "Who the hell are you."
The boy didn't reply to the question with a question of his own.
"Are you the fool that bothered my mother?" The boy said, his voice slow, calm, and venomous.
"What the hell did you say, boy!?" The man said angrily. The man took a step closer to the boy and raised his hand, ready to strike the boy standing before him.
By now, plenty of other men, who all seemed to be part of the same group had arrived. From amongst them, the one who appeared to be the leader by the way the other men surrounded him, spoke up. He had an athletic build which was almost hidden by the suit and the coat he wore. On his head sat a hat.
"That is enough, Tyler!" The man said.
But his words fell on deaf ears for the man didn't stop himself from swinging his hands n the direction of the boy. The boy, however, didn't just stand there and receive the slap. His hand was already swung, making contact with the man's face first. The man stumbled backward before falling backward onto the ground. Every single person present there was greatly stunned by what had just occurred. They waited for the man to get up from the ground and launch vitriolic insults at the boy but the man never got up.
He was knocked out cold.
Neale reached home at quarter to three. He had taken a short 10-minute walk home and Fin had insisted on accompanying him under the pretense of "It is on the way to my house. Somehow Neale didn't buy the excuse.
"I have an hour before Lucas Blake sends his driver to come and pick me up," Neale mumbled to himself. "I should take a shower and complete my chores around the apartment.".
Neale had a shower and changed out of his school uniform before changing into something more comfortable, the day before he had visited Lucas Blake's family while still in his school uniform. While the uniform had a smart look, It was still pretty uncomfortable and it felt weird walking around in school uniform.
Today, Neale decided to wear black sweatpants with a matching hoodie. Neale looked like an athlete ready to compete in a professional competition.
Neale looked out of the window of his small apartment and looked at the large and beautiful city of eagles bay. In the distance, there stood the tallest building in the city, and on it read; Blake Industries.
This was a detail Neale hadn't noticed, and time and time again Neale was discovering how powerful Lucas Blake was. As Neale thought about it properly, he could feel his headache as he tried to process all of the information in his head. Lucas Blake was, actually his father and he was sure of it. The DNA results were going to be shown to Neale on that very day, Lucas Blake had told him. Neale had managed to delay his fate of moving in with his new family by insisting on seeing the DNA results first.
Even though everything added up but Neale kept trying to escape the reality that he was afraid would crush him. Neale's mother had told him that his dad had left just before he was born and that was exactly what Lucas Blake had said in his story. Furthermore, Lucas Blake had the marriage certificate as proof of marriage to Neal's mother.
Neale just sighed to himself, he would have to accept Neale Blake as his father when another person had filled that gap in his life. Neale chose not to think about it. Neale checked his watch and saw it was almost time for Lucas Blakes's driver to arrive. Neale immediately went to take the stairs to the bottom so he could go wait on the street. Neale lived on the 6th floor so it took a while to reach the bottom. Neale didn't have to wait long before an expensive-looking Audi pulled up.
Neale jumped into the car and soon the car took off.
"What's up!" The driver greeted me, his tone friendly.
"Just the usual, You?" Neale replied.
"Same here. So you're the boss's boy, right?" The driver asked, occasionally turning to look at Neale.
"That's what I hear," Neale said with a slight laugh.
Joshua happened to be a very friendly guy and Neale was soon getting along with him like they were long-time friends. They spoke until they reached Blake's Industries, once the car had entered the underground parking lot and had parked. Neale immediately got off and followed Joshua into the building. They entered the elevator and it was not long before they reached the floor in which the office of Lucas Blake, the boss of Blake Industries was situated.
When Joshua reached the door with Neale, the guards at the door recognized Joshua and asked him to wait a moment. They asked Lucas Blake for permission to allow the two of them entry and soon Neale and Joshua bother entered the room.
"Here is the boy, Boss," Joshua said to Lucas.
"Thank you for escorting him all the way here, Joshua. You may leave." Lucas said a smile on his face.
"No problem boss," Joshua said with a nod of the head before leaving.
Lucas Blake waited for Joshua to leave before turning to Neale. He didn't speak but instead, he just focused his gaze on Neale. There was some unknown emotion in his eyes.
"Neale," Lucas Blake finally."How are you."
"I'm okay."Neale replied." And yourself?"
"I'm fine." Lucas Blake said."I called you here to speak about a lot of things."
"Like what?" Neale enquired.
"Well, let's begin at your link with Stray Tigers," Lucas said, his eyes staring right into Neale's soul.