As their niece left, the nurse continued to guide them to the director's office. He received them with the same respect he gave to everyone who came to him for whatever reason, and invited them to sit down.
"Sir, I am here because I am willing to pay Miles' expenses," John said after he had settled in.
The director stared at him in amazement. Of all the topics he thought the young boy might want to talk about, that was not one.
"Who are you, sir? Any relation of Miles?"
"No... But now that you've spoken, I've noticed something strange... Where are his relatives? The nurse said he has no family, but that's impossible, right?"
"They were looked for but didn't care about Miles' fate. He was not a person... He took many actions that drove his family away... He made a lot of wrong choices."
John became thoughtful. He had no family either. Not by blood. That would probably happen to him when he couldn't stand working anymore.
"I will take over his expenses because the nurses are sacrificing themselves to keep him here and they need their hard-earned money."
"I don't own this nursing home." The director said hurtfully. "If I owned it, I wouldn't take their money. But the owners of this place are very materialistic. I manage to get around the medical expenses and lie that he doesn't stay here on weekends, but I can't do more than that. My salary is not enough to keep him here without their help. I also have a family to support."
"I didn't mean to criticize him in any way," John said sincerely. "I just told you of my reasons for taking on this expense," John said and pulled a card from his pocket and his cell phone. He dialed a number and soon Dercy answered on the other end. "Dercy you sir..."
"Benjamin." The director said his name as John looked at him suggestively.
"Mister Benjamin will call you in a few minutes. I want you to arrange for the money to be deposited for life into the account he will inform you of." He said and hung up the cell phone handing the card to the director and standing up.
The director stood up as well and shook John's hand.
"May God reward you for what you are doing."
John shook his head and walked away followed by Thomas.
"What do you intend to do now? Are you going back to the forest?"
John no longer wanted to involve his friend in that madness that dominated his life. Thomas didn't deserve that burden. He would no longer allow him to waste a second of his life caring for his obsession.
"No. I won't even think about her anymore. I will live my life. I must have had some kind of hallucination. I will never think about anything related to that forest again."
Thomas was silent and thoughtful. He would go into that forest. John had given up, but to him, Miles had issued a challenge and John was running away from it. He believed everything his friend told him that day he returned from the forest. And he would seek answers for himself, without John knowing. His life depended on it.
They went to the building where they worked. Thomas would take one side and John the other. That was John's office. They also lived in the same building. Thomas was aware of his friend's benevolence towards him. If it weren't for John, he would still be dependent on his father and without any respect in the company, he would one day inherit. But John gave him everything. He taught him the job, and Thomas did well. Now he was John's right-hand man in his vast empire. As much as he earned well, he knew that his salary was not enough to pay for all the luxuries he had access to, and secretly knew that John would find a way to pay his expenses before the charges came to him.
They were the last to leave the building in the evening and went straight to the garage as usual. John smiled satisfied to see his car parked in the same spot where the chef's car had been parked. He went into the house and saw that Thomas was following him. He arched an eyebrow. Thomas always went out partying when he got off work. He shrugged and went straight to his penthouse after he parked the car.