As Esong Wu was walking out of the capital bank, someone wrapped a hand around his shoulders. It was a man, similar in age and height to Esong. His hair was a light shade of green but it was just as long as Esong's in length.
"What do you want Folsom?" Esong shrugged the hand off.
"I think you mean Admiral Folsom." the man responded.
"I will call you admiral when you decide to take your duties seriously and stop following me around."
Folsom chuckled as if Esong had just said something very funny. "We both know that I am an admiral in name only. I accepted it to keep my father quiet, my loyalty lies with you one hundred percent."
Esong grunted and quickened his steps. He navigated a small crowd outside was causing a bit of a ruckus because an actor had walked into the bank.
"Wait for me." Folsom called eagerly.
When Esong ignored him and kept walking, Folsom smirked and shouted, "General Esong Wu, the great mecha king, please wait for me."
The crowd which was screaming for the actor turned their attention in Esong's direction.
"It's the mecha king." someone screamed.
"Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrhhhhhh." excited screams followed. The loudest screams were mostly female. A lot of people in the crowd started running in his direction.
Esong cursed and took off running until he reached his mecha and locked himself inside. He vowed to beat Folsom black and blue the moment he saw him.
He turned on the screen to see the environment outside. His mecha was sitting in a well protected secure area but he would not put it past fanatical fans to try and get past security in order to get to him.
His phone rung and he answered it. "You can come out now, It's perfectly safe." his right hand man Ian told him.
"And Folsom?" he asked.
"Right here in Cedric's arms."
Esong evacuated the mecha and he lunged at Folsom as if they were natural enemies that could not stand the sight of one another.
"I was trying to help." Folsom laughed.
"I am going to cut that ridiculous hair off today." Esong warned Folsom.
Folsom replied sarcastically and dramatically, "No, not my beautiful hair. Oh what will I do without my hair?" Cedric placed his hand over Folsom's mouth.
Ian and Cedric were running interference, trying to keep Folsom and Esong separate.
"Shut up before he sends you to mine energy stones." Cedric whispered to Folsom.
Folsom grunted and replied, "I am an admiral now, he doesn't scare me anymore."
Cedric and Ian shared a look then Cedric let Folsom go. "Since he doesn't scare you anymore, who are we to stop him from getting to you."
It was not uncommon for Folsom to irritate Esong. It had always been this way since their days in the academy when they were learning to fly and fight in mechas.
Esong was always number one in the academy and Folsom was number two which created a one sided rivalry from Folsom that Esong never responded to.
After suffering dozens of defeats at Esong's hands, Folsom gave up and he befriended Esong.
Still, over the years Folsom did not stop poking Esong every time he got a chance. It always ended in an ass whooping for him. Folsom and Cedric were expecting nothing less right now.
"This is gonna be so good." Ian said with a smile on his face.
"I would hold off on that joy if I were you, Esong's attention is not on Folsom anymore. He is looking at his terminal."
Folsom, Cedric and Ian looked at their bracelet terminals to see if there was any bad news in the empire. Was there an attack or threat of attack against the empire?
There was no such news so they looked at Esong.
Cedric came closer and he asked, "Esong, is something bothering you?"
Esong looked at Cedric and he asked, "What's wrong with women?"
"Women!!!" Cedric repeated after Esong. "What is this about women?"
Folsom and Ian drew closer with their ears wide open.
"I heard something about women." Folsom said with a wide grin on his face. "Esong have you finally developed interest in the opposite sex?"
Ian slapped Folsom on the back or saying a stupid thing. "He has a child, I am pretty sure that the boat on his interest in the opposite sex has sailed."
"Oh come on," Folsom winced and rubbed his back. "We know how that child came about."
"His organ was able to work, isn't that clear proof that he likes women?" Ian asked.
"Both of you shut up," Cedric shouted at the two idiots to his side. They were arguing about a debate that had never been settled. What mattered more now was finding out what was bothering Esong. "Esong, what do you want to know?"
"I sent her money and she changed her username on star net to say that I suck very very much. What does that mean?" Esong appeared to be very befuddled.
"It means you suck." Folsom said the word suck very loudly.
Cedric glared at Folsom and then he looked at Esong and he asked, "Which woman?"
"Her, Scarlet, my wife." Esong replied.
Folsom and Ian hissed.
"You said her name!!" Ian was shocked.
"And you didn't regurgitate!!" Folsom said.
Anytime Esong mentioned Scarlet's name his face turned grey as if he was about to vomit. His eyes would bulge in anger and the veins in his neck would swell as if they would pop at any moment.
"He called her his wife." Cedric added.
"My God!!! the world is coming to an end." Folsom said exaggeratedly.
"She dared to mention a divorce to me in her text and she said she would keep my son." Esong continued on as if he had not heard their words or see their expressions.
"Isn't the divorce a good thing?" Ian asked.
"You idiot, members of the royal family do not get divorced." Cedric reminded Ian.
Esong looked at his unhelpful friends and he realized that none of them was actually in a relationship, married or had a child. What could they understand about his situation?
"Forget it, just come with me to the agricultural research bureau."