Chapter 21: Family
"Don't you have anything else to do?" I asked, as we had dinner and ate ice cream together. It was already approaching midnight yet Serena still didn't seem to mind spending some more time together.
Not that I was complaining but I was curious as to why she was so free.
"Well I am still searching for a job since I am not going to university for a while," She said as she had her ice cream.
Her mom had apparently grounded her but that didn't last long, which is a common occurrence according to her.
"Oh, where have you applied?" I asked, curiously.
"I applied to be an assistant at the mayor's office and didn't get in." She said casually.
"Wait what? Can just anyone apply for that?"
"Well…not really. Anyways, why did you ask?"
"Well, I just thought you would be a model. You certainly look the part."
"I am a model…"
"So then why do you need to apply for jobs? Shouldn't you be going for auditions and what not to some famous designers or something?" I didn't really have any knowledge regarding the modeling scene so I just tried saying whatever was in my head.
Serena paused for a little, thinking about it, and then she finally replied.
"I am trying to leave that life behind. I don't really like the society and environment the scene brings."
"Who gives a shit about the scene." I told her.
I mean I certainly wasn't one who cared about the opinions of others.
If I did, I wouldn't have left my house in Europe.
I had a very simple philosophy when it came to the opinion of random people, a way to not let other people's judgments get to me.
I imagine that the other people are telling me their point of views on anything like monkeys who are screaming at me, and that I am inside of a zoo.
I divide the stranger and myself with a glass barrier.
Then the question would come, if a monkey was screaming at you in a zoo, do you scream back? So just imagine yourself as a spectator and the monkey as a…well…monkey.
"Do you like modeling?" I asked.
"Yes, I do. I honestly do also like the attention, but when you're the center of spotlight, people like to jump to conclusions very quickly. You get seen in a bar, they call you a serial drinker.
Talk nicely to a coworker and he is a fling.
Have 1 off day and bam, you're made fun of forever. No matter how much better you try to perform later." She ranted.
"I understand what you're saying." I said as I first acknowledged her worries so she didn't think I was brushing past them. I had a little practice from way back when with a whiny person.
"But there are also positive aspects you like about it, right?"
"Well…yes. Who doesn't like feeling good about themselves? Wearing the best clothes and being showered with compliments for doing it."
"Well then, to me, you have your answer right there."
I then opened my phone just to see the time and saw that Tom had sent me a message asking me to come home, which rarely happens.
"Serena, I have to go home. Tom is asking me to come home." I said as I waved for a taxi.
"Is everything okay with your brother?" She asked in slight worry.
"Yes, if it was an emergency I fully trust Tom to be able to deal with it." I told her as the taxi arrived at our location.
Serena opened the door and then looked at me expectantly, and this time I knew what she wanted.
Tom researched about this, and we both realized when you send your date off you need to hug them goodbye. I mean, it made sense.
And Tom is Tom so he should be right.
"Goodbye Serena." I said as I moved in to hug her.
However before I could even react, as she saw me lean it, Serena moved her lips towards mine and she instantly cupped my chin.
My energy instantly shot towards my tongue and into her mouth as well, reacting more dramatically than it did with Blair.
I instinctively moved my hand to the back of her head and to her ass.
However before I could even grab her closer to me, she pulled away and entered the cab.
"See you!" She said as she sped away.
What in god's name…
….
I decided to take a jog back towards my apartment to clear my air, and also since I wanted to save some cash. Tom has been paying so much for me lately and I am beginning to feel bad.
I mean, he clearly didn't seem to mind as he was buying cafes in my name.
"I am home!" I announced as I entered the house.
I was half expecting something crazy since that seemed to be the norm recently, however what I saw was fairly normal.
For some reason, Shikamaru and Tom were playing Chess against each other while Naruto was watching, and Tom was clearly winning.
"Oh, Lucas hey!" Naruto called out excitedly as I walked towards him.
"Hello Naruto, what brings you guys here? I thought you were going to Africa."
"Oh we were, I am just a clone. Shikamaru however had something to ask you and my clone was around town so I decided to drop by and pay a visit."
"I see." I said as I dropped my wallet and phone on the counter nearby.
I then walked to where Naruto was sitting and joined him as well. He seemed to be entirely concentrated in the match as he watched both Shikamarus and Tom's moves.
"Do you understand what is going on?"
"Not at all." He replied instantly.
Tom immediately jumped onto my lap and rubbed his head against my chin when I sat down beside him and broke his concentration.
He then pointed towards the board excitedly and tapped his wrist.
"What is the kitty saying?" Naruto asked.
"He said I came at the perfect time, which apparently is all according to his plan, to see Shikamaru lose."
Shikamaru, who was in his typical thinking position for intense situations, twitched his eyes and opened them.
"I resign."
Tom immediately took out a banner that said Loser and hung it everywhere around the house, and attached Shikamaru's face to it.
"What a drag."
"Good job kitty! I have never seen Shikamaru so stressed before." Naruto said, as he high fived Tom and helped him put the banner up.
Shikmaru was still mumbling about how unfair it was to have just learnt the game and played against Tom when I went to him.
"So, why are you here Shikamaru?" I asked to which he shook himself off the loss and turned to me.
"I am here to talk about your family, Lucas." Shikamaru said as he looked at me calmly.
"What about them?"
"Well, we found traces of them inside of Asia and Africa. You said last you knew they controlled Europe…I believe your family has been expanding their operations."
"Yes, and I already said this was to be expected so what is it that you want to ask me."
"Well, mainly for permission. Your family wants to hire us to take down a warlord in Africa." Shikamaru stated, looking at me for any sort of reaction.
I calmly looked back at him and at Naruto who was celebrating with Tom.
"You can do whatever you want, Shikamaru. I only asked out of courtesy if you could avoid Europe, I have nothing to do with the Morningstar name anymore." I told him as I stood up.
"Even if you knew the ones behind the attack on Serena Vanderwoodsan were them?"
Now this got my attention, as I turned toward Shikamaru in shock. Since when did my family get so ballsy outside of Europe?
"What?"
"Yes, one of Naruto's clones and I were able to investigate why your family seemed to be expanding recently, and we found out that ever since the particle accelerator had exploded they have been behaving differently from the ways they used to operate." He narrated what he knew.
"To the best of your knowledge, how big is your family?" He asked me.
I had to think about it for a second before I answered the question.
"Well, there's the main family where I have 5 uncles and aunts. I myself have 40 cousins and that is as far as I know. There are hundreds of families that are under our banner but do not bear the Morningstar name so the public doesn't question why we are in every single important thing in Europe."
"I see…well now it makes sense. It seems like your family has been forcing marriages, mergers, hostile takeovers and many other underhanded tactics through crimes around the world.
They wanted to kidnap Serena since she controls a portion of the media in this country due to her ridiculous fame. One of the subsidiary families would then send a person who would free her and then propose a marriage to her mothers company and help them. It was all a part of their ploy and they have done it multiple times already."
I nodded, since it sounded like something my family would do.
"My point being I wanted to ask if we could take this job and then get closer to them. This is the first major power in the world that has contacted us and it can be an easy information source."
"Like I said Shikmaru, do as you deem fit."
Shikamaru nodded as this and stood up as he continued to ask, "Then how about Serena? Want me to take care of that?"
"No, I will ask for help if I need it. I have stopped letting my family push me around a long time ago and they will not start again now."
…
Authors note:
Glad to be back boys!
You can read up to 10 chapters ahead if you want to on my p#treon.com/Fat_Cultivator