Estella accidentally dropped her pocket mirror and the sound of it clattering on the floor jogged Lithe out of his memories and back to the present.
"Zen is awake now. It's only fair that I go and talk with him, gauge his mood and try to repair this dire situation," said Lithe, turning to leave the room.
Brian grabbed his hand and said, "I'll go with you."
Lithe snapped at him, "haven't you caused enough trouble! You shouldn't even be in this room right now."
Then Lithe managed to shrug off Brian's tight grasp on his arm and said, "Let go of my arm. Just looking at you makes my stomach sick, you almost ruined everything!"
"You forgot how I found you. You were lying naked beneath another man," fumed Brian.
What exactly was Brian's problem?
Lithe worked under him, in his mind he wasn't an option because he did not mix business with pleasure.
Furthermore, Lithe was just not attracted to him physically and worse he had anger management problems.
Later he would recommend a therapist to Brian when things calmed down a bit.
"So what? Who I choose to sleep with is none of your business, you have no right to intervene."
It seemed like Brian was not about to let Lithe get away with saying this.
"I thought you knew how much I trusted and cared for you," he paused. "Look, I'm really just trying to be friendly and look out for you but you are being," by this point Brian was sputtering with rage, "bloody rude to me."
"Bloody rude," scoffed Lithe, "who me? Well I don't remember anyone saying I had to be anything but polite and professional with you. Yet here you are repeatedly pushing my boundaries."
"As the son of your employer I have been nothing but nice to you. You take my kindness for weakness."
"For God's sake, I have never asked you to be extra nice to me. Yet you broke into my room and assaulted my one night stand but you don't see anything wrong with that. It would be nice if you were actually a nice person deep down but you are not, stop fooling yourself!"
"Had I known you were nothing but an ungrateful slut," replied Brian, putting a disgusting emphasis on the word slut, "I would never have intervened and tried to save you from a lifetime of regrets."
By now Lithe was furious that his private life was being aired like dirty laundry.
"As I stated earlier, I never asked for your help, I didn't need to be saved, I was enjoying it."
Lithe's face was a mottled red as he blushed furiously, you could hear a pin drop in the room.
The older couples remained silent choosing wisely to sit on the sidelines and watch the drama play out.
They had never seen Lithe look so passionate about anything that didn't involve money.
It was like they were seeing another side to their normally unflappable Chief Advisor and this made him seem more likable and human to them.
"What are you talking about?" shouted Brian who was getting more heated. "I saved you. How am I in the wrong here?"
"Just forget it," said Lithe, shaking his head. "I'm not interested in you and I have no desire to get to know you or be intimate with you. Let's just leave it at that.
Lithe moved away slowly putting more distance between himself and Brian who was huffing and puffing out his chest in his anger.
Brian looked down in disdain at his empty hand that no longer gripped Lithe's arm as if he still could not truly believe that Lithe was rejecting him.
Much less embarrassing Brian in front of his own family like this, still determined not to give up, he cornered Lithe once more and said softly.
"No, I won't accept this from you. I can't just leave it like that."
"Why won't you listen to me? Or don't, just go screw yourself," then Lithe shoved with all his might against Brian's chest.
Since he had pushed Lithe by the neck backwards with his back up against the wall and his family members just stood there in shock and watched Brian manhandle Lithe aggressively.
When he saw the shock on Lithe's face and that he was trembling in fear despite the stubborn look on his face.
The fight went out of Brian and he turned to face his parents but he did not like the look of disappointment he saw on their faces.
"Lithe calm down and Brian please go quietly or we'll have to call in the security to restrain you. It's your fault for acting without thinking and losing your temper. Everyone can attest that you made this situation ten times worse than it needs to be," added Christina.
Estella chimed in, "Lithe is right. You should stay out of sight. If Zen decides to press charges, he is within his rights and you could go to prison if he refuses to be paid off."
Brian gave his sisters a disgusted look for their betrayal by siding with Lithe and a stranger.
Upset and feeling like everyone was against him Brian stormed out of the room without a word the backdoor slamming shut behind him.
How did things get so messy, he couldn't exactly file a restraining order against his employer's son.
In his mind it would be better to just hand in his resignation but he knew he would never find a job that he enjoyed that gave as many perks as this.
He thought to himself time heals all wounds, perhaps he could just give himself and Brian some breathing space.
Perhaps, Brian would find someone else and forget about him, he didn't know how he managed to get in such an entanglement with Brian.
He did his best to hardly ever be alone with Brian, the only reason he knew about the plan with Zen was because as a part of the family he was privy to the details.
Yet never in a million years did it occur to any of them that Brian felt so passionately about Lithe and would respond to the situation like this, what a mess.
When this Starke deal was over, Lithe was definitely going to take a vacation.
Right now he would just have to settle for a day at the spa, he needed some tlc to improve the soured mood.
Estella came over and hugged Lithe, she knew how fragile Lithe was and easily shattered.
It was hard to watch him try to be strong and put on another facade in front of the family.
Lithe only gave himself a few minutes to regain his composure before he had to go out and face Zen in the other room.