Chapter 168: Around For Long

Lex's POV

He seemed rather hesitant to speak, but I gave him all the time he needed as I sat behind him, staring at his reflection from the mirror.

"Do you really have nothing to talk about after all these years of working for my father? At least you should have a family of your own and experiences you think could be interesting to share. Believe me, I am super bored right now, and I wish I could go back to Lisa's house and spend the night, but I can't," I said to him, trying to convince him to open up, and as if my words had worked magic, he cleared his throat almost immediately.

"I didn't have the time to think about starting a family of my own; all these years I guess I have been more interested in earning a living, so I spent all my years working for your father and saving up for retirement, which would be in a few years' time."

Listening to him say that I couldn't hide the surprise on my face because what the heck did he mean by saying he didn't have the time to think about having a family of his own? How then did he cope working for my father all these years?

"You don't mean that, right?" I asked him, my gaze even more intense now as I stared at the reflection as if I were going to read through his soul.

"I mean it, sir, and I mean every word of what I have just said. Aside from my family, where I was born and I grew up, I have not had a family of my own, and despite how aged I am, I am still very much the bachelor who is still working."

"I find that hard to believe. What then motivated you to keep working all these years if you didn't have a family to look up to and a future of yours only you could come back to and be so happy in the end? I mean, I do not mean to pry, but after your retirement, then what next? Do you plan on getting married after retirement?" I asked him even though I knew that was kind of an absurd question to ask.

"I still hope to get married even though I am very much older now and way past that stage in the eyes of many, and as a matter of fact, my job did not give me time to really find someone or get a chance at love, and I do not believe in getting married randomly after seeing what a lot of people suffer for that."

An awkward silence followed after he made that last sentence. Of course he had watched a lot of people make the wrong choice in marriage; he had seen them suffer, my own mother inclusive.

"My mother, I know she suffered a lot in that marriage, but I mean, I was too young to really figure things out except that I could read the room every time and I could sense the unhappiness in the air. "Was there anything about that phase for her that you know about?" I asked him, not sure if he was going to respond to it because that was kind of out of context.

"Are you trying to know if your mother ever said anything to me while she was going through the problems in her marriage?" He said to me, narrowing the question down in a way that I had avoided.

"Not really, I just want to know if you noticed anything about her, whether directly or indirectly. I mean, she's dead now, what could possibly be so hard to talk about?" I said, trying to pretend like it was fine to talk about it even though I was still struggling despite all those years.

"She looks strong outside; she never lets the public figure out that she has issues with her marriage. I suppose your father was in for it too, as he always was the perfect husband outside. Whenever I stood by the car and watched them display the perfect couple life before the camera, I wondered how a solution could be brought in when the world thinks them to be perfect."

"There was no solution. With my father there cannot be a solution, at least not one that is intended to change him but one that should eliminate him."

I couldn't tell what part of that sentence frightened him so much as I suddenly stepped on the car brakes, coming to a halt so quickly that I lost my balance.

"What is the matter? Did you run over something? I asked, thinking he collided with something or was avoiding hitting it.

"Did you just say that you want to eliminate your father? "Sir, I do understand that your father is not a very easy person to deal with and that all these years you might have developed a certain amount of hatred for him considering the way your relationship with him has been, but you shouldn't say that out loud," he said to me, and if I was not overthinking it, I must have thought that he was scolding me.

"You really think that my father should not be eliminated? He must have been a very super employer to you, hasn't he? Tell me how much you love him and how much you are loyal to him."

"That is not what I'm talking about, sir," he said, slowly turning around this time to look at me as he held on to the steering wheel now with our car still standing in the middle of the road.

"Your father has a lot of loyal guards and maids and people who work for him, and if anyone should hear this coming from you, they are going to report it to your father, and believe me when I say that your father does not keep loose ends; he would make sure he does something that would either change you in a way that you never expect or change the way you see things," he said to me.

"What exactly is that supposed to mean?"