Chapter 22 SOCIAL DOMINANCE

Chapter 22 SOCIAL DOMINANCE
“I’d suggest you take a step back Dr. Blaine,” Xavier said in an authoritative voice, the system humming within him and giving him the morale he needed for the confrontation before him. “I wouldn’t want things to get messy.”

The tension in the restaurant started to get extremely high as Nathaniel started feeling uncomfortable. 

He looked from Xavier to Blaine to see that neither one of them wanted to give up. 

He gave a small sigh. “Come on, guys, please, we don't really have to do it.”

“Shut up, scaredy cat. Nobody asked you,” one of Blaine's minions snapped at Nathaniel as Xavier looked from Blaine to the minions, who looked at Xavier's eyes and knew that Xavier was not one to mess with. 

Xavier then looked back at Blaine, pointing to other seats around. “I'm counting four window seats. We are sitting on one. There are three remaining. Go to any one of them. We don't have to have a face-off every time we meet.”

Blaine burst out into a heavy laughter, holding his belly and straightening up. His minions joined in with nervous laughter as Nathaniel exchanged glances with Xavier. 

They were both confused on what the joke was. 

Blaine then looked at Xavier as his laughter slowly turned into a chuckle before it disappeared. 

“You are very funny. For someone who just appeared and started working here not up to two days, you have done a lot of things that makes me question if you're even worthy to hold my shoe. You sit here and you speak to me like we are both on the same level, telling me I should go and find somewhere else to sit. I want to sit here. What part of that are you not getting into your thick skull? Do you want me to slap the shit out of you?”

That was when Nathaniel got to his feet. “Okay, okay, we don't need to get physical. We are all doctors here. Same department…”

“Not same department, Natty,” Blaine snapped at Nathaniel, who raised his hand in surrender and stepped back. “Okay, we don't really need to get physical. All I'm just saying is we can work this out in a nice way. It doesn't need to be about fighting. I mean, let's be honest, Alex just arrived here. He's a newbie. I mean, come on, just have mercy on the newbie. We all know that you're high and mighty, but can we tone it down a bit? We're just trying to eat here, man. We've had a very rough day. I’m sure there are other things you’d rather be doing than fighting with us.”

Blaine looked from Nathaniel to Xavier, then narrowed his eyes.

Xavier didn’t back down. Instead, he leaned slightly forward, and delivered his words like a heavy slap in a sharp tone.

“For someone born into power, you rely heavily on intimidation. That usually means there isn’t much else underneath... is that what you're trying to prove in front of everyone?”

The restaurant seemed to fall into silence, and everyone's eyes started turning towards Blaine as if they're agreeing with Xavier.

Blaine’s jaw tightened, his pride visibly struck as his minions exchanged uneasy glances.

For a brief second, it looked like Blaine might explode.

But then he chuckled, though this time the sound lacked its earlier confidence.
“Fine,” he said coldly. “Consider yourself lucky today, as I'm letting you go, but this isn’t over.”

He then shoved the table to the side like a child throwing a tantrum before turning around and walking away with his minions.

\[SOCIAL DOMINANCE CHALLENGE COMPLETED\]
\[PUBLIC HUMILIATION AVOIDED\]
\[REPUTATION INCREASED\]
\[Five Million Credited\]

Nathaniel took in deep breaths before sitting down as he looked at Xavier, who was still unnecessarily calm. 

“Do you have some kind of supernatural death wish?”

Xavier raised a brow. “What are you talking about? Did you lose your mind because of that idiot?”

Nathaniel scoffed. “No, I'm just asking you if you have a death wish. You, talking to him like he's your old classmate from high school. You need to know how to hold yourself back Alex. That is Blaine Thorne. I don't know how many times I have to say this for you to understand that going against the Thorne family could put you six feet under. I'm not joking. Every single person who has gone against them has not survived.”

Xavier chuckled, then leaned forward, placing his elbows on the table and clasping his hands together. 

“Yet you have gone against them and somehow survived.”

Nathaniel sighed, shaking his head, “I can't believe this. I’m friends with a psycho. You must really have a mental disorder for you to think that I'm going against them. All I'm doing is appeasing them so we don't have to fight.... Can't you see that?"

Xavier didn’t respond. He simply took a slow sip of water, as if humiliating Blaine had required more energy than the conversation itself.

He hid his satisfaction behind another calm sip, as he never expected finding strongest version of himself would earn him millions.

Nathaniel frowned at Xavier's smile, "what exactly are you smiling about Alex? Aren't you really aware of the situation we are in? If we were to fight, I would lose. You would lose. We would all lose. And I'm not in the category of the losing kind. I don't want to lose. I love my position. If I get demoted again, I would lose my mind. I spent months gathering the connection I have. You, Alex, you are not going to be the reason I lose my life, that I lose my position.”

Xavier shrugged, leaning back and folding his arms across his chest. “Then how about you stop defending me. Let me do my own defense. I'm a man. I can handle my own self, and my own enemies.”

“You don't understand,” Nathaniel shook his head. “But one day you're going to get it, that you don't cross the Thorne family. You don't cross them. So please, you might be a badass in your little town, but when you're here, it's no longer your little town. This hospital, this environment, they belong to the Thorne family. They are a legacy here. The licenses you have, it could be stripped away, just like that.”

He snapped his fingers in the air to show how quick the license could be taken away. 

The food was brought and dropped on the table as the waitress smiled at them before walking away. 

Xavier looked at the food and looked at Nathaniel, who was biting his fingernails in worry. 

“Hey, how about you relax, okay? I'm sorry. I'm the one who caused all these problems for you, but just relax. I didn't mean to be a macho man or anything. I just wanted to stand up for us. Turns out, maybe it was a terrible idea because I'm giving you a lot of problems.”

“You think?” Nathaniel scoffed. 

“How about you eat? The meal's on me.”

“Oh, I had no intention of paying,” Nathaniel chuckled. “I didn't come out with any wallet. I'm broke.”

They laughed before going ahead to eat, but Xavier’s mind was stuck on Blaine and the threat he was. "For someone so arrogant… what made him back down?"