Chapter 24
The next morning came as a shock to Kevin when he woke up and tried to check on his phone only to find several messages and notifications of the breaking news that his rival and the one who took Gwen away from him – Stewart, is now dead after falling down from the rooftop of his very own company.
“What the hell just happened?” He whispered to himself as he quickly gathered his senses and stood up from his bed. His drowsiness has now gone, and his mind immediately realized something, putting his attention to the internet, and searching for some news regarding himself, and Bethany and all of the false news and accusations made to them that resulted in the company being under fire. He searched the highs and lows of the web, staying for a solid ten minutes, desperately looking for a news article, but it was gone. All of them were gone.
It was as if the story completely wiped itself out of existence on its own.
Kevin switched from searching the web to finding himself by dialing his friend’s number and immediately contacting him. In his mind, came a memory of Lee that helped him throughout college when he had nothing, and his friend was the one who offered him the position to be the one leading it instead of him out of his whim.
He recalled the day that he was called by an old friend, and they talked about leading the company while the contract for being the CEO was in front of him, waiting to be signed.
“Why are you doing this?” Kevin asked him in a serious tone, wanting to reject his offer. He knew that Lee was an aristocrat, but he secretly hoped that he was not the person he was before – doing things and putting them into action on a whim while not thinking them through properly. “Surely, there is a catch, right?”
“There is none,” Lee replied with a flat tone, playing with a pen for a little while and gently giving it to Kevin. “There is no catch here, I am giving you the company that my father gave me. I regret that I had a failure in judgment when I gave it to someone else.”
“But this is yours, Lee,” Kevin insisted, wanting no part of the company to be given to him on a silver platter. “How about you own it and make it flourish? I can’t be a puppet of yours while I am claiming to be the CEO.”
“Is that what you think of me, Kevin?”
He stopped running his mouth and immediately felt the ominous presence of an aristocrat in front of him, making Kevin shut up.
“I appreciate you thinking and believing that I am going to flourish by being the CEO of this company. But the reason for letting you lead this company is not because I want you to be my puppet for a lifetime.”
“Then… what is it?” Kevin asked him, regaining his senses and having a hint of concern about his friend. Lee was never the type to open up in his life, and this is a first for Kevin if he ever gets to open up to him.
“I want to work things on my own… without my father.”
Silence followed, and Kevin only raised his eyebrow at him, confused and wanting to know more. Lee chuckled and closed his eyes, looking at the window beside them and looking at the people walking on the busy street of commerce like ants eager to work.
“Since I was young, I was only handed the things I wanted and needed by just snapping my fingers,” he started to explain his reason, imitating a snap. Kevin might not understand now, but he could see in his eyes the signs of longing, regret, and determination to make his desire come true, however small it is. “I never understood the meaning of hard work until I met you, the one who had nothing, but your heart is full as if you have everything in place.”
“Me?” Kevin pointed at himself, still making sense of what Lee was saying. He nodded in return with a small smile.
“Yeah. I can remember those times when you worked harder than anyone else, putting the effort much further than us. I aspire to be like you, and when I told my father about it, he laughed at me, saying that the smart ones always win in the end. His damn philosophy and all of that.”
Kevin did not bother cutting him off from what he was saying and only listened to him, the way he had listened to him before when they were still young, foolish college students.
“You may think that this is just me being petty of proving my father that he is wrong, but I want to gain something through my hard work, and I don’t want to be like him.”
After a long silence between them and this might be the most words that Lee has said in a single conversation after all these years, Kevin finally picked up the pen and toyed with it through his fingers. “So, you want me to be your CEO? We never know how much power your father has. You might get stripped of your status and be exiled.”
“That’s even better,” Lee smirked at him and pointed to where he is going to sign. “He can’t even look at me whenever he is with me, and I will do everything to have his eyes finally land on me.”
Without any more words, Kevin finally signed the document, sealing the deal and it was the trigger of events until the present.
Kevin heaved a sigh of relief when Lee finally picked up the phone on the other side, hearing his friend having deep breaths and his hands shaking uncontrollably.
“You did that for us, didn’t you, Lee?” He asked straight away with a hint of guilt. He knew how dismissive Lee was whenever he was asked a question about his deed for the people close to him, and Kevin answered with a smirk and dry laughter on the other line.
“As if I even lifted a finger.”
“How come you are having that voice right now?”
Seconds later, Lee broke down and finally admitted his true feelings to Kevin; adding to the fact that this act is foreign to him until this moment.
"I killed a man, Kevin," he announced on the other line in a shaking voice. "I used the power I have as an aristocrat just like how my father would use it."