Chapter 69

Kelvin led Sorin, who was still visibly shaken by all that just happened in the room, out of the room and into his study. He immediately shut the door, locked it with the key and helped Sorin sit down in his seat.

Sorin was in a vulnerable state and no one was allowed to see him that way. Never! Kelvin would never allow that. He had seen Sorin that way before but it was a long time ago when the unfortunate incident involving his sister happened and at that time it was really traumatic. It almost took the whole world to get him back to normalcy- it was really terrible back then but now it seemed like it was happening all over again.

He turned to look at Sorin who was just staring at nothing in particular. It was obvious that he was far away. He had always been known to be strong and fierce but this side of him was hidden from everyone except his parents and Kelvin, who was his best friend, personal assistant and personal guard too, which explains why he knew what most people never knew about Sorin.

"Sir?" He called out to him, trying his luck but no response came.

Soon, there was a knock on the door.

"Yes, who is there?" Kelvin asked with an inch of anger in his voice.

"It's Patrick, sir." 

"Yes, what do you want?" Kelvin asked.

"The boss left his phone downstairs and it has been ringing for a while. I think it might be urgent." Patrick responded.

"Who is the caller?" Kelvin asked him.

"It's Mrs Zaveri, sir. The boss' mother." He quickly replied.

Kelvin turned to look at Sorin who remained on the chair with an indifferent look on his face, like he was not even in the room and he didn't stop staring blankly.

Kelvin turned away and walked to the door. He opened it and collected the phone from Patrick, who bowed and took his leave right after.

"Sir, your phone has been ringing. Your mother has been calling you." Kelvin told him, but still no response came from him.

"Sir, you know how she can be, she'll be worried now. Seeing as she didn't call me when you didn't pick up, it means you're the one she really wants to talk to." Kelvin added.

The phone soon began to ring all over again and this time, it was Mr Zaveri, Sorin's Father.

"Sir, it's your father this time. Please don't get them worried, you know they are still recovering." Kelvin explained, trying to make Sorin see sense in what he was saying but it all just seemed like a lost cause because he wasn't answering still.

"Damn! Now this is more serious than I thought. Is it because it's been a long time since something like this happened? Or what could be the cause of all this. He needs to really snap out of this." Kelvin thought to himself as he looked at Sorin who was still expressionless.

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At Sorin's Parent's Mansion

"Is he still not picking up?" Mr Zaveri asked.

"Yes, he is not picking up. I've used your phone to call him as well and he is still not picking up. If he is fighting with me, at least he won't be fighting with you and should pick up your call." Sorin's mother, Mrs Zaveri replied, with worry written all over her face.

Mr Zaveri scoffed, "You speak like you don't know that he knows you very well. If you both weren't on speaking terms, he definitely knows you'll be the one to use my phone to call him." He said, as he turned the page of his newspaper.

"I'm beginning to get worried. What if something bad has happened to him?" She said, getting more worried.

"No, that is not possible. You're talking like you do not know your son very well. Don't you think maybe he is trying to avoid the meeting tomorrow?" Mr Zaveri said, trying to make light the situation, so that his wife doesn't get too worked up.

"Hmmmmm." She sighed. "I know, but we are not sure."

"Yes, but we still can't rule out the probability that he might be doing this intentionally. Or what if he is too busy to pick his call?" Mr Zaveri added.

"If he is too busy to pick up, he will ask Kelvin to pick it up and tell us that he is not available to pick up because he has his hands full." Mrs Zaveri responded, as she dialled Sorin's number again.

"Yes, but why haven't you called Kelvin?" Her husband suddenly remembered that she had not called Kelvin, and she had just kept calling the unresponsive Sorin.

"Whoa!" She exclaimed. "How could I have forgotten? It must have skipped my old mind."

"Old? What do you mean old?" He asked, as he immediately raised his head from the newspaper it was buried in before. 

"Nahhhh. You are not old in any way, you are as young and beautiful as the first time I set my eyes on you." He spoke proudly, and they both burst into laughter.

"But it's true, you know." He reassured her.

"You still haven't changed one bit. Such a sweet talker with a sweet tongue." She said and smiled.

"Well, that's me." He said jokingly, as she grabbed her phone and began to dial Kelvin's number.

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Kelvin was still in his thoughts when his phone rang and he hurriedly pulled it out of his pocket.

Seeing the caller, he immediately looked at Sorin and then back to his phone before answering the call.

"Hello ma'am." He said immediately.

"Where is he? Is he avoiding me? Why is he not picking my calls? Is he busy? Did something happen? Is he fighting us? Oh! He is trying to avoid coming for the meeting with G.P tomorrow, right?" She asked numerous questions at once, not leaving room for Kelvin to answer any, and so he just kept mute.

After a moment of ranting, Kelvin could hear Mr Zaveri's voice almost inaudibly saying, "let the young man speak, will you?" and she finally kept quiet and Kelvin finally spoke too.

"I'm so sorry, ma'am but....." Kelvin hesitated. "Mr Sorin is unavailable at the moment. He unfortunately can't pick or respond to any calls at the moment." He finally said.

"What? Are you kidding me? What could he be doing that he won't be able to attend to his parents or pick their calls? What could be so important?" She asked, screaming at Kelvin from the other end of the line, making him pull the phone away from his ear.

He could hear Mr Zaveri asking his wife what Kelvin had said and he heard her tell her husband all that he had just said.

"What does he mean by that? Calm down, honey. Just give the phone to me." Kelvin heard Mr Zaveri speak to his wife, who was obviously unsettled.

"Hello Kelvin." His hoarse but calm voice was what Kelvin heard next. "What did you just say to my wife? What is going on? Where is my son?" He asked, calmly.

Kelvin felt reluctant and hesitated to answer because he didn't want to bring back the painful memories they had all tried so hard to forget.

"Kelvin? Answer me this minute!" Mr Zaveri had now raised his voice in irritation because he sensed that Kelvin was intentionally feeling reluctant to answer.

"Sir, remember what happened to the boss some years ago after the incident with the his sister, Miss Claire?

"Yes, what about it?" Mr Zaveri asked. 

Worry and fear had now taken over his voice, his heart was beating so fast, and beads of sweat had began to form on his forehead.

"I think it's happening all over again, sir."