Kings On The Horizon (Vol. 4-6) ✓

154 | The Banquet

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"TELL DIRECTOR HOLLAND THAT I'll need his monthly report tonight, I can't push the deadline any further. Move my meeting with the Indian investors too. Ask them what time they'll be available," Max tells his butler, Étienne, before stepping out of the car.

     "I'll handle everything, master Leigh. You don't have to worry, just focus on your school," Étienne says while holding the car door for him. When Max was now outside, Étienne then bowed to him for one last time before saying, "Enjoy your day master." 

     Max adjusts his peak cap and nods his head before finally taking the steps towards the Keep where the other white uniforms were found. Unlike before, the students weren't glaring at him or secretly cursing at him whenever he walked past them. After everything that Max has done in J.S High, the white uniforms couldn't say anything against him anymore.

     "Max!" Someone calls out, and Max looks behind him and sees his dear friend Ari running toward him so he could catch up. "How was your weekend," Ari asks, draping his arm around Max's shoulder as the two walked to their classroom together.

     "You know, the usual: meetings, interviews, those sorts of boring things," Max says, and Ari could only laugh because he did expect Max to say such things. If Max told him that he was able to sleep all day instead, then Ari would have been more surprised.

     "Well, better to be busy at work than to be busy with that Elite," Ari mumbles to himself, making Max look at him in confusion, so Ari just laughs and doesn't say anything anymore. He doesn't want to hide the fact that he now knows about Max's real relationship with Gavriil, but since Max isn't ready to tell them yet, then he'll keep quiet for now.

     "I hope you're not overworking yourself, Max," Ari says instead, and Max looks at him and genuinely smiles at him, making Ari sigh.

     Ari has always known that Max was different than the others. When he enrolled in J.S High, Ari realized that there were people who lived differently from the rest. His family was literary nobles, authors, and scholars, so they live a much more comfortable life than others. He knew he was fortunate, but when he met some of the white uniforms in J.S High, he saw the drastic difference.

     Families born in the business world were simply bred differently. The way they act, the way they think about things, and how they live in general were so different that Ari had to adjust so he could be able to understand that these people were insanely rich and powerful.

     Most of the students in J.S High are from families that are business tycoons. Ari knew in an instant that outside J.S High, they were automatically placed on top. But when Ari met Max, he realized something else. The power Max's family holds was completely different from the rest. Those companies and rich families would look like ants when you put them beside the Sinclaire's and the Lemieux's.

     They hold so much power, yet it all comes with unimaginable consequences. Max alone gets to carry so much burden, and Ari got to see it with his own eyes when he found out that his own family was even drugging him.

     Max has gone through so much, and his childhood was so traumatic that a simple field trip already made him extremely happy. He was able to achieve so many things in J.S High while worrying about his family and company. Even if Max continuously denies it to act humble, no one else could ever do what he does.

     "Max..." Ari calls out.

     "What is it?" Max asks back.

     Ari pulls his arm away from Max's shoulder and stops walking, making Max stop walking as well. While the two stood in the middle of the hallway, Ari faces Max and seriously tells him, "I'll do it, I'll support you all the way."