The Sun and the Moon

Chapter 3

Neil's POV

There is no greater surprise than finding your bestie's face on google.

One of the best things that's come out of me joining Aranya is that my mom's more excited about school than me. In fact, she and dad took us to Halley's for ice cream, a rather expensive option, to celebrate my selection.

Mom would enquire about my school every night, at our dinner table.

"So, how was school today sweetheart?" She smiled.

"Nice." I replied. "We had fun."

My father who sat across the table was preoccupied with the newspaper; his face almost buried in it and his bushy brows pinched in deep thought.

"Oh dear," Mom sighed. "Just leave that paper aside for once. Your son has just started in a new school."

Dad blinked and startled, then began folding his newspaper. He coughed but it ended up coming more as a growl.

"Uh, so, son, how's school going on?"

"Um, nice. Like-fine. I mean, it was fun."

If you figured out from whom I inherit my awkward social skills, congrats for solving the case.

(In case you didn't – it's my dad).

"Um-made any new friends?"

"Friends?! We are gonna have my friends at home?!" A voice exclaimed. My younger sister Nora came running into the room, her eyes bright with excitement.

"You guys agreed to call my friends home?" She turned towards mom and dad.

"Oh, dear. We'll see about that." Mom corrected her. "We were talking about Neil's new friends here."

A frown replaced my younger sister's smile and she grumpily sat next to me, muttering angrily.

"Um, yeah." I continued. "I did. He's a lively guy. Dennis. Dennis Blackwater."

At that point, dad was ready to go back to his paper but his ears perked up at the last word. "What's the surname again?"

"Blackwater." I repeated, hesitant. Is something wrong with the surname?

Dad looked up; his expression brusque. "Is he from the Blackwater family?"

Which family is he talking about?

Upon seeing my confusion, he continued, "How come you haven't heard this name? Your sister practically knows all brands and companies, and you say you don't know the BW Group?"

That's when it flashed to me and I smacked my forehead!

BW(Blackwater) is a famous company which owns everything from BW Electronics, BW Hotels, BW perfume and BW departmental stores and so on. But they originally started as a petrochemicals company before diversifying their products.

I wonder how I didn't connect Dennis' surname with this company.

You google the best companies in the country, BW is in the top 3.

I even remember seeing the well-known circular logo on so many clothes and perfumes when we went to shopping malls. I wanted to facepalm myself for even forgetting this.

"They are filthy rich." Dad continued. "Almost their entire family is alphas and some of them are dominant too. They have managed to dominate every market they've entered into."

"There are quite a lot like that. Alphas and omegas belonging to rich business families. Maintaining their own circle of acquaintances," dad's voice got subtler and his expression darkened. "Often excluding ordinary betas like us or the lower classes."