Sold #1 - The Secret Keeper

Chapter 11

Michael spent the rest of the day thinking about Amanda's words, wondering what on earth his father could have concocted this time around, that he was going to have to pretend to love and be grateful for. When he was sixteen, he'd thrown a surprise party with all his friends, except at the time his friends from back home couldn't make it, and he suspected it was mostly because of the fact that they had newly moved and they didn't feel their friendship would span the ocean wide space between them. And to top it all off, his father had invited his girlfriend just three days after they had broken up and he'd had to spend the entire night listening to her saying how glad she was that they could be friends after she'd so heartlessly dumped him by getting her friend to tell him it was over. It had been a complete nightmare.

But it only got worse. When he was eighteen, Asato send him to a 'meeting of minds' at some convention or other, where everyone was a success at what they did, saying that now he was a millionaire he had to start living like one. Michael had been set up in a top quality hotel, been given theatre tickets and tickets to the ballet, and yet, however thankful he was for his father wanting to do something special, he had hated every moment of it. His friends called him every night, for the entire week telling him of their exploits, Ben admitting that they'd gone to a club one night, to an ice hockey game the next, and he'd met a girl, who's name he couldn't remember the next day. That was how Michael wanted to spend his eighteenth birthday, being reckless and getting to act like a kid who thought he was an adult just because it was his birthday. But instead, he'd suffered three gruelling hours at the theatre with a girl who couldn't keep stop talking, had fallen asleep at the ballet only to be called an inconsiderate moron by his date, who his father had also chosen. And he never wanted another surprise again. When the boys found out how awful it was, considering they had had so much fun, Jin had turned to him and made it all a hundred times more unbearable. "Think of it this way mate, we celebrated for you...and believe me did we celebrate." He had laughed, only for a gorgeous brunette to walk up and take his hand. And when he had explained how he'd met her at the ice hockey game and they had instantly hit if off, he hadn't been able to take anymore. He went home and shouted at his father for ruining his birthday, his unreasonable remark 'She could have been mine...she should have been with me...' finally ramming it home to him that he was desperately in need of someone to save him.

Michael knew even then, that he put too much emphasis on finding someone to love. But with how little his life entailed, nothing more than work, he felt that falling in love would give him a chance to change that, because lord knew he couldn't do it himself. He was fed up of doing things himself and of always being alone...when he woke up, when he worked, when he got home, when he went to sleep...and he was so tired of always being on his own. The only problem was, that he couldn't figure out what his dad had planned. Amanda had said 'get used to...' and that made no sense, though obviously whatever it was would probably be a permanent addition to his life, but he wasn't sure quite what to expect. He couldn't think of anything that would fit into that category of being everlasting. He just hoped it wasn't a dog, he was never good with animals, they made so much noise and took so much time he really couldn't do with the extra hassle. It was hard enough work taking care of Tai and his father without thinking about a pet that would need the kind of constant care and affection that he just didn't have time to give it.

God he really hated surprises...

*****

By the time the next morning came, both knowing it was the final day before Michael would find out what his father had organised for his birthday and before Darcy found herself subjected to the unwanted scrutiny of some deprived, disgusting older man who only wanted her as some sort of toy for amusement, neither were looking forward to the afternoon in the slightest. Michael was so concerned about what his father had planned, having had the sleepless, tossing and turning of sleep that Amanda had joked about and countless worrying thoughts as to what the surprise might be, that when Tai had teased him for it over breakfast, he begged him to take the afternoon off work to give him some moral support. He had agreed easily, finding it too amusing to pass up, knowing how much more entertaining it was going to be at the exact moment his brother found out what it was. Not that he had any ideas himself, but he had a fair clue as to what was going through Michael's head. And he just couldn't say no. But he did have work to do first. He had already promised Mac that he'd take the rest of the week to focus on the law firm, since his part of working on their bike was finished. He seemed to be getting in the way, just sitting on the side bench watching them work on it, so he agreed to stay away for a while.