Even If You Beg

Chapter 2

Hello everyone, my name is Tin. I am a freshman in university but I'm currently enjoying my midterm vacation. I am not a very popular student because I tend to keep to myself. I have trust issues not only within my family circle but outside of it. I never take anyone's words at face value. I listen to every single word spoken to me with a grain of salt.

There's only one person in the campus who I can trust and that's because we grew up together and I know his character inside and out. I feel that I should protect him from other people because he's too trusting. When I noticed that he was starting to hang out with other students on the other side of the campus, my instinct was to protect him from getting taken advantage of, because those students on the other side of the campus are either from low income families or regular income families. They might try to borrow money from Pete and never pay it back. Oh, pardon me, I forgot to mention that my friend's name is Pete, and lately, he has been constantly hanging out with a student named Ae who studies on the other side of the campus.

Ae seems to be a nice enough guy and Pete is constantly singing his praises but I still can't get myself to totally trust him because he is on the lower end of the financial ladder compared to Pete and me. I'm not really a snob. I just have trust issues when it comes to people who are not as rich as I am.

How did these trust issues start? My father's company almost went into bankruptcy because he had trusted his very own Executive Director who ran the company for him. He was such a smooth talker and for years my father was not aware that he was fleecing the company of its funds. It was almost too late when my father found out. By then the company was close to folding up. It took the financial wizardry of the Chief Financial Officer and his assistant to re-build the company and put it back on its feet again.

The Chief Financial Officer has recently retired and of course my father appointed his assistant to be the new Chief Financial Officer. This new Chief Financial Officer was actually the brains behind the re-building of my father's company. My father owes him so much, I would not be surprised if my father eventually hands over the company to the Chief Financial Officer's son instead of to me. I heard that he has a son about my age and my father has been wanting to invite the Chief Financial Officer and his family to a private dinner at home. I am actually very curious to see if the son is as intelligent as his father. If he is as smart as his father, I should start getting really worried.

My phone rang at the same time that I heard a knock on my door. I went to open the door before swiping my phone to answer Pete's call.

It was our domestic helper who had come to announce to me that lunch was ready.

"Please tell mom and dad that I will be downstairs in a minute," I said to our helper.

"What's up, Pete," I said on the phone.

"Ae and I are going to have lunch at the Food Court," he said, "care to join us?"

"Lunch is already waiting for me downstairs," I informed Pete.

"Can is going to join us there," said Pete.

Pete was aware that the mention of Can's presence would be the deal breaker for me.

I ran downstairs to tell my mom and dad that I was not going to have lunch with them. I really did not wish to disappoint my parents but I really felt the need to redeem my image to Can. I don't even know why I felt that need but I had the whole of my midterm vacation to figure it out.