The Elites

Chapter 16

Jeremiah

"Good afternoon, young Sir"

I hurried past the group of maids that had stopped to bow in front of me to pay their respects. Their respects were the last thing I needed at that moment. I kept my eyes focused on the transparent glass door in front of me, the one leading to the bar. It was like my mind knew exactly where to search for, where to find him. I hurried faster when I got to the door, walked in and then narrowed my gaze on the counter, right in front of the really small bar.

There he was, Christian, looking all miserable and halfway drunk. His glass still filled with cognac, a lot of it. What was this? Was he really planning to drink himself crazy?

Maybe I just had to ask him myself.
I hurried to the counter as fast as I could. I could tell he had noticed my presence already with the way he sneered when I got close enough. He reached for his glass and took a big drink from it.

"Are you really going to leave?" I asked him first, watching him drop his half filled glass back on the table and then let out an exhale, wiping his lips with the back of his hands.

"I want to be alone." He told me, reaching for the big bottle of Hennessy right beside him and filling his glass again.

"Is it that hard? Is it that hard to stand me? Can you really not bear to look at me even after all these years?"

He scoffed.

"All my life I did everything you asked. I lived how you wanted. I stayed out of your way because I hoped that if I did, it would make up for the way I hurt you before-"

"Nothing!" He yelled turning to face me. He glared into my eyes. "Nothing can make up for what you did." He brought his voice down a little bit and then shut his eyes. "Nothing can-" he took a deep breath. He opened his eyes again, he was upset. I could see it. "It's better you're not here, you're the last person I need to see right now."

But I knew better.
I waited till he turned back to his drink. I gulped hard and then I continued.

"What do you want me to do?" I asked him. "What can I do to prove to you that I just want us to be back to the way we were? That I just want to be your little brother again. You know, how we were before all of this, how we were when we were still kids, friends, brothers. Can't we go back to that?"

He scoffed

"Is it so hard to see me as your younger brother again? What do I have to do to make you change your mind? To make you see that I'm not trying to hurt you, or take anything from you? That I don't want anything that belongs to you, not Benoil, not anything. What do I have to do to make you stay and forget about leaving the mansion?"

He turned to me, his cold eyes staring into mine.

"Just say it." I continued. "I'd do anything."

"Turn down Dad's offer to school at Nile," he started. "Tell him you'd like to go to NAUN instead."

NAUN?

I gulped.

NAUN? of all the schools in the country, it had to be NAUN? It surprised me but I could understand what he was trying to say perfectly. I didn't know much, but from what I heard, no one really went to NAUN with intentions to live a serious life when they got out. Society made it look like the school was a big deal, but we all knew it was a complete joke for rich kids. It was almost as if Christian was trying to eliminate any chances of me having any future affiliations with Benoil.

"Tell him you want to study music as a major."

"Music?" I scoffed. "But-" I don't even know a thing about music. He raised his brows. Was he testing me? How on earth was Dad ever going to let me study music in NAUN? I exhaled.

"Okay." I nodded my head. "Fine. I'd do it." I assured him. If it was going to get him to look at me again, if it was going to stop him from leaving, I was going to do anything. Anything to get him to like me again.

"On your twentieth birthday, I want you to take the fifteen percent shares Dad is going to give to you-"

"Huh?" I furrowed my brows at him. Was he asking me now to accept the shares he had fought Dad for?

"And give them to me." He added.

Thought as much.

"Okay." I agreed without hesitating . "I'd do that too."
I didn't care about the shares anyway. I didn't care about Benoil or anything else he and everyone cared about. The plan was to show him it was okay to trust me again, to show him I wasn't a threat to him.

"Finally," he added. "Go back to the states on Saturday. You can come back when your admission process into NAUN is finalized and then you can apply for their boarding option."

I paused.

"Tell Dad you hate it here. Tell him you want to go back-"

"But I just got here. After a long time, I just got home. Christian, I really hate it there, I don't want to leave."

"I'm not asking."

"Christian come on-"

"Saturday is in three days. That's a lot of time to do whatever it is you like. Spend some time with the family, no one is going to care if you leave anyway. You want my forgiveness, isn't it? You want me to consider it, then this is the only way."

I let out an exasperated sigh. Did he know? Did he have any idea how much I hated it over there? How lonely every day of my life was over there? How I lived longing for my family? For him?

"You won't do it?"

I exhaled, taking my hand that was completely swallowed by my oversized tee away from the counter "Christian-" there had to be some other way. I had already agreed to everything else. This one had to be the hardest.

"If you won't do it, then we have nothing to discuss -"

"Come on Christian-"

"Get away from my face." He eyed me and then slowly turned back to his glass, pulling his tie further down his neck. I watched him raise his glass to his mouth and take another drink from it.

I shut my eyes and then exhaled. Did he really mean it? Did he really want me to leave that badly? Did he really want me to move back to the states so badly?

He emptied his glass and then dropped it with a thud on the counter. He reached for the bottle again.

Just how much alcohol did he really want in his system? He was barely paying any attention to me now. He gave all of it to the bottle in front of him.

I watched him.
I had to. Even if he didn't want me to, even though he hated me, I knew I didn't have to let him go through it alone. Just like in the past, I wanted to be there for him, but I didn't know how. I didn't know how.