His Nineteenth Secretary [✔]

Thirty-five

BRIAN

"I know you must be dying to know how it turned out that I'm still alive after being confirmed dead six years ago. Not ordering anything?" He asked. We were both seated on separate stools at the counter.

He was the one who asked for us to meet at a bar.

"I'm okay, and just so you know, I'm not really interested in knowing that."

"Easy big brother, no need to be harsh. I know I wasn't exactly a good brother to you back then, but I'm not here to fight, I'm here to talk." He took a sip of his drink.

"You sure know how my Mum was back then; always wanting me do things her own way, always wanting to take absolute control of my life.

It was like living in hell. I couldn't wish for anything else then, other than to be free to do whatever I wanted and after many years of so much endurance, luckily for me, it happened that someone who looked exactly like me without a family and a home committed suicide, three days after my disappearance.

A few days before then, I'd already left the city without anyone's knowledge of my whereabout with the intention to never return, that was why there was the news of my disappearance everywhere.

For some time, it was the news of me missing, and then three days later, I heard the news of me being found and confirmed dead. I was confused at first but not until I saw the picture of the person who drowned himself, no one could be convinced it wasn't me except for the color of his hair which was black compared to my deep brown hair."

There was no doubt about that, as a dead body had been found floating on the surface of a large river five days after his disappearance.

The old farmer living close to the riverside where it happened testified seeing him walking down the path that led to the river one particular morning with a faraway look in his eyes but didn't know it was the young man's intention to commit suicide.

He said he already forgot about the young man he saw, until he heard his dog barking loudly the second day down the path of the river and when he got there, he saw the young man's body floating on the surface of the water motionless.

Upon the news of his death, his mum went into a state of hysteria. For her own good, the psychiatrist taking care of her suggested not allowing her to see her dead son's body so her case doesn't get worse.

Even without being allowed to see his body, she hadn't been in her right mind since then.

My dad, on the other hand, wanted nothing to do with a son that wasn't his, which he found out about before his disappearance.

He made arrangement for his burial without as much as casting a glance at it. I also didn't get the chance to see the body they found before he was buried. Maybe I could have noticed it wasn't him.

"I found that as an opportunity to be free and away from my mother and the way she took control of my life. I'd been lying low ever since then, living my life the way I wanted, until I found a reason to return here."

"And, what's the reason?" I questioned.

"Not because of the company, at least." He shrugged, taking another sip of his drink.

"Not as if you have any right to the company in the first place, or do you think I don't know?"

"Know what?"

"That you're not his blood. That your mother had you for someone else." I said.

"Whoa!" He clapped his hands together. "How did you manage to find out? I thought only your father knew about it. Anyway, we are not dealing with that today. That's not the reason why I came back, I'm here because of Ruby."