MY CUP OF TEA

Chapter 17

"Sir? You call me sir and yet you keep on stopping me from doing what I want!" shouted Jaith. He is drunk as usual, and he's been like this for the past two months. They already arrived home and as Chris listened to his accusation, he watched as his employer falls facedown to a large sofa. With a sigh, he grabs a pillow and a blanket to at least make him comfortable.

Jaith is a mess. For months, his days were spent heavy drinking in different bars and his nights are with different women, all of whom are just one night stands. If a woman tries to come back the next couple of days, either she came to know of his true identity and wealth, or those that hope to have a relationship with him - the real reason doesn't matter because Jaith discards them like some piece of disposables and Chris would happily escort them away.

His bodyguard Chris is ten years senior to him and has been with him for sixteen years. For any bodyguard, that is a long time for anyone to stay with an employer especially with the attitude and ego as big as his wealth, but Chris stayed out of devoted loyalty.

When Jaith Rodiya acquired his CEO position at age 23, Chris was already part of his security team. Chris received a call one day that both his parents who work with the Sri Lankan Red Cross were among the people suspected to be government separatists and were both taken and placed on controlled detention camps. They all know the two elderly could not survive what's on those camps.

When Jaith learned of his bodyguard's predicament, he immediately funded a search and rescue party to save Chris' parents and later on, sent them abroad to Canada for their protection. Back then, the tea company was already booming but was not yet a tea empire like it is now - so the funds are still considered low but thriving. Also, the extraction plan didn't go that well and almost cost the Rodiya-owned tea company, as suspicion in the government continued for years. In the years that followed, with added luck and sheer determination, Jaith finally worked his way out of the political scene.

Since then, Chris made a personal oath to protect and give back the life his boss has saved. So if it means, rescuing him from money-grabbing women and his self-destructing ways, then so be it. But as he watched his boss snoring on the sofa, Chris finally decided that enough is enough. Tomorrow he will talk sense to his boss, or so to speak, die trying.

"You what?!" Jaith shouted at his bodyguard. "Who gave you the right to look into her. I promised her father I would stay away! What have you done?"

"She is a mess sir, just like you are. She's back at home because her apartment's declared unfit for living. She kind of destroyed everything in it - look at the photos inside that envelope. I tell you, sir, with that type of anger, I don't want to be on her bad side. Her family has adapted the minimalist living and has cleared out all breakable furniture and housewares. As you can see, the next photos will show you the state of their large-screen televisions, as well as mounts of broken imported vases - what a waste. And oh, attached also are hospital records of the many times she hurt herself," continues Chris.

Jaith immediately lookup, worried.

"Oh, she didn't do it on purpose though, but when you break things, you tend to cut yourself in the process. And she's always at home now, she no longer reports to work. She has no social life, and she doesn't attend even simple family gatherings. Need I go on, or would you like to read the reports I gathered?"

Jaith is speechless. He thought leaving her would be best as her father promised to explain everything to her. He was reluctant to follow through, but Lee's father beg with tears, and because he lost his parents at a young age - he simply cannot ignore the elderly's request - much to his pain and suffering.

He wondered what he will do and where he will go from here on. After a long time of thinking it through, Jaith got up and took a shower, then called Chris to prepare the private plane. The next long hours will no longer bother him, as this time he knows what's waiting for him at the end of this flight.