Tainted Souls

Chapter Six

I certainly didn't want to acquiesce to Maverick's orders to clean his room. But after the essay incident, it seemed as if everything would get worse. That was why I did without another word. Maverick had made a copy of my essay and actually put it in a frame with a skull on it.

"This is the symbol of how you have lost against me, the quintessential example of the undead," Maverick smirked. "That is why you should have known better than to mess with me. They think that I'm America's reformed rebel because of your scholarship student's perspective embodied within your essay, when in reality, I am anything but that."

I slumped against the chair that I was sitting in with a sigh of annoyance. Right at that moment, my phone began to ring. At that moment, I couldn't feel anything but relief at having an excuse to not listen to any more of his taunting.

"Hello?" I smiled when I heard my mother at the other end of the line.

"Aera-ya, dochaghaeseo! Uli daehag kaempeoseu ap-eseo manna!" my mother told me excitedly.

(Translation: Aera, we have arrived! Meet us at the front area of your college campus!)

I chuckled. My mother always used formal speech with me even more than my father. My mother's name was Mi Cha, while my father's name was Hae Won.

"Alright, omma!" I exclaimed happily. "Nan geogiseo mannalgaeyo!"

(Translation: Alright, mother! I'll meet you there!)

Maverick scowled at me. "What the hell do you mean, you're going to meet your mother there? You have to finish doing my laundry first."

"Hello, my parents are here, and today is Saturday!" I exclaimed at him, blowing up in anger. "Cut me some slack for once. I'll do extra cleaning later."

Then, I frowned, realizing something else. "Wait a moment...I never told you what I said in Korean. How did you know?"

"I'm fluent in twelve languages. They don't call me a psychopath for no reason. Although, there's no proof that I've actually killed someone." Maverick rolled his eyes.

He was blocking the doorway by now. Yeah, I wasn't sure about the fact that he still hadn't killed someone. If anything, maybe he was going to kill me after torturing me slowly, starting with me cleaning his room. That sounded like more of a possibility as of right now.

"Well, I want to actually leave and meet my parents, you jerk. So, can you actually let me go?" I pleaded to him.

"Wow, you actually sound like a desperate little whining girl," Maverick snickered.

I crossed my arms, feeling embarrassed. "Not funny."

"Fine, you can go. But under one condition. I get to meet your parents too. And so does Taj."

"Why?" I wondered.

"Because your essay isn't just supposed to be an appeal to the wealthy, but to the commoners as well," Maverick explained.

He took a copy of my essay from his desk. I really wanted to burn those copies in his fireplace until they were nothing but ash.

"The commoners?" I echoed. "Are you serious? Don't degrade middle class people like that by referring to them as "commoners". My parents are great people, so you better not try to mess with them. Plus, they're biology professors, not nobodies. Their combined salaries are enough to support me and to have us be in the upper middle class, with them earning about one hundred fifty thousand dollars total. You shouldn't downgrade anyone whose family earns less than ten million dollars."

I had heard him say that anyone who earned less than ten million dollars was not considered a part of the rich at some point to Taj during a phone call. It was ridiculous how he thought that. Then again, what would a guy that was the heir to a five hundred billion dollar business company know?