A rose to grind

-27-

"The car is ready, sir," Kai's voice rang from my right. The two of us waited at the entrance of the company, 'Y. JUNTA,' as in Yugo Junta. Eton Junta was adamant on confiscating the right to my alias, for, it was already confusing between Kai and I, and I knew Kai would rather die than sharing something in common with me. Of course, I agreed with his opinion, but nevertheless, it did sting a bit.

I was merely joking again. Whatever Kai said, that was in opposition of me, I would gladly tattoo it on my forehead, not because of my devotion towards him in prior explanation. I never realized Kai was a deep holder of grudges, until a few years ago, when he intentionally made a blunder that caused me to lose a business partner. What he did, was that, he had grabbed the wig of that old man 'accidentally.'

To put it in short words, my business partner stormed out of my company that day. He was my first ever partner, which ended up as a failure.

I would never know what was on Eton Junta's mind when he gave me a brand, new company of my own. Perhaps, he had foreseen talent in me. I was introduced later on as Eton Junta's adopted son, and heir, and was presented to the media in a bright, red box, as if I were the journalists' present for Christmas. They gobbled me up, chewed on me, then spat out multifarious, nefarious articles concerning my background. Some even went as far as to assign private investigators to investigate my background, to which they were all manhandled by the security assigned to me by Eton Junta.

However, I would never be grateful to that piece of garbage. If trash had any other synonyms, I would put them all in a single sentence, but unfortunately, I was already too busy with the workload piled onto me to curse him out. But, as of now, I decided it was time to visit my father. If I had, it would just be another episode of Stockholm Syndrome, a very deadly, subtle syndrome. But I was sure it wouldn't be new. Stockholm Syndrome was pretty common, anyways.

Thrusting my hands into the pockets of my baggy slacks, I judged my escort car, finding displeasure when I found a stranger sitting in the driver's seat. I turned in Kai's direction, noticing how he had imperceptibly held his breath at my sudden motion. A small smirk weaseled its way, making its presence known on the corners of my mouth, where there was already a slight curvature.

"Sir?" Kai called out, uncertain of my intentions. He almost seemed like a naive, lost rabbit, but I knew he was far from that. For, someone working under a twisted person such as Eton Junta, wouldn't be as innocent.

Letting out a prolonged sigh, I pulled one hand out of my pocket, clamping it over Kai's shoulder. To public eyes, we may have seemed like a pair of close co-workers. Everyone working under my company knew who Kai was, and they knew that he was favored by Eton Junta, so, they thought Eton Junta must have treasured his adopted son profusely to designate Kai as my secretary. My grasp tightened, digging my nails into the fabric obscuring his shoulder.

"Why..." I parted my lips, ending my sentence in a lazy, knowing, effortless smile, "Why don't you drive for me instead, Kai? You know that I dislike strangers."

"Sir," Kai intercepted, his facial features turning stern at the underlying, impish meaning behind my words, "It'll be less troublesome for you if I sat in the passenger seat. You do not need to go that far for me."

"Who says it's for you?" I clashed against his words, cocking up an ostentatious eyebrow. I folded my body, reducing my height to where I could meet the stranger in the driver's seat. I knocked against the glass, causing the escort to pull down the window. Sweat had begun to dot his temples, and I saw him fumble about with his hands, too perturbed to meet my gaze.

"Get out," I told the escort. The man only then peered up at me, fear and relief intermingling in a medley evident in his eyes. In open obedience to my words, he unlocked the car door, and jumped to the pavement, scurrying to an area that was at least a meter away from where I stood, on the right just behind Kai. Even then, I didn't spare him a glance, and turned back to Kai, whose height of over 190 cm had simply covered the escort behind his back.