"There is nothing wrong with him, he will get over the drinking soon."
"You only saw him drink?""Yes. Does he do something else?""He do drugs too.""Dad, he will be fine, he just needs a little more time alone," Harlan said, hoping he was right.Mr Marsha sighed at the other end."I will tell you anything he tells me. He is just being stubborn. He will open up to me soon.""I hope so," Mr Marsha said at the other end.****Harlan's group was announced as the group that came up with the best research in the research topic. There were a lot of rumours going around that the group was announced the best because most of the influential students in the college were there. But Harlan knew that was not true, he and Elizabeth had worked on the topic so he cared less about what other students said.Harlan got a message from Roger telling himHarlan looked at Adrian in surprise."I promise that from now on, I will never say anything bad to you. I will keep your back too. Please forgive me," Adrian added.Jason and Cecilia stared at Adrian in shock."Please, accept my apology.""Adrian?" Cecilia called but Adrian didn't look at her, he kept his eyes fixed on Harlan.Jason folded his arms around his chest and stared at Adrian in surprise. Is Adrian running out of his mind?"Harlan, I am really sorry."Harlan cleared his throat. He almost forgot that he already told Adrian that he is Harlan Smith."Well, I have forgiven you, but on one condition.""What condition? I am ready to do whatever you want," Adrian said desperately.Harlan thought about what condition to give Adrian. He could have forgiven him without any string attached, but he wanted to show those two people watching that he
"Kelvin, you are usually not like this. I would not have believed it if anyone told me you can ever think I am lying to you," Harlan said at the other end."You just haven't taken notice of it, but this is how I am.""I will send you Jason's number," Harlan said at the other end and hung up.After the call ended, Kelvin tossed the cigar in the ashtray and turned on the CD player. He swallowed one of the drugs Den had told him would kill his guilt.He stood up and danced to the tune of the music. After killing Harlan, he would feel better about himself.He saw his phone on and smiled. He grabbed it and checked the number Harlan had sent. He turned down the volume of the CD player and dialed the number Harlan had sent to him.The line came on after some moment."Hello. This is Kelvin, Harlan's friend.""Don't thank me for allowing you to join in the party, I am not really in
"Sir, should I come with you?" Jack asked as he parked the car."Jack, why are you being like this? I already told you that nothing can happen tonight. Of the six other people in the party, there are only two people that we don't get along well with. Cecilia is not someone who can do anything to me, I mean, she doesn't hate me to the extent of killing me. And Jason, if he tries to do anything, the rest of them will stop him."Jack looked at Harlan for a long time through the mirror."You shouldn't trust everyone."Harlan chuckled, "I won't trust everyone, but you can't tell me not to trust Kelvin.""I am going to wait here for you. What time will the party be over?""I don't know. It might be throughout the night.""Call me if anything seems wrong," Jack said.Harlan gave Jack an unruffled smile. He wondered why Jack had been making a fuss about the party since yesterday.
Cecilia wasn't the only one that was shocked. Everyone got their own share of the shock too."I am sorry for holding back the confession until now. Cecilia, you mean the world to me," Jason added.Cecilia's heart beat faster against her chest. Is she dreaming? She had better snap back to reality if this is all an imagination. But it was real. Jason was holding her close to himself and he is telling her that she means that whole world to him. "I love you too!" She shouted."Yo. I think my heart is going to explode with the rate at which people around me are confessing love to each other," Roger was the first to break the spell of silence which the confession seemed to have created."I am suddenly feeling heat. Is it summer already?" Adrian asked, fanning his face with his hands.Kelvin cleared his throat several times. It seemed as if he was watching a romantic movie with beautiful twists and plots.<
Elizabeth closed her eyes. Damn it!Kelvin walked closer to Elizabeth. He was going to check what was bringing the light from her when the light went off. He shrugged. If she wasn't drunk, she would have raised her head with what he said.Jason came in, he was breathing heavily."What took you so long?""That girl is insane. She almost killed me while I tried to get her in the car.""Jason, we don't have a lot of time. Ten minutes are gone already.""I will get Elizabeth inside the car.""By the way, check her phone when you get her in the car. She seems to have had a call."Elizabeth was almost stiff.Jason hissed, "we don't have the time for that."Elizabeth let out a breath in relief. She quickly tucked the phone in back pocket. Jason got to her and carried her up from the chair.She thought about springing a surprise on them a
Jack spotted Jason's car and brought his car to a halt a few meters away from it. He hurried out of the car and went to Jason's car.He walked around the car and realized it was empty. Quickly, he fixed a spy camera in the car. He hurried toward the house that the location of Jason's phone was indicating.He was about to bust into the car when his phone rang. Blindly, he reached into his pocket and answered the call."Hey, where are you?" A voice said at the other end."You should be able to figure that out. I am heading into the house already. When I call you, tell your men to come in," Jack said quietly.He heard the door to the house open and quickly hid behind a water tank."I thought I heard a voice," he heard a familiar voice belonging to Harlan's friend."You are just nervous. Let's get away before Adrian wakes up," another voice belonging to Jason said.Jack waited
"What? What do you mean Harlan is dead?" Elizabeth asked, shocked."Whatever it means to you. I'm sorry, Miss," Jack said and hung up.Elizabeth couldn't help herself, her jaw dropped to the floor and her eyes widened as she stared at the phone."We are home —" her driver started to say but was interrupted by Elizabeth's scream."I'm not going home!" The driver gripped the steering wheel and forced the car to a stop to prevent knocking into the wall of the Healy compound."Drive me to heaven. I want to go meet Harlan in heaven. Drive me there, now!"****Jack and Jason drove back to the hotel. They hurried to meet Roger and Adrian inside. Adrian muttered some nonsense words when they got inside."What's the next thing?" Jason asked in a whisper."We have to pretend as if we have been asleep all these while," Kelvin said and got beside Adrian on the floor.Jason sat on the chair and lay his head on the table. For some moment, there was silence before Kelvin broke it."I feel restless,
Jack ran towards the doctor as he saw him come towards the reception. "How is Harlan?" "He has too much alcohol in his system," the doctor told Jack politely. "Is he going to be fine?" "Well, his Blood Alcohol Content is high and at the moment, he is comatose." "What does that mean? He is going to die? You can't save him? Just exactly what is that supposed to mean." "Mr Jack, I understand that you feel pressured, but you should hear me out first." "What exactly am I supposed to hear you out on? You haven't gotten to a point. I asked you if Young Master is going to be fine and you're telling me he's got too much alcohol in his system." "We will try our best to save him. At the moment, he is still unconscious," the doctor said, still walking. Jack tried to keep up with his pace. "Can I see him?" Jack asked, getting irritated with the whole thing. Doctors have never been his friend and they won't start being it now. "Yes, but from a distance," the doctor said and led
"The award of the best student in this graduating set goes to… before I call his name, I would like to add that he is the most handsome guy I have ever seen on earth —because I see a lot of things in my imagination. Combine his handsomeness with his being a genius and you have…" "Harlan Smith!" The audience and the graduating students shouted, completing the MC's sentence for him. Harlan came on to the stage, dressed in an academic gown. "Hey, Harlan, where is your cap?" Mr Healy asked in a whisper as he was about to hand over the prize to him. "Mrs Smith is wearing it," he said. "Now, you have to snap this picture without the cap," Mr Healy pretended to sulk. "Even with that, I still stand out," Harlan said and smiled. Mr Healy smiled and handed him the prize as camera light flashed on him. The MC called on Mr Healy to give his speech after prizes had been handed over to students that merits it. Mr Healy was given a standing ovation as he stood up from his seat in t
Harlan dropped the envelope containing all the cards on the table. On the same table was his car key, his ATM card and a note which read: goodbye. Thank you.He remembered the exciting feeling that he felt on the day Mr Smith gave him those cards. He shook his head quickly to get rid of the thought. This isn't time to be emotional. He just cannot forgive his parents for what they did. He had always hoped that his father would never have peace, just look what happened. All these while, he had been Harlan Smith without knowing it.He opened the door and went outside. He only took four clothes and a extra pants. He would start from scratch and go back to living the life he used to live before Mr Smith came into his life.The light in the compound made it a very beautiful sight to behold. The first time he had come here, he had almost thought he was imagining things. Funny how those days had passed really quickly."Sir, where are you going early in the morning?" Jack asked as Harlan was
Harlan almost choked on his food. He grabbed a cup of water and drank from it. She made a tsk tsk sound. "You are just like your father. Your face is flushed.""I am eating mo… Mrs Smith!" He almost called her 'Mom'."Does that mean you are studying law?" She asked."Yes. I am in my final year.""Wow! I can't wait to wear your graduation cap."Harlan found himself laughing in between eating. Throughout the rest of the day, he and Mrs Smith were discussing. She told him about her perfume company about how much she loved what she was doing. Harlan found out that she was a very easy going person. He had missed having her in his life all these years and he found himself wondering how great life would have been if she had been part of his childhood days.Later in the evening, Mr Smith came back home and the first thing he did was to turn on the television. The case had been a really fast one. Harlan would bet that everything was possible only by Mr Smith's influence. All the people that
"I just wanted to check on you to see if you are getting it, Sir," the Cctv footage officer said. He could not help thinking the CEO had come to check on his girlfriend who had come here with another man.Harlan stood up and left. The footage officer stared at his back. The CEO doesn't seem to be in the same mood he had been when he came in. He shrugged.****Harlan found himself at the large field where he already went whenever he was overwhelmed. He had had a lot of surprises in the past six months but none of them has even been as shocking as this. He rolled on the field and faced the sky. He heard the sounds of birds nearby and wondered if he would have any problem if he were a bird.He replayed all he heard from some hours ago in his head. The conversation between Mr Smith and Mrs Smith. His father and mother… he closed his eyes. So all these while, he had those two people's blood flowing in his veins and he wasn't aware of it.He took his phone from where it was lying beside him
Harlan crossed over to where he had parked his car. He got inside and looked out through the window. In the next seventy two hours, he would be buying up all what the Alberts had. Through the help of Mr Smith, he had been able to refile the cases that the Alberts had been guilty of but had won. Mr Smith had told him how difficult that was, but he had not taken no for an answer.He took a deep breath and silently prayed that all these would be over. He had been able to get the victims of the Alberts and had convinced them that they would be duly compensated if they came back for their cases again.As he was about to turn on the car. He saw someone familiar pass him by. Mrs Smith? The fact that she was alone, with no bodyguard, made him more curious to know why she was at the hotel. He waited for some seconds before coming down from the car. He walked in the direction she had passed and saw her enter the hotel.When got inside, he could see the receptionist go pale as he walked toward
Harlan's phone beeped. It was his personal assistant from the 'where talent glows' calling. He answered it."Hello?""Is there any problem?" Harlan asked."Not really. Mr Richard Albert has been meaning to see you all these while. He asked for your number but I didn't want to give him until I asked for your permission first.""Tell him to meet me at the Jay Team lounge," Harlan said and hung up."Drive to Jay Team," Harlan told Jack."I checked into the company where you made your friend the manager, things have gone really wrong there. Lot of workers have quit," Jack said as he turned the car in another direction."So?""He has done worse things than you are aware of," Jack said."Whatever he has done to me is none of your business," Harlan said.Harlan searched for his personal assistant's number of the company where he made Kelvin the manager and sent him a message to call in the evening.Harlan had informed his personal assistant at the Jay Team hotel to make sure no one other tha
The Alberts were in a pensive mood as everyone of them sat in the family hall. Unlike the other meetings where there would be chatters before the meeting started, today, everyone was focused on the phone, reading the various posts on social media that had managed to circulate around in the last three days. "Richard, how many companies don't want to partner with us anymore?" Grandfather asked."Seventeen."Grandfather sighed. "Let them go." "What are the updates about those riffraffs?" Grandfather asked."The TV station where they went refused to disclose anything about their identity. I have met with the owner of the station but he isn't saying anything," someone said."I have a friend there but he is more clueless than we are about the matter," someone else added."I have checked into it but there is really no one I suspect to have done this among our business rivals," another person said.Richard felt a feeling that he had missed something out... Funny how he seemed not to have th
Another movie had begun on the television and they both watched it as they ate the pizza Elizabeth had ordered. She kept stealing glances at Harlan. She had a lot of questions to ask him but she didn't know which one to ask first. "Stop staring at me," Harlan said without taking his eyes off the television."Huh?" She blushed and looked away.She looked back at the television and reached out to take a slice of pizza. At that same time was when Harlan was going to take one too. Because he was looking at the television too, he grabbed Elizabeth's hand. He glanced at her and for some unexplainable reasons, her face flushed."Hmm, I need to get something inside," she stood up and almost ran to her room. She locked the door behind her and held her fast beating chest. "Darn!"Harlan is in the sitting room… Why the heck is she over-thinking it? She shook her head and turned on the light in her room. She glanced at her face in the mirror. It was flushed. "No. This can't be happening!" She
Elizabeth didn't know how long she had been staring at Harlan's picture on the poster that had been placed in different places all over the campus. In the poster, the pictures of the six of them that had won the competition were there. When Harlan and Roger wouldn't show up, herself, Jason, Cecilia and Adrian had taken the picture. Roger had sent his picture and she had given Harlan's picture from the ones posted on the group chat when the gossip about their dates first started. Some skillful graphic designer had managed to put the pictures of the six of them together. In the picture, Harlan was the only person that stood out to Elizabeth.She looked around to be sure no one had been looking at her. There was no one. She sighed.Her phone beeped. It was a message from Harlan... No, a message from Jack because he is the one with Harlan's phone now. She checked it and saw a picture of some guy in a suit and tattoo on his neck. Under the picture, it read : would you recognize me if you s