"Everyone get out!" Jason growled as he walked into the lecture hall.
There was silence. No one moved."Everyone except Harlan should get out before the count of two!" He bellowed.A lot of timid students ran out, leaving the brave ones behind. The ones that didn't get out were at alert.Jason walked over to Harlan who was pressing his phone as if what was happening wasn't any of his concern.Jason dragged Harlan up from the seat, collected the phone from Harlan and threw it across the hall.Harlan stared at him in shock."What the heck!" Harlan shouted.Jason slapped him across the face. And held him by the collar."You are mad, isn't it?""You got to explain what this —" Harlan started to say when a slap from Jason interrupted him."After my warning for you not to have anything to do with Liza you are still bold enough to go afElizabeth stood up and yawned. She stretched her limbs. She sat lazily on the bed and took her phone that had been there on silence mode all the while.She had decided that she was going to surprise Harlan with what she came up with on the topic for the research and because of that, she had not gone to school today. Since the rest of the group members didn't seem to be ready to come up with anything with the topic and Elizabeth wasn't ready to get promoted to the final year in college on the basis that her father was the founder of the college, she had done the major things about the research. Having spent more than ten hours doing her research on the topic, the rest was nothing much for the rest of the group members to tackle.As she turned on the phone, she saw about fifty eight missed calls and two hundred messages. On normal days, she got nothing less than fifty messages from people in the college, especially guys who wanted to go on a
Jason's father and Jason's uncle entered the room where Jason has been admitted to the hospital.Jason opened his eyes slowly at the sound of the door. He saw his father and uncle. He sat up in bed quickly, ignoring the pain that shot across his body. It's been twenty four hours now in the hospital, but the pain was still unbearable for him. He had been lucky not to break a bone during the fight."Dad? Uncle?""You are such a disgrace!" His father spat."For how long are you going to keep us in this mess? If you are tired of living you can kill yourself!" His uncle said.Jason looked down, "I am sorry.""You are sorry? That is all you will say after all you have done to the Alberts prestige?" His uncle asked in anger."I am really sorry," Jason muttered."Do you know how many people are seeing the videos of what nonsense you did in school yesterday? As if that is not enoug
A day later, Harlan was starting to recover from the pain from the fight gradually. It was one of those moments when the doctor had just come in to inject him with sedatives and cracked some jokes before leaving.He heard a knock on the door before it opened."Someone is here to see you, Sir," the nurse told Harlan.Since this wasn't his first time here and everyone knew him to be Harlan Smith, he was treated with a lot of respect"Who?""She said her name is Elizabeth. She didn't tell me her surname."Harlan glanced at the nurse, "Elizabeth?""Yes Sir. Should I let her in? If you don't want to see her I would tell her that you are still resting.""Tell her to come in.""Okay sir." She said and went out.Harlan cleared his throat severally before the door opened and Elizabeth came in.Elizabeth was wearing white pants with a blouse
Two days later, Harlan got discharged and on the morning of the next day, Harlan drove to school in the new car that Jack had helped him get from the Alberts car agency. He parked the car and walked toward the hall. He had barely walked for a minute when two cops stopped him."You are Harlan?" One of the cops asked"Yes.""Come with us to Mr Healy's office, now." Harlan looked at the two cops for some seconds before going with them to Mr Healy's office. When they got to his office, they allowed Harlan to enter before they went away."Good morning, Sir," Harlan greeted Mr Healy.Mr Healy took off his glasses and looked at Harlan. He shook his head slowly as if seeing Harlan was the most disgusting thing he has ever had to do."I don't want to have any conversation with you until Jason comes," Mr Healy said before putting on his glasses. He focused on the files on the tabl
Mr Healy stared at Harlan, eyes widened. "What... Did you just say?" He stuttered."I should have introduced myself sooner, but now isn't bad, Sir.""Do you think I am a fool, you punk?" Mr Healy gnashed his teeth and clenched his fist.Harlan took a deep breath, "I know you were not going to believe me. It makes me amazed at how Elizabeth is different from everyone else.""Don't tell me you tricked my daughter into believing you are Harlan Smith!" Harlan shrugged, "you can recognize Mr Smith's voice, can't you?"Mr Healy stared hard at Harlan.He took out his phone from his pocket and dialed Mr Smith's number. There was no answer.He tried the second time."Look, get out of my office. I am tired of seeing you. Seeing you disgust me," Mr Healy said."Just a second.""I said, get out!" Mr Healy yelled.
Adrian drove around the building standing alone in the Street many times before bringing the car to a halt some meters away from it. Although he had seen the man —if you would call that guy with a curly, grinning face a man— he wanted to be sure he was alone.He called the man to inform him of his arrival. Some moments later, the guy got to the car and tapped on the window. Adrian let down the window a bit just enough for the guy to hear his voice."Where is it?""You've got a nice car here. How much did you buy it?" The guy looked at the car with eyes rolling in greed.Adrian glared at the man. He gave an rueful smile."Do you get what I told you to get for me?" Adrian asked.He looked around, "you think it's safe for me to be out here while you are inside your car? Anyone could see us together.""Just hand over the list to me.""Adrian, we h
Some days later, Mr Healy called for an emergency school meeting compulsory for all students in the school. The members of staff were seated at the front. There was murmuring from the students, but it soon stopped when Mr Healy stood up from where he had been sitting and having a conversation with his secretary.He cleared his throat and it sent echo across the hall."It's nice to have you here, all you you," he said.The murmuring was getting reduced."You all are aware of what has been going on in this college for the past few weeks..." The murmuring increased.Mr Healy cleared his throat again."As long as you are still in this college, regardless of how rich you are, you should behave well. A lot of you have parents who run business and you will likely understand how hard it is to make a business go smoothly. This is my business too and the last thing I want is for anyone to ruin it," he paused f
"What's the problem?""I told him that I didn't know Harlan Smith." "Don't worry. I will go explain things to him.""You don't understand, Harlan, he is going to think I am hiding things from him," Elizabeth said worriedly."I will tell him that I asked you not to tell anyone about me.""That's how it is with us. We don't believe each other.""You don't believe your father? Why?""He doesn't deserve it. He is a liar. I mean, a bloody liar."Harlan frowned, "Elizabeth?""He has been lying since I was a kid so tell me why I have to believe whatever he says.""Wait a minute. We are talking about your father here, Elizabeth.""He lied to me that Mom died because there was nothing that could have been done. I miss Mom," Elizabeth said quietly, wiping a bit of tears from her face.Harlan looked around, slightly embarrassed
"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