THE RISE OF THE SECRET HEIR

CHAPTER 4

All he saw was white.

White ceilings. White beddings. White human.

His body was weak. His head was banging and his heart was broken. 

The emotion was enough to remind him that he was still among the living. However, he couldn't explain why the person looking over him looked so white like a fairy.

He had a white beard too with white hair.

Arthur shut his eyes and opened them right back to see the same man peering at him with curiosity. He closed his eyes again to be sure he wasn't really dead and he wasn't in heaven.

“Arthur?” A voice reached out to him, making him flicker his eyes back open. It was the same man but his face wasn't white. His beard and hair were still white but his face wasn't. 

The old man was smiling down at him like a father would smile at a son who had made him so proud.

“Wh…where…am..I?” He was surprised at his voice. It sounded weak and strange to his ears. 

The memories came rushing; he was beaten, forced to divorce his wife and fired from work. Then he was chased with a car until he lost consciousness.

He wondered what Claire would think of him if she saw him on the hospital bed as a result of her vengeance for being called a bitch.

“Arthur?” The old man called again, as though he hadn't heard Arthur’s question of where he was. 

“Who are you?” Arthur was no longer stuttering. He was curious to know how he got to the place and why the man was there with him.

“I am Derrick Craig”, the man introduced, still smiling. If Arthur wasn't weak and too sad, he would have smiled back because the old man’s smile was contagious. “You are in the hospital, should I call the doctor?”

Before Arthur could say no, the man signalled to someone who was standing watch at the entrance of the door and he moved out. The guard came back a few minutes later with the doctor right behind him.

Arthur was still wincing. It was from the banging of his head. He wondered if he hit his head on something or if the car truly ran him over.

The doctor examined him silently before asking him. “Do you feel any pain?”

Arthur nodded. “My head. My eyes hurt too.”

The doctor nodded and turned to the old man. Arthur noticed how he regarded the man, it wasn't just a casual respect, he was practically bowing to the man.

The doctor left, leaving Arthur with the man alone. A few seconds later, someone else comes in and Arthur saw it was a young lady with a nurse’s tag and uniform.

The lady politely asked the old man and the guard to excuse them before she injected Arthur in the buttocks. Arthur felt embarrassed but the embarrassment quickly died down when he began to feel sleepy.

The old man came back in and Arthur asked sleepily. “Who are you?”

“I told you I am Derrick Craig.”

“What are you doing here? How did I get to the hospital?”

There was only an explanation for all of this, he thought. The old man must have seen him lying lifeless on the street and decided to help him by bringing him to the hospital.

What doesn't explain itself is why the man was still there. Arthur felt it was because he wanted him to know him as his beneficiary.

“I went to see you at home but you weren't there. Your neighbor told me what happened and that was how you got here.”

His explanation didn't satisfy Arthur.

“You know me? Why did you go to my house?” Arthur demanded again, his curiosity unsatisfied.

Is it Claire again? Did Claire send the old man to help her apologize for her mistakes?

He shook his head. Claire never apologized. She doesn't apologize. He had no idea why he couldn't get rid of her thoughts entirely from his head.

She was a poison to him.

Instead of replying, the man only smiled. It gave Arthur’s anger a chance. Infuriated, he tried to shout but his voice only came out in a whisper. “Please leave.”

Arthur wanted no more pain. No more embarrassment. He was tired of them all. He just wanted a new life. Everyone he had met had hurt him in one way or the other.

Instead of complying, the old man moved closer, and the smile on his face vanished. He had a serious look on his expression as he examined Arthur.

For a second, Arthur thought he saw a flash of care and concern but his experience had taught him better. He wanted to overlook it all.

As though the man could read his thoughts, he raised his hand and placed it on Arthur's cheek before holding his hand.

Calmly, he muttered, “I am your granduncle.”

Arthur blinked.

His eyelids were almost closing but he managed to keep them open. At first, he thought he must have misheard the old man but when the man broke into a smile as he caressed his hand lovingly, realization dawned on him.

Granduncle?

So he had a father all along.

If only it was possible for someone to exist and not have a father or mother, Arthur would have thought he was one of those whose existence didn't include having parents.

He never knew any of them. He grew up in an orphanage. He could barely remember his childhood but one memory refused to leave his head; the day he left the orphanage with his friend, Andrew.

Arthur blinked again but the man was still there.

“Uncle?” He found himself asking to be sure.

He nodded intermittently before letting go of his hand. Arthur felt the absence of his warmth touch but he didn't want to let that get to him.

“Arthur was your father’s name. I gave him that name myself”, he said and reclined back on the chair beside Arthur's bed which he was sitting on before Arthur regained consciousness, he began.

“Arthur was newly appointed as the first prince when he had an affair with Maryann. It resulted in pregnancy but it was against the custom and tradition for a prince to have a child out of wedlock. Without your grandfather’s knowledge, your grandmother kicked against a marriage between Maryann and Arthur when Arthur decided to keep it a secret by getting married to her quickly. She knew Maryann was pregnant but because she was a maid, she refused. Aside from that, she wanted an arranged marriage for Arthur with her best friend’s daughter, Eunice. Arthur refused. Graciala sent Maryann away in the middle of the night and made arrangements for Arthur’s wedding with Eunice.”

Arthur was half asleep but he forced himself to listen because of his curiosity.

“Arthur got married and had three daughters; Marianna, Diana, and Graciala who was named after your grandmother who passed on. Now, Arthur is critically ill and he made an announcement to the council about his secret heir. Maryann left him a letter before she left. She told him she was going to name you Arthur. We heard she died after she put to bed.”

Arthur raised his brow in complete confusion.

His mother died right after his birth. And his father was critically ill?

If his father was hale and hearty all these years, why didn't he look for him? Why now? What do they stand to gain? 

The fact that the old uncle just mentioned that he was of royal blood, even though a bastard made him more pissed.

“You need to come home to your father before he leaves.”

Leaves? To where?

“Where is he going?” His eyes are shutting on their accord. He guessed it must be as a result of the injection but his curiosity wasn't fully satisfied, even though none of what he was hearing sounded real.

“He is dying”, the man revealed, his face stony all of a sudden. He has been diagnosed with cancer and he needs you back home. You are his only heir. He kept you away all these years just to keep you safe.”

“Why now? Why am I needed now?”

“Because it is time you come home to claim what is rightfully yours. Arthur’s wife had an affair and gave birth to a boy who isn't Arthur’s son. He doesn't want you to lose your secret inheritance. Arthur had it all planned. Now is the time for the truth to be revealed. Your father knew where you were but didn't come for you to keep you safe from the enemy’s watch. If you come home now, that bastard won't claim what is yours. Your father needs you now more than ever.”

Bastard?

If Arthur wasn't lying on the bed half asleep and weak, he would have laughed out at the man’s choice of words.

If that boy was a bastard, then who was he? He considered himself a bastard too. He was born out of wedlock and that made him a bastard too.

“You are your father's son, Arthur”, the man mentioned the smile back on his face, making Arthur wonder if the man could read people's minds. “You are Arthur Craig, the sole heir to the empire of the Great Craig of California.”

Arthur scoffed. 

It was unbelievable. One minute, he was doing everything possible to keep his woman, the next minute he was fired, and now he was a secret heir?

The only sole heir?

Arthur shook his head. He didn't want to be deceived. Everything felt like a dream. A dream he wished would come true but he knew better. Dreams like these were too good to be true. 

Perhaps he was hallucinating. He should sleep it off. By the time he was awake, maybe this strange old man who seemed to be a mind-reader would be gone just like he came and then he could continue with his pathetic life.

He could begin to pick up the pieces of his broken heart and life one after the other. He could also leave to somewhere else to start life afresh.

He could no longer keep his eyes open. They were opening and closing earlier but now, his eyes were shutting slowly.

With his hand, he waved the old man away indignantly. “Leave. Go away.”

He wanted him gone. He didn't care if the man was going to be the one to sort out his hospital bills or not. He didn't care if the man was telling the truth. He just wanted him gone.

Perhaps, it was because he wasn't thinking straight. Or because he didn't want to believe everything he had said. Or because he wanted more explanation for being abandoned and for this strange news of his father’s royal family.

He wanted the old man gone.

But before the old man could protest or say anything else catchy enough to keep Arthur’s curiosity pricked, he fell into a deep slumber.