The Billionaire Heir's Replacement

6. Life of The Heir

Haze woke up with a bang.

And a boner, to be precise. But no one needs to know that.

Especially not Elaine, the girl who dared to slam his bedroom door open so hard that the window rattled.

"Good morning, impostor," Elaine said with apparent glee after wrenching him away from his nice sleep. She already has a wooden ruler in her hand, ready to take on her role as his teacher for the day. "Get out of bed and present yourself downstairs in one minute. Wear something comfortable to move."

"Can you not give me a heart attack next time?" Haze still clutched his chest with one hand. The other one was around his blanket, deliberately trying to cover the tent forming in his lower body.

Try as he might, Elaine caught his suspicious behavior. "What are you trying to hide, impostor?"

He blushed a little. He had never shown a certain, embarrassing reaction to a stranger in his twenty-three years of life. One that he had only met once, to add. "N-nothing."

Elaine's eyes narrowed, moving back and forth to Haze's face and his lower body region. Realization came like an earthquake, and the brunette squeaked like a shocked duck. She rushed out of the bedroom and went down with thunderous steps.

She was mortified.

So was Haze.

He buried his hot red face in his hands, hoping a black hole appeared out of nowhere to swallow him whole. "Why now?!"

Even so, the Earth still rotated on its axis, indifferent to Haze's shame. The time still marched on, and there was nothing he could do but hope that Elaine would forget about it.

A few minutes later, after Haze had calmed down and fixed himself in the bathroom, he came down to the first floor, where Elaine had already waited for him.

With a glare sharper than the Excalibur sword.

She did not forget!

Haze's shoulders slumped in dejection.

"Do you think that is funny?"

"No, Ma'am," Haze didn't look up to meet the brunette's fiery eyes.

"Do you think you could harass me that way?"

Haze's voice became weaker, "No, Ma'am."

Elaine scoffed, still unconvinced.

"I swear, I didn't mean to do that," Haze explained, "It was normal for men to have that in the morning. I swear, you will never see anything like that again in the morning."

She was silent.

"I'm sorry, okay?" Haze repeated, "I'm really sorry about that."

He was afraid that she'd tell this matter to old Jeremy. Or worse, to Leonard.

Haze shivered just thinking about it. There was something about that man that made Haze become wary. He was like a living, walking threat, unassuming under his regal appearance. But he got the message. He wouldn't mess with that man. Ever.

A sigh was heard.

Elaine finally nodded and moved across the room. "Let's go."

He caught up to her. "Where are we going?"

"Morning jog," she said before she asked him to stretch first.

Haze obeyed and stretched his body, especially his legs. Even if he seldom ran, he was pretty sure climbing up and down five floors at least twice every day would make up for it. But, oh, man… he underestimated her.

They were not jogging.

They were straight-up running.

Even if it was down the hill, Haze felt his thighs and calves burn right away. He gasped and desperately pushed himself to not be an embarrassment. If he stumbled here, Elaine would forever mock him for it.

Haze didn't know when this torturous run would end, but his lungs would collapse in the next second.

Thankfully, Elaine slowed down and looked at the stopwatch in her left hand. She frowned, cruelly stating, "You're so bad at jogging."

He gasped for breath and lay down on the cold, hard asphalt. It was the same road they drove by yesterday. The farming field surrounded them, giving a nice clear view this morning. However, he was in so much agony from running that he couldn't give a freaking mind about the scenery.

Haze regretted ever being this confident about the so-called morning jog.

"You can rest for three minutes, then we jog back to the mansion," Elaine declared in a horror story. She didn't give mercy.

"Y-you're joking…"

Elaine merely looked him down from her standing position. "I don't think you're cut up to replace Cassius in three months."

“He-hey… I don’t, ugh… think so either… in the first place…”

"Even if your height is the same, your build is too different. You're too thin and have little to no muscle to speak of. Too bad, Mr. Blackwood decided on you."

Haze wanted to protest, but he knew it was the truth from the family portrait on the stairs. "I, hah, I have to agree…" he closed his eyes, fully merging with the road beneath.

Elaine scoffed and went down to start her push-up. Running for three miles seemed like a mere warm-up for her. Haze slightly envied her endless stamina, but he lacked the means to do the hard work.

"Time's up," the brunette announced, standing up with her wooden ruler on the shoulder. She looked ready to smack him with it if he refused.

Haze grimaced when his muscles screamed. He was just out of the hospital yesterday, wasn't she unaware of that?

"I know what you think," Elaine seemed to read his mind, "If you think that being hospitalized can be your reason to slack off, then you're wrong. You'll see the consequence if you don't get up now."

"I know what you think," Elaine seemed to read his mind, "If you think that being hospitalized can be your reason to slack off, then you're wrong. If you don't get up now, you'll find the consequence worse."

Gulping in fear, Haze scrambled to his sore feet and moved to run behind her. He wanted to catch up, really, but it was just setting the standard too high. Moreover now, as they run up the hill.

It was worse than hell.

His chest hurt. His head hurt. His legs hurt. Every part of his body begged for him to stop moving and just lay back on the ground. Haze would scream in agony, if he had any energy left to spare for it.

"After this, you will learn how to do business."

"That doesn't sound… difficult…"

"Oh?" Elaine sounded offended, "Then, we will skip the introduction and go straight to practice. That is, after you arrive at the mansion in thirty minutes."

'Who was she kidding?!'

Haze wanted everything to end that early in the morning, even before his first breakfast, since he was thrust into this life-changing reality.