2025-01-11 01:58:48‘Watch out man!’ Iglesias called out behind Jason as he almost bumped into one of the waiters exiting the kitchen with a breakfast box.
Jason heard nothing. All he wanted to do was flee. It was not until he exited the building through the back door that he realized that his keys were not in his pocket and he was still wearing his work clothes. ‘I’d rather dump them in a trashcan rather than return them anyways.’, he thought. He had momentarily forgotten what he had just witnessed as the ache in his head made it difficult for his thoughts to conjure. Jason whimpered as he felt his head throbbing as the scene and exchange of dialogues came rushing back. He felt his stomach churn as though he was hungry and nauseous at the same time. As he held unto the delivery boxes stacked by the door in order to relief himself of his aches, he heard the door open behind him. He did not turn because he knew that whosoever it could be was probably out to mock him. Then he heard the familiar voice yet again. ‘Jason, I’m sorry. I didn’t know how to tell you’, Daisy said sounding remorseful as she walked to his front. ‘Get away from me!’ Jason said as he felt Daisy’s hand on his shoulder. ‘I wanted to tell you but I know that you would not believe me’, she replied. ‘You should have found a way to make me believe! I would have found better ways, better jobs, taken extra shifts, taken days off to treat her right.’ Daisy could not distinguish or believe what she thought she heard and what she actually heard. ‘Are you crazy?’ she asked in disbelief with her eyeballs threatening to pop out of their sockets. ‘Yes, I am. For pushing my wife into the arms of another man, Yes, I am!’ he replied almost in tears while clutching his stomach as another wave of pain hit him. ‘Jason!’ She screamed silently sounding as though she was close to tears ‘She does not deserve you! She hates you! Can’t you see?’ Jason stood silent for a minute as he felt her hands on his shoulder once again as her words pierce his already aching ears and heart while he searched for answers deep within his soul. ‘If she hates me, it’s definitely my fault. She used to love me and I’ll do everything I can to win her back’, he said as he dusted off Daisy’s hand. ‘Jason, look at me. Please, for once look at me. I can be there for you, be here for you, I can be what she’s not, what you want…’, she pleaded solemnly. As Jason felt the pain in his abdomen subsiding, he stood up straight to look into Daisy’s face. Daisy thought this was it but the Jason’s countenance sent her three steps backward. It was the look of disgust shooting daggers into her soul. Jason said nothing as he walked away from the building leaving behind his keys, his scooter and his wife. … Jason knew he had to do it now or lose her forever. ‘I can’t lose her like this. She’s my life. She loves me. This is my entire fault’, he thought as he walked down 5 blocks until he reached the front of a building. The building was quite an odd one as it was obviously older than every other building surrounding it with a mansion-like structure with a huge bronze statue of a man dressed in suit looking across the road towards the Seventh Lake about 2 kilometers away. Jason had always thought it was a strange statue but at this point he paid it no attention as he was on a mission armed with the right words and thoughts to secure a loan for his own dispatch and delivery business. ‘Welcome back, Mr Jason’, the security official at the door said as he pushed the button attached to the door frame in order to let Jason in. Luke, the security official at the door was a 38 years old dark-skinned British man with a chiseled body which was very obvious in his black on black uniform. He is known to effortlessly switch his accent depending on the occasion, the client or the weather as the other bankers sometimes say. ‘Is Miss Lily in?’ Jason asked him impatiently without entering into the building. ‘No time for pleasantries today hun?’, Luke replied as he let the door shut itself. ‘I’m sorry. I…I just have a lot on my mind’, Jason replied while letting out an exasperated sigh. ‘You should take it easy man. I’ll be at our usual by 9 PM.’ ‘I’ll be there. I sure need someone to talk to before I lose my mind.’ ‘I gat you, bruv’, Luke said as he winked and snapped his fingers simultaneously. Luke has been Jason’s best friend since junior high school. Their friendship had stood the test of time especially with his marriage to Dee which Luke disapproved of. Jason has never really understood why Luke has never like Dee even after 7 years of introducing them to each other and countless other meet-ups. ‘She’s in. what do you want with the loan mistress? Anything I should know?’ ‘The bar’ ‘Aight. You’re welcome to Trust Bank, Mr. Jason’, Luke said smiling mischievously as he pushed the open button again. Jason could not help but breathe in the cold but surprisingly refreshing as he stepped into the customer’s service section. ‘Here goes nothing’, he said to himself as he went straight to one of the bankers sited behind a table at the right corner of the room. ‘Good morning, Mr. Jason.’ The man said enthusiastically. ‘I’m here to see Miss Lily’ ‘Do you have an appointment?’ ‘Well… no, not really.’ Jason replied while scratching the back of his head. ‘See you some other time then. Next!’ ‘Please…’ ‘Lily has no time for jobless folks like you. It’s better you get a life rather than following women that are way out of your league.’ For the umpteenth time within 2 hours, the aches which Jason had felt, both in his head and his heart, which had earlier subsided, came back in triple folds. This time around, there were no boxes or railings to hold onto as the pain sent him crashing into the cold floor. He felt himself slipping into darkness before the sting of a pinch brought him back to life. It was only then he realized that he had passed out in the banking hall. ‘Where am I?’, he thought wearily as the splitting headache welcomed him into its arms yet again. As he turned his head, he found himself staring directly into the face of Miss Lily which startled him. ‘I’m so glad that you are awake, Jason’, Miss Lily said as she brushed through his hair with her soft palm. ‘Lily, where am I?’ ‘You are in my room’. She said with a smirk on her face. ‘No, please… please, don’t do this to me again Lily. I’ve not been able to forgive myself since that day. I can’t even look her in the eyes’. Jason said as he sat up on the couch where he was laid and tears began to stream down his face ‘Oh Jason! Come on! She has done worse to you!’ ‘But… it’s my… I know that it’s my fault’, Jason replied while cleaning his face with his shirt. ‘Jason!’ ‘Lily, please… I have done your biddings already’, Jason said remorsefully as Lily walked towards the table in the center of the room. It was only then that Jason realized that he was still within the bank premises as he took in the extent of the room they were in. It occurred to him that they were in Lily’s inner room. ‘It’s been signed. You can come for it tomorrow but…’, she replied with an evil smirk on her face as she sat behind the desk on a rotating chair. ‘But what again Lily?!’, Jason said almost screaming with his evidently teary voice. ‘You have to tell her about everything.’ Jason did not wait for any further exchange of dialogue with the beautiful 5’6 fair skinned blonde devil. ‘The devil doesn’t bargain. She’ll only break your heart again’, he thought smiling wearingly as he walked through several doors before he exited the building. He felt that he had lost his dignity, his only hope, his identity, Dee and probably Ria. Jason felt his entire life crumbling at his feet and unfortunately, he did not hear Luke calling his name till he stepped in front of a speeding fire-truck which sent his body and soul flying thousand miles apart. ‘Maybe my life too’. He thought as he heard his name been screamed by a familiar voice before he slipped into darkness again as he felt his body hit the hot tar. This time, the slip was undeniably a painful one which he wished never to come back from.
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...Cain leaned back in his chair, visibly frustrated but unwilling to show weakness again as he opened up his laptop. Cain knew he had lost this round. Jason had already made his point: he was fearless. And that was something even Cain couldn’t manipulate.Cain glanced up from his laptop, his eyes flickering over Jason with an almost dismissive glance. With a practiced air of nonchalance, he closed the laptop with a swift motion, standing up immediately. He didn’t bother to acknowledge Jason directly, choosing instead to carry the laptop with him as he walked towards the far side of the office. Jason, unfazed as ever, immediately proceeded to start where Cain had vacated. He began sweeping the area under the desk, he realized that the office, with its sleek, polished surfaces and sharp edges, felt almost suffocating in its perfection. It was large, almost as big as the president’s office, and it offered a commanding view of the rest of the headquarters, and beyond that, the sprawlin
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CHAPTER 27
Jason had no expectations from his new job. He knew exactly what he had to do and expected almost nothing in return. It, surprisingly felt too natural, as if this role had always been something he was familiar with. Like there had always been someone above, giving orders, telling him where to go and what to do.The first week was too simple. His introduction to the job consisted of observing the routines of the other janitors, who moved through the headquarters with a quiet, almost military precision. The task was simple, clean, scrub, organize, but it required a keen eye and a focus on detail. He’d been taught how to clean without disturbing the sensitive documents that filled the offices, how to polish the glass surfaces without leaving a streak, and how to ensure that every inch of the topmost floor of the building was spotless by the end of his shift. The mask he wore over his face and the glasses that shielded his eyes had now become a part of his identity. They were the first
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It had been three months since Jason began his reintegration into the system, and in those three months, his life had become a series of routines and adaptations. As the sun pierced through the blinds at 7 am, Jason rose from his bed, the rhythm of his body waking up as instinctively as his mind. The gym had become a non-negotiable part of his day, a daily ritual born out of his need for discipline and control. The private martial arts training that his father had arranged for him had transformed his body, honed his reflexes, and instilled in him a quiet sense of power. But today, as he prepared for his morning workout, something was different.On his study table, already cluttered with an assortment of packages that had arrived over the past weeks, was another box. It wasn’t particularly large, but it stood out among the others, as though it was waiting for him. The note attached to it was simple, scrawled in his father’s familiar hand: "Wear this."Jason raised an eyebrow, the feeli
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Jason stood in front of his father in his home office, the weight of everything was now pressing down on his shoulders. He had never imagined this moment would come, this confrontation that seemed to have been waiting all his life."Why didn’t you ever look for me?" Jason's voice broke the silence, hoarse with a mix of pain and accusation. "You just let me go... and didn’t try to find me. All this time, you never even cared enough to search."His father didn’t respond immediately. The old man looked down, his hands clenched tightly together, as if searching for the right words, but finding none. Finally, he sighed, a long, heavy exhalation, as if the weight of the past had crushed him too many times."I did look for you, Jason," Mr. ArkWrath said quietly, his voice trembling with a vulnerability Jason had never heard before. "I searched... but your letter..." He paused, as if the mere mention of it was a wound too fresh to touch. "You told us not to. You wrote that we should leave you
