The Shadow Man

PAST LIFE: PART II

Meanwhile, back in North Star Entertainment

"Seriously, what are you thinking Jessica? It's been years do you still plan to stay with that idiot." Tom Blake angrily said towards his sister, who turned her face away from the man. "Hey brat, I'm talking to you. Don't you forget because of you the company was put in danger back then?"

"How many times do you keep pointing that out? How would I know that I slept with the useless brother?" Jessica angrily replied as she buried her nails in her palm. She had always regretted her action. But what can she do. It had already happened, and she couldn't go back and take back her words when all the elders agreed with the marriage.

"Then do something about it. Your marriage has greatly affected your carried as well, you’re hardly getting any offers do you know that. You've been pulled by those good for nothing. How much more resources do you want to waste."

"I wasted? Wasn't it because of me back then as well that the company had rose to the top? I put enough efforts to place our company where it is now." Jessica violently said as she started tossing him a magazine on the table to her brother.

"You brat, what are you doing. Ah!" Tom cried as one of the magazines hit him in the face. He picked it up and threw it back at the woman.

"B*stard, what are you doing?"

At that moment, Father Blake walked in and saw both his children fighting. He hurriedly went to check on his daughter's condition. "You b*stard, if something happened to your sister's face do you have the money to pay for it."

"Her face? Is her face even worth anything?" He sarcastically said as he looked at his sister, who was acting all pitiful in front of their father.

"Father, brother was so mean to me." She cried and let a single tear roll down her face. She was an actress and indeed she was good at manipulating people especially her father.

Seeing the tear on her daughter’s face caused the man to be in a rage, he turned to his son and walked towards him and smacked him in the head. "B*stard, if you dare hurt your sister again, then don't bother running this company."

"Father, are you really siding with her? Do you even remember what she had done, have your completely forgotten everything. If as if…" Tom didn't say anything as he realized his father's sudden change in character must mean he found some use for his sister.

"Now dear, don't bother about your brother. Father is here to help you, and I just found a way for you to get back on top my dear." Father Blake as he happily escorted his daughter out of the office to tell her of what he had discovered.

"Ha-ha, is he planning to sell her off again." Tom laughed collapsing in his chair as he thought back to how cunning his father was. If only their previous plans had been successful, then they wouldn't be working this hard.

As time passed by, days passed by when Jacob had seen his wife. He dares not ask his parent-in-law for the whereabouts of his wife, for he didn't really care much about her.

"Boy, what are you doing? That's the work of the servants, why don't you go out and enjoy yourself." Father Blake said as he grabbed the mop from the boy as he handed him some cash. He smiled at the man and then handed the mop to the servants, "What do you think you're doing making my son-in-law do all this work. Are you an idiot!"

"Master, I'm sorry. I'll do that now." Auntie Vic said as she grabbed the mop and walked away. She didn't even bother asking why the sudden change of character. She could only watch from the distance and observe everyone.

"Now son, go ahead and enjoy yourself." Father Blake escorted the man out to the door as he waved goodbye to him. He stayed by the door until he saw the man had walked some distance and went back inside the house.

Jacob, who continued to walk clueless by what had happened, stared at the money in his hand. He wonders why they were all being nice to him lately. It all started the day his wife had not come back home. His mother-in-law invited him to dine with him for dinner. Since then, he had been eating with the woman. His brother-in-law, who hardly visited the house because he was so disgusted with him, visited and gave him some presents. That alone caused Jacob to worry a lot, as if they were planning to do something to him. But, none of his worries came to reality. The family just became nicer to him with each passing day his wife was away. He wondered if something had happened to his wife which had caused the family to be nice to him.

"Could she be sick and left her will to me?" Jacob laughed thinking about his wife, who would idiotically leave her fortune to him, which could be the reason why his family had become all nice to him.

Since they had given him the money, Jacob didn't bother thinking much about it and enjoyed his freedom. It had been a while since he left that home and hadn't had the chance to see the world outside. The fact the family didn't even invite him out, so he didn't bother going out.

"I wonder how mother is." Jacob said as he walked down the streets seeing all the shops for women.

After the marriage between him and the Blake, both Jacob and his family decided to cut ties with each other. To not contact each other so that the Blake would see that the man had no use at all, and would soon file for divorce. However, they must not have expected that the Blake wouldn't do such a thing easily. Now, years have passed and they haven't seen each other at all.

Jacob didn't really enjoy going around and shopping for clothes nor any material things. Since his mother was around, she was normally the one who does so. Plus, he stayed in the army for a long time, which meant it was not necessary to buy any such things as he'd be wearing his uniform all the time. But as he gazes upon all the different items being displayed. It made him think back to his past, for, unlike his brother, Jacob didn't live a luxurious life at first.

It all happened on the day both Jacob and Jasper were born. Both of them were born in the province since Mother Wayne had poor health during her pregnancy. As she was on her labor, coincidentally, a storm hit the village she was in. Both her husband and grandfather weren't there at the moment to assist her, and she was left all alone with her nanny.

Both children were of course, safely delivered; but little did they know that they had taken one of their sons, wrongly, one that day.

As the years passed, Jacob grew up with a loving parent. They were poor since his parents were only farmers. But, despite that, both his mother and father loved him so much. He was the youngest son out of five children and was the only son. So, both his parents loved him as well as his older sisters.

Back then, whenever they went to visit town. Jacob would always wish for something, but since their family were poor, he would never ask, but only watch from a distance. He was kind and knew their family couldn't afford it, so he promised himself on that day, as the next man in the family, he'd work hard to make sure they'd be able to have everything.

And that day didn't come long, when a group of people arrived at their doorstep one night.

"Excuse me, do you happened to have a son?" An elderly man inquired to both husband and wife, who were still half asleep, looking all confused.

Behind them, their children all hid curiously, wondering what was happening. None of them said anything, but allowed the old man to step inside and see the young boy who was being carried by his elder sister. When the old man saw the young boy, his face was filled with joy.

"Do you know, I've been looking all over for you?"

"Excuse me, what do you mean?"

"Before I explain everything, it's best if you all get change. I know it's late but a life is in danger right now and we need to go right away."

They traveled far that night to reach their destination and ended up in a big hospital. Inside, there were a lot of people, all emotional and sound of cries echoed.

"Master, I've brought them."

When Jacob's parents saw the man and woman who were all in tears and they noticed something similar in him which saddens them right away. They soon realized that the son they had raised all those years wasn't there.

"He, is he yours…" Jacob's father hesitantly said as he didn't want to admit it; but seeing the resemblance in front of him, it was hard to deny.

"Hmm." Father Wayne nodded as he agreed with the man's words. "We're sorry, your son."

Jacob's mother didn't bother with the people around her as she ran to the bedside. In the bed she saw a child all covered in bandages and all sorts of lines were being connected to him. "My baby."

"We're really sorry, we…" Mother Wayne wanted to explain, but no matter how much they'll explain and apologize she knows her words were meaningless at this moment.

"Father, mother." The boy on the bed was awoken by all the noise, and looked up. He notices an unfamiliar woman crying in front of him and smiled. He notices the resemblance of him to her, "You must be my mother."

"My…" The woman couldn't make a word come out of his mouth. She became all emotional as he held the boy's hand.

"I'm glad to finally meet you. I'm sorry if I can't greet you properly." The boy smiled with teary eyes. He was delighted to finally meet his birth parents. He gazed around and notice the man still standing by the door, along with the rest of his children. "They, they must be my older sister."

"They are." Said the man who couldn't control his tears and cried as well. "This is Beth, she the eldest, then Jess, Claire, and Jade."

"Hi sis, I'm glad to meet you all." The boy cried as he started coughing for being so emotional.

"Master Wayne, forgive us. But we need to…" One of the doctors interrupted as they were still in a state of emergency.

"Ah, yes, I'm sorry but, we need to check if any of you can…" Father Wayne explained everything to them of what happened. Both parents were in tears and angry by what happened. But they didn't stay angry, as they saw both parents have done well in taking care of their son.

As soon as the doctor finished explaining. Everyone left as they needed to be examined to see if any of them were compatible with the child. Whilst everyone was in a state of urgency, they had all almost forgotten about a certain someone.

Whilst everyone was busy with themselves. The boy continues to stand by the door. He watched as everyone was all doing their things as if no one was seeing him at all. He didn't complain at all and only walked to the sofa and rested himself. Seeing they didn't have the time for him, he decided to just continue with his sleep.

It was already day break when they were able to successfully operate on the child. Lucky, two of the sisters were compatible with the him.

Both parents were pleased with the result as they were all greeting each other in the hallway. An old man came from the corner and said it out loud.