Uprising Of The Hidden Heir

CHAPTER 5

Mr. Rufus Gerald pulled off from his seat, hugging Austin tightly until he could feel the warmth of his hands.

After a while, he pulled off and held on to his face.

"I'm glad to have you back and see your face once again even though it's not going to be for long." His father noted.

Mr. Rufus' face was so flooded with so much joy that he didn't notice the extreme words of his father. His heart was racing fast.

"Glad to have you back too father. And I promise to have a great time with you now that I am back."   Austin added

But he could feel that something was wrong with his father. His breathing beat and his extremely cold hands.

And immediately he said the words, there was a sudden change in his facial expression but he could not pinpoint what exactly it was that was wrong.

"Are you okay father?" He inquired staring right into the eyes of his father with so much passion.

Mr. Rufus pushed a smile forward almost immediately as he gestured to a seat that was right before him.

"I'm fine. And you should sit too." He said still smiling and without spitting out a single word from his mouth, he nodded his head and said. 

"Okay, father." 

He made his way towards the seat and sat. The air around the place is seemingly really strange.

It seemed as though they were waiting for him to speak first and when he could no longer near the silence, he finally decided to speak up.

"I'm really glad to be back but no one is telling me about what's wrong." He stare at each one of them, waiting for a response

Finally, his extremely strict uncle, sitting at the far end of the meeting room cleared his throat and went further to speak.

"We know that the time that was set upon but isn't up yet but we have to defy the family's tradition due to reasons that are beyond our reach." He finally began 

With each word that was spoken, he could feel the pattern of his racing heart stepping up even more.

"We need someone to guide the company when we are gone." His uncle finally said but his words only got him even more confused than he was already.

"What are you talking about? What do you mean by when you are gone?" His heart raced even faster as he was finding it difficult to process the words that he was hearing at the moment.

Once again, his eyes skimmed through the hall and noticed that something was missing in the hall.

His grandfather wasn't around.

"What about grandfather?" Austin finally went ahead to inquire.

But immediately he spat out the words from his mouth, a strange air filtered through the hall getting him even more worried than he was already.

"He is dead." Uncle Henry replied and it seemed as though his lungs were snapped out of the  exclamation swiftly.

Memories flushed through his mind and his eyes bulged out of his eyes.

He had always thought of meeting his family in one piece but it seemed like he was getting the direct opposite of what he wished for.

"But what has that gotten to do with the rest of you?" He inquired further, pairing right into his eyes as though he was searching for answers.

"We were all poisoned about a month ago. The chef said it was an accident but that can't avert the consequences that it brought with it."

"We have just a few days to leave and that's if life is generous with us." He seemed to have been snapped out of his breath as he spoke.

Thoughts ran through his mind and his hands were placed over his face as he tried hard not to believe what he just heard.

"No! That can't be true." Austin kept on saying, his voice deepened in so much pain as he spoke.

His father walked up to him, tapping him slightly on his shoulders.

"We are sorry to put such a burden on you but you don't even have time to grieve. You are the only one that can help this company now.

There are already rumors going around. We have to start resolving them already." Mr. Rufus said.

He pulled his hands away from his face swiftly and stared right into the eyes of his father.

"Promise me that you are going to make the best out of this company." He said.

Even though his heart was washed up with so much grief, he knew that this was the time to be strong. Even though not for himself, for the rest of the company, and his father.

"I promise." Austin finally said with an air of determination surrounding his voice.

His father pulled and asked for him swiftly and continued with what they said.

"Over the past three years that you have been away, the company has gone through a whole lot of changes." He began and Austin nodded his head.

"But we have prepared the assistant president, Jane, and your best friend, Ramsey, to help you with everything that you will be needing." He finally said.

Soon, the door made a splitting sound as a curvy lady walked gradually into the place with a smile on her face.

"Young Master," Jane said with a smile still on her face.

"So Austin. Meet Jane here. She is the assistant president and is going to help you with everything that you need." He noted and finally nodded his head.

He could not pull his eyes away from him, his heart racing fast at the beautiful creature that stood before him.

He pushed his eyes away before anyone could notice, causing himself.

"Austin. This isn't the time." He muttered under his breath.

"Young Master Austin." Jane greeted with a slight bow with a smile still on her face.

Austin's uncle seemed to be too much in a hurry as he shot a stare swiftly toward her direction.

"What's the first item on the list for Austin?" He inquired swiftly without pulling his eyes away from her even for a single moment.

Without wasting any more of their time, she reached out swiftly to the pad that was lying in her pause, navigating through it swiftly.

"It's announcing him as the heir and that's going to be tomorrow." She replied.

Finally, his uncle pulled his eyes away from him, replacing , and said.

"We need to announce you as the heir as soon as possible so that we will be able to resolve all the controversy as soon as possible." He finally noted.

But after thinking about it for quite a while, he remembered that he had a meeting with his wife the next day and he could not afford to miss it.

Thoughts ran through his head, his heart beating hard against his chest as though it was going to burst through from his chest.

"Father. Can it be postponed? I have a score that needs to be settled tomorrow." Austin explained.

There was a sudden silence in the hall for a while. He had always known his uncle to be overly strict so it wasn't going to be easy for him to win him over.

But for the first time since he had known his uncle, his request was accepted swiftly without any form of questions asked.

He turned around swiftly towards Jane with an expression of emptiness hovering on his face.

"The invites that have been sent to the families. I want them all adjusted." He finally said and she nodded her head almost immediately.

"I will get it done as soon as possible." She responded swiftly.

But she was about to say something further but stopped swiftly but Mr. Henry Gerald had already noticed.

"Is there a problem?" He Inquired.

"A request was sent from a lower family for an invitation to attend the party." She finally said.

"But I know what you instructed. I am going to decline it right away." 

She was about to do that when Mr. Rufus stopped her from doing so. "If anyone wants to attend. They should." He finally nodded his head.

Meanwhile, after the meeting, Ramsey escorted him back to his previous resident.

It was just as he remembered. For the First time in a long time, he had a cool bath, steaming in the waters for a while before attempting to come out.

He had missed those days when his life was always smooth and had always wished that he could go back to those days.

A slight sigh escaped from his mouth knowing that his life was not going to be as smooth as he wanted as he had a hectic life ahead of him.

Random thoughts ran through his mind. Thoughts about his dying relations and there was absolutely nothing that he could do about it.

Then the big thoughts came. What if it wasn't a mistake and the scenario was all planned out?