Chapter 62
Ф
O
0
Christopher strutted into the Larkins‘ house, a lazy smile rested on his face as a form of greeting to the maids who were squealing and smiling at him as he walked by.
“Mr Lancaster,” the head butler greeted, and Christopher flinched.
“Stop popping out on people out of nowhere, James. It’s creepy.”
“It’s Master brown, Christopher. I’ve been saying this for over 30 years now,”
Christopher smiled mischievously and shrugged. James was easily riled up by what he deems as inappropriate manners and address, but it was Christopher’s favourite thing to do.
He tucked his hands into his pockets, and reeled in satisfaction at the glare James shot at his hands; he believed that a proper gentleman should not tuck his hands into his pockets when addressing another.
“So, James, where is Grandpops?”
James lips turned downward, and after a good minute of hard glaring, he turned and marched away. “I have no idea who that is. Such a person does not live here.”
He immediately chased after him, suppressing a laugh.” Come on! Don’t be a bore, Jamesy. You know who I’m talking about.” When he noticed that James wasn’t giving him any response any more and was straight up ignoring him, he instantly intertwined their arms together.
Instantly, James halted and Christopher clamped his lips together, forcing back the laugh trying to escape when he saw a vein popping at the side of James‘ head.
“Get your hands off me, you brat!” He forcefully snatched his arm out of Christopher’s hold, and created some distance between them. “You are a brat, Lancaster. A big time brat, I should have whopped your ass when you were younger.”
“You are only 5 years older than me, James, stop acting so old.“,
“5 years is a lot of time, Lancaster.”
“Suree..”
James pinched the spot between his brows, and took a deep breath. “You know what? I’m done having this conversation with you, Lancaster. Mr Larkin is busy in his office with someone, you can come back next time, or preferably, never at all.”
“It’s not good manners to be a be so rude to your guests either, but here we are. Christopher smiled, satisfied that he has fulfilled his duty of getting James to act out of character.” Thank you for the dose of entertainment, James. I’m going to find Grandpops now. Toodles.”
Before James could say a word, he strutted away towards the direction of his grandfather’s office, located at the end of the hallway on the second floor.
As he got closer to the office, he could hear voices conversing or rather shouting at each other, and he heaved a breath. It was definitely his grandfather and his uncle, this was their ritual, whoever ended up shouting the most wins, and all the time, it was Grandpa Larkin who won.
When he got to the door, instead of knocking and letting himself in, thereby postponing the shouting match, Christopher decided to lean against the door frame, and wait till they were done. It was like a free drama show, and he wasn’t one to miss a free show.
“You have a child and I am just finding out 27 years later!?” Christopher immediately stood upright and his eyes widened. This has ever been heard of.
“You cannot blame me, dad. You are strict, of course I never mentioned her to you!”
“Was it my strictness or was it your daftness, Lincoln?”
“Don’t call me that!”
Christopher stifled a laugh at the exchange, his uncle despised his name, but everyone else loved it, particularly because it irritated him.
“Your name is not the topic of discussion right now, Lincoln. I asked you a question, did you choose to not tell me, or could you not tell me because you had no idea?” Silence followed the question, and soon enough, he released a deep breath. “You are useless, you are so useless and so irresponsible. My granddaughter is out there walking around somewhere, ignorant of her actual family because of your carelessness!”
“I’m sorry, Dad.”
“Do not apologize to me, I have no need for it. What I want you to do is to make sure you find her and bring her to family dinner next week Friday. If you fail to do so, I am going to give everything to your nephew, Christopher, and this time around, I mean it. Take this file and get out of my
1/2
4:23 PM
Chapter 62
office.”
0
Christopher took that as his cue, and immediately knocked on the door. Without waiting for a response, he let himself in.
“Christopher!” His grandfather immediately rushed to him, shoving his uncle out of the way as he pulled him into a hug, “I’ve missed you, Son. Come” He held his hand and they both walked out of the office, and from Christopher’s peripheral vision, he could see his uncle glaring at him.
They both have had a love–hate relationship, thanks to his grandfather’s constant threat of giving everything to him whenever his uncle messed
- up.
“Tell me, how was your last vacation? I’ve been dying to hear all about it! Why did you come to see me so late?”
“I’m sorry Grandpa.”
His grandfather dragged him to the break room, and offered the maids to prepare something for them. Coming to see his grandpa was a stress relief for Christopher, even though he’d never admit, many things in his life have been sorted simply by visiting his grandpa, and he lived for it.
Once they both settled and had their meals set before them, Christopher began to tell the tale of his tour in Oceania/Australia. His grandfather was as adventurous as him when he was much younger, and now that he is old, he adventured through Christopher’s tales.
“Ah, I wish I could go on a tour with you. It’d be so fun, damn old age!” They both chuckled over it, but deep down, they both felt pain at being unable to tour with each other. It would have been an inexplicable joy.
They both relaxed into the comfortable silence that engulfed them after, each staring into space until Christopher remembered the actual reason he came.
“Grandpa,” he called, sitting up, and his grandpa turned to him, smiling, “what happened to Afgon Textile Company? I recently found out that they had affiliations with your company.
A sad clouded Mr Larkin’s face, and he stood up. “Thank you for coming over today, Christopher.. I had a nice time as always.”
“Grandpa, what’s wrong? Do you know anything about…”
“Stay away from the story of Afgon Company, Christopher. It is irrelevant.”
2/2
