EPISODE 4

Sebastian’s POV

We left the restaurant, and I made my way back to the office. Derek, one of my closest friends, was already waiting for me as we were supposed to attend an event together, and I have just messed up the whole plan.

“What do you think about the girls? Aren’t they beautiful?” I remembered what Grandpops had asked me immediately, they left. 

“I don’t know. They look like regular and normal girls to me. There’s nothing special about them” I replied angrily.

I had not expected to find myself in this type of entanglement, and I find it hard to believe that my grandfather is doing everything to ensure that I get married at the age of 25. 

“That’s because you’re not seeing beyond ordinary. You need to look closely, Sebastian, you’ll see more than you already do” He spoke in parables most of the times, making me less worried about this one. 

“Whatever you say, grandpa. I’ll be on my way back to the office. I’ll see you at home later”.

I left the restaurant and drove myself back to the office, instructing my driver to head back home with my grandfather’s car. 

The Drew Thomas’ building stood magnificent among every other building in the state. The company is more into management than production. Though we own a few building estates and also factories, yet, we still do more of the management and marketing by owning stores around the country. Our stores are known for their 24/7 criterium. That is, these stores are like candles wherever they’re situated. Even though other parts of that area are dark, the store will always have light and be open to everyone at every hour. 

We also manage at least 24 shopping malls, restaurants and hotels in total. I had been in charge of the launch of our five-star hotel in the Maldives a year back, and it was a life changing experience for me. 

It was already six pm by the time I got into the office, I walked to the elevator and made my way to my office. My personal assistant had already resigned while my secretary had retired for the day. 

“I heard your Personal assistant resigned at 7:45  am. Guess she couldn’t keep up with your attitude anymore” I was startled for a while until I realized it was Derek. 

Derek, Henry, and Lucas have been my friends since age 12. I met them when I moved in with my grandfather. Derek was my next door neighbor who introduced me to Henry and Lucas. Lucas was not that friendly, but he tried to adjust to the fact that he’ll have to share his best friend with a new guy. 

We were almost at the edge of getting close when we lost him. He just opted and left home immediately when he turned 18, and we all tried looking for him, including his parents , without realizing that he didn’t want to be found. 

“I guess she needed a long break” I replied.

“Stop being an a** to your staff, Sebastian. You need to do better". I dropped my car keys on the office desk and sat opposite to my friend 

“Give me one good reason why I should be nice to them. You’re nice to your own staffs right, tell me why I should be nice to mine” 

“Generally, I don’t think I appreciate the word nice” 

“Leave the sermon till Sunday, Priest”

Derek and I are particularly the closest among the four of us, even though we’re three now. Yet, during the past years, the three of us have endeavor to meet once in a while to talk about business and life in general, and we always love our meetings.

Of the three of us, Derek is the womanizer with the plus added to it. He dates any type of lady that comes his way, any girl, as long as he wants the girl, he goes for it and makes sure he wins her over, and once he’s done, he’ll move on. Henry is the reserved and conservative one, always looking for how to resolve an issue even when he’s not needed. 

We all are CEOs! 

“What brings you here, Derek?” I asked.

“Well! I have great news” he said, and I wondered what the good news was. 

“I have bad news, tell me Yours first”  I asked. 

“Well, you’ve been so busy with work as always, you missed out on the fact that your former best friend, Lucas, came back last week!” What! For seven years, he disappeared, and now he’s back. 

“Tell me You're joking brother” I furrowed my eyebrow in confusion, hoping he was just joking about it.

“I’m serious, Sebastian. He came back last week looking all lost and dead, I can’t say. He looks so different from Lucas that we’ve always known. He looked so lost in one word”

Ever since Lucas left, I’ve always thought about how i was going to fight with him and hit him once he gets back. But from Derek’s statement right now, I don’t think I can do just that anymore. 

“What the hell happened to him? Where has he been all these while?” I have thousands of questions to ask, yet, none seems right or good enough to ask someone who has disappeared for seven years. 

“All of your questions will definitely be answered at this ball that I’ll be inviting you to”, he replied.

Derek is a party goer. He loves balls, clubs and every other society event like his life. He attends them with different ladies hanging on his hands at every single event. 

“What about the one we were supposed to attend today?” I asked

“It got cancelled. As I was saying, Lucas’ family has organized a ball/party to celebrate his return. It actually reminds me of the story of the prodigal son in the Bible. You’ll be able to ask him all of the questions by then” 

“Have you seen him since he got back?” I asked 

“No, because I’m fully aware of how awkward it’ll be. So I’m trying to save the fact of face-to-face meeting when all of us are there” 

“That’s better. Have you informed Henry?” I inquired, thinking if I should inform him or not.

“I did already, two hours before you got here. You said you got bad news” 

“Yes. Unfortunately for me, my grandfather thinks I should get married. Not think, actually, he wants me to get married. He set up a meeting with the girl’s family earlier today, that’s where I’ve been all day”, I said with anger evident in my voice. Derek busted out in laughter, and I can't even believe my own friend would be laughing this hard at my predicament. 

After a few minutes, he stopped. “I’m so sorry about that, Sebastian. But the whole thing is so funny to me. Your grandfather wants you to get married, and you are actually getting married” I rolled my eyes and stood up from the seat to pick up the document that I had come for initially. 

“I have a better solution for you” 

Yes! His solution isn’t helpful in anyway. “Bring the girl along to the party, let the boys meet her”

He left my office still laughing hard while I roll in the pit of my troubles.