'Click'
'Tap tap tap tap'
The sound of a wooden door shutting resounded throughout the office space.
A man with a head full or silver hair sat at attention in his seat. His formal styled white military attire adorned with several insignia.
"Yes?"
Responding to a knock at his door the man with a head of silver commanded his receptionist to send the person through to his office.
'Thok!'
With a low creak his office door opened.
A tall man in a white trench coat with neatly trimmed auburn hair hidden behind his circular spectacles entered the room. His gaze was firm. His emerald eyes scanned the room.His eyes scanned the office before meeting the gaze of its owner.
The man offered a polite smile behind closed eyes.
"What a beautiful day we are having." The man spoke in an indifferent tone.
Silver responded in kind with a curt nod of the head and a polite smile, then spoke.
" To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit, Corvus?"
The man in the coat, Corvus, replied
"So I cannot simply wish to check up on a dear old friend?"
Silver snapped!
"What do you want, Corvus?!"
Corvus flashed a wry smile.
"I know you have the boy.. We traced his mana signature to the vicinity of Syrus."
Silver regained his composure and answered professionally,
"What are you talking about Corvus?" He blinked and adjusted his posture in his chair, "Have you finally lost your damn mind after all these years?"
After the brief exchange ended, the two powerful gentlemen went about their respective days.
............................................................
'Ding!' And then a 'Cack'
The aroma of burnt bread permeated the small studio apartment.
A high-school girl with mid length brown hair rushed out of the dormitory room completely forgetting her breakfast toast in her toaster.
'Sh*t! I'm late! I'm so late! Mr Charlie's going to kill me...'
The girl raced out of the dormitory road dodging students on their way to their respective classes in the process. Her hair which she'd tied into a braid had come undone at the ends as well while running.
As a new transfer from her standard public school, making the jump to attending Syrus Academy was nothing short of miraculous.
She was nimble on her toes as she snuck into her Accounting class and took her seat in a flash. Just then the door slid open and a tall slender woman walked in.
Alisa observed the woman who had walked into the classroom as she breathed a sigh of relief. She also fixed her hair which had given up on being braided and instead tied it into a ponytail.
'Is that a substitute? Please tell me he's sick. Better yet, maybe he got hit by a car and won't come to work for a while!'
The woman at the front wore a fitted aqua blazer and pants as well as a black shirt underneath. Her short black hair styled neatly without imperfection. She picked up the chalk without uttering a word and wrote a name on the chalkboard.
'H o s e i n'
Then she spoke with clear precision and an aura which commanded the entire classroom's attention. Calm yet powerful.
"My name is Mrs. Hosein, I'll be your stand in teacher as well as the new head of the accounting department here at Syrus for the time being. Do any of you have any questions?"
Alisa turned her gaze away from the teacher and looked in her bag. She was currently rummaging through it in search of her accounting notebook but it was nowhere to be found.
"Is there a miss Alisa Lee in this class?", Mrs. Hosein spoke.
Alisa's head shot up anxious and weary of what the teacher had to say.
Mrs. Hosein held up Alisa's notebook and asked if it were her own to which Alisa responded and claimed ownership of the notebook thanking the substitute teacher profusely.
The class that day went well and given that she only had three periods of accounting that day, Alisa decided to head back to her dormitory early.
Living on the Syrus Campus at the dorms were definitely an adjustment for Alisa given her status. However she insisted on doing so and her father and mother agreed to let her.
It was Friday and so she'd already packed her bag and gotten ready. She was summoned to her family's estate by her mother for a personal meeting. That evening, her personal driver came to a coffee shop nearby and picked her up in a Black tinted SUV.
That evening, as they drove to the neighboring city of Zunesha, where Alisa's parents residency was, she saw a promotion of a football game scheduled for the next day being hosted in Zunesha and so she pondered on whether or not she should attend.
'I will go after meeting mother and father!' she thought to herself.
The SUV pulled up and parked at the entrance to her parents' manor. The house keepers welcomed her with a friendly reception. She spoke quietly to the head maid Surin as they traversed the manor. Surin was chaperoning Alisa towards the dining room where her parents had prepared a lavish meal for four. They always set out four dinner plates. One of them was always left untouched. Her older brother and the original heir to the estate and their family company was never around during family dinners despite his mother's repeated requests.
Her brother Kevin had been diagnosed with (MDD) or clinical depression. The siblings were inseparable at one point. These days however, she barely saw or spoke to Kevin. That was what her parents had called her here to discuss. She knew they wanted to appoint her as their successor in case Kevin took a turn for the worse.
'But how could they!?' she thought to herself, 'They had all the resources necessary, yet they had failed Kevin…'
Donning a red silk dress, a face caked with satisfactory amounts of foundation and contour, Amanda Lee, Alisa's Stepmother spoke clearly,
"Alisa dear, be a darling for me and hand me the cheque book at your side please."
Alisa handed her the book and continued chewing on a weirdly well seasoned pea puree soaked fish fillet.
The whole time, her father sat there with an air of indifference surrounding him. Kang In Lee.
Some knew him as a successful businessman, others regarded him as an opportunist, and many outright questioned his morality, however one thing he sure as hell was not, was poor. Alisa's father was wealthy. Disgustingly so.
With pale skin and sharp features. Coupled with his cleanly shaven face, Alisa's father could easily have been mistaken for a man in his thirties. He was nearly sixty however. Wearing a black tailored suit and with no necktie.
He spoke calmly,
"Lisa, honey, You know why you were summoned here, let's not beat around the bush alright? Needless conversation tends to be a waste of time."
Alisa responded, trying her best to remain calm and keep an even tone,
"Father, I want no part of this discussion. I am not becoming heir!"
With a bow of her head following this exchange with her parents, Alisa hurried away towards her brother's room. She paused at the door. Uncertain of how to face Kevin. She worried what he would make of the situation. Would he have felt betrayed?
Alisa raised her hand in a balled up fist as if to knock on Kevin's door. She regretted it. She walked off towards her own room. There, Surin had already helped her to unpack. Surin told her about how Kevin's condition had become. He had not left his room in nearly three days now.
It was then, Alisa made up her mind to go to the football match in the city. She would find a way to bring her brother with her as well. How she planned on getting Kevin to go with her? She planned to sleep on it. With that thought in the forefront of her troubled mind, Alisa closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.