1.5 Charles Kilner

The moment Shane stepped into the house, he was immediately confronted by his father.

"Shane! I heard what happened. How could you be so reckless?!" His father enveloped him in a tight hug, as if he was going to disappear.

Shane felt really bad for making his father feel this way. He should have thought better about it. With guilt gnawing down his throat, Shane chose to stay silent and hung his head low.

"Why was it so important that you go to that man? He was the reason you got hurt in the first place, and now when I thought it was all over-"

Shane pulled back on reflex and looked his father in the eyes.

"Papa what did you mean he got me hurt?"

His father stopped and looked liked he dreaded explaining this to Shane. His jaw was tight, mouth in a deep frown, eyes worried as he looked at Shane.

Shane met his father's eyes. He wasn't going to back down. He knew his father had withheld some things from him, he tried his best to ignore it but when it could be a missing piece to the puzzle that was his memories, then he would not be backing down anytime.

His father was the one to look away after a few moments. He gave a sigh which showed how tired he was.

"Master, perhaps you should take a seat. You wouldn't want your blood pressure to go up again." Howard came up beside Mason and guided him to a chair. Shane saw his father swallow some pills and Howard giving him water. Afterwards, he gestured Shane to come over.

Shane forgot that despite his father's tough exterior, his age was catching up to him. Shane felt a twinge of guilt as he watched his father down his medicine. He knew he already had a lot to worry about.

"I guess it's no use hiding it now. Howard. " His father ordered and Howard went to hand him a couple of files that Shane did not see him holding before.

His father slid the folder over to him. A few things that were clearly photos were sticking out. Shane grabbed the folder but did not look at them. He didn't know what he felt about the folder his father had given him.

Shane, in the end, gave only a nod to his father before going up to his room. He set the folder on top of the desk and stared at it for a good few minutes.

He can almost make out what the photos contained. He saw the faint outlines of brown hair and a lithe body. Shane wondered if he really should check this out now. His father kept it away from him for a reason, didn't he?

But there was still that niggling voice at the back of Shane's head. The same voice that prompted his hand to move and open the folder.

What he saw drained his face of blood.

It was clear who the person in the photos was. He recognized it. Why wouldn't he, when he woke up staring at that face every morning. Shane felt disgust crawl up to his spine.

It was him. He was in various provocative poses leaning into a man. He was dressed in all too skimpy clothing that were skin tight and left little to the imagination.

Shane's mouth curled. He was a slut. The way he pressed up on the man's body, taunting with less than innocent gestures. He felt sickened with himself. There must have been a few different men in there.

Shane was going over the photos when he noticed a pattern that kept appearing during the last set of shots. It was still him being shameless but the difference in the guys were gone. It all focused on one person.

Just when Shane thought this couldn't get any worse, there was a sudden stab of pain in his head. Shit. He cursed. He knew what was coming. He remembered this feeling. The same feeling he had when he had met-

Shane clutched his head in pain. The throbbing got worse. Over and over his head pounded with the force similar to a jackhammer.

Along with the pounding, he heard music. The music was blaring and not unlike one you would hear at a club. His vision danced seeing flashing multicoloured lights.

He sees the outline of a bar as he stalked his way to it. He felt confident. He felt amused. He felt want.

He trod over to a guy in a suit. Ordered a drink from the bartender. The lights kept flashing and the music was penetrating in to his ears. The next thing he knew was the tell tale stinging of his cheek along with the cold glare of a pair of eyes.

The vision shifted. It shifted to various places. Various attempts on the same man but with inevitably the same result. He was always left alone with the same pair of eyes maliciously staring.

Shane was now breathing heavily as the flashes of memories in his mind grew lengthier. By the end of it, he was sweating. His eyes were wide, the photos were scattered across the floor and desk.

He took a few moments to calm his breathing pattern. He was assaulted by a bunch of memories that made him didn't know what to feel about himself.

His hands were trembling as he gulped up air. It wasn't pleasant. But the worst part was, he recognised those pair of eyes.

Shane was almost able to stabilise himself before his eyes met the photos strewn across him. A sinking feeling formed in his stomach. Shane immediately bolted right through the bathroom and pressed his near the toilet. He was vomiting.

Tears formed at the edges of his eyes. He knew he was disgusted with what he found out but he didn't know why he was disgusted to this extent. He was also feeling something he couldn't recognise with all that was happening but it hit him.

It was fear.

He didn't know, even with what he learnt, why he felt such a deep seated fear.

It took him more time to compose himself as he sat heaving by the toilet. His knees felt weak. He couldn't muster up the strength to stand.

He flushed his vomit and stayed there. He closed his eyes and breathed.

That was how Howard had found him. His pale trembling form barely clinging on to the toilet. Maybe if Shane wasn't more occupied with himself, he would have seen Howard's cool indifferent mask crack.

Shane couldn't stand. All he could do was breathe. Over and over. Howard helped Shane over back to his bed, clearly feeling the tremors of his body.

This was what his master had been afraid of. Howard knew of the young master's less than stellar reputation but it wasn't bad. This young master only liked to chase what he found attractive. He did no harm. The troubles only started when he involved himself with that man.

Howard sighed as he prepared a cup of water from the young master's fridge to give to him. He looked at the still trembling form on the bed, hugging a pillow.

He brought the cup of water over to Shane's lips as he rubbed his back to soothe him. Howard hadn't done this in a long time but when the young master was still a child he would always do this to help him stay calm. The Madam's passing was not an easy one.

Shane felt himself calm down with the rhythmic movements of Howard's hand. He grabbed the cup from Howard's hand and held it tight. The water helped. He had felt himself getting dehydrated but with no way to move to quench his thirst.

"I shall inform Master of what has happened." Howard was about to go out and Shane felt a sense of panic.

"Please-" Shane blurted out before catching his action "Please... Give me some time..."

Howard nodded "As you wish." He then exited the room, gently closing the door.

Shane continued to hold the cup of water, the sound of his breathing echoing through the silent room.

------

Light hit the lids of Shane's eyes. He tried to opened his eyes but failed and used his hand to cover the bright light that shone through the curtains.

He slept. He didn't realize that he slept. He saw the cup he had been holding before down the base of his bed.

Shane knew he had just slept, but he was exhausted. He didn't have the strength to get up from bed. He didn't know what time it was or if he was late to school. He wouldn't go to school today. He couldn't.

Shane guessed he was still processing the information. Like he hadn't already had enough time yesterday. This was his fault anyway. Shane had urged his father to let him view the files. And now, he was rolling in the consequences.

--------

A man dressed in a dark suit, sat in his desk. He was confused, though it hardly showed on his face. He held a picture in his hand as he scrutinized the face on the photo.

"How did it happen?" the man's deep voice filled the room. He had asked the quivering assistant standing in front of his desk.

"I don't know, Mr. Kilner. We had no information on him after you left him that night" the assistant hesitantly replied. He didn't know why his boss' mood was like that. Didn't his boss hate that kid?

His boss, Mr. Kilner, had always been a peculiar man. He acted like a robot. All work and rarely plays. Cold and ruthless but work was always done very efficiently.

Times like these were rare when their boss actually showed interest on anything not business -related.

Mr. Kilner stared at him with his cold blue eyes. The assistant gulped, feeling as if he was blamed for what ever happened. This wasn't fair. The assistant sweat dropped.

"He was hospitalized and apparently had amnesia. Poison was the main cause. Now tell me, does this mean that my club lacked security?" Mr. Kilner's tone was still cold. He sneered at the reports on the folder. He knew they should have done better. This was his, Charles Kilner's, business. A breach in security could be a grave thing if it ever got out. Not to mention, there was already pressure on his previous dealings.

Charles allowed himself to think that this was purely business, that his sudden spark of interest on the kid was because he had been the victim. He hadn't acknowledged the various times that kid came on to him, he didn't know what changed now.

Charles knew at the back of his mind the answer. He saw how clear the other's eyes were the last time they meant. Pure, innocent, without malice. So unlike the previous times they had met where Charles immediately saw through his intentions. As a business man, he had been trained into reading people, this was something he could not mistake.

He almost forgot how refreshing seeing someone with pure intentions approaching him was, no matter if the same person had been coming on to him before that.

Charles felt something different after meeting him again. He couldn't even muster up the strength to glare at the kid. Surely, something's wrong with him but for the life of him, he didn't care.

Oh he now knew that the kid had amnesia and probably only recognized him because of their encounter at the hospital, but he still couldn't help but be warmed by the thought of those malice-free eyes.

Charles leaned back in his chair. Supposedly, he could ignore the boy but something in him was just itching to meet the boy again.