28 December, Central Police Station City K
John Nang, laid on the couch in his office, given he was the first to start his break. Having to speak to Phillip and Chester about the current state of the investigation without giving anything away was difficult. As his friends, he trusted them, but as a police officer trying to secure the release of Matthew and Lexi, he had to hid information.
Knowing the two of them though, when everything came out, they would not blame him. They had always supported his choice when it had come to light.
Nine Years Ago, City K
John sat and remembered nine years ago, in the lead up to his high school graduation. He was loving spending time Matthew, Andrew, Steven and Paul, as the freedom of this time allowed him to think about what he wanted. Phillip and Chester, like his sister Sally had graduated from high school a couple of years earlier, and the three of them wanted to provide advice to them as to what they should do with their lives.
Sally kept telling him that he should follow her and undertake a business degree while working in the family company. Sally, from everything he observed was enjoying this. Phillip and Chester were doing the same thing each time that they interacted with them.
To John, he had always though when he was younger that Sally was so full of herself, particularly due to his observations of her interactions with their father. He ignored her as she was a girl, and simply focused on John, always calling him his heir. It was only when she made her university choice and started working at the bottom levels of the company. That gained her respect from their father.
Just over a week before their graduation ceremony, John recalled sitting down for a family dinner. A rare occurrence, but it was something he was not going to pass up. However, it became clear that this was his father wanting to dictate what he did at university. The conversation focused on him doing a degree with focus on Business, Finance and Law. Unusually his father was willing for him to consider a language minor, provided it would help the family company expand internationally.
It was only when he commented about John joining company as a junior executive that he could see the hurt in Sally's eyes. She wanted to work for the company, and her father with a few words totally diminished anything she had done. That made John pause and tell his father that he needed to consider what he did.
For John, things changed three days before graduation. Andrew Yao, called him to a gathering of a few friends. When he arrived, the surprising thing was Matthew and Lexi were missing from the group of friends. When they settled down, John who had seen that Andrew was seething had to ask "What is wrong."
"Matthew has betrayed us."
"What!" shouted John, Steven and Paul. None of them had an idea what Andrew was talking about. Andrew then laid out the information he had about Matthew enlisting in the military. John felt his heart drop. He and Matthew had been talking about taking a combined Business and Language degree at university. He had betrayed him in doing that.
At their graduation Matthew had Lexi Yao with him, who ignored her brother. Matthew at one stage had come to try and talk to him, and he turned his back and walked away.
About a month after graduation, he was wandering in the city, tossing up in him mind whether he would do a combined degree or a single degree with a minor, when he ran into Lexi Yao, who was upset. Given that there was a nearby coffee house, he invited Lexi into the coffee house for a drink. He knew he could not face Andrew and Chester if he let Lexi go wandering around upset.
Once their drinks arrived, he asked Lexi what was going on. Her answer stunned him. She was struggling keeping some secrets. It was only after he promised her that he would not tell anyone else what she told him that she spoke. She was missing Matthew so much. They had been dating for about ten months, without anyone knowing, and that she was the one that encouraged him to follow his dreams of serving in the military.
From what she told him when Matthew was given the keys to his villa that he had inherited from his grandparents on his 18th birthday there was a letter from his grandfather waiting for him. It told him to follow his dreams and his inheritance would ensure that he could to that without interference from his parents. When they spoke, Lexi told him to join up, and he did.
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