The Casino

The stars were shinning brightly in the dark night sky. What looked like a tiny spark in the deepest dark was just another galaxy bigger than the person observing it. The man took a sip of whiskey as thoughts of stars and galaxies lingered through his mind. Did the whiskey act like the bright star on a dark night to him? Because the sensational feeling it brought to his throat was like a spark of light. But was he the darkest deep? Surely sometimes he felt that way but the dark night sky could not be compared to him.

"Did you know?"

"What?" Answered the other man present on the rooftop, as he stood behind the man with a glass of whiskey in his hands.

"The word whiskey means water of life." The man smiled at the glass of whiskey in his hands, holding it as if it were the most precious treasure in the world.

"Does it?" The other man wondered if the pretense to not know was noticeable by the other party.

"Oh yes Brian, in fact Nicholas Tesla drank it every day thinking it would make him live up to 150 years old." The man giggled to himself as he thought how ridiculous it was for him to believe it too.

There was silence for Brian had other things on his mind making him to forget the memorized response. He had served Edward Aram for the past 10 years as a trusted companion and throughout the years he was a shadow. But a shadow is a shadow, Brian knew his place in the hostile world.

"You have something on your mind?" Edward asked after realizing that his greatest alcohol storyline was ignored.

"A shareholders meeting at Indian Pipe will be held after two weeks." Brian stepped forward to see the expression on his boss's face. Surprisingly a laugh was the only response he got. Maybe alcohol had finally taken a hold of his boss or maybe what he had said was actually funny, for he never got to understand what was going on in Edward Aram's mind.

"Should I keep my promise or not?" Edward murmured after he recovered from his laughter.

"Excuse me?"

Edward looked at the man who was standing besides him and wondered why after all the time together they were still not on the same level of understanding. "Somehow Father was right. I start to believe that whenever am with you."

"What did Chairman Aram say?." Brian asked even though he knew an answer would not be given.

Edward turned around to face the beautiful scenery of the shinning stars. Beautiful as they were, the sun would still outshine them throughout the day. Every beautiful thing has it timing, even the most beautiful flowers wither away with time. The harsh lessons of life had taught him to always enjoy a moment while it lasted. That moment wasn't going to be taken away with the thoughts of the shareholders meeting.

"Do you think she is watching from above?"

Without asking who it was, Brian answered, "yes.. yes , she must be watching over you."

"Do you think she is proud of me?" Edward bent his head back, attempting to watch the stars over his head.

"You have managed to live a healthy life, she must be smiling from above." Brian could feel how sentimental the words sounded but it felt right for the moment.

"She has to... or else it wouldn't be worth it." Edward took a big sigh as he tried to bring himself back to the present moment. "Prepare the car, we need to get back to business."

"Yes." Brian replied and quickly paced to the door.

Left alone, Edward started to reminisce of the days that had gone past him as quickly as the pages of a book. He had managed to live his life faithfully to his own truth, but despite all that the feeling of loneliness never crept away from him. A lot of friend he had, some of them good and some not so good but still managed to feel alone. Being someone who had tasted the harshness of the world at a very young age, wearing a mask of a happy confident person had been his only defense. He made a room in his mind where he shut himself in and never allowed anyone to open it. Some would swear how well they had known him but he wasn't so sure about it, for he never had a chance to look inside nor to comfort the inner child.

'Yara..'

That was the only name on Edward's mind at times like this. A part of his fantasy world, there she was. As beautiful as a perfect portrait and he could never understand how he had managed to get such a masterpiece. He grabbed his phone from the small table next to him and continued to stare helplessly at Yara's phone number. After hesitating for a few seconds, he decided to dial the number when suddenly Brian opened the door.

"The car is ready. I got a call from the casino, they are all asking for you."

"As always." Edward quickly shoved the phone into his pockets.

The main VIP room in the casino was filled with the smell of different expensive perfumes of the wealthy men present. Some were married men trying to stay away from their wives, while some of them came for the entertainment and to show off how wealthy they were. Amidst them was Edward Aram who was also the owner of the casino and a very well known social butterfly in the affluent circles. The success of the casino had been mostly due to the connection it had with such influential people and it was the center of conspiracy among people who assumed there was more to it than a casino. A lot of young detectives trying to get promotions had tried dig in but to no avail.

"Edie, why don't you bring in my favorite entertainment, I haven't seen her." A drunk fellow called out from the big table in the middle of the room, forgetting the consequences of the words he uttered.

"Did you forget that you are married to my sister?" Another voice calmly asked from the far edge of the table, making his presence known to the drunk man.

"Hahaha that's not what I meant Alex, hahaha I know I am married to your sister. Why did you jump into conclusions? That is not the her i meant. Isn't that right Edie?" The drunk man started to sweat profusely, only Edward was capable of saving him from the embarrassment and a possible divorce.

Edward smiled as he turned to look at his desperate friend who seemed to be boiling from his chair. It was quite interesting to watch Peter panic in situations like this. Just like most of the men in the room, they had married for business interests and it never turned out well for them.

"You meant to bring in the video of the latest Rolls Royce you recently bought for me, right?" Edward smiled brightly, knowing deeply that such a deal was not made between them.

Peter clenched his fist as he tried keep his emotions under control for his brother in law " ah yes, that's what I meant." The alcohol had began to slowly disperse from him as he looked at his trusted friend in disbelief.

"Why don't we show everyone then? Aah Alex, I will take you for a ride in the next two days."

Alex smiled as he realized what his friend had done, "I will clear my schedule then." He tossed the cards on the table as he observed his brother in law.

"Hahaha great! Brian go to my office and bring my laptop."

"Yes, right away." Replied Brian.

The atmosphere in the room was intense as the rest realized how Peter had been tricked into buying a new car for Edward. Peter was a well know womanizer, but had been married to Alex's sister to save his father's company from going bankrupt. The wife had always had an upper hand in the marriage as she constantly threatened for a divorce. The only hunting ground left for his beastly nature was the casino, making Edward to hold leverage to his marriage.

"What did I miss?" a man quickly rushed in disturbing the silence in the room.

"Xavier, you are late!" Shouted Peter in annoyance, as he found a way to let out of his anger.

"Aaah sorry everyone, I had a drink with Orana Avak on the second floor."

"You had a drink with the Orana Avak?" Asked one of the men on the table.

"Yes, she is downstairs with my brother and his friends now." Xavier explained as he took the sit next to Edward.

"I heard she is the mistress of Chairman Xanti." Someone commented.

"It could be true, she has the same power as him in the company and most decisions are made by her."

"She is probably one of the space goat waiting to be sacrificed by Chairman Xanti."

"You are right, that old man is very greedy."

"Hahaha, hey Edward have you ever met her before?" Peter finally found a way to tease his friend.

Edward had met Orana Avak a few times in the past but never found her interesting. She had always been an assistant to the chairman and visited the casino a few times to meet influential people in the business circle. Most of the charity organisations and company parties were organized by her. Orana was the most active person in the indian pipe company and had attracted a lot of attention in the business world but the again, she was nothing but an assistant.

"Yes I have, on a number of occasions."

"What do you think? It would be great to make a scandal of her." One of the men commented. He was known for having multiple cases of rape and abuse that everybody knew but kept quite about.

"You have something on mind?" It was disgusting how shaming women brought excitement to some men.

"I could tell my boys to make a very good movie with her." Answered the disgusting man, as he seemed to have done it before.

"What was Orana discussing with your brother?" Edward couldn't stand to hear any more of what the other man had to say.

"Ah, it was about a piece of land, I left when they started to get into details. Why are you all of sudden interested in her?" Xavier leaned forward to look at Edward.

"No, it's not her I am interested in. She is not my type. I like a woman who is warm and kind." A smile popped up on Edward's face.

"Hahaha we all know who you are talking about. Miss Yara."

"When is the wedding? You have been together for a long time now."

Marriage was the last thing on Edward's mind for it had been evident how miserable his married friends were. It was the piece of land Xavier had talked about that bothered him at the moment. Without waiting to hear what they had to say about how compatible he was with Yara, he simply got up and aimed for the door.

"Eeeh, where are you going?" Peter called out for the conversation had started to cheer his mood.

"To meet the lovely Orana Avak."