Cian

Rainfall and raising temperatures in the month of April help with the growth of flowers. The spring season symbolizes rebirth and renewal, which comes with joy and love. The beauty of the blooming flowers, give hope to the restless human soul than anything else. Among the flowers, the beautiful perennial plants which live up to two years are the most interesting. The seeds survive the harsh cold winter, only to be resurrected by the pouring April rains. Were some human souls like perennials? The connection of the human behavior and the physical occurrences in nature were remarkable.

"You could learn a lot by gardening you know? Patience, love and human nature. Most of those books don't teach you right." Teased the woman as she applied fertilizer to the plants.

"I don't think I can handle the smell of that?" Replied the man who quickly closed his nose with a handkerchief at the smell of fertilizer.

"You always say that, yet you follow me here every time?" The woman turned her head over the shoulder to have a quick look at the man behind. As she had expected, no answer was given.

"When I am not around, make sure you let someone come over here. That way I am at peace." The woman quickly got on her feet and smiled beautifully to the man in front of her. Enchanted by the beauty, the man forgot the smell he had complained about and kissed the woman passionately.

Knock, knock! A knock was heard, bringing chairman Xanti back from memory lane to the present moment. He could feel a trace of tears on his old face, the tears that always came from the good old vivid memories.

"Come in." Called out chairman Xanti as he secretly wiped the tears on his face.

"Hello, Chairman." It was one of the family lawyers, Bruce Dong.

The chairman slowly turned his wheelchair, to face the young man who came in. "What are the results?"

"The autopsy results show that it was death due to head concussions from the accident." Bruce placed the document he was carrying on the table in the home office.

"Was it really him?" The words were very heavy for the chairman. His hand clenched into a fist as he tried to control his emotions. Learning to be strong at every situation was a habit he nurtured over the years, but all that seemed to be useless at that point. Pain was not something you could make yourself immune to.

"I am sorry Chairman Xanti, the DNA proved it to be Cian Xanti." Bruce lowered his head, for he could not bare to look at the pain in the Chairman's eyes.

The world had stopped turning at that moment. No parent would want to burry their own child. A sharp pain pierced into Chairman Xanti's heart and he leaned forward with one hand on his chest. He tried to push his heart back into it's place but the sharp pain kept on pulling it away.

"Chairman!" Screamed thé lawyer who rushed forward to Chairman Xanti's side. Before Bruce could call for help, a hand tightly gripped his wrist.

"Don't call anyone, I am alright." Ordered the Chairman as he tried to calm himself by breathing deeply.

"Yes Chairman." The young lawyer obeyed as he helped the Chairman back into a proper position. "I should inform the family then."

"No!" Stated the Chairman, "The shareholders meeting is coming after two weeks, I don't want such news to shake the family."

"Ah, yes Chairman." It was surprising that at a moment like this, the old man still cared about the company.

"Call Lawyer Gizur, tell him to change the shareholders meeting to next week and make sure the news does not get out." Chairman Xanti ordered as he turned his wheelchair to the window, avoiding to look at the young lawyer.

"As you wish, Chairman." Bruce quickly reached out for his phone as he paced to the door.

"Wait." Called out the chairman. "Where is she now?"

The young lawyer had forgotten to give the other piece of information. " I am sorry Chairman, I almost forgot. She was seen leaving the country this morning."

After a few moments of silence, the chairman reawakened to the moment, "You have worked hard."

"Yes Chairman." A smile came upon Bruce's face after the acknowledgment from the Chairman.

The rain was still pouring outside despite the horrible news Chairman Xanti had recieved. Everything seemed normal but his world was falling apart. Left alone, Chairman Xanti was tormented by memories of his beloved son. No matter how he looked at it, Cian was different from all of them and had reminded him of his younger self. Young, naive with a sense of justice. Among all of his sons, Cian would have been a better leader than he was. The good don't last long, as the old saying goes. Chairman Xanti was very suspicious about the accident that he had requested for an autopsy. Maybe he was still denying the fact that he could lose his child after all the wealth that he possessed. Did he not protect them enough? So many percussions had been taken to keep the family safe, did he miss something? After all, the heavy burdens had been taken by him for them to live a better life, loosing them would make it all worthless. Surely something was wrong, his enemies over the years were countless. No matter what, he must turn every stone to get to the bottom of it. Chairman Xanti clenched his fist, as a small spark of anger lit a fire inside of him.

************

On the other side of the house, the woman moved left to right in distraught. Eavesdropping had been a habit she develop over the years. Madam Xant could not contain herself, while her face was covered in tears removing all traces of makeup. She had just lost her son. Anger and grief had mixed together and were slowly piercing through her heart and mind. Why would her husband not tell her? She had carried her son for 9 months in her womb and had not forgotten a single day of that period. Dead? Accident? Cian had kissed her forehead and said how much he cared for her a few nights ago. Was he saying goodbye? Was she really not going to see him again? The pain was too unbearable. Without thinking straight she made the phone call.

"Hello, Caleb.... your brother.." with sobs, her voice was hardly heard through the phone.

"Mother, speak up I can't hear you."

"Caleb, ... your brother .... your brother Cian." Heavy sobs could be heard through the phone.

"Mother, speak. What happened to Cian?" Caleb calmly replied.

Madam Xanti finally gathered all of her strength and screamed, "your brother just died in a car accident!" At the end of the sentence, her heart could not take it any longer, that was it for she fainted. Caleb called out for his mother but no reply was given.

***************

"What did lawyer Dong say? Is it true?" Caleb asked his secretary as he made his way to the elevator.

"Yes, Cian got into an accident two nights ago but the chairman does not want anyone to know about it due to the upcoming shareholders meeting." Secretary Alec politely explained as he followed the President to the elevator with the two bodyguards.

"What about my mother?"

"She has been rushed to the hospital, I called the house." Secretary Alec proved how quick witted he was in crucial moments.

Caleb slipped his hands into the pockets as he tried to hold himself down. He had just lost his brother and all his father cared about was the shareholders meeting! Despite all the tension between them, Cian was still his brother. It had been very hard to hate Cian, who was they only person human enough in the family. Cian filled the gloomy family dinners with laughter and thinking about it made Caleb sad. Unlike him, everyone in the company had loved Cian. Even Orana would put her guard down towards Cian and two had been very close since childhood. The friendship bothered Caleb and made him treat Orana even more harshly. Orana didn't have to know about Cian's death for it would affect her performance with the project, and part of Caleb somehow didn't want her to cry over someone apart from him.

"Does she know about it?" Caleb asked.

"Who exactly?" The humble secretary impulsively replied.

"Secretary Alec, all these years, is there any other woman in the company I would ask you about?" Anger could he heard in his voice, making the Secretary to shiver with fear.

"Ah no, Miss Orana doesn't know anything." Secretary Alec replied with his voice trembling.

The elevator door opened and a woman stood in front of it. The woman stopped as she hesitated to walk in. Before the elevator doors could close, she slowly walked in and stood in between the four men. The silence was not something Orana was used to, for Caleb always had something to criticize about her.

"Are you going for your parade?." Orana teased as she looked at the two bodyguards in the elevator.

"It's the company rules that I move around with bodyguards, you know how priceless my life is. We can't compare." Caleb replied calmly as always.

"More like you can't protect yourself." Orana murmured but in such a tiny space, the four men heard her.

"I always feel better when I meet you. I heard you were at the casino last night till midnight and that you are going to a party tonight."

As expected, Orana did not seem surprised at all. " If I wasn't disturbed on my leave by people who can't do their own work, I wouldn't be having so much fun. Don't be jealous."

"You know I always want you around. Be careful, people might think we keep you around to seduce men, not that there is anything attractive about you." A smile slowly came upon Caleb's face as he started to feel more relaxed.

"I will make a list of all the men I slept with, ask them if they agree." Orana slowly turned and faced Caleb.

"Orana!" Caleb broke his calm composure and grabbed Orana's shoulders as his voice echoed through the elevator.

"President Xanti, people will get the wrong idea, I wouldn't want them to put you on the list, since there is nothing attractive about me."Orana slowly removed his hands as the elevator doors opened. "Excuse me." She smiled and walked out.

Silence came back into the elevator as if nothing had happened. There was something about Orana that made Caleb loose his composure. It was not the first time he had acted that way. The feeling of wanting to possess her, had made him go crazy a couple of times. The women around him, respected him and some even worshipped him, all except for Orana who did not feed his narcissistic emotions.The thought of becoming the next chairman and keeping her under him, always managed to ease his mind.

"Keep someone to continue watching her, make sure she is safe and report her every move." Caleb ordered the bodyguards.

"Yes." They replied in harmony.

Secretary Alec was confused, but decided to keep his mouth shut. Throughout the years Orana and Caleb had distasted eachother but Caleb always secretly looked out for her. Human relationships were really the hardest thing to understand and it becomes worse when the feelings are misunderstood.