The Twenty-fifth

Inside the Ruben family mansion, Hindent Regency.

In the dining room, surrounded by six dining chairs with three people presently seated was a lengthy dining table with different dishes and cutleries on it. The dishes ranged from creamy desserts to main courses and there were bottles of wine inside a wine cooler.

By the left side of the table was John seated on the first chair. He was in a casual formal wear with a type of red scarf tied around his neck, seemingly attempting to cover his mouth. He sat without showing any sort of emotion, his eyes gazing at the far end entrance.

Beside him, a lady was finding it difficult to sit still. Her reactions revealed how nervous she was and this was due to the suffocating aura of the old man seated at the rear of the table. She tried maintaining a straight face and that was when she felt a hand on hers, making her relax a little.

She looked at her lap and looked up to stare at the owner of the hand, her fiancé, who didn't even bother to look at her. It was a definitely a message, she knew. More like telling her not to worry.

A man worthy of instilling fear into any entity even with his silence alone, Henry Ruben had his eyes closed as he sat by the rear of the table. The great father and chairman of the Ruben Corporations — the number one clothing brand in Border States' fashion industry. For many years now, he had made sure to stay top of the game by improving the quality of his business in each passing years.

"Sorry I'm late,"

A voice prompted the two seated at the left to look up and that was when they saw Jacob Ruben take a seat at the first seat of the right side. Like his brother, his face was also void of any emotion but his had a kind of creepy feel to it.

"Father, I'm here," Jacob said to his father in a suppressed tone as he stared at his younger brother who seemed to be looking through him. The old man gave a nod in reply, still on with his pose.

About a minute later, the old man opened his eyes and spoke, "Let's eat," He said. Immediately, two beings who had been standing near the dining room, dressed in cooks uniform, came over to the table and began dishing out the meals.

The whole family ate in silence with only the sounds of cutleries ruling the air. It was no different from an awkward atmosphere.

Minutes later, John took a sip of wine once he was done eating. Immediately, he stood up with the cup in his hand. "If you will excuse me," He announced, making his way out of the dining room as he headed for the upper floor.

He stood by the balcony, his right hand on the railing, as he looked out the wide premises of the mansion. The view was serene, modern state of the art facilities here and there. Automobiles in a certain location, guards stationed in almost every corner of the premises. A garden of nature's best just beside a swimming pool... The Ruben family mansion was what one would wish to own.

This premises was where he grew up. Where he spent two-third of his life. The particular spot was his favorite as it gave him a pleasant view of the premises and neighboring surroundings. Despite the changes made to move with the tides, the place still harbored most of his memories. Memories that couldn't be taken away.

His mind trailed off to the image of him when he was little, some time around seventeen years ago. He could see himself standing on this same spot but this time with a woman who looked a lot like him. Tears almost seeped out of his eyes and he felt weak as he remembered her. Catherine Ruben, his mother who died several years ago, precisely twelve years ago in a car accident, leaving him motherless at a young age of sixteen.

He closed his eyes as the cold breeze tingled his body, savoring the air. He needed to take his mind off her, and that was what he was going to do. The breeze blew again and he felt that tingling sensation again. He couldn't deny he was enjoying the feeling but that didn't last for long.

"What do you want, Jacob?" He asked with his eyes still closed.

A man's figure came into view, holding onto the railing as he stood beside John.

"Is my presence that noticeable?" Jacob questioned after a minute of silence between the two.

"Perhaps if you changed your cologne, you would become less discernible."

"Oh, I see," Jacob said. "What are you doing here? Still thinking of her, aren't you?"

"Contemplating..."

"Hmph." Jacob made a nodding gesture, "Figured out the mole already, haven't you?"

John finally opened his eyes. He turned his head to look at his older lookalike with narrowed eyes. "You already have the answer, don't you?"

Jacob sighed. "This isn't a question for question section, John."

"It was my doing..."

It was Jacob's turn to stare. "What do you mean?"

John tore his gaze away from his brother's confused stare and took a sip from the wine. "Someone from the hacking team informed you of the success in tracking down the mole, right? I made it a success. The team would never have been able to achieve any success if I hadn't done something about it myself,"

Jacob finally got a glimpse of what he was saying and nodded. "My feeders told me something that I would like to clarify from you. Did you attack him?"

"Pfft," John scoffed. "Why would I get myself involved in such petty dealings? Yes, I know he's the anonymous writer everyone's been talking about but why should I target him when he's not the main culprit?"

"What do you mean he's not the main culprit?"

John shook his head in annoyance. "Can someone as low as him be the main culprit? Jacob, there's more to this than you think. Besides, I expect you to know that already."

Jacob fished out something from his pocket, a pack of cigarette. He took out a stick from the pack and later held out the pack toward John. "Care for a stick?"

John shook his head. "I'm not in the mood,"

"So, you're trying to say the man is more like a second party to this?"

"No, a third party."

"Who then could it be?" Jacob asked as he lighted the cigarette with the customized lighter.

John turned to look at him again. "Who does your mind point to the most?"

A seeming glee flashed through his eyes. "Your company director!"

.....

'It is time,' Ryan thought as he stood out the balcony of Helen's apartment. He took in a deep breath as he mustered the courage to knock on the door. But before he did that, he decided to take one more look at the lady behind him.

Lily had her head down with her hands tightened on the black purse she was holding. Her black hair was styled in a wavy hairdo, lengthy down to her shoulders. The fair skin on her face radiated a toned feminine glow, and he knew if she was looking up, her nervousness would definitely not escape his sight.

"Lily," He called out to her.

Her head was raised her up slowly and her hazel eyes looked straight at him indifferently. That semi-stoic expression just wasn't deep enough, Ryan noted absentmindedly.

"Are you sure you want to do this? We could come another day if you want,"

She shook her head. "It's okay, I'm prepared for this already." she said firmly, a crack almost made noticeable in her tone.

Just then, laughter erupted from inside the house. Ryan turned back to face the door, looking confused. The laughter he heard was from a masculine tone and he began to wonder who was that. Was his mom having a visitor she forgot to make mention of? To satisfy his curiosity, he hastily knocked on the door.

Moments later, the door opened and the most familiar person to Ryan showed up by the doorway — Helen Stones, his aging mother. Her face looked better than the last time he was here, prompting him to make a mental note to ask her later of her latest recipes.

She was in a knee-length gown which had the combination of red and black, a sort of red stocking which he guessed was a pop socks, a pair of black gloves and a red scarf. Everything was simply casual and accentuated her semi robust body.

"Ryan..."

He heard her say after, her hands spread wide open as an invitation for an embrace which he enveloped into.

"Mom, meet Lily, my—"

"I know," Helen waved him off, pushing him aside as she headed over to the lady who had an expression that seemed out of place. Helen stared at Lily briefly before finally speaking. "Oh my goodness! Isn't she pretty? Come here darling,"

And without waiting for a response, she wrapped the lady into a warm embrace. Lily was confused. What was that about?, she wondered. Her mind wasn't prepared for such and now she probably wasn't sure how to respond. She got a grip of herself when she saw Ryan wink towards her, making her reciprocate the warm invitation.

"Mom, is there someone else in there?" Ryan asked after the ladies had ended the embrace.

"Come in first..."

He narrowed his eyes at her odd behavior. He knew he definitely heard the laughter of a man. Or was she actually watching a movie? "Is there something you're hiding from me?"

Helen ignored him as she concentrated on the somewhat nervous lady. "Come on in, darling." she said, holding Lily by the wrist as they sauntered into the apartment.

Ryan sighed and trailed behind the ladies. There was something fishy about his mom's attitude, he knew. He'd make sure to find out soon enough.

Helen pulled Lily to the dining area where there was someone seated already, backing them. Ryan looked closely at the shape of the person. It was the structure of a man, certainly. It was much too obvious. Wait, was his aging mom already into a relationship?

Crap!, he muttered silently and continued walking toward the dining area. And by the time he got in front of the supposed man friend, he tried sneaking a look at his face. But he didn't need to stress himself as the man decided to look up directly at him and that was when his eyes figuratively popped out in surprise. He couldn't believe it. What was going on here? This definitely wasn't a man friend at all!

"What the hell are you doing here, Matthew?"