“Is it true that your Corporation is soon
to be transferred to your grandson, Mr. Fletcher? If it is true, do you think his young age will influence the state of the company?”, asked the reporter.“That is an interesting question. Let me put it this way. My grandson, Luke, is indeed one of the candidates to become the heir of our company. However, I believe it is a known fact that right now he is a student at Harvard Business School. Our main priority as his grandparents is to give him education worthy of his future role. Rushing Luke to take our place as soon as possible is not one of our intentions. He will be able to do so only when my wife and I are sure he is ready. As of now, there is no need to change the head of the Corporation….”
…
The TV screen suddenly went black.
Bang
The remote hit a wall. Pieces of plastic shattered all over the rug.
If objects were living creatures, they would definitely be terrified. They would look around the room and ask themselves, “Who is next?”.
The man who keeps the room in total terror is the main topic of the news. Recently, someone spread the gossip that he, Luke Fletcher, a 23-year-old student of Harvard University, is soon to inherit his grandparent’s business.
The thought of becoming the CEO at such a young age never terrified Luke. In reality, it is quite the opposite. His main goal is to inherit the business as soon as possible, he wants to become the youngest and the most influential person in the history of the Corporation.
He is ready to take on his rightful position even right now.
The only thing he cannot understand is why his grandfather does not trust him enough with the company. Luke is the top student. He is the person who always spends the longest time in the library and takes part in most of the extracurricular projects offered by the school. Moreover, some of the professors recommend Luke to their acquaintances, the CEOs of renowned companies, and they are all ready to see Luke as one of their employees.
However, he declines each time. The only position he wants is the head of the Corporation. Sometimes, on gloomy and lonely evenings like this one, the man sits in his apartment and thinks to himself.
Should I start my career at some other company? Maybe then, grandfather will take me seriously…
It cannot be that he is still waiting for my father, right? William Fletcher is a hopeless romantic and artist.
How can grandpa still wait for the father to turn over a new leaf and fall in love with business when I am here! I am better than that man and my grandparents should know it by now.
“Luke, my grandson, is one of the candidates…”, grandfather’s words keep rotating in Luke’s head.
Who is the other one? Who is it?!
Luke is blinded by rage.
No, he cannot wait. Even though it is late in the evening, he needs to get his answers right now!
The parking lot of the newly built apartment complex is as always dark and gloomy. Luke’s footsteps create an echo in the almost empty space. The complex is still not fully dwelled, so on evenings when his car is the only one on the floor, he likes to imagine that the whole building belongs to him. Totally absorbed in his dreams, he reaches the car.
His grandparents hate the noisiness of the city. Being forced to live there for the majority of their lives, they decided to move to the suburbs. That means Luke has to drive for more than an hour to get to the place of destination. He uses this time to calm himself down and to collect the thoughts.
Previous experience of communication with his grandparents showed that there is no use being overly emotional. Screaming, crying or pleading have never worked before. Those people understand only the language of facts and logic, which is a very familiar way of thinking to Luke, but sometimes his anger just takes over. He believes that it is a gift from his parents, who being artists to the core of their souls, cherished every splash of emotion that a boy like Luke could provide. Unable to make him laugh or at least smile, they cultivated his anger, the only emotion he let himself show, as if it were one of their artworks. Parents used to say things like:
“Emotions are supposed to be lived. Don’t bottle up them, show them to the world!”
“What is it with that unamused face of yours? You should spend less time with your grandparents. An ant has a bigger emotional capacity than they do”, whenever his father mentioned his parents, Luke just could not stand the venom that polluted his words. In such moments, he despised his father for visibly disliking the person who had been Luke’s role model since early childhood. “Oh, you are displeased now. How cute becomes that little face of yours whenever you are angry, you look like a little tomato…haha…But it is good, let it out, let it out. You know, I am always worried that you will turn out just like your grandfather, a soulless person who can see nothing further than his business books, but you give me hope…”
Just remembering it makes Luke’s blood boil.
That is why he cannot stop himself from having this conversation today, but he will make sure it is going to be a productive one. Luke cannot afford to be compared to his father.
If he lets the smallest sign of dissatisfaction slip away tonight, he for sure will have to give up on his dream for another couple of years.
But it is no use thinking like that, knowing that Luke lets the peace of the night road calm down his mind.
The soft, warm rays of light from the street lamps make the shadows dance on the dark gray asphalt. The night is peaceful. The weather is slightly too hot for Luke’s liking, but the refreshing breeze that comes through the opened windows helps the man to concentrate. It puts him almost into a meditative state. How much he likes driving!
He is about to reach his grandparents’ neighborhood when he hears the little splashes. One, then two, then three raindrops land on his windshield. A somewhat unsettling feeling nestles itself inside his chest. Is it worry? Or even despair? The man is not used to that feeling. He promised himself not to be like this a long time ago. But why did this unwanted emotion reoccur after such a long time?
As he ponders, the small rain becomes a downpour. His windshield wipers are hardly able to clean the glass in time for him to see the road. The feeling of déjà vu becomes stronger. One moment he is in his own car, he is the driver and in the next one, he finds himself in the body of a small boy.
Luke is sitting in the backseat. He is a little sad because he forgot his favourite tablet at home. His mother downloaded new episodes of his favourite cartoon on it. The boy was really looking forward to watching them while traveling to his grandfather’s place. But he won’t show that he is upset, he is a big boy, he will make his grandpa proud. So, he was entertaining himself by watching raindrops race on the windows of the car, as they were getting further from home.
The boy was so quiet that the adults sitting in the front seats thought he had fallen asleep.
“William, I understood when you chose to study art instead of business, I did not mind you marrying the person you chose. The only thing I asked you to do was to start working at my company and to lead it when I would not be able to do so anymore. My years are not limitless, and you know better than anyone how important our Corporation is to your mother and me”
“Father, stop right there. I hate everything connected to that company. It was never a secret. Right now, I am really frustrated because you refuse to listen to me. My wife is going to open her gallery soon, this project is important to us. I cannot just leave everything because you said to do so. Think about Luke, if I become the CEO, I will be unhappy. Being forced to do things I hate will make me a bad person and even worse father! You want to make your grandson miserable? You want me to become a bad father, just like you were?”
The conversation started getting more heated, but Luke wasn’t interested in listening to the affairs of adults until he heard his name.
“Are you sure you really refuse this position because of Luke? You think leaving him to live with us while you and your wife are enjoying life on the other side of the country will make you any better father than I was?”
Leaving me…What is grandpa talking about? Father promised to take me to the zoo next week.
“Father! It is not the same. I am going to achieve one of my own dreams. It will make me happy. I think Luke will only benefit from a father who is content with his life. In several years, when we have more money, we will take him to live with us…”
Father and mother are leaving without me?
Luke could feel the tears starting to form in his eyes. It was becoming hard to breathe.
“William, I did not raise you to become like this…Irresponsible…Do you even love your son?”, said the grandfather with a sigh.
“Don’t be ridiculous, father. I do it for him…”
Luke didn’t hear the rest of the conversation, his mind kept repeating: My father doesn’t love me, he will leave me, my parents will go without me
The heart was pounding loudly in the chest of the troubled child, and his palms were becoming sweaty. Luke couldn’t see clearly through the tears that covered his eyes. The little boy started panicking.
But he had promised himself to be a big boy, to make his grandfather proud of him, so he did not let any sound out. He let the silent raindrops lull him to sleep.
A lightning strike followed by a loud bang of thunder brings the man to his senses.
Luke feels a single tear running down his cheek, repeating the moves of raindrops on the glass. His eyes and chest are burning. As he tries to collect himself, he notices that his car is parked right in front of the gates to the grandparents’ house.
However, he decides not to enter. All his determination disappeared, chased away by the old memory that unexpectedly popped out of the deepest corners of his brain.
He will not be like his father.
Luke will prove himself worthy with action.
He will keep his promise to himself and make his grandfather proud.
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