211 Christopher's Story (2)
Christopher had still been a teenager at the time. It was early on a Saturday morning and he had gone to Adam in order to escape his own house.
"You fought with your parents again?" Adam asked a sullen Christopher.
"Yes." Chris muttered with his head turned away.
"Why?"
"I don't want to go into business but they can't except it." Christopher said with a sigh. "My grades are good enough so they can't understand why I won't just do it, but just because I can do it doesn't mean I want to either."
"What do you want to do then?"
"What?" Chris asked, blinking in surprise.
"What do you mean 'what'?" Adam asked as he looked up from the book he had been reading.
"That's the first time anyone's ever asked me that."
Adam let out an amused breath. "Don't tell me you don't know what you want to be."
"I don't know." Chris admitted with red ears.
He had never thought of it before. He had never been allowed to think he could be anything else but a copy of his own father. He knew now that he didn't want to be that. He couldn't be that. But what did he want to do instead? It was an intriguing question.
"This is why you're still a kid." Adam teased. "Go think about it. You can only come complain to me about your parents once you know what you actually want to do instead."
Christopher took his advice. For weeks and weeks he thought about it. He read and studied and searched high and low for what he wanted to do with his life.
It was a long and frustrating process. It wasn't easy to suddenly find interest in something. But Christopher took his time and thought long and hard about what he wanted out of life, and what type of person he wanted to be. It was some time later, at a large family dinner that his answer finally became known to everyone.
Christopher had been about seventeen at the time and he had a reckless reputation to his name.
"Adam you've risen quite high at MK. Soon enough you'll be taking over for your father. Talk some sense into this boy." Christopher's mother had said, looking down at her son.
"I said I don't want to work at MK." Christopher grumbled.
"And what do you want to do instead?" His mother asked, exasperated.
Christopher glanced at Adam. Adam looked back at him evenly, his eyes were glimmering with a dare. It was as if he was daring him to have an answer to say back this time.
"I want to be an actor." Christopher announced.
He could still recall his mother sighing and some of his uncles and aunts softly laughing, but Adam silenced them with a single sentence.
"I think that's a fine idea." Adam said. With satisfaction Christopher watched as everyone stared at Adam as if he were the odd one out for once.
"You don't mean it." His uncle asked. "Surely you should encourage Christopher to contribute to the family business."
"Acting is an area of entertainment that MK hasn't expanded into yet." Adam noted. "Many actors also model and MK uses models quite often. He can still contribute to MK even if he's not a manager or director. Besides, it isn't as if MK has a shortage of staff. I'm sure we'll be able to survive even without Christopher's expertise."
Of course the pressure and the complaints from his family hadn't stopped just because Adam had sided with him, but with an ally as strong as Adam on his side Christopher could not be stopped.
Once they graduated Christopher began the hard work of trying to make a name for himself in a highly competitive field.
"Don't approach me when we're working." Christopher said to Adam as they shared a meal together one day.
Adam didn't argue or disagree. "Why?" He asked simply.
"I don't want to rely on you. I don't want people to only notice me because I'm next to you. Wait for me instead. One day I'll be able to walk over to you with my own feet." It was an embarrassing request but Christopher summoned his courage and made it, even if it was with a flushed face.
The corner of Adam's mouth twitched upwards into a smile and he reached over to ruffle Chris' hair. "If that's what you want I'll ignore you as you asked. Just don't keep me waiting too long."
It took longer than Chris intended, but he finally achieved it. He was certain that he would never forget the day he received that MK contract for as long as he lived.
He remembered the apprehension of hearing that MK was producing a film, and he remembered a strong sense of pride being engraved in his heart as he signed the contract, only having barely read it. Even in that moment, the first thing he had done was rushed to go see Adam, though Elle was the one he found in the end.
The first few years of Christopher's career had been grueling but the complaints of his family had stopped as soon as he began to rise in fame.
Now his mother bragged about him and his father watched every film he was in. Now he was the most recognized male actor in the country.
"You're dream was to become an actor?" Elle asked, weeks later, interrupting the story as Christopher finally told it to her.
"I like acting, I really do, but my dream was something different than that. I wanted to be like Adam. I couldn't work at MK but I wanted to become someone who was capable and reliable. I wanted to be able to stand tall at his side. My dream was to become someone useful to him."
