THE CAPITAL

THE CAPITAL

[James' POV]

The capital of Naylatan is Abroin and Abroin is a gazillion times beautiful than Cradon. I remember how shocked Martha was to see me ride a fine ride as Audi e-tron out of the little shed like garage at the back of the house that had never been opened since she came to live there.

I was so angry and wanted to tear out every paper on the wall when I passed Taobi and saw her picture with those mad words under them. I almost got out of the vehicle on passing a bend and hearing some adults talk about how wicked children can be to the ones who took care of them while looking at the poster for the arrest of Martha.

I decided against it and with more fire to my bones, decided I needed to prove her innocence in the court and before the world.

It was close to noon when I arrived in Abroin and I called Thomas to inform him of how close I was to his Law Firm.

In about fifteen more minutes of scouting the area in search of Morgan Firm, I found the second tallest building in the area, standing tall, proud and very catchy. It was a magnificent sight and I thought of how much they must have spent in building the firm.

I entered the building and went to the reception to inform the receptionist, who I was and who I wanted to see.

He used his eyes to touch the tips of hair on my head to the boots I was wearing. I have always been a mild dresser and I was sure he was wondering in what way I knew Mr Thomas Morgan with how I looked.

I ignored the indiscreet way he was looking and asked him if I could see who I asked of and he asked if I had an appointment with him. There was a queue forming at my back and my patience was wearing thin as the woman behind me tapped her heels against the tiled ground, repetitiously.

''No I have no appointment with Thomas but could you just ring him and tell him James Jordan is here to see him'', I told the lanky looking receptionist and he rudely told me that Thomas was in a meeting and would be needing no disturbance from the likes of myself.

I almost stretched out my hands around his neck to strangle him.

Instead, I moved away from the line for him to attend to the other clients waiting. I went to the settee at the side of the room and sat on a single sofa.

As I sat on the sofa, it comforted my hard butt and I definitely liked the feeling, but this was not the time to relish in the feeling of comfort the sofa gave because I was trying to reach Thomas and he was not picking my calls.

I waited for about ten minutes before I called Thomas again and he picked on the first ring. Before I could express my dissatisfaction, he began to plead with me and told me that he had an unexpected visitor.

I was about to tell him that he should just reach out to his rude receptionist so I could come up but he told me that he was already coming down to get me and before I could dissuade him from it, he hung up. Few seconds later, I heard a 'ding' sound from the elevator, signalling that someone just got off.

When the once slightly noisy reception hall became quiet, I turned around to see what might have quietened them when I looked back and easily spotted Thomas walking with so much grace and was using his eyes to sweep round the room, most possibly in search of me.

People were talking in hushed tones and others were bowed deeply to greet him probably out of habit or out of respect or because they hoped to be noticed. He was unaffected by the stares and look of surprises on the faces of everyone around the hall. For someone of such calibre, he sure had a way of treating and dealing with people and he was sure an expert, for during his brief scan round the hall, his face bore an expressionless mask until they turned happy as his eyes landed on me and a smile stretched on his face almost reaching his ears.

He had his arms spread and I was also very happy to see him, for my friend had sure aged over the years but still looked very agile and full of life. The hug was heart-warming and although it might have looked weird for outsiders to see two men enjoying the embrace of each other but we knew what we were to each other.

We were not just friends, we were brothers and we had seen and been at the highest and lowest for each other. We snapped out of that moment when we felt a flash of light. Someone had taken a picture of us and the shutter of his or her camera was what brought about the flash. We turned simultaneously to the source of the flash and the nerdy individual looked like he was going to shit his pants with the way Thomas was staring down at him, making the atmosphere tense.

I was trying so hard not to laugh because I knew Thomas was just trying to be warningly intimidating but the scenario was funny. I touched Thomas' shoulder as he looked at me and asked for a minute.

I knew that he was not really bothered with the paparazzi as it was one of the affiliations in his line of work but I knew whatever he wanted do was because of me. He knew how much I hated being in the spotlight.

He was being almost irrational when he demanded for the phone of the boy whom I guess is in his late teens and the boy gave it to him quickly. He deleted the picture, checked for any back up app for the deleted picture and when he was sure he had re-deleted it from the apps, he returned the phone to him with a sarcastic smile on his lips. Kind of a bully!

He directed me towards the elevator and as we passed the desk of the receptionist, I noticed how deeply he bowed and a smile played on my lips. I knew that at this point, he was going to feel like I would chip in few words about him to Thomas, at least he would learn to treat people better.

We sat comfortably in Thomas' office and talked about our past and some funny things and mistakes that happened during our childhood. With a cup of only black coffee in my hand and a cup of coffee that had some milk and sugar in Thomas', we reminiscenced and laughed at the good old days. drank his with milk but James drank his own with the addition of nothing. After some extra random conversations, I got down to business and told him about Martha.