GROUNDED

"For decades, the JONES empire has thrived in this land regardless of all obstacles, we have been able to conquer any formidable threats, and now we are on top of the food chain Bryann!, we run this city, we've earned it!!..." I heard my grandfather say to me fiercely as I looked away hoping the doctrine would end as soon as possible and I'll go think of something more fun to do rather than sitting here listening to the so called legacy of my forefathers. "...Listen! this Company symbolises the struggles of your parents and also the innocent people who had worked so hard to ensure that we are who we are today, whether you acknowledge it or not, sooner or later you'll be in charge of this company, you'll have the full right to decide whether the efforts, sweat and blood of your parents will soar higher than this or it'll crumble, and I don't want to hear you tell me about how you don't care about the company or your silly excuse about you having a choice, because you don't!. This is your father's company, no one can continue his legacy as the head of that company but you, because of your father's hardwork he has brought some prestige to our family.....to our name. I don't care about the way you feel about this company because certainly this ain't about you any more, it's about billions of people of this city, it's about the name of this family, it's about the legacy of our family most especially your Parents, who died while trying to keep the dreams of this family alive!" He finally paused breathing heavily, pointing his fingers at me but my gaze remain fixed to the ground, I don't want to anger this raging beast the more but my patience was nearing it's limits.

"Sir please, you might wanna keep your voice down" Aaron said urging him to take a seat which he declined with a terrorizing yell.

"No! I won't keep it down until the whole world hears what type of irresponsible grandson I have." He chokes and broke into a series of loud coughs and I chuckled the old man gave me a glare and I buried my head down quickly knowing that more sober I look the quicker he'll let me go but this wasn't working at all, he was totally worked up and wasn't listening to any plea from anyone. At the office he had yelled on and on and had almost collapse from fatigue, Now that I was back at the mansion, he wasn't going to let me off the hook easily, I watched my grandmother do nothing but fold her arms across her chest and tiredly sigh beside the slightly open entrance door, she had waited all day to welcome her grandson but was shocked to see her husband erupting with endless fury as her grandson followed obediently behind him to his office in their Mansion, nobody seems capable of calming the raging man, I knew I had to say something or this tiresome nagging wasn't going to end anytime soon.

"Grandpa I'm sorry, I had planned to show up but something came up and.....I totally forgot about the meeting" Aaron rolls his eyes at me and grandma slaps her face with her palm.

"Forgot? Do you hear this despicable—?" Grandpa yells immediately as he dashes towards me,I immediately stood up from the couch away from the raging man, I was scared I'd lose my head if I didn't dodge away quickly, luckily Aaron caught the old man and gently held him back.

"Oh Blake, it's okay, I can't take this anymore, he has apologized already, let him go." My grandmother waves frantically into the air as she walks towards me, her wrinkled face clothed with worry, she gazes lovingly at me with her blue eyes, her grey hair glittered under the reflection of the light and I couldn't help but wonder how she had managed to look this pretty at her age.It's being a while since I had seen her up close, I had been away for a one year physical training and I was happy to see her welcome me with her smile and her motherly warmth that I had missed a lot, she's looking too pretty for a person in her late 70's unlike her companion who look like a raging bull filled with the strength to tear down the whole house.Aaron had successfully tamed the big dog and he was sitting in his chair with heaving chest as he removed his glasses to wipe the sweats from his forehead.

"Apologizing won't fix the mess he has caused the company, his absence at the shareholders meeting has caused some uproar, and the reporters are out there saying God knows what to the public about the irresponsible heir who is taking over the company" He growled at me and I looked away sighing.

"I'm sorry, okay, I went out for a drink and caught up with some of my friends and well.....I partied hard and didn't seem to remember any important meeting at the moment and besides I hadn't gone out in the past year because I was doing what you want me to do, I thought I'd be free once I'm done." I blurted out and immediately froze at the cold stare my grandfather gave me, I was scared he was planning to pounce on me once again but I was glad my grandmother spoke before he launched another outburst.

"You see Blake, he's just been lonely, he's been away for a year learning everything he needs to know in order to take over the company. He just wanted to have some fun after being so alone for a long time" She said hugging my arm and I flashed her one of my cutest smile. I know she's being extra kind to me because she believes am still hurting over the death of my parents, she believes my actions were a way of me grieving my loss. However, I had happily used the pity card with her to get out of the most messed up situations with grandpa, she falls foor it every time unlike grandpa who doesn't seem to care. he's only worried about the company and how I should begin to take responsibility for the company as soon as possible and I wonder what the rush was all about, although he's already old and all, I have never seen anyone who was as agile and active at that age like my grandfather. I Know I have to step up pretty soon but Grandpa is still healthy and strong, I don't see him leaving us anytime soon, so why push me really hard on something so little like taking over the company when he is already doing a good job of managing the company himself. Well, the company is little to me not to him, he treats the company like his whole life depends it and he passes the agression to me seeing I don't take the company as seriously as he does. I just don't think I want to take up that stressful responsibility very early in my life, well I don't wanna take up any responsibility in my life and my grandpa clearly isn't going to let that happen, My life has been based solely on his directives and choices, what school to go to? what food to eat? How the Jones heir is supposed to dress? what interview to attend? what secrets about the family should I say to the media? and all sort of restrictions and of course I feel choked up sometimes and decide to loosen up a bit but when the old man find out I get into crazy situations such as this one.

"Of course Martha, you'll defend him again and he'll keep causing more and more trouble every single day." He replied calmly though hint of suppresed anger was still obvious on his wrinkled face, his grey hair was all messy from being held back by Aaron countless times. His shirt was wrinkled and he didn't look like the almighty Blake Jones that had the entire business world under his feet. He looked like someone who had a tug of war with an animal, His fierce and dark eyes filled with nothing but anger towards me and I smiled nervously at him.Although I hated his nagging and scolding, I wouldn't want him hurting himself because of me.

"No Blake, I'm not defending him, of course what he did was wrong---" Martha pulls away from me to give me one of her cold stare but it seemed more like she was pouting, she pinches my cheek in attempt of scolding me but she ended up smiling at me unable to keep the cold stare for long. "----but the important part is that he's sorry and he won't let it happen again, let's just have some peace in this house besides he just got into the city yesterday, he must be tired from all the partying and stress he's been through". she continues to smile with her ever glittering eyes.

"Yeah sure, pamper him all you want but he's 27 already, he should learn to take responsibility for his actions. "Blake said putting his glasses back on and straighten out his shirt.

" Well he's sorry, he won't do that again, right Bryann?" she looks at me smiling, urging me to assure everyone.

"Yes grandpa, This won't happen again, I promise" I said trying to allay her fears, I didn't like it when grandma worried about me too much.

"Yeah sure, it won't happen again, I will make sure of that" Grandpa smiles mischievously.

"what do you mean by that?" I squeezed my brows worriedly.

"As from now on Bryann, you'll be restricted from attending any social activities you're constantly crave for, Aaron will be beside you 24/7 to make sure of that, since I can no longer trust you to keep your words to be present at important meetings at the company, it's better to keep you nearby till you learn to take responsibility for the company and prevent any unnecessary actions from you." He said wiping the sweat of his forehead and my mouth hung wide open in shock.

"You're joking, right?, Do you mean am kinda grounded?" I asked after recovering from the shock. He suddenly busted outlaughing and faced Aaron who had a slight smirk on his face, Aaron has always been a man who shows little emotions some times I think he laughs just to make grandpa feel good about his boring jokes whenever we were together and if that's not the case he tries to intimidate me with his eerie chuckles whenever he wants me to do something I wasn't planning on doing. He is just a few years older than me and he has been with our family ever since he was a boy and he recently became the head bodyguard after the retirement of my parent's bodyguard. He was fierce looking and muscular, you'd think he was a some kind of wrestler if you met him for the first time. We had this weird relationship where I try to frustrate him and he doesn't flinch but comes back at me when something embarrassing happens to me such as this one comes up. He wasn't like any other bodyguard we had, we grew up together and he is kinda apart of the family now.

"He thinks...am joking..hahaha" grandpa said to Aaron and the duo broke into their idea of a teasing laughter..

"You can't do that, I'm 27 for heaven's sake" I growled running my hands through my already messed up hair as my grandmother worriedly smiles at me.

"Then act like one!" Grandpa suddenly yelled returning to the raging bull he had hidden just a while ago. "...I thought I could trust you to keep your words and show up when you're needed but it's obvious you won't but you'd rather get hooked in some bar somewhere partying with some random ladies, while I spend millions trying to keep the news to keep mute about your disgraceful and disgusting attitude!" he slams his fist furiously on his desk.

"----But I promise it won't happen again" I said desperately hoping he'll change his mind. Although, I know that wouldn't happen anytime soon not when he still remembers how I boycotted one of the important meeting of the company. I couldn't help but imagine the living hell his verdict had brought upon me, was I really going to live the rest of my life by his rules?.

"And since when did you start keeping your promises, last I remember you promised me to never come late to any meetings anymore but guess what.... you ended up not coming at all!!." grandpa yells in anger. He's obviously more irritated at my stubbornness than I of his nagging. With one glance at grandma who looked at me helplessly. I angrily stormed towards the doors. "Be ready to head out very early in the morning" grandpa said as I was about to leave the office. He had obviously taken my action as a sign of approval. I slammed the door loudly on my way out to emphasize on my dissatisfaction but I was already tired from all the nagging and wasn't in any mood to start another round of argument with him. Being rich and famous was more like a curse to me, you have to be careful for what you say and do and you simply can't go out to do what you feel like doing when you wanted to. Often I stubbornly go against these invisible and ridiculous restrictions, but that's only because I know grandpa was going to clean up my mess. My life isn't my own and it's frustrating, I'm overwhelmed at the level of responsibility expected from me but what can I say I'm a Jones, it's who I am. Getting to my room, I walked straight to the bed and fell lazily on it face first into the black bedsheets. My room was obviously still the way I had left it, colours were dark blue and black, large black curtains blocking the reflection of the bright moon from penetrating into the room, the maids had neatly arranged my luggages in my wardrobe and everything else was precisely where I had left it and it was sparkling clean. I rolled on my back and faced up looking at the white ceiling and my brain subconsciously started to think of ways to ditch my unwanted escorts tomorrow. I had heard my high school mates where holding some kind of a reunion party tomorrow night and it wouldn't be a party if Bryann Jones wasn't there, there's no way in hell I was going to miss it for the world. Apart from catching up with your old friends, it's definitely gonna be filled with countless girls desperately waiting for a chance to be with the One and only heir to Jones empire. I smirked at the thought of hanging out with a lot of girls drooling over me tomorrow. Maybe tomorrow's torture of being locked up with grandpa at the company was going to be worth it. I would be so calm and responsible through out the day just to let them loose their guard and ditch Aaron and the rest for the party tomorrow. I smirked at the thought of Aaron worriedly looking for me while I'm long gone partying hard. That'll be a nice way to get back at him for laughing at my predicament for being grounded. Smirking mischievously as I mentally scheme my escape plan, My eyes suddenly became heavy having been yelled at all day long. I had lost track of time and it was midnight already, I was too tired I didn't feel like having dinner again not with that raging man at the table with me, he'll simply just start yelling about how irresponsible I am and how over pampered I have become. I willingly let myself drift off to slumberland excited to know what the next day holds for me.