Afternoon Tea

"Young Master, the horses arrived safely yesterday afternoon" Manager Song narrated as he stared at his boss with simmering resentment that he hid behind a mask of impassivity.

He was really tired, not only today but so with the previous days he had. Today they landed back in Woodbridge and had hit the ground running, with one meeting after another. If few days ago he was frantic about giving the young heir a company, now he kind of regret his visit here in the South. All he ever wanted at the moment was a hot bath and a good rest.

Now, they are back in the forest mansion to check on their horses' dilemma and sadly his boss wasn't done working, and that meant no rest for him until he says so. It was past five in the afternoon and on the manager's usual routine, he should have been in his quarters enjoying a movie and coffee.

"Good" Darryl said as he tried to loosen up his tie before he asked back "How are they?"

"Nothing unusual happened since they arrived young master"

"And the annual competition?" Darryl furthered referring to the equestrian competition the L Empire hosts annually.

"The board is determined to pursue the date planned. The Elders are not aware of the disease and your Father wanted this to be kept a secret so not to create any chaos. He is counting on you" Manager Song answered, keeping his voice low and emotionless.

Speaking of the annual equestrian competition, the manager frowned. That event was seriously giving him a headache ever since they made the forest mansion a breeding facility. This year was far the worse because their racing horses were struck with the Staw disease.

That was why the Young Master was here. The President wanted the trouble to be fix urgently as if it was an easy one. They can't delay the equestrian competition because it is one of the highlights of the L Empire each year.

Once a year, all the L Empire's elders who were mostly residing abroad come to gather together so with the top-notch businessmen in this country and they spent a great deal of their wealth gambling through horse racing—all for pleasure and fun.

And the forest mansion is where they kept all the best horses to be used on event.

And most of the horses died because of the Staw disease.

And that fact was making him crazy—real crazy as he was the general manager of the L Empires assets in the south.

Manager Song held a deep sighed as he watched the young heir picked up a newspaper and perused the headlines with intense focus he has with whatever activity he happened to engage on. It had been so long since he had his company. Back then he was still a child and the forest mansion were nothing but his grandmother's favorite haunt.

"And Dannah?" Darryl's question drew back Manager's Song to the present.

The manager paused a bit before he answered politely. "She will arrive any time soon"

Truth was that the manager had no idea about that Young Miss's activities and the only thing he knew was that she promised to come and meet his brother.

"Did Father mention my sister?" Knowing that he won't probably get any news from his sister, Darryl inquired the other way around.

He wondered what could have kept that girl occupied. Too occupied that even matters like this didn't made her flinched a bit. However, Dannah had always been apathetic with the Lagdameo's business so he kind of expect this attitude from her.

Ever since their father rummage the forest mansion with horses and took control of the facility, Dannah lost interest with it even if in the papers, the property was left under her name. She had preserved and maintained the property well right after their grandmother died but just few years back when she had a big argument with their father, the latter kind of used the fact that Dannah was a minor, then took control of everything their grandmother left for her as a punishment.

"Yes"

"And what did he say?"

"President Manuel said that he expects this mess from the Young Miss already" Manager Song answered straightforward even if he knew the Young Master won't probably like such answer "Your Father is counting on you, only you, young master"

Darryl sighed before he threw the newspaper away. He closed his eyes feeling his tensed-up body and nerves go against the softness of the sofa before he spoke again "Did Dr. Piper make and assessment with the horses?"

"Yes, young master as soon as they arrived"

"And my horse?"

"Your horse is fine Young Master. Don't worry"

A moment after that, the place was left with nothing but the sound of the cups and utensils ticking. The servants had prepared them a lavish snack and suddenly the Manager allowed himself another flash of aggravation at the memory that he had completely overlooked his need to have something to eat because of how occupied he was with their routine.

The young master was taking an afternoon tea with Farmer Su and the manager together.

"Young master, speaking of Dr. Piper, did she already give you the formula she promised?" Farmer Su asked politely.

"Yes. Manager Song himself emailed it to me last night. I had enough gasp of it already" He answered acknowledging the farmer's call.

"How was it?" the farmer asked further.