01

The silence that followed the last word said by the person on the other side of the line gave hint on what was about to happen- rage and whoever stays on line of vision will feel the heat.

Richard dropped the phone and slammed it on the wall out of annoyance. His mother had managed to get on his nerves this time around and he was too afraid to admit she was successful on ruining his good day. Now things will have to go dangerous.

"Sir, is everything alright ?" His secretary of a year entered into his office when she heard the noise.

"Did I ask you to come in?" He demanded in a raised voice.

"I'm sorry sir, I didn't mean to invade on your privacy. I heard the noise and wanted to check if it was not break in or something terrible happened to you" she explained

"Without my permission?" He inquired.

"Do I need your permission for such issue, I thought that's part of my job sir" She fired back at him and he as taken aback for a minute, the secretary he hired and has known for a while never talked back at him. Who was he deceiving, he didn't even know her name not to talk of listening to her opinion about things. Well, none of that matters now, her tenure is over, she needs to pay the price for what she did.

"Get out of my office, you're fired. Don't let me come back and meet your things on that desk. Clear it out and leave" he stormed out of his office hitting Vivian on her shoulder as he made his way out.

Richard was never happy to see his mother, maybe it's due to the fact that the two were never close enough from birth or because his mother had always been busy going after her husband's side chicks and she never had the time to check up on him but now that her husband is done having his own fair share of the women in the world., she decided to give her only son the attention she thinks he deserves and that is one thing that annoyed Richard the most.

He got into his car and drove off angrily to the building that he had always hid from—his mother's company.

"Tiffany and co, how may I help you?" he could hear the receptionists on the hallway attending to their customers on the phone and he proceeds to talk to one of them that was less busy.

"Good day, Mr Amaan, how may I help you sir?" He couldn't hide the suprise on his face

"How do you know I'm Amaan, I've never been here before?" He asked

"Our superior here called me to attend to you immediately you stepped into the building" The receptionist replied with a smile and Richard wondered if they were also paid for the smile. He looked around once more and realized there were CCTV around and that's what the superior would have used.

He nodded before talking. "Is Tifanny around?,I'll very much like to see her"

"Please follow me" the receptionist walked with him in tow to the office.

"Thank you" he said curtly before entering the office without knocking

"I thought I raised you better to know you should knock before entering an office. It's a privacy issue" Tiffany raised her head from the work that had gotten her attention all morning to give her son a smile.

"All you did was raise my father, not me. That same privacy issue got my secretary fired this morning, just reciprocate that and tell me to get out of your office and never come back" he said without walking away from the door.

"I'm not gonna do that, so son, sit down. You've been standing all the while" she gestured him to a sit.

"That's so nice of you Tiffany. Thank you"

"Sarcasm, I know you much better than this"

"I don't think so" he counters back.

No matter how much his mother had tried to make things right, he was always there to bring them back to where they started from.

Tiffany looked at her son and admired his looks for a while, those looks can bring any lady to her knees, his chiseled nose and ocean blue eyes brought out his beauty and also at the same time the player in him. He had quite good and sour reputation with ladies, always on the cover of playboy magazines and all. He really is an heartbreaker. Yet the 27 years old was nowhere ready to settle down, and that was Tiffany's major concern. "You should take a picture, it will definitely last longer" Tifanny ignored his rude comment and only smiled weakly at him.

"When was the last time you talked to your father?" Tiffany asked

"Am I here to discuss my calls logs?" He asked rudely

"It's just a simple question, Richard"

"Maybe to you" he fired back.

"Why do you love dragging matters out of hands, all I want is an answer not counter backs"

She stood up from her seat to sit opposite him. "Just answer the question Richard."

He groaned loudly before replying. "Last year, I think. I'm not too sure"

"Well, if you had been in contact with your father, you would have known that he's terribly sick and he's all out of life" She said with pain evident in her voice.

Richard might not like his mother but he definitely like his father. The old man was always there for him through thick and thin until Richard got too busy to even call him. He didn't realize the man stopped calling him, he thought he was actually too busy anyways.

"What's wrong with him?" He asked.

"Maybe you should call him and ask him about why he has been in and out of hospital for nine months" She replied angrily.

"Nobody told me anything about it. How could I have known?"

"Says the person who didn't even bother showing up for his grandfather's burial service and the will reading. The same grandfather he said he cherished"

"See I loved pa with all my heart. I had a meeting with international clients that day and how was I supposed to leave them to attend the burial of a man who lived a full life" His mother looked at him with disbelief

"Have I ever told you that you're heartless?"

"You did once" he replied briskly before he continued. "About the will, I really don't care about it. If he left me with something, you guys should share it among yourself or give it out to charity. I don't need it" he said

"Yes, I raised my son to be a billionaire and now look at him, he's nothing but a prude. The only thing you care about is the throne, right?" He replied with a nod before explaining his intentions. "I'm only interested because grandfather made me promise him to claim it and let the family legacy continue if not the throne will be passed to the Maliks and that is not good" The Malik's and the Amaans has always been on each other's throats when it comes to the throne. Even though the Amaans has been ruling for over hundreds of years right after the Maliks lost the throne to them, they still don't have the intention of losing it not to talk of a Malik ruling over them. It was forbidden

"Well, your majesty. If only you had bothered to come for your grandfather's will reading, you would have saved me the trouble of seeing your pathetic face here today" She brought out a letter

"Don't worry son, I won't bother you with reading it because I did it for you already. Since your father is sick and he won't be able to be in charge of the Arab Emirate any more. You will only be allowed to ascend the throne, quote according to your grandfather" she used her fingers to make the quote sign in the air.

"if and only if, you marry Bella Poonam Malik. The only daughter of our rival family" His mother threw the bomb and even though he laughed for a while, he had to stop when he realized she was not joking.

'That's totally insane, absurd, uncalled for, arrant nonsense, abject stupidity and mostly and thoroughly impossible' were the only words that left Richard's mouth as he looked at his mother with bewilderment.

"Are you done with all the grammars and defaming words because if you are, I'll suggest you you leave my office, I have a lot to do. How dare you call your grandfather's wishes insane. Why are you like this Richard?, give the dead man some respect" If only looks could kill, Tiffany would be long done.