Robert Arisen

[This chapter contains mention of suicide. Reader caution is advised.]

~Robert~

That morning was just like any other hundreds of mornings that I had spent walking the line between living and being alive.

I set my tie, glanced one last time at my perfect reflection in the mirror, walked out of my room, and down the grand carpeted staircase. 

I stopped at the last step, contemplating. From there, I could see an open bedroom to my right. Not a single sound in the mansion except the servants scurrying around and the stone foundation with a lion head carved out of marble as the centerpiece, dripping water non-stop into the pool around it. 

I took a deep breath, glanced at the open bedroom door one last time, and decided against going that way.

Instead, I put my hands in my pockets, carried the usual burden on my shoulders, and walked outside where the driver was waiting with my car of the day. I skipped breakfast but none of the servants were bold enough to ask me about it. That was why they were still working in the mansion and hadn't gotten fired for poling their noses where they didn't belong.

~

In the bedroom, on the ground floor of the ancestral mansion, aging yet elegant and proud Lady Margaret lay in her bed, waiting.

She waited for a while in silence until a maid walked in to clean the room. 

Lady Margret waited more, occasionally glancing at the golden watch on her bedside table. The maid continued to clean the non-existent dust from the mantle-piece decor. 

"Close the blinds, the light is blinding me." She finally said to the maid in an annoyed tone. The maid silently walked over to the wall-size window that overlooked the family gardens and started closing the blinds.

An old man-servant entered the room humbly and rolled in a trolley with a variety of breakfast items made fresh according to Lady Margret's dietary restrictions. 

"Where is Robert?" Lady Margret asked with a raise of her brow.

"He has gone to work, Ma'am." The man-servant did not raise his head, knowing what was coming after the silence of Lady Margret. He still asked, "Shall I serve the breakfast, Ma'am?"

But, Lady Margret's mood was already ruined, turned sour by the departure of her stepson without so much as a good morning.

"Take it away and throw it to the menagerie," She yelled haughtily, "I'm tired of your tasteless bland breakfasts every day! Get lost!" 

The old man-servant did as told, bowed his head, and pushed the trolley of food out of the room silently, not wanting to anger the Mistress of the house further.

But Lady Margret wasn't done yet. She glanced at the maid who had been dusting earlier but had stopped to watch the scene unfold, "And, you! Get lost as well. Everyone get lost!"

The maid hesitantly walked closer to her employer and spoke with a feeble voice of concern, "But ma'am, if you won't have breakfast, how will you take your medication on an empty stomach?"

Lady Margret was done. 

She threw the boxes of pills from her bedside table, scattering them on the plush carpeted floor, "I don't want to take medication! Did you not hear me? Go away, get lost! Every one of you!"

The maid kneeled to pick up the scattered pills to put them back in their place while Lady Margret kept muttering loudly to herself, "Lazy. Indolent."

She only quietened down and sighed when she was finally left alone.

~

The elevator dinged and the doors opened to reveal the tall, lean, and sharp-looking CEO making everyone immediately go silent.

As Robert Arisen walked through the lobby, every employee, stopped and nodded, "Good morning, Sir."

Robert didn't even spare them a glance as he moved towards his office, leaving a trail of power and a scent of money and authority. His secretary started after him, carrying all the documents that he needed to see before he started working.

The rest of the employees on the top floor of one of the tallest buildings in Guam, eased up and sat down on their desks. 

"What a cold guy," One of the receptionists said to Mia Heyes.

"I know right," Mia agreed and opened a file.

"I mean, not even a single greeting back? God. How much does a Good morning cost?" Her colleague rolled her eyes and started flipping through a file in front of her.

"For a multi-billionaire like the Robtert Arisen, probably a million dollars," Mia commented sarcastically.

"Yeah, probably. Why are CEOs like that? So cold and arrogant." The girl mused.

"I mean, it's probably all the money and power. We might look like insects to industrial giants like our CEO." Mia shrugged.

"I know. That's why God punishes such people." The girl sighed.

"What do you mean? How did God punish our boss?" Mia asked curiously.

"Didn't you hear?"

"Hear what?"

The girl slid closer to Mia, eager to share gossip, "Apparently a few months ago, Mr. Arisen was all set to marry a girl for love. Only, she ended up suiciding right before the wedding. It was all over the news."

"Why would she suicide?" Mia asked.

"A lot of stories were circulating. According to some people, it was a suicide, but a lot of people believe Robert Arisen murdered her in cold blood and then threw her off the balcony." The girl told.

Mia gasped. It was hard to imagine her boss to be a cold-hearted murderer. But then, it wasn't like she knew him personally or anything.

The girls went back to work and soon forgot about the whole conversation, while Robert sat in his office chair unable to shake certain images and events from his memory as they replayed on a torturous loop.