Ren was like a malfunctioning robot when he got inside his unit. He didn’t even know how he got there. Everything was a blur from the time that Evie agreed for him to escort her home.

The truth was he never expected that Evie would agree. He just wanted to know where she lived. And the next thing he knew, he was taking her home later. After ten pm. When it was dark.

“. . .”

“Ren, you okay?” Helen noticed that Ren was not himself and he was acting weird by just standing at the door and not doing anything. His wide eyes told of shock and his red face was more unusual, like he was caught doing embarrassing things.

Blinking in rapid succession, Ren’s eyes darted to his mother, and his stunned face broke into a wide smile.

Helen hadn’t seen Ren smile like that since he was a child first time eating ice cream.

What was going on?

Instead of feeling joy that his son was happy, Helen was worried that something had happened for Ren to act that way.

Did he hit his head?

“Mother, isn’t it a lovely day today?” Ren said, voice brighter than their twelve kilowatts bulbs.

“Huh?” Helen briefly looked at the floor-to-glass window on the side, displaying the horizon and mesmerizing view outside. “It’s thundering, though. I think it’s going to rain.”

Ren marched to his mother in full strides, and Helen backed away from the intensity he portrayed. He grabbed her shoulders and firmly pressed them while seriously staring into her eyes.

“Mom, don’t you think it’s time we buy a car?” he said with all seriousness, like it was the end of the world if they didn’t buy a vehicle.

“. . . Huh?”

Ren released Helen’s shoulders and nodded to himself. “That’s right. I made mental computations in my head. Taking the train every day for the next four years isn’t practical. And every year, the ticket prices go up.”

“I think it’s better if we have our own car. We can go to places with ease and don’t even have to worry about carrying shopping bags and groceries anymore.”

Ren kept telling them, words like cascading waters without stopping. Even muttering to himself as he walked to his room and disappeared inside after saying in finality, “We’ll buy a car or two this weekend.”

As the door of his room resounded with a soft slam, Helen and Troy looked at each other in confusion.

“I’ve computed,” said Troy, holding a calculator in his hand, “the train fair is more practical than buying a car nowadays. Those things are expensive. One single car cost like a house and lot in Zone A.”

Helen rolled her eyes at the ceiling. “It’s not about the car.”

Troy nudged his glasses on the bridge of his nose. “It’s not?”

Helen took a deep breath and released it through her nose. “You’re getting old that you forgot what it felt like to be young.”

Troy gave Helen a pointed look in return. “I’m getting old? You should look at yourself in the mirror.”

“What was that?”

“I said . . . what were you going to say about the real reason why Ren is buying a car?”

“It’s because your son is obviously in love.”

Troy tried to connect the dots, and all kinds of formulations swirled in his head, but he couldn’t come to terms with how buying a car was equal to love.

Helen wanted to smack her husband in the head. And he was supposed to be the smart one between them.

“It’s because he wanted to impress a girl. Obviously.”

Troy’s face brightened. Now he understood. “I see.”

The both of them slowly shifted their eyes to Ren’s door.

“I know the girl,” Helen said. “Do you want to see her pictures?”

“Are you stalking her?”

“No. I’m just curious,” Helen answered back, tone defensive.

“You need a job. We both do. So we can stop meddling in our son’s affairs.”

“I’m over forty. I should be retired and do things I love.”

“Which is stalking our son’s future wife? And what do you mean retired? Only rich people have that privilege. Us poor people work until we’re dead.”

Helen stifled a laugh. “We’re rich now, remember?”

“Thanks to our son. So you should stop messing things up for him, or he’d get angry and throw you out.”

Helen chuckled in disbelief. “Ren wouldn’t do that.”

“He did it to his relatives.”

Helen opened her mouth but closed it again. She then changed the topic. “. . . So you don’t want to see the pictures?”

“. . . Is she pretty?”

—-

After taking a bath and changing clothes to a more formal one, Ren then went to Alvarez Corporation.

Facing the hundred-story skyscraper, Ren marveled at the organic shape of the building, twisting and curling to conform to its landscape.

In this era, most buildings were ergonomic in design, giving way to environmental factors more than anything else.

After confirming his identification with the reception, he was led to the topmost floor, which opened to the office of Serius Alvarez.

Ren could play golf of how large the area was, segregated into multiple rooms. The interior was an expensive combination of dark solid wood, marble floors, posh leather sofas, and diamond, gold, and bronze furnishings.

It looked old. Vintage. Just like the man sitting at the center table. His phoenix eyes reminded Ren of Scar, as well as its military-cut hair. If not for the wrinkles and beard, he might pass out as Scar from a look.

Serius Alvarez, the current head of the Alvarez family.

Sitting beside him was a girl of explicit beauty. Soft curls of golden hair framed her face, and her eyes were like the most expensive of emeralds.

Lily.

At the sight of him, Lily’s lips formed a pout, and her poker face broke into a frown.

Ren ignored her and focused his attention on Serius.

“You’re Ren?” Serius said, voice deep and throaty, which commanded power and respect. Though he sounded surprised, his face remained stoic.

Ren nodded. “That’s right.”

“I thought you would be . . . younger from how Lily described you. But from the looks of it, you’re older than my daughter.”

“Did you summon me to know my age?”

“. . .”

Lily was surprised, and her eyes rounded. No one talks like that to his father. No one. Even his brother, Scar, had to lower his head and humble his voice in front of him. Only she and her mother could act spoiled and rotten in front of her father and gets away with it alive.

The corner of Serius’s lips twitched. “Since your little head couldn’t decipher the meaning behind my words, let me point it out to you then. You’re older by years. You shouldn’t be picking on girls younger than you.”

Ren stifled a laugh. “Like you, who’s picking on someone younger than you by years?”

Lily gasped, and her eyes shot to her father. And, like what she expected, he was not amused. If he could, he would have killed Ren with his stare.

Even she would cower under her father’s angry gaze. And she wondered how Ren could stay upright under her father’s intimidating aura.

And what’s more baffling, instead of getting angry, there was a small smile on Lily’s lips, and her eyes shone even more at the first man who stood from her father’s might.

“Don’t you use that tone with me, boy. I hold you by the neck. And if I willed it, you’ll cease to exist!” Serius took a sharp breath, and his countenance softened when he briefly glanced at Lily.

“But since Lily is good-hearted, she only wants you to apologize.”

“Apologize?” That sounded funny in Ren’s ears.

Serius’s eyes flickered with threat as he stared into Ren. “Prostrate before her and beg for her forgiveness until she forgives you, and I will retrieve my red notice to the public.”

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