28 Intuition (2/2)

…

”There isn't much to say about the place. What matters was the way I lived there.”

The elder perked his ears as his eyes shone with a child-like glimmer. Darius had stoked the elder's curiosity quite well. Darius was far from ordinary, so a tale of his beginnings was well worth his time.

”I was too handsome; thus, the others shunned me with envy. The end.”

Darius clapped and nodded as if he had spoken like a wise sage from times old.

”Ehem.” The elder was momentarily stunned before he managed to let out an awkward cough. ”Young man, surely you jest.”

”Jest? Old man, I just told you my most traumatic experience, yet you dare claim that I was jesting?” Darius defensively crossed his arms over his chest and put on a grumpy expression like he had been severely wronged and demanded justice to be served.

The elder's face scrunched up so much that Darius bemusedly thought that the old man's current expression would be similar to one he himself would wear upon eating a bad lemon.

The elder knew quite well that he had been taken for a ride, but what could he possibly do in this situation? Intimidate the boy? Well, that could work, but the elder did not want to destroy the ”good” impression Darius had of him. In fact, the elder desperately wished that at some point Darius would treat him like a grandfather. After all to hitch his star upon such a talented young man...

Darius was smirking on the inside. He had finally gotten one over the old man. He finally felt in control of the situation. The past few days had been out of control: he had been tossed into crazy situation after crazy situation, all the while with his meager little life hanging in the balance. Insanity aside, Darius was not happy about not being in control of these events.

This old man had barged into his room with his hammer in tow. This in addition to the fact that he had taken control of the initial ceremony meant that he was someone of high standing. The only question was why was he interested in Darius?

The first person of high standing who took interest in him had endangered his life, resulting in his current predicament. So Darius, disregarding his intuition, decided to take a step back and advance slowly. His first step was figuring out the old man's agenda.

”Now that I have told you about my grueling and pain-filled childhood, it is the elder's turn to inform me of something.”

”Hmm?” The old man raised a brow in suspicion. Something about Darius taking the initiative didn't sit right with him.