Author's note - Was having a debate to post another chapter or not due to the ratings and comments on my novel, hence the delay.
An avant-garde structure was well presented before the eyes of Andrew and he stood there before the building for a while, taking the scenery fully in, he would be hard-pressed to see such a building in his previous life, not to talk of entering it. “What are doing there all bewildered for?”, a voice sounds out at this moment which broke him out of his reverie. He looks in the direction of Olivia before taking a deep breath, he hurried after her at which they walk towards the entrance of the building, his signature wine jar left behind in the carriage.
There were two guards who were at the entrance discussing while customers walks in and out of the bank. There was nothing like being on guard against anything, they performed their job with a bit of lacklustre and seems like the customers who were trooping in and out were already used to this attitude of the guards and nobody even talked to them about it.
While they were chatting though, a shadow came in front of them, to which one of them said without looking, “You can go inside the bank if you had any questions of any sort. We can’t answer any of your....”. When he was about to complete his words, he could see that his fellow conversing buddy has stood up erect as if there was an electric shock passing through his body while he saluted at this newcomer.
On seeing this behaviour of his comrade, he couldn’t help turning around to meet the owner of the shadow. On seeing the appearance of the person, he was gobsmacked. He didn’t understand how he was able to be this unlucky in his life. “Oh, so we meet once again”, Olivia says towards the man.
This man happens to have been the very same man who had insulted her at the gates when they came by the city during the night after the battle with the joker. The man didn’t know whether to cry or to laugh, his earlier behaviour was due to the fact that no noble or someone of an important position would deem it necessary to even talk to the guards and would just enter the bank to do what they like. They had the connections after all, hence they deemed it wasteful to talk to the likes of them, and as he had formerly said, they weren’t able to answer any question which would be posed to them about the bank.
If a higher-up was gracing the bank for inspection or anything of that sort, they would be able to get the information on time and work accordingly so as to prevent their wrath.
As for why he has left the gate, after his solitary confinement, he was afraid that Olivia would see him at the gate and had hoped that he could hide from her eyes so as not to be remembered, hence he paid some little price to get this position which was a little loose, as nobody would be crazy enough to attack the bank. Even the joker during his reign of terror didn’t have the guts to attack this bank right here. There was an unwritten rule among bandits, ‘you could commit any kind of crime known to men but no matter what, never rob the supreme bank’. The guards were just here to put things in order.
Although he was shocked, he quickly recovered his bearings and saluted also with all seriousness while screaming in his heart, ‘Just let me go this last time’.
Olivia just stares at this man for a while which seem to be like years went by as he sweated buckets just from her stare alone. “What’s your name?”, she asks. ‘Am finished. This is the end for me’, the man said inwardly but didn’t hesitate to state his name, “Richard, ma’am”. “Hmm, interesting”, Olivia says while touring around this man. “Heed my order, you are now registered under the fifth corps. You can go to the headquarters to complete the formalities. After you are through with them though, be prepared, in two weeks we would be heading to defend the eastern gate”, she says after her little assessment.
Although her voice was not loud, it stormed Richard’s heart. His face drained of all colours, he has never fought in a war before and had planned to have it easy. He was just part of the military in charge of security in the kingdom. He wanted to plead with Olivia to not treat him this way but before he could even open his mouth, Olivia left him and entered the bank. The man whom he has been conversing with walks to him and pats his shoulder. There was little question about if he would die or not in this war he was heading to. Richard almost slaps off the hands which the man has used to pat his shoulders since when Olivia was saying those words, the man has created a lot of distance between them as if they didn’t even know each other so as not to be associated with him.
But on thinking it through, he would probably do the same if he was in his shoes, and hence, he just let it be. He just stood there for a long time scowling at what was to come, but he understood that defying orders from his superior would lead to execution and his family would probably be implicated. So he just left his post to the headquarters to handle all the necessary formalities.
The duo has already gotten inside the bank and Andrew was impressed by their banking system. He had worked as a cleaner in a small bank back on earth and what he saw in this bank was just like the banking system on earth, although grander. Inside the bank was way bigger than he has initially thought it to be. There were counters in which the bank clerks attended to customers. The bank was crowded but there was order in it, there wasn’t much disturbance. Olivia drags Andrew towards one of the private rooms, what greeted them was a man who seem to be in his early forties, clearly dressed in formal attire while sipping down on some tea. When the duo entered the room, the way the man stared at them showed clearly the fact that he was standoffish. “What can I do for you?”, he says in obvious displeasure that they had disturbed his tea time. Due to the fact that Olivia was backing Andrew from closing the door, he didn’t see her formerly.
But immediately he saw her, his previous arrogant face lit up with smiles as he stood up from his seat and went to hug her, which she didn’t resist one bit. The man was a tad bit shorter than Olivia but that didn’t affect their hug. “I didn’t know you are back in the capital. Why didn’t you let me know of your arrival?”, he says after relieving himself from her arms. “I wanted to surprise you, Kenneth”, she says, her face full of smiles also. “Come sit down”, the man replies heartily.
She motions for Andrew to take a sit too, the man notices it but doesn’t think too much about the matter. They both reminisced about old times. Turns out they have been close friends since childhood and both have grown up in the capital. It was through a bit of connection that he got to where he currently was, Olivia also had her hands pulling some strings. If not he would not be able to secure a job at this bank and even get to this stage, that fact he knew very well and all that was due to his average background.
They both laughed and chatted merrily for a long while before noticing that Andrew has been waiting. “So what brings you here”, the man asks. Staring towards Andrew, Olivia replies in a loud voice as if afraid that if her voice was any lower, they both won’t be able to hear her, “I have come to open a bank account for this child of mine”.
Both Andrew and Kenneth were shocked at this revelation, even Andrew couldn’t help but look behind him if maybe there was another person who was behind him, but he clearly couldn’t see anyone. Kenneth couldn’t see any resemblance between the both of them but instead choose not to comment. “Is he your child?”, Kenneth still had to ask while staring at Olivia.
She puts on a forlorn expression while gazing into blank space, then she sighs before looking at Kenneth and saying, “Although am not prideful about all that conspired before his birth, I still have to admit that he has my blood flowing in him”. She pauses, then turns to face Andrew with a pity-filled gaze before saying, “Look how much of a silk pants he is. He cares so much about his looks and is not a single bit brave. He doesn’t even have the guts to speak out for himself. Sometimes I wish that I didn’t have a child like him, but he is of my blood, that of which I can’t deny”. Andrew’s expression got uglier with every second of which Olivia spoke. He almost opens his robes to show his injuries which haven’t fully healed, but he was rational and held fast against such a decision. Although she was this way, she needed to stand as a guardian while he created a bank account. He understood that he could come back to reclaim full ownership.
Although he could lie about his age and get things done, the supreme bank was no easy bank to lie to and due to one problem or the other, his background could be fully dug out and his true age found and his money confiscated. He would rather prevent such a thing from happening and this bank was the only of its kind which has branches in all kingdoms and empires, hence he would be able to access his account wherever he went. He still didn’t understand how they operated in such a fashion without communication devices or even the internet. He felt like having everything in document form would be way tasking and stressful, but he didn’t care as long as his money would be safe at all times and no issue would arise when it was needed.
There was little doubt that if Kenneth could conduct a blood test to determine if Andrew was the son of Olivia, he would have done so. He hasn’t heard of anything like her being pregnant or anything of that sort. He could take the change in Andrew’s expression as his behaviour towards his mother due to puberty or maybe he wasn’t really on good terms with her. But the way she outrightly trash-talked about the boy she claims to be her son was still nothing short of bewildering to him.
But he understood that some things shouldn’t be looked into too much and matters of women were something men could never understand, hence he was capable of curbing his curiosity. He clears his throat before saying, “Wait for me then”. He went out to get the necessary forms which needed to be filled. Quickly, all the formalities were taken care of and Kenneth said once again, “Some money would need to be deposited for everything to be completed”.
And this seems to be finally the time for Andrew to do some stuff as his eyes shine brightly while staring at Olivia, if looked at carefully, a grin could be seen on his face as if he was going to put on a very fine show.
