Abomination | (Part 2)

chapter 16: Legacy

Tick tick.

The minute hand moved slowly, it has ever been. Four eyes were glued to the clock behind the counter as we waited for the hour hand to strike three. It was finally Wednesday, and we came two hours early just to be sure.
My cold latte cup was empty, and the condensation around the cup was long gone. The waitress had asked me thrice if I wanted something else, even the old man in the back could hear the despair in her voice. Her urged voice soon became irritated when she finally gave up.
Guy had already finished 3 cakes and 5 cups of coffee, even though he was a better customer than me. The latte wasn't sitting well with my anxious stomach as is, I wasn't just gonna make it worse by ordering a tiramisu to top it off......

Minutes felt like hours before it was finally three. There was still no sign from my visitor. Maybe he was running late, I thought. But soon it was three fifteen. I was getting impatient... the furious taping of my fingertips against the surface of the table, the ticking sound of the hands on the clock, and Guy slurping the last of his sixth beverage behind me.
I had enough. I stood up suddenly, the stool I was sitting on crashed on the ground with a loud thud, Guy started choking on his drink, surprised by my sudden movement, everybody turned to look except for the old man in the back who was already staring at me.
I just turned and walked away, ignoring the waitress calling my name. As soon as I opened the door, I was hit by a gust of hot air, traffic buzz, and New York crowd noise. Too frustrated to notice the bicycle coming my way, I just stood there like a moron, waiting for it to hit me, but before it could, a hand grabbed me by force and pulled me away. My eyes were closed, but i could tell that it was gentle but firm hand. It was the old man who was sitting at the back in the café.

"You." I narrow my eyes at him.

"I'm sorry for the wait dear, but I was just making sure no one was around and also if you were someone to trust."

"For half an hour? and if you didn't trust me, then why send such a message in the first place, grandpa? " I comment sarcastically, rolling my eyes

"Uncle," he said

"escuse me?"

"I am your uncle, dear."

I look at him closely, leaning in to see his face up close he leaned back instinctively. he had fair skin, a few wrinkles around his mouth and on his forehead, he had a little bit of hunch but he didn't seem as old as he looked, his hair were grey most of it.

"You don't have any resemblance to my dad. And why should I believe you?" I cross my hands in front of my chest.

"I do resemble your dad, dear. Your biological dad." he specifies.

The realisation hits me. I hadn't thought about that. I mean, sure, my biological mother has come up a few times in the past weeks, but my dad. I hadn't thought he'd be even in the picture, considering how my mother is.

"I don't know how he looks like, so I really don't know if you resemble him or not," I finally say, frowning.

The man holds up a finger, signaling me to wait. He takes out a folded piece of paper from his pocket and hands it to me. I look at him before taking it from him and opening it. It's a black and white picture. There's a middle aged man having his arm around a middle aged woman, next to the man is a teenager which looks like the man infant of me and the other guy around the woman who is also smiling at the camera is similar looking just like the teenage next to the man. All of them are smiling at the camera.

"I think you have figured out who your dad is, dear. The boy next to that man who was your grandfather is me." Just as he finished his sentence, I yank the picture next to his face and look at his feature more closely. His nose, his eyes, his hair. Everything matched.

"Okay, it is you." I give him the picture back after taking one last look at my father's photo.

"No, you keep it," he ushers my hand towards me.

Guy was standing right behind me. The man looked at him skeptically.

"What is your name anyway?" I ask

"Benjamin. but you can call me Ben."

"Uncle Ben? like Spiderman?"

"Huh?" he looks at me confusedly, but I walk away, and he follows.

Right now, we are at Central Park. I don't trust him enough to take him to my house and Guy, well he didn't want to waste one of his places on him.

"So, what did you have to tell me? on this specific day?"

"Okay, so far, what do you know about your biological family?"

"I'm not telling you that! You show me your cards, and then I'll decide if I want to"

"Okay, alright. so... um. Yeah, okay. So, you know the company Johnson&Co. , right? Well, the founder was very good friends with your grandparents, and obviously, their kids got close too. So, after your grandfather's company and Jhonsons&Co. got merged.....There's something about our family you should know about, that is the male in our family make the absolute worse choices and your grandparents being super superstitious but right made a Will in which he said that most of the company shares belong to their granddaughter since they had no daughter of their own and looking at this their friend Johnson&Co also changes their Will a little."

"Okay, so you're telling me I was sent to foster care just because my greedy, power-hungry mother wanted to inherit some stupid company?! What is this? The 19th century ?" I yell hysterically, pulling and grabbing my hair like a crazy person. People walking by look in my direction, but I'm too busy drowning in my dramatic life's misery to care.

"I'm not finished yet,"

"There's more?!" throwing my hands in the air, in exasperation.

"Well, your grandfather was a mysterious man. After your dad married your mom, he didn't for one second trusted your mother, very rightfully so. but he hid the Will and, along with that, a few important documents in some sort of off a quest that only you will be able to solve and claim them. " he finished

"Oh, of course. A scavenger hunt. That was all left to do, as if i'm not already failing history and have SATs this year, sure lets get her to so some stupid scavenger hunt that won't even get her anything in the end. If anything, he could've left me a shit load of money to last a lifetime, but no, let's torture the girl into something that's probably worth nothing, " I complain loudly.

"The company is worth billions."

"And where is the first clue Uncle Ben?"