A Dog Father Cannot Beget a Dragon Son

World 52: Part 5

Liam swallowed. "Uncle, I can't." 

Fei Chuan bit back a smile. It was really something, for a boy for whom the desire for more was so deeply ingrained it was probably literally in his code, for a boy like that to give up more power and more authority, and for what? Some semblance of familial loyalty. 

It made Fei Chuan's heart warm, and he hardened his resolve. "Please, Liam." Fei Chuan whispered, quietly, eyes trained on his plate. His hands continued their steady motions. "Do this for me." 

There was a long silence, before: "But no more after this, Uncle Navi." 

"Alright," Fei Chuan agreed, easily. He looked up just in time to catch the hungry wolfish gaze that Liam wore so well, before it slipped away into oblivion. A well-behaved, humble nephew blinked back at him, as if that power-hungry vision were just that. A vision. "But, my father wishes to meet you." 

Liam wrinkled his nose, and it was Helen who spoke. "As what," she scoffed. "His grandson or his future employee?" 

"I wouldn't know," Fei Chuan admitted. "It could be both, or it could be neither." 

******

 [Subtask 52c Complete.] 

******

Liam came back from his first day looking a little starstruck. Fei Chuan knew exactly why, and couldn't help frowning. 

"Hoho." Helen sidled up to her son, always eager to pounce on the first opening. "Does someone have a crush? Who is it? Navi's beaut of a secretary? What's her name, Jenny?"

 "Beatrice now," Fei Chuan said. "Thank god." 

"Mom!" Liam's eyes darted back and forth as if Beatrice were about to pop out of a corner at any moment. She did seemed like the type. But when seconds went by and there was no dark haired, immaculate woman, he relaxed. "Anyway, I met baby Marie." 

"Marie...?" Helen sounded confused, before it clicked. "Ah, the recognized Anderson daughter! Heidi's child? How was that?" 

"She's very cute," Liam said, blushing. "And I've always wanted a little sister..." 

Yeah. Cute until she gets a crush on a man two decades older than her and sells you out to Gabriel Sun, Fei Chuan doesn't say, because there is a time and place for such things and the place is not in a dimension where such a future will never come to pass. 

Fei Chuan kept a straight face and accurately pinpointed the conversation to his only acknowledged sister. "Helen, I also want a niece." Helen started to squawk and sputter, but it was free and easy, the loss of her husband having long faded with time. "It's okay, you can adopt." 

"Adopt your own damn child!" Helen yelled, indignant. 

And maybe he was being harsh, disliking a small child for something she doesn't even have the brain capacity to do at the moment (though a four year old could indeed get crushes. Just on things like horses. And dolls.), but Fei Chuan was never a good person and at least he wasn't taking it out on Marie Anderson. 

That'll have to be enough. 

****** 

Aris continued to make a nuisance of himself as the months passed, having not only wrecked his own public image but also Navi Anderson's after being spotted leaving Fei Chuan's apartment complex by some gossip mongers. Nearly four years after his public disownment, might he add. 

"He may no longer be my father's son, but we've been brothers for over two decades," was what Fei Chuan said when approached for a comment. "Until he can stand on his own two feet, I will fulfill my familial duty towards him."