“Are those your parents?” she pointed to the painting of a lovely couple in their forties posed in their best clothes. Both were very good looking, but Gabriel seemed to take upon his mother’s light brown eyes and her immaculate beauty.
Harold glanced at her and then at Gabriel, he had never met anyone who dared to ask a personal question to Gabriel. He nodded at Harold to dismiss him.
“Yes, those are my parents … they died not long after this portrait was made.”
Harold lingered in the room, he was protective of his master who never spoke of his personal life with any of his guests.
“That’ll be all, H., thank you,” Gabriel said.
It was a sign for him to go, Gabriel can handle this.
“What happened?” Jamie asked.
“We were on a small aircraft going to a remote island my father just bought … we did it hundreds of times before, my parents … they travel a lot in small aircrafts because they like exploring remote areas … but that day … the plane crashed when it was about to take off.”
The crash had replayed in his mind thousands of times over since it happened, there was no emotion left on his face.
“I’m so sorry … how did you survive it?” She was genuinely curious.
He was silent for a moment, he was not used to telling things about him to other people.
Jamie braved herself and faced him, “I’ve signed your agreement … I’ve agreed to all your terms, I will not share any information about you to anyone … now is my turn to collect the information that I’ve promised not to share … Do you trust me? Are we going to be friends?” her heart pounded like a drum but she kept her cool.
Gabriel was calmed and collected, nothing can break through his poker face. “Fair enough …” after a moment of thought, “I barely survived … one of my kidney was punctured … my body was broken in 8 places … I spent three months at the hospital, I had to re-learn how to walk, run, sports, to hold a pen, everything … while coping with the sudden loss of my parents … it was … hard …” he couldn’t find a better adverb.
“Who took care of you all those times?”
“The doctors, nurses, my parents lawyers … my grandmother, and Harold, he’s been with the family since my father was a young man.”
She realized why Harold was so protective of him, “How long did it take you to relearn everything?”
“Long enough that they pulled me out of school, I was 15 when it happened … I was homeschooled too while recovering from the crash, I think I was 18 when I finally got back all my bodily functions.” He stood up and walked up to his parents portrait.
“I was groomed to prepare myself to take on my parents’ companies, my grandmother made sure none of the CEO’s or the lawyers was able to cheat on what my parents left me … which was everything … she hired a whole set of lawyers and investigators, auditors, the whole lot to keep an eye on the operational of the companies … I learned that information was the best asset you can possess from my grandmother … she was ruthless in keeping everything intact, keeping me safe.”
“You’re very lucky to have her,” she commented.
“I was … at 21, I inherited everything … That’s when the lessons got harder, learning about people was a lot more complicated than crunching numbers, reading statistics.”
She chuckled, “Tell me about it.” She knew a thing or two about it too. “I guess that’s how you learn that most people can’t be trusted?”
“Especially with the kind of wealth I was inherited with … so I focused on work, implemented my knowledge from the gruelling homeschooling and training I had to manage my parents businesses, I can say I’m pretty good at it,” he curved a smile.
“Well … that part I read in the news, you did very well in expanding your parents legacy and preserving it too, I’m glad you decided to spend some of your wealth for good causes … I read about that too.”
“What else did you read about me?”
“Nothing much, mostly business wise, I’ve never seen a picture of you anywhere … nobody seemed to know anything about your personal life, I never thought much about it because a businessman doesn’t have to be publicly exposed like celebrities … even though some of them craved the fame … but you don’t seem to want to draw any attention to yourself,” she was speaking in admiration over his personality.
She thought of how hard it must be not to draw any attention to himself with the way he looked and how rich he was.
“What about girls? Or women? How did you manage to keep your relationships private?”
He turned around to look at her, “I think that’s a story for another time, Jamie.”
“Why?” she pushed him.
“Because I’d like to see you again, I don’t want to run out of things to you then.”
She held back her smile, he can be too honest in expressing himself and sometimes it came out adorable. “Fair enough … does that mean our meeting now is over?”
He thought for a moment, “I’m afraid so … one more thing though, if you don’t mind …”
She waited for him to continue.
He walked over to a desk and took out a folder, “I need you to sign one more thing.”
She took the folder, “What is this for?”
He didn’t answer, she was about to find out for herself.
“A general check-up? I need to go through a general check-up?”
“Yes … I’m sorry about that, but given the circumstances, I have to be sure you are in perfect health.”
“I don’t have a sexually transmitted disease … if that’s what you’re implying??”
He lifted his shoulders, “Then you don’t have anything to worry about … but it’s standard procedures, everyone in my close circle has to go through the general check-up and a kidney match test.”
“A what?” she heard it right.
“It’s just a check for a match because of my kidney situation … and the result will be private, we won’t know the result until we need to,” he answered casually.
“So … this whole meeting was about this? You’re looking for a kidney match?”