♞

MAX WAS WALKING DOWN the hallway with Cj and two of the members of the Elites. Just when Max thought that he was finally going to school in peace, he was welcomed by the fact that he was actually suspended.

     Suspension for a white uniform means three to five days of community service depending on what you did. Your titles will also be temporarily taken from you, which means if you are an underling, that would mean nothing during the time you are suspended. But what really got Max was that a thousand points will be taken from you. It's what got him mad the most.

      Though the punishment was understandable, Max still pitied a certain student more, and that was the man walking beside him, which was the Cigarettes leader, Cj.

     Apparently, suspension for a brotherhood means that they will temporarily become a White Uniform. Since brotherhoods don't have points and only depend on their ranks, suddenly becoming a white uniform means that other white uniforms can finally do whatever they want to you. Even though Cj looked like he didn't really care about all of it, Max was still worried.

     Cj is an infamous leader who a lot of white uniforms are afraid of, and at the same time, a lot of them despise him because of their cruel customs. Others will definitely take advantage of this situation, especially when news about their suspension already started spreading throughout the campus.

     "We're here."

     The four arrive at the student council office. President Ian heads inside first, followed by vice president Gavriil and the two suspended students. When they got inside, Max was surprised to see that all the members of the Elites were also there.

     Richard Young, the secretary, was holding a glass case, while the new treasurer, Heaven J. Carter, was holding a white box. One of the twins, Dustin Griffiths, was also there, but he was only standing at the back.

     Seeing the new set of Elites felt strange. They all looked serious and intimidating, and even though Heaven only just started being an Elite, he already looked like he belonged.

     "Let's begin the ceremony," president Ian says as he and Gavriil stood beside the other officers while Max and Cj stood in front of them.

     "Today marks your first day of suspension, and this will end on Wednesday, November 15, 2023. By then, your titles will be stripped away from you. Does any one of you oppose?" president Ian asks.

     Though he asked the question, it's obvious that they can only accept one answer.

     "No," Max and Cj answer in unison.

     As soon as they said their answer, Richard takes a step forward and says, "We will now be taking your brooches and your armband."

    President Ian goes to Cj while Gavriil went to Max. The two officers removed their brooches for them and placed them on the glass case that Richard was holding. Gavriil then removes Max's blue armband and places it beside his Sinclaire, Jokers, and BND brooches.

    Afterward, Heaven approaches Cj to hand him the box that he was holding. "This box contains your temporary white uniform. You must change your uniform as soon as the ceremony ends."

     Cj almost laughed by the irony that his own underling was doing this to him, but he takes it anyway without saying anything.

     "As the president and the overall representative of the Elites, I officially declare the start of your suspension. Now, remember, after your suspension, if you take your revenge or take action on whatever happens during that timeframe, you will receive much more serious punishments. Now head to the kitchen at the Great Hall. You already have your first assignment there," Ian tells them, and Max and Cj nod their head in understanding.

     As the so-called ceremony finally ends, Ian and Richard head out first since they said they have a meeting with the other officers on the other Houses. Dustin leaves as well since he has a quiz for one of his classes that he doesn't want to miss even though he's excused.

     "Let me just change my uniform. You can head to the kitchen first. I'll meet you there," Cj tells Max.

     Max nods his head and was about to leave the office, but then Gavriil grabs his arm and says, "Let's talk."

     Max stops and looks at the vice president with a sigh before nodding his head as an answer, so the two heads out of the office too, now leaving Heaven and Cj alone in the room.

     As soon as the door closes, Cj drops the box that he's holding and goes to Heaven to grab him by the collar, almost making his peak cap fall off him.

     "Let me guess, you were the one who told the Elites about my negotiation with Max," Cj says, and the smirk on Heaven's face already confirmed it.

     "I wouldn't do that if I were you. And besides, you were the one who said that we should always be truthful," Heaven says with a sarcastic tone, almost making Cj grip on Heaven's collar even harder.

     "You are seriously a pain," Cj practically growls before finally letting go of him. "Whatever your intentions were, I don't really care anymore. It's obvious that I'm not the one you're targeting anyway. It's Sinclaire, am I correct?"

     Heaven doesn't answer, but he grins and walks to his new desk, touching his nameplate like it was his pride and joy. "I just did my job. Nothing personal...Mr. Mills."

     "Aren't you afraid that I'll take away your underling title after this is all over?" Cj threatens, but Heaven just chuckles and bravely answers him, "It doesn't matter. I'm already an Elite anyway. It's a far better title than being an underling of the Counts."

     Heaven's answer almost made Cj laugh, but he takes the box on the floor instead before saying, "You chose the wrong person as an enemy Heaven. It's a shame, I treated you as a reliable underling, but sadly I do not need an underling who betrays me."

     "I'm not afraid of you Mills. Who cares if we're enemies now? I'm an Elite. You can't touch me," Heaven asks.

     Cj was already walking towards the door. Before grabbing the doorknob, he looks over his shoulder and tells Heaven, "I'm not talking about me. Believe me, Heaven J. Carter, I'm not the one you should be afraid of. Just because he looks calmer now doesn't mean the monster inside him already left. Your new title will mean nothing, and then you'll realize how wrong it was for you to betray me."

...

Max followed behind Gavriil without saying a word. Gavriil said he wanted to talk to him, but then when they got outside, Gavriil told Max to follow him and said nothing else.

     When they finally arrive at an empty laboratory, Gavriil locks the door and looks at Max before finally saying, "The decision to suspend you was agreed upon by the entire council. I did not have the power to overrule it. Everyone had a unanimous decision."

     Gavriil looks so serious when he was speaking to Max, but then Max started laughing, making Gavriil look back at him with furrowed eyebrows.

     "Why are you suddenly explaining? Did you think I'll blame you for it?" Max asks as he tries to calm himself down.

     The question made Gavriil feel embarrassed, but Gavriil composes himself and explains, "Well I wanted to apologize since I was the one who told you about Cj's hidden stocks. I'm practically an accomplice but you and Mills were the only ones who received consequences."

     When Max finally stopped laughing, he leans on a table and looks back at Gavriil to tell him, "You don't have to feel guilty. Jokers and BND were accomplices too, but they didn't really receive anything. Cj's not blaming anyone either so there's nothing for you to worry about."

     Gavriil wasn't convinced, but he takes a deep breath and walks closer to Max before revealing, "I know this won't mean anything, but since I'm still at fault, I didn't take one thousand points from you. Your rank is still the same."

    Max didn't expect Gavriil to actually do that. He was already preparing that he was going to be a serf again.

     "C-Can you do that? Won't you get in trouble?"

     "Maybe, but I'm still the vice president. The council usually doesn't keep track of where the students get their points so we can bypass it. You just have to acquire more points so they won't notice," Gavriil explains, but Max still couldn't believe it.

     "You don't really have to do that. I can just get more points and take it back. I don't really know the consequences, but I'm sure you'll receive a severe punishment if you get caught with this," Max tries to convince him, but Gavriil wasn't listening to him anymore.

    "It doesn't matter."

     "But-"

     "Max, every point counts. Ian already has fifteen thousand points. You barely have half of what he has. How will you be able to catch up by then? If you lose points, you'll never penetrate the Elites," Gavriil says with a serious look on his face, almost making Max smile because of how concerned Gavriil was.

     As the room falls silent around them, Max suddenly reaches out to touch Gavriil's cheek before asking, "Are you worried about me, mister vice president?"

     Gavriil doesn't push Max's hand away. He then walks closer and puts both of his hands on the table that Max was leaning on, locking Max in between his arms. He then looks at him straight in the eyes before whispering, "very..."

     Max chuckles and lets go of Gavriil, but Gavriil still didn't move away from him, so Max reaches out to touch Gavriil's Elites brooch this time before telling him, "Thank you for not giving Ari any punishments when he went against you earlier."

     "Should I be glad that you're thanking me for such reasons?" Gavriil asks, making Max laugh this time.

     "You're acting like a kid."

     "You want me to act like an adult then?" Gavriil asks, moving closer to Max.

     "You and Ari are seriously like fire and ice. Why don't you just get along?" Max asks next.

     Gavriil continues to stare at Max's face as he leans closer. But just when their faces were only inches away from each other, Gavriil grabs Max's nose and pinches it before finally moving away from him.

     "Never," he answers with a playful grin, making Max roll his eyes. "Anyway, use your suspension as an opportunity. The way you handled your suspension announcement earlier was admirable. The students saw how you respected the rules and accepted the consequences without making any fuss. That's the kind of student that you should be when you become part of the Elites. How will the students follow your judgment if you can't even do it yourself?" He then adds.

     "So being suspended is an advantage now?" Max jokingly asks, making Gavriil laugh this time.

     "Well, that's all I wanted to say. You should head to the kitchen now before lunch starts."

     "Okay okay," Max says with a lazy tone as he moves away from the table. Just before he could leave the room, Max looks back at Gavriil first and tells him, "Thank you for not taking my points away. If there's anything you need, just let me know."

     Gavriil nods his head and thinks about it. And as Max finally walks his way to the door so he could take his leave, Gavriil suddenly says, "Dinner...after your suspension, let's have dinner."

     When Max heard what Gavriil said, he tries his best not to show a smile. He doesn't even look back at him as he answers back, "Then I'll free my schedule."

     Without waiting for the vice president's response, Max finally leaves the room to head to the kitchen to do his first assignment as a suspended student.

     Max honestly almost got lost finding the kitchen since students don't normally go there, but when he finally arrived, he saw dozens of chefs working on different dishes. It almost looked like a battlefield, and Max was afraid to disturb any of them. After all, they're here to make lunch for six hundred rich kids.

     As Max tries to push through the sea of workers, he suddenly spots a white uniform talking to the head chef. Max didn't recognize him at first, but when he saw his face, Max almost burst out in laughter.

     "Well, would you look at that? White suits you," Max says as he approaches Cj who was now wearing a white uniform.

     "Where the hell were you? I thought you were already here," Cj asks. And just before Max could even answer, the head chef clears his throat, instantly making Max look at him.

     "I apologize. Please take care of me," Max immediately says with a respectful bow.

     The chef clears his throat again before saying, "it's good that you're finally both here. Since we only have three hours left before lunch starts, I want the two of you to peel those potatoes for one of our dishes later."

     The chef points at the counter, and to both of their surprise, the potatoes that he was talking about weren't just a dozen but a whole sack.

     "T-that many?" Max asks in disbelief.

     "Are there any complains?" The chef suddenly asks.

     "No chef!" the two answer in unison.

     "Alright, now wash your hands, put on your apron, and start peeling! We don't have all day."

     Cj and Max hurriedly wash their hands, wear their apron, and rush to where the sack of potatoes is like what the chef told them. On the counter were two peelers and a large container, and then another sack for the skin that they'll throw out later.

     "Well, I guess we should start so we could get this over with," Cj says as he grabs the peeler and starts peeling the potato with no hesitation.

     Max looks at the sack with disbelief, but he takes the peeler as well and starts peeling the potatoes too. For a moment Max thought that it would be easy, but he found himself struggling. Max was a master of business, but cooking was never taught to him. When he was a kid, he never even got the chance to visit their kitchen. He doesn't even know how to cook an egg!

     "I should seriously thank our chefs when I get home," Max says, making Cj look at him.

     When Cj saw what Max was doing, he tells him, "If you peel like that there won't be any potato left."

     Max embarrassingly puts the peeler down to look at how Cj was doing. He was about to tell him the same thing, but he sees that Cj was actually doing a good job.

    "W-what the...how?"

     "I live by myself so I naturally do all the cooking. I was like you too when I first decided to live alone, but I just got the hang of it eventually," Cj explains. "Just follow what I do, see?"

     Cj shows Max how to properly peel it, and thankfully, Max was a fast learner and he was able to follow what Cj was doing, making them work much faster.

     While they were doing their first task, Max finally says, "I'm sorry about all this. I was the one who started our negotiation, and now here we are peeling potatoes."

     "It's not like you're the only one who benefited in it," Cj tells him. "Being suspended for three days doesn't change the fact that I can finally pay my employees right. If the suspension is the price I have to pay for that then it's fine by me."

     Max couldn't help but look at Cj with admiration. Cj really is an admirable chairman of his company.

     "I know this is not the right time and place to ask, but what really happened between you and your father? I know this might be hard to believe, but when I was talking to him, I could tell that he was a good man. I couldn't believe that he'd do something as to ban you from stepping foot in your own company," Max says.

     Cj pauses for a second as he stares at the counter with an almost empty expression. "No, you're right. My father really is a good man. He's just a terrible father," he says as he continued to peel the potato again.

     "Are you willing to listen to my boring story?" Cj suddenly asks, surprising Max.

     "O-Of course," Max answers.

     Cj takes a deep breath and glances at Max. "I grew up in an environment where loyalty is important, and employees, whether they're the general manager or the janitor, are important aspects of your company's success. That's what my father always told us," Cj starts to share, making Max ready himself because he knew that he was about to hear something shocking.

     "Is that why you proposed the brotherhood underlings to the association?"

     Cj chuckles and answers, "Maybe. It's just that when I started my brotherhood, I knew we couldn't do it alone. Underlings are also an important aspect to our success, that's why I value my Lighters, especially my Ashes."

     "What happened then?" Max asks.

     Cj takes a deep breath first and continues his story, "My father has this mindset that since we're his children, we'll be loyal to him. I have three other siblings, our eldest, Jacob, and then my older sister and a younger brother. Out of the four of us, I think only our younger brother is loyal to him. Father was strict with us - too strict actually - and he treated us like employees and not his children. Even our mother didn't really care about us either."

     Max finishes one potato and looks at Cj. He was expecting him to at least look sad as he shares his story, but Cj looked fine. It was almost like he wasn't holding any grudge.

     "Our family felt like a corporation so I just grew up with little to no emotions. The only person who really cared about me was my caretaker, Alessandra. She took care of me the moment I was born. I don't even know if my mother carried me in her arms, but it didn't really matter. Alessandra was more of a mother to me than she ever was," Cj explains, and to Max's surprise, there was a smile on his face when he said those words.

     "She was kind and caring, and for a time I was confused about why she was treating me that way. I never felt such love from anyone but her. Even when I was a kid I was known as a fat liar, but she always scolded me for it. She was the only one I listened to," Cj says, making Max laugh.

     "No wonder you're so truthful now."

     "I think so too," Cj replies before getting another potato to peel.

     "Alessandra was a beautiful woman and I admired her a lot, not in a romantic way but in a respectful way. For a kid who was usually ignored by his family, that meant a lot. That's why when I found out your inheritance was taken away from you, I understood how you felt. My parents were more focused on Jacob because he was the heir, while the rest of us were just extra baggage. There was even a point in my life when I wanted to be an heir too. Maybe then they'd care about me," Cj says, but he still didn't look sad or regretful.

     "Truthfully I was fine with how my life turned out. As long as I had Alessandra, I knew I could just live my life the way it already was," Cj says, but then Max remembered the time when he visited Cj at the grave. He told Max that he was visiting the person who took care of him. That person must have been Alessandra, so it means...

     "What happened to her?" Max finally asks, and for the first time, anger was suddenly present in Cj's face.

     Cj puts the peeler down and looks at Max. With a serious expression, he tells him, "The Mills...They killed her."

- END -