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*A bit of sensitive warning during the last bit of the story. Again racial clashes, if you feel uncomfortable please feel free to skip it if you begin to dislike the content. It's just of aunty gossip, yet a bit escalated. 

ACT 1

MONEY BURNS AND SO DOES AUNTY'S REMARK

"He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity"
- Eccesiastes 5:10

⌜ 

ECONOMIC DECLINE OF THE CENTURY: MEGA POWER COMPANIES FALL FROM GRACE AND BURN THE REST OF AMERICA WITH IT!

'THE night of mid-May 20XX had fallen into absolute chaos as America's top stock market companies had all fallen into an economic crisis. Companies including some of the following: HuxleyCorp, Hawthorne Auto parts (HAP) Co and mega-app TakeIt!

The week before American stockbrokers and Americans themselves had seen the gradual unanticipated of the stock market crash with the DOW dropping more than five hundred points and more than twenty-three per cent in an index decrease value. This was only lighting a bigger fire when the world was hit by America's three top companies sceptically at the same time :

1. American stockbroker company royalty was alleged with major accounting fraud schemes was revealed by unknown sources with ex-major employees breaking their silence from several decades ago to ten years ago. Huxley Corp is one of America's oldest successful companies, their wealth reigning back to the early 1940s starting as a household industrial developer to a power company manufacturing pesticides, fertilizer and other agricultural products along with various branches of biotechnology.

This company's fallen crown had only left a domino effect of an economic toll on other major companies that Huxley Corp parents, sending shockwaves of major unemployment across America and worldwide; also including the decline of major scientists in the biotechnology field greatly impacting health development research such in America's top hospital chains. 

2. HAP had also fallen from grace as hundreds of stores, major car manufactory brands (from names such as Ford, Jeep, Hyundai, Honda to several luxury car brands that have legally advised to stay silent) that was the third wave of America's stock market meltdown. With hundreds of factories closing down leaving many Americans jobless. 

3. Ever since the mega-app TakeIt had taken the world by storm it had become the highest platform of social media usage, stardom from the short clips of a person's genre of video. But it is since then, that its parent company (a huge daughter company of Huxley Corp entertainment) had also suffered the economic blues.

Furthermore, with the domino strain of more companies falling out of business from the fall of mega-companies such as these this week dubbed as 'Domino Week' has placed its mark in stock market history as millions of Americans and thousands overseas are becoming jobless. This is your reporter reporting to you live from the studio, please stay tuned for further updates on America's economic epidemic.'

⌟

Mikhail knew his friend, the champagne hair locked male Cesar heir to the Vanderhaden fortunes since nappies. Though he had never truly associated with him since middle school when he was shipped off to the infamous military boarding school somewhere near the border of Switzerland and Italy.

Just like Mila he had grown up in the eminent house of Vanaderhaden. One of the most notable households that had an exceptional lineage of Prussian royalty and had deep roots in almost every elite German patrician house and dynasty; the most famous one being the house of Wittelsbach was the first root of the strong alliance between the Vanderhadens and the Kadamskiynovs.

This, of course, was only disrupted when the Vanderhadens had decided to turn on the Kadamskiynovs in world war two was the economic hidden power for the reign of the Nazis. But of course, that only turned out as a tragedy as the Vanderhadens had desperately tried to regain their loyalty to the Kadamskiynovs; this resulted in them becoming an endless line of lapdogs to the Russian household to maintain back their power before they can vaunt their social and economic position. 

It was the same for Cesar. Though it was never motioned into place till he turned sixteen (Cesar always somewhat suspected something when he was younger but brushed it off) Cesar was always at his disposal. Even when he was younger as an infant no less than eight his mother would always say:

"Cesar, be nice to Mikhail okay?" or "Make sure Mikhail is always alright," or "No matter what be good to Mikhail."

Speaking of his mother, the moment he was born Cesar wasn't exactly automatically the godly handsome type or the most charming type. Ever since his mother became the lady of the house she was in charge and made sure everything was perfect.

Quinn Vanderhaden had risen from the ranks of a daughter of a Comtesse 'distantly' related to some German-Austrian Marquess who was old friends with one of Catherine Kadamskiynova's cousins. But when her parents got into a scandalous divorce her mother had pulled several strings for her to stay in her new to be discovered grandaunt who was the German-Austrian Marquess named Augusta. Quinn, at the age of twelve, had then moved into the cruel and fastidious household.

When Quinn had come back from Central Saint Martins with a fashion history degree, her grandaunt was determined to make her social position higher, this starting with Quinn. Ever since she had brought her in, she had raised her in a way that manipulated her that social standing was of the utmost importance. Quinn had a 'simple' goal, seduce Killian Vanderhaden and put a ring on it.

For far as looks go Quinn was the definition of European beauty, she was naturally blonded with her shimmery sunkissed locks, long-legged with a slim figure and had a subtle amount of curves. But it was going to take a lot for her to be accepted into the malicious milieu of the elite. She couldn't give off as a girl who was ready to sleep with your husband, steal your yoga mat or make your pubescent son's hormones surge. 

She acted right and made the right connection before befriending Bogdana Kadamskiynova and making her way to Killian as she worked her charms. And it worked. Poor Killian though. He wasn't the exact figure of a pudgy rich billionaire with pretty girls at his disposal, he grew up in a good household. He had two loving parents and he grew up to look out for girls who would chase him for his lineage or money. 

But, when he first met Quinn. Killian was doomed from the start. He assumed she didn't know who he was because one she was good, two she was never in the same social circles he was and had never met her before. So before everyone knew it Killian had proposed within fifteen months with a breathtaking seventeen point five carat glittering purple radiant cut taaffeite ring.

But as the saying goes 'never to show your flaws till after the wedding' Quinn definitely did, and Killian was bounded to her for life. A divorce was deemed a disgrace that one couldn't make a good decision and couldn't keep a marriage afloat.

Fast forward to Quinn having kids, Quinn was blessed when she gave birth to a boy first, Cesar. And of course Mila a year after. But Cesar was never the perfect one from the start despite his mother's wishes.

It was a messy household the Vanderhadens from the start. Though there were a few years of joy, for seven years Killian had urged for him to stay at home trying to do a few errands and meeting as evanescent as possible. He raised his kids just as his parents had raised him, spoiling them to their heart's content.

Yet it was one faithful evening when his mother had returned from her 'travels' (Killian did the best he could to distance Quinn from them as possible) when she demanded to have her the rightful lady of the house as per marriage. And soon enough the whole house was turned around. His father had returned to work as his mother took control of the household.

When Quinn had laid eyes with Cesar she was absolutely furious with his appearance, he was 'extremely' overweight for his age, he wasn't even in the slightest bit 'attractive' in Quinn's eyes. He wasn't the brightest as well in both sports and academics. He wasn't Mikhail his mother would gossip to her friends over the phone when she believed her son was supposed to be asleep.

From then on Quinn had become a drill sergeant with her kids, she had established a detailed schedule and diet for her kids especially towards Cesar since Mila was far too stubborn to comply. But Cesar wasn't, he was like his father. He was far too nice and far too naive at the age.

Quinn had compiled and tracked down every activity and tutor she could get her hands on similar to what Mikhail's portfolio sustained. If he was taking this cram class so would Cesar, if he was joining this activity so would he, if he was starting to learn this language so would be. 

It was only to Cesar's eyes he was faced with his mother's obsession to make him the best, it didn't help that sister was away in this early boarding school where she could only visit on weekends and it certainly didn't help when the revolving door of mistresses and men were coming in out and of his parents separate rooms on each side of the house with hickey's and half-naked. What was worse was when sometimes they stayed for the day and he had to interact with them.

When Cesar was thirteen and started his pubescent years his mother was more than excited to see puberty work its magic and hit him like a brick wall. Yet, to her dismay, nothing changed besides he had grown a couple of inches taller (he had an immense growth spurt later on) and it wasn't helping when she would gossip with the mothers and find out no one found him in the slightest find him attractive. And he wasn't to modern society's standards.

He didn't have an early sharp jawline as Jean-Luc did, he didn't lose any baby fat no matter how many activities he did, he didn't have any cheekbones no matter how long he waited. By the time he was fifteen Quinn was in full disappointment. So she took matters into her own hands again, over the long break before the next year started she had hired a team of elite trainers, nutritionists. 

Over that time Cesar's placid nature had morphed into one of insecurity. Cesar began to fade into his mother's antics, he had always looked into the mirror and see if his abs were still there, if his biceps were toned enough and though he didn't have any sort of cheekbones he had resorted to his mother's suggestion and got his jaw filled to look as prominent as possible. He took better care of his hair and overused more skincare than his own sister did. 

And it worked, when he returned to start high school at Alderbridge for the orientation day, everyone was shocked as mother gushed over his 'late bloom'. Though he couldn't rival Mikhail in looks -he was taken anyways- he still had some sort of measurement of any gender of person gushing over him.

Cesar's eyes stared at the large singular painting. How his eyes trailed over the texture of layers upon layers of paint that perfectly faded and contrasted in the right places he could almost feel like he was staring a the perfect illusion of waves crashing, how Talia managed to make the backdrop look so simple yet move gently like the wind. And in the midst of all the subtle painted coastline stood a girl. One arm held onto her hat as the figure was captured in such a small movement it was like she was ready to continue her walk. The movement of her light translucent blue dress dancing with the wind as her face was directed out to sea.

The attractive male clad in a simple geometric pattern bomber jacket and black distressed jeans couldn't help but feel but a lugubrious atmosphere thrall into him rather than calming euphoric one that what art critics interpreted from the painting. Looking around the museum Cescar presumed it was how some of the sections were closed off from the understaffed of the museum, the von Huxley's was one of the biggest contributors of donations (after an incident when Verena was nine and almost made an artifact topple on one of her excursions) and now bankrupt was in their sights it was truly a shame for the museums to get penalised. 

When Cesar first saw the hinted warning of something was going to happen from Talia, surely he never imagined that Dakota would piss her off that much-, he knew that Talia was known to always to keep her composure. But it was the first time Talia felt threatened by her position on this scale and she rarely got Mikhail involved. And, whatever Talia did somehow she managed to whip up a storm and pinpointed exactly close support systems of Dakota and to scar her enough for as a 'warning' to a superfluous extent.

Yet, Cesar was suddenly hit back with the wave of what those with power could do, anything was collateral to them, anything could be rebuilt or thrown away easily, even if meant one of the world's biggest economic producers; even though it took a toll to the innocent like the museum where they only wanted to celebrate sharing new knowledge and art to the world. He looked backed and caught one last glimpse of Talia's virginal work of art before deciding to leave. 

And so he did.

---

"Can anybody drive me to London after the plane takes us to the mainland? I need to go to liberty of London to pick up something there and we all know what happened last time I sent someone to get something from Liberty of London," Zhera announced in the almost empty hall of seniors all somewhere halfway between wearing their nightwear and some sort of normal attire.

"All of our cars are in service or on review, you know that," Jean-Luc replied sluggishly eating his meal and simultaneously rewatching 'Rouge City'. 

"Yes, I know that! I'm just asking!" Zehra rebuked.

"Well then that's a stupid question then," the male snickered before feeling a hit to the back of his head, "Ease it, Snape!"

"Christ's sake you're so annoying early in the morning!" Zehra huffed before marching to another group made of the small study ensemble of Mila, Hiro, Atticus, Calypso and Margaret, "Please tell me one of you guys have a vehicle other than a car! Atty? Don't you have a motorcycle?!"

"Why the bloody hell would I have a motorcycle or even drive one?" the male exclaimed.

"I dunno, you wear those leather jackets all the time and you're blonde!" she snorted as Calypso on the far right almost choked on her water.

"I can see that, low key," Mila sniggered.

"Atty still can't even ride a bike properly," Calypso teased about her half-British half-greek second cousin as she felt a pen thrown at her.

"One, I just so happen never ridden a bike in my life! Two, I don't understand how you people find any of those things, three my hair is strawberry blonde-,"

"Toe-mae-toe, toe-mah-tow," Zehra rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.

"- and four just because I ninety per cent of wardrobe is made of leather jackets they're haute couture from mainly SAINT LAURENT you really want me to ride those dirty things with those pieces? I'm sorry but movies and men these days don't know how to properly know how to dress a man in a leather jacket," Atticus informed before glaring back at his cousin who was still snickering.

"One day you'll get over your obsession with those jackets," Calypso sighed then turned to the rest, "This crazy asshole somehow managed to pull off a leather jacket to one of my Theia's weddings."

"Really?" Hiro widened his eyes.

"I wanna try that," Mila smirked. 

"See," Atticus gestured.

"Can we get back to my crisis here?" Zehra interjected.

"Uh, you're still here," Atticus joked. "I'm kidding chill."

"Doesn't Talia have a motorcycle license?" Calypso inquired.

"Yeah, she has two Ducatti's here I think you can ask her," Hiro replied.

"Great! Do you know where she is?" Zehra asked. 

"I dunno,"  Hiro shrugged.

"Well that's stupid and helpful," Zehra mocked as he only scoffed and shook his head with a chuckle lightly escaping his lips. 

"Wait, I think she's in Adya's room, I think Adya mentioned she was forcing Talia into yoga...?" Calypso trailed as Hiro almost spit out his drink.

"Talia... doing yoga? She can't even reach her toes despite doing backflips and the splits," Hiro laughed. 

"She lost a bet with Adya last night I think," Mila informed.

"Send me a photo or a video if she does anything stupid," Hiro requested.

"Same," The rest of the table added in unison with a smirk.

---

With dim lighting and the echoing light of amber fleshed with the smell of frankincense from the onion-shaped diffuser two black yoga mats placed adjacent to each other was occupied by two women in sports bras and yoga pants. 

"How the fuck did you not end up looking like some demented moving photo?!" the jaded eye female groaned as she had fallen in an odd position with her hair in a loose messy bun. Turning around and laying on her belly with arms crossed for chin to rest in the middle, her loose bun had managed to flop in front of her making a groan escape her lips. 

Adya, in a karnapidasana pose with her knees reaching on either side of her ears, Talia's Indian friend had precariously untangled herself from her position as she gave a little stretch before properly sitting up legs crossed. 

"Adya?" A knock and call came from the door making Adya turn around and get up, turning the knob only revealed a Zehra smiling at her.

"Hey Zee," Adya greeted.

"Hey, is Lychee with you? I heard she's somehow ended up doing yoga with you?" Zehra brought up.

"Heard my name?" Talia tilted to the side from where she was trying to glance at who was at the door.

"Yo, Lychee, you have a Ducati or two here right?" Zehra queried walking as Adya let her in.

"yeah... why?" Talia got up, as she unplugged an airpod.

"Can you drive me into liberty of London? I need to pick up something important."

"Aren't everyone's cars in inspection?" Talia raised a quizzical brow.

"yeah my point exactly, and you're the only one I know who has a motorcycle licence-,"

"Among other things yes," Talia interrupted with a chuckle. 

"Like what?" Adya cut in.

"Uhh, a boat licence, some other vehicles, uhh and other stuff-, you know when the time comes and you realise you have a licence for that? Some of the stuff I've gotten a license for is kinda pointless so I haven't kept track."

"Fair point," Zehra said, "Now hurry up so I can arrange shit and I can get on time!" 

"Alright, alright. Geez, let me get dressed and take a shower!" Talia exasperated, Adya pulling her up.

---

Despite the overindulgence to what everyone knew in South East Asia's secretive top milieu, Isabella Hu-Weng, clad in enthralling simple linen, ivory white, flowy jumpsuit, sitting Cambridge crossed-, basking in the aircon's atmosphere, once again slipping away from Singapore's malicious heat was always the one to make it a competition, she expected nothing less the than number one.

'Ardent' was what everyone so nicely described, once again the female with a loose low knot bun had made her attempts to overdo the weekly bible study group, this time flying in some famous pianist who played his witch such care the room was trickling with moonlight.

 Isabella was the top girl in their everso rare stratosphere of the Asian Elite, her eldest brother was busy doing business deals and to her fortune, the' independent self-working' Izzy described in a mocking manner of her husband's wife Angelina Padilla-Hu was busy attending a revolving door of WHO meetings and being the director of the ASEAN health department. Eliminating their star daughter Talia out of the picture and swooning the European scene, Isabella ruled this scene.

Everyone had bet their arses that one way or another they would either suck up or had to be in the good graces if she was ruling the scene. All the other women knew of Izzy's tantrums, many being scared still from their teenage years and childhood. 

"She did it again, didn't she?" Evangeline 'Evy' Lau brusquely whispered to her sister-in-law Cordelia Lim who was multi-tasking to try and find what page everyone was up to.

Rather than just hawk-fully watching their children and rechecking their next party's invitations and deciding who would be there and if it will be worth going to-, I mean of course, their children, all of them were raised as any good Chinese-Christian should be. All of them were sent to some exclusive Chinese Christian school or Anglo-Chinese school, engraved with any version of the Catholic bible in their minds. Despite the trauma, all came in a religious quotidian manner to see what outrageous thing Isabella would do next or if anyone new had the bloody guts and money to out stage her. 

"Blah-dee-hell is she going to bring the Vienna choir again, like she did for her daughter Jadore's communion?!" Cordelia 'Dilly/Dils' Lim whispered back as they watched Isabella struggling to keep composure.

"Looks like Miriam is wearing 'inappropriate," Cheryl Lee swooped into the conversation referring to the lean woman reading from Ecclesiastes donning in an a-line halter neckline satin dress. 

"Someone's showing shoulders~" Cordelia Lim sing-song tone mocking their middle school teachers.

"Lah, remember when Izzy had the big fight with Miriam because she had big tits so early," Cheryl snickered making the other two stifle a laugh earning a look from Isabella. 

"lah! I do! Poor Miriam! She didn't know what to do, Izzy going around saying she got implants illegally!" Evangeline was wiping tears from the corner of her eyes.

"Well, we all know who eventually got their d cup," they all turned to Izzy who was laser-focused on the verse.

"Lah, Miriam was always the pretty one, she was like the Talia of our days-, we all thought she was going to marry Richie," Evangeline recounted, "Richy was fine-,"

"Shut your mouth, Evy! He is a married man now and so are you with children," her friend admonished, "We are in the lord's graces!"

"That Angelina is only so pretty because she is half-blood," Cheryl bickered, "over seventy per cent of half breeds turn out to pretty, and her parents were handsome and beautiful. It's all those genes. And she's always flaunting how she is self-made the precocious b!tch-"

"Lah, watch your words, Cheryl, that Angelina has ears everywhere, so god forbid if she hears it. We all know what happens if you reach her limit, and just imagine us talking bull behind her back for almost thirty years which we already do! She has all those ranking colleagues-, and not to mention her daughter's fiancee family!"

"I've heard about them, I actually caught a glimpse of the father once-, had such a regal aura. It's like Constance's mother's perfume-, no stronger than that!"

"Evy," Miriam called out making the three look at her, seeing the rest of the group looking at them.

"Evy, pay attention, it's your turn," Isabella chastised. 

"Uh, right!" Evangeline sifted through the verses of her new international standard version of the bible and finally began to read the next verse: "Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied in their income, this is too meaningless-"

"Lah, the American stock market plunged even further this week! And the second trial is happening today with that bigshot American family!" Carmen Cheng, the younger sister of Constance exclaimed as Izzy sighed closing her bible loudly. 

"Aiyah! I know! I read the article about it! It's getting worst and worst every day!" Charmaine Song aggressively pointed out.

"Lah, you know what's really intriguing, the rest of the world isn't as infected by their stock decline."

"Lah, those Americans deserve it, all boasting and shit," Cheryl sniffed. 

"I heard from my Anette, who heard from Tala about how her fiancee's family has been working hard to maintain it like that. They don't want another economic depression again," Miriam gossiped.

"That family of what Tala's marrying into! They're more secretive than Richie's family!" Evangeline idignantly snobbed, "They're rich beyond relief, too rich for this earth."

"Evy, lah it's not they're just rich. They control everything, the money flow and everything! Remember what happened ten years ago? We thought we were all fucked," Asteria effused as she raised her kale shake to her lips.

"That's right, lucky Tala is marrying into that family-, and they're all incredibly good looking as well! You know sometimes I think Ange just wanted to marry Talia to get another half born grandchild, I won't deny Tala is very pretty."

"Watch what you say! And besides, at least it was to marry her off, lah not like these days it's so hard to get our kids to date the right people, when I was their age my mother made of list of candidates and she said either them or become a nun," Cheryl snobbed.

"You're right, Ange and Richie are so lucky. Talia is so good, lah they're Calix has all his father's genes. You know I found out only yesterday my son was two timing these white girls that I didn't even know. I had such a fit!" Cordelia exasperated.

"My Jadore and Owen are nothing like that," Isabella boasted.

"Here we go," Evangeline said under her breath as Isabella rambled on about her kids.

"Carmen is right, Ange just wants nothing more for Talia to have ridiculously good looking babies with those half breed genes," Isabella laughed.

"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY ABOUT MY DAUGHTER?!" A woman none other than Angelina Padilla-Hu clad in a crisp white blouse with a flower trapiche emerald brooche and cigarette pants exploded standing at the door frame, holding her Louis Vuittoin bag in one hand and the bible in the other.

"Holy fuck," Miriam cussed with the bible on her lap and slowly getting out her phone and began to record. 

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For those who still don't know how bad this stock market crash is, it's basically worst than the great depression one as Huxley Corp is a major support pillar in my book's American Stock market. The line plunged significantly. This gives insight on how powerful the Kadmiskynovs are, yes they may have just knocked out a major player in the stock market sending a domino effect but they could have just easily drained the money out.

Talia wanted to give Dakota a warning, (dramatically, yes). Also fun fact, there was always a rumour that the Kadamskiynovs was responsible for the American depression (amongst worst things) but no one knew.

Feel free to ask any more questions about any other family or about the Kadamiskynovs as well here:

_________________

HeYyYyY! Guys! Missed me?!

SO... any thoughts about what Talia and Mikhail did? 

Also, I needed a funny side drama.

K, I'll somehow get Dakota tackled, also I need to bring back Lorenzo somehow so someone give me ideas (no he can't meet dakota, and he can't figure out how exactly rich they are so  yh)

VOTE, COMMENT, ADD & SHARE!