Once they were both sat in the Chairman's office behind closed doors, he erupted.

"I allow your squabbles in my house because you are my children. Because I'm your father and I'm to tolerate it even if I loathe it, but this is my office. I absolutely will not have that drama here!" Raphael thundered, his eyes moving from one son to the other.

Malcolm, who was still stuffing the hanky under his nose, cast a glance in his brother's direction but Gabriel remained stoic. Emotionless and impassive. He was always like that, Malcolm reflected, rarely showing any emotion as though he couldn't quite figure out what to feel at any moment in time. So most times, he resorted to anger. Anger was quick and fast, relatively easy compared to the rest. And the faster he got it out of his system, the faster he could go back to his cold, aloof state. Malcolm didn't understand him at all.

"Malcolm Asika! I am talking to you," barked Raphael, glaring at his second son.

Malcolm snapped back to the present. "I'm sorry, Father."

"What is the matter with you two? Can you not have a conversation for five minutes without going for each others throat? Tell me how I'm to pick a successor if you continue to act like a bunch of savages!" He was exasperated, as he clenched and unclenched his fist.

Gabriel looked at the man in front of him and sighed audibly. "You'd probably save yourself from having a heart attack if you just did the right thing, Father."

Malcolm snorted. "The right thing would be on the occasion he hands over the company to you. As if that will ever happen."

"It would happen sooner than you think, little brother. I assure you," was the icy retort.

Raphael looked between the two men sitting in his office and sighed. Their constant battle was fun when they were still children, it was bearable when they were teenagers, but it was downright unnerving and quite ludicrous now that they were grown men. And from every indication, that animosity between them was not about to end anytime soon.

"If you're referring to the presentation today, you'll have to wait for the unilateral vote from the board of directors after tomorrow's meeting, Gabriel."

His eldest son cast him an odd look as though in mockery but the expression left his face as soon as it appeared, leaving it blank.

"I'll take my leave now if we're done here," he said even as he stood up and walked out of the office in determined step.

Once the door closed, Raphael sat down, feeling like he aged ten years at once. He turned his stare to his second son, scowling.

"Seriously, Malcolm. Must you provoke him? Do you drive a sadistic pleasure in ruffling his feathers?"

Malcolm scoffed, relaxing in his chair. "He deserves it. He's too prideful, Father. Always walking with air in his shoulders as though he's better than everyone. He's too arrogant and I plan on putting him in his place."

Raphael nodded, resigned by the issue. The enmity between them will never end. "If you insist on this foolishness, I'll only step aside and let you continue. I will, however, warn you to be careful. Your brother is not someone you can toy with and get away. You are a witness to what happened to that girl, Amelia. You also know what happened to your brother, Joseph. Those were examples of how cruel your brother can be."

++++++++++++

The next morning, Gabriel sat rigidly at his desk as he slowly reviewed the pile of paper on his huge brown mahogany office desk. The document which contained the pile was sent to his desk this morning and had come straight from the Chairman's office. Glancing quickly at his watch which read ten minutes past the hour of ten, he decided he had waited enough. He was not a man accustomed to patience and he would not start now.

Standing up from his black swivel chair, he reached a hand behind him subconsciously to grab his jacket but decided against it. Normally, he would never be caught dead without his complete ensemble consisting of an expensive suit, gold wristwatch and loafers but he was going out for a confrontation, so this would be an exception. His body temperature was already rising due to the fumes of anger seeping out from his pores and a jacket would only frustrate him further. He eyed the jacket and sighed. The navy blue jacket did go well with his light blue shirt, he concluded.

He stepped out from his office, with the document in his palm and the jacket shrugged neatly on his broad shoulders, briskly marching towards the elevator. He did not acknowledge anyone as his mind was only regurgitating the information contained in the document he held. He reached the elevator and stepped into it, quickly pressing 10 even before the doors closed shut. He was very impatient.

Asika Holdings was a ten floor building in the Ikoyi area of Lagos State and the chairman of the company occupied the tenth floor comfortably while his two managers occupied the ninth floor. One floor up was nothing in the real sense of the ranking but Gabriel and his brother knew it meant a lot more. It meant a whole, lot more.

The elevator opened into the tenth floor and as usual, the floor was eerily silent. His father loved his quiet, claiming it allowed him to visualise things clearly when he didn't have to deal with chaos. Gabriel thought it was a sorry excuse for when his demons tormented him. He reached the end of the long hallway and made a beeline for the door on his right, pausing quite briefly to glance at the Secretary positioned at her desk. She thought about announcing him but he dismissed her as soon as he had seen her and she clamped her mouth shut, seething quietly about the chairman's son who had no heart.

Without ado, he pushed open the door and briskly marched in, making sure to take in the sight before him expertly. Raphael Asika sat behind his huge mahogany table, his sturdy hands clasped together in front of him, his focus unwavering as he listened to what the man in front of his desk was saying. Eze C. Eze was his legal advisor for a reason.

Gabriel had heard enough about what the conversation was, and decided to add his input.
"We are not going into a business partnership with the Esoghans. They are fakes."

"You can make those kinds of decisions when you're chairman. Right now, sit down so we can talk." Raphael was unblinking about reminding his position in this company and Gabriel hated him for that. "I suppose you have seen the memo I sent out?" He questioned without preamble once his eldest son was sat.

"I did," was the response. "I do not, however, agree with your decision. You can't possibly be thinking your successor is Malcolm?"

His father adjusted his glasses up a notch on his pointed nose, and glared back at him through deep set eyes, a feature only his first son inherited, making the resemblance quite uncanny. "I cannot possibly give you the company now, can I?"

"And why not? I merit it more than anyone else in this company. More so, Malcolm. He would beggar you in an instant!"

"A man without emotions cannot begin to think he can lead an army successfully. This company was built on a solid foundation of men who trusted each other, men who understands the value of friendship, of family. You clearly lack those."

Gabriel clenched his jaw to prevent him from muttering something quite awful and dreadful to his father. He still had respect for him, despite what occurred yesterday in this office. He could still clearly remember their conversation after he found them engaged in a fight.

"Are you doing this because of yesterday's fight?"

Raphael sighed, before removing his glasses to glare at his son. "You behaved irresponsibly."

"So all my hardwork for this company will go to nought? To Malcolm, all because of a measly fight?"

"It will not be his either, so don't worry. Fortunately, you are still a better general manager and hence, have more achievements ascribed to your name. You reel in more sales than anyone ever in the history of this company. However, my decision stands. The offer for CEO is open to whichever one of you can show me the values of responsibility most."

++++++++++

Gabriel clenched his fists as he made his way out of the chairman's office. Today was just turning out to be a disaster, a substitute mirror outlook of what yesterday was. He knew his father was reluctant about letting him take up the chains as CEO of the company even if he didn't know the exact reason why, but to make it as a competition between his two sons when it was obvious which one deserved it more was downright evil.

Letting out a breath he hoped would ease down on his anger, he marched off towards the elevator which would take him back to the floor that held his and his brother's office. Even thinking about him made Gabriel grit his teeth.

He stepped out of the elevator once the bell dinged, his mind reviewing the matter from yesterday and trying to see if he could make any headway, if he could have handled things differently. He needed to show his father that he was accustomed to responsibility, heck, he had practically raised up all his siblings; but his father would not see it, not especially when him and everyone else viewed him behind tinted glasses.

He had just reached the junction of the long corridor that demarcated into two hallways on both sides of the ninth floor. Each hallway contained a large office with six office tables for each team, a small conference room was next door to the large office and the manager's office was at the end of the hall. His office was at the end of the left hallway, and Malcolms' was at the right.

Now, he stood at the intersection regurgitating the idea swirling in his mind. Normally, he would shrug it off but the confrontation with his brother yesterday may have jeopardised his employment. He would not take the matter lying down. He made a detour to the right corridor.

With his brisk march, he reached the manager's door in 30 seconds which ordinarily was tripled in normal pace. A deep chortle from inside had him pausing, followed successfully by a frown when he recognised the voices. Two peas in a pod had never held more meaning until these two. Without knocking, he pulled the doorknob and stepped inside.

The cackling stopped at the sudden presence.

"What do you want, doofus?" Malcolm fired instantly, not pleased with the apparent act of condescension from his brother. 

Gabriel appraised the room in mock review. He always thought the designers were making a caricature of his brother.

The rectangular-shaped room had a wide glass panelled wall facing the metropolitan city of Lagos Island and offered a spectacular view of the Atlantic ocean while at the same time flooding the room with ample lighting. The managers' huge mahogany desk and swivel chair with accompanying visitira armchairs opposite it had the scenery as its background, which left one wondering the idea behind such arrangements.

On the left side of the desk was a book cabinet that housed numerous business texts that Malcolm was probably too lazy to look over. The right side of the desk, however, had a red sofa with a mini bar at its left end, just metres apart from the panelled wall. The walls were painted in a mesh pattern of mint and rust and some useful electrical appliances, and the floor was tiled with patterns of brown and black. Gabriel's office was of similar design but had hues of black and grey all around. In essence, the man hated things that screamed variety in his life.

Gabriel's appraisal landed and stayed on the assistant manager, Jed, who shifted slightly on the comfortable armchair he was sat. However, Malcolm, who sat on the second armchair, was unfazed by his cold stare.

Mr. Jedidiah Ofoma was average in height with pale complexion and a slightly large head that his thin, scrawny neck could barely support. He looked like a snitch, a measly parasite in Gabriel's opinion, but to his brother, the sneakier, the friendlier, hence the BFF trait they had going for them.

"I need to speak with you," was the offhanded reply. At Malcolm's raised brows, he settled his cold stare on the assistant who squirmed subconsciously. "Alone."

Malcolm made to object. He hated being told what to do by the overconfident pompous fool in front of him, but Jed was already dashing out of the room without a backward glance.

"This better be good 'cause I was enjoying myself before your dark aura invaded this atmosphere."
Letting out a defeated sigh, Malcolm went to sit on his swivel chair expecting Gabriel to sit on the visitors armchair.

Gabriel went and sat comfortably on the sofa adjoining the office desk. Malcolm swore.

Without a formal greeting or acknowledgement, the older man began.

"I've come to realise you're more stupid than I initially perceived, and more foolish than I would ever give you credit for."

It was meant to rile up Malcolm. So, when he jumped up from his chair with clutched fists and clenched teeth, it proved that it did. Immensely.

"You bastard!" He choked, spitting fire.

He smirked, before crossing his legs at the knee. His impeccably expensive brown loafers glinting from the tilt of the overwhelming lighting. "Don't curse yet, little brother, I'm not done speaking." He amended in mockery.

"I have also realized that continuing this cat and mouse game of ours will only bring me down from my pedestal and I don't want that. Do bear in mind that nothing you do will ever make me stoop down to your level."

Feeling gravely insulted, Malcolm flared. "You're a sore loser for coming here to attack me like this, you know that?"

His elder brother did not find his word phrasing pleasant. Besides, he was the sore loser for instigating a fight after he lost the campaign project.

"You are well aware that I do not take kindly to people who presume that I'm an idiot. You have no shame whatsoever. If I want, I'll chew you and Jed out for that stupid prank you tried to pull yesterday, but like I said, I'll never go down that path."

Malcolm sat down on his chair again as he mulled over his brother's words. Normally, he would be getting ready for the increased product sale competition only for Gabriel to emerge as the best at the end of the quarter. Gabriel would use this avenue to show everyone that he could handle the company expertly. He would even go as far as offering bits and pieces of advice to improve their new products, which in most cases were his idea from the get-go. There was no doubt he merited the CEO position more than anyone here but Malcolm was happy to be basking in their father's delay tactics. He alone knew why Raphael Asika was reluctant about the employment, but far be it from him to tattle tale.

Watching Gabriel closely to gauge if he had caught onto their scheme, he decided to play ignorant.

"What do you want then, since you've pointed out my inadequacies in high unpalatable words?"

His older brother smirked again, a behaviour he couldn't get past, before uncrossing his legs to sit up on the sofa. "Let's get serious for once. I proposition that we do agricultural product launches no more. It's apparent father has a different agenda in mind when he said he needed a successor. He cares less about our work here since we're both capable managers, so we'll do it his way.

"Father claims the reason he won't appoint new CEO is for our lack of responsibility. I'd say, he's too scared to let that much power he wields in someone else's hands. But, no worries, since I've had time to think about it and realised I can do it. I can be very responsible, so much so, he would have no choice but to step down from the chairman's position, as well."

Talk about unexpected. Malcolm suddenly felt winded, the air leaving his lungs in a harsh whoosh, forcing some to get trapped in his trachea. A cough erupted instantly.

He coughed and wheezed and whooped, thumping his chest hard and feeling as if his lungs were collapsing in on him, and all the while, his brother just stared at him, looking unperturbed as if he wanted him to choke on his own breath and keel over and then die.

"It's funny you'd choose death when the word 'responsibility' was mentioned. Typical Malcolm." He scoffed with a shake of his head.

When his coughing fit had died down and he could breathe properly again, Malcolm resigned to treading on soft grounds. "I can be responsible too. Although you lost me for a minute there by your desires."

Gabriel stood up from the sofa to come stand directly opposite his chair. Adjusting his cuffs, he reiterated. "If he wants responsible, we'll give him responsible.

"I have every intention of taking over this company, and I will not stop until it's mine in all its entirety. You can be certain of that."

~~~~~~~~~~~~

I like the saying: 'the tough gets going when the going gets tough'. Gabriel is definitely one tough cookie. Don't you agree?

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