[David Mansion]
It's been a week since David return to the mansion but the peaceful and happy home had transformed into a home of fear where everyone had to thread cautiously. In the kitchen, a group of servants huddled together, their whispers filled with unease. The unpredictable temper of their boss that could flare into violence in an instant made everyone afraid.
"Did you see him today? He threw the vase at the wall when the gardener asked about the new flowers," one said, her voice trembling.
"He's terrifying," another whispered. "I heard he shouted at Henry again this morning."
"He wasn't like this before the accident," the cook said softly, glancing toward the study. "He's hurting."
"That doesn't mean we're not," the first maid muttered.
"He should at least consider that his situation isn't our making", another chimed.
David has become an unrecognizable man from who he had once been. He had transformed into someone irritable and bitter. His frustrations boiled all over erupting unpredictably as it creates a tense atmosphere that seeped into every corner of the house.
David sat in his study, an empty glass on the desk in front of him as he gaze into the blank void oblivious of his surroundings.
Ethan entered with a folder on hand. "You can't keep ignoring Elder Allen, David. You still have to acknowledge him and make use of his influence"
David narrowed his eyes as he glared at Ethan. "Influence?" he repeated, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "What influence? Look around, Ethan. I'm a cripple sitting in a house that feels more like a tomb than a home discarded by my family like yesterday's trash, and you're telling me to use their influence?"
A servant just going to bring food for him but faced a glass thrown at him.
"Leave!" David barked, slamming his hand down on the desk. "All of you, just leave me alone!" His voice boomed.
Ethan folded his arms across his chest as , leaned against the wall. "You don't scare me, you know. You can shout, throw things, and lock yourself in this mansion but don't bother making me go."
"Why?" David asked, his voice almost a whisper. His expression softened briefly, revealing the exhaustion behind his anger. "Why are you still here, Ethan? Everyone else has left."
Ethan sighed lightly, his gaze unwavering. "Because you're my friend. And unlike the others, I don't turn my back on people when they're at their lowest, that doesn't mean I can't leave but until then."
David let out a bitter laugh, shaking his head. "Friend? That's generous. I'm a broken man that needs a miracle, Ethan."
"You're just going to let them win, then?" Ethan broke the silence, his voice sharp with frustration. Desmond, Aaron... all of them. You're handing everything over without even putting up a little fight? Are you that weak?"
The two men stared at each other for a long moment, the tension thick. Davis finally looked away, his expression a mix of frustration and helplessness
He has nothing to fall back on. The only thing which might have given him a choice to fight back was his fiancee but then it is impossible. She has chosen her path and her forever.
Davis's gaze didn't waver from the distance he is staring at. "It's not handing over when everything is already gone," he muttered, his tone devoid of emotion. "What's left for me to fight for?"
"Your dignity, for starters!" Ethan shot back, his frustration glaring. He had tried talking to Davis severally but at the end of the day, he will ignore it. Severally he had tried to make him see reasons but he is stuck in the past. "You were Davis Allen, the man people feared and respected. Now you're—" He hesitated, biting back the words, to organize a nice choice of word that wouldn't be offensive and hurtful.
Davis let out a bitter laugh. "Go ahead. Say it. I'm nothing. A cripple. A shadow of the man I was."
"You're not nothing!" Ethan snapped, his anger glowing "You're acting like nothing because you've convinced yourself you've lost. But you haven't. Desmond may think he's won, but he hasn't buried you yet —or has he?"
Davis finally turned to look at him, his eyes dull and lifeless. "You don't get it, Ethan. Do you know how humiliating it is to be written out of your own story?"
Ethan shook his head, his jaw tightening. "No, I don't. But I know that sitting here wallowing in self-pity won't rewrite that story. You're giving them exactly what they want."
"And what do you expect me to do? Show up at the company in this chair and demand my position back? I'd be a laughingstock. I already am."
Ethan leaned on the desk his eyes blazing with rage, he couldn't help but wonder if Davis brain circuit was tampered with. "So what if they laugh? Let them or —are you the first man to be a cripple? But at least you'd be doing something rather than sit in this house, drinknyourself into oblivion, pushing everyone away—this isn't you."
Davis's expression hardened. "Ethan, I don't even know who I am."
Ethan sighed as his tone softened, but the determination in his tone didn't waver. "I know exactly who you are. You're Davis Allen, the man who worked hard to make his own name. The man who inspired loyalty in people like me because you refused to back down from a challenge. That man is still in there somewhere, and I'm not leaving until I see him again."
Davis turned his head away, his jaw tightening. "That man died the day of the accident. All that's left is this... this broken version of him. And no amount of pep talks from you is going to change that."
Ethan stood, running a hand through his hair in frustration. "You're impossible, you know that? I'm trying to help you, but you're so focused on what you've lost that you can't see what you still have."
"And what is that?" Davis snapped, his voice rising. "What do I have, Ethan? Tell me. Because from where I'm sitting—literally—I have nothing."
"Really? But yet you have me!" Ethan shot back, his voice booming. "You have someone who still believes in you when you've given up on yourself.
David stared at him in silence while Ethan hoped that may be finally he will realize the truth of his existence but the next moment his body felt cold at Davis voice "You're wasting your time, Ethan. I'm not worth it."
Ethan's expression softened, though his frustration lingered. "You're worth it, whether you see it or not. And until you do, I'll be here. Someone has to remind you of the man you used to be and lest I forget —I am signing you up psychological counseling."
David looked away, his emotions all over the place as his eyes clouded with unshed tears he refused to let fall. The weight of his own despair was crushing, and no matter how much Ethan tried, he couldn't see a way out of the darkness.
Ethan sighed, stepping back. "Fine. Keep wallowing. But know this: the world won't wait for you to get up. If you don't fight for yourself, no one else will."
The door clicked shut behind him, leaving David alone in the suffocating silence of the study. It seems as though Ethan had never said this much.