"Philip, we have landed in England," Lucas called out to Philip, who was sleeping soundly in the plush back seat, his head tilted against the window.
Philip stirred and slowly got up, rubbing his eyes. They both exited the plane onto the tarmac.
The air was breezy and fresh, carrying a scent of stone hit by recent rain that instantly entered Philip's nose—earthy and clean.
Outside the airport, a stunning maroon Pagani Huayra was parked conspicuously right outside the main entrance, turning heads.
By the time they'd landed, the sun had already fallen from its peak and was starting its descent.
Yellow wisps of dim, golden sunlight fell across the surface of the exotic car, which gave it an even more prominent, almost glowing appearance.
Several passersby were openly glancing at it, some even stopping to take photos with their phones, whispering to each other excitedly.
In front of the car, a man dressed in a sharp gray suit with a black tie stood waiting patiently for someone, checking his watch occasionally.
From his confident looks and bearing, he definitely didn't seem like a regular chauffeur hired for the day.
Maybe a businessman waiting for an important client? That seemed plausible given the expensive car.
Even without knowing who he was, the man looked like he held a very high position just from his car and demeanor alone.
Just then, Philip and Lucas emerged from the airport entrance, pulling their minimal luggage.
The man's face lit up. He quickly walked towards them with purpose and raised both his arms wide to greet Philip enthusiastically.
"Philip! Ahaha!"
Before Philip could properly prepare himself or brace for impact, he was caught in a tight, crushing embrace by the much larger man.
"Look how much you've grown!" the man exclaimed as he finally freed Philip from his bear hug. He held Philip firmly by both shoulders and scrutinized his body up and down with pride.
"How is your father doing these days?" the man asked warmly.
"He's fine, ugh—" Philip said, sucking in air that had been completely squeezed out of his lungs by the hug.
"I can tell that you're healthy as well, Uncle Seth," Philip managed to say once he could breathe again.
"But of course! It is a man's job to be strong," Seth remarked, clearly pleased with Philip's observation and compliment.
"Speaking of which—"
"You seem to be quite athletic yourself these days," Seth said as he reached out and squeezed Philip's upper arm, testing the muscle there.
Seth was 5'9"—although he wasn't someone you would consider small by any means, he was still noticeably shorter than Philip, who stood at exactly 6'1".
But Seth was much larger in sheer mass, a clear result of his dedicated daily workout routine and disciplined diet.
"Sir Seth," Lucas greeted with a respectful nod from behind them.
"Lucas," Seth nodded back with acknowledgment.
After some enthusiastic catching up, they all piled into the car with Lucas at the front, driving it smoothly.
They drove off and headed towards Marz Corp—a real estate investment empire built as a side branch of the Whitmore company.
Philip stared out the window, watching the city pass by. Double-decker buses running through the streets, the smell of corner shop coffee traveling with the wind through his cracked window.
It wasn't a bad feeling at all. Kind of peaceful, actually.
*Ring ring.*
"Hello," Philip answered, pulling out his phone.
"Honey, are you in England yet?" Emily's voice rang clearly on the other end.
Both of Philip's parents had been checking up on him constantly every few hours.
"How are you feeling?" they would ask him repeatedly, but Philip would just brush off their concern, telling them he was fine and they didn't need to worry.
It was honestly a blessing for them that their son was ready to face the world again and head to England to attend college—all on the same day, no less.
No matter what the actual reason might be.
"Yes, Uncle Seth came to pick me up from the airport," Philip confirmed.
"Oh, how nice of him to do that..."
"And what is this I'm hearing about you insisting to stay in a dorm?" Emily had clearly heard the news from Lucas and went straight to the point, her tone shifting.
There was a good reason why there weren't any dorms specifically built for high-class students, aside from the obvious fact that they could easily afford to rent luxury apartments.
The safety in regular dorms was very questionable at best.
Two to three students would be crammed into a single dorm room, so locking doors for privacy was completely out of the question.
And the in-and-out access was maintained at a bare minimum level of security.
The dorm entrance was open until nine PM with students entering and leaving as they pleased throughout the day.
No ID checking or surveillance cameras, as long as they could prove they were a student of the university somehow.
"It's just as you heard. I want to stay in the dorm during my entire stay in England," Philip stated firmly.
"And may I ask why?" Emily asked in a sharp, questioning tone that demanded a real answer.
"I want to experience what it's actually like to be a college student firsthand."
"What hardships they go through on a daily basis."
"Not just going back and forth from a luxury apartment without ever needing to worry about anything."
"I want to struggle so much that there will be a significant change in me and my perspective of how I view the world," Philip said all this in essentially one long breath, sounding almost patriotic and inspirational.
But this wasn't really why he wanted to enter the dorm at all.
After reading Derrick's final message to him, he genuinely wanted to go out and interact with different people and make real friends on his own.
But that was way too embarrassing of a reason to admit to his own mother, so he'd made up another reason that sounded more noble.
And his mother clearly wasn't buying any of it.
"And you think you can actually live peacefully with another random person without causing trouble?" Emily said, her voice dripping with skepticism.
A bit of a condescending tone could definitely be heard underneath.
When Philip first met Derrick, it wasn't that Philip had magically changed his ways completely and stopped causing trouble altogether.
His antics had simply gotten toned down significantly with Derrick constantly protesting against it whenever Philip was up to something particularly bad.
Like that time Philip didn't like a painting worth fourteen thousand dollars at a prestigious showcase, so he'd tried to buy it directly from the artist just so he could break it dramatically in public.
To prove and show everyone that it wasn't worth the ridiculous price tag.
But Derrick had firmly insisted that it couldn't possibly yield a good outcome and had spent hours persuading Philip against it.
In the end, Philip still purchased the painting at full price. But they went home with it without Philip publicly speaking ill of the artwork or the artist.
Philip still destroyed it eventually—but at least it was in private where no one could see him do it.
Although this incident was a long time ago and Philip had genuinely changed and become much more mature since then—
His mother was understandably afraid he would slip back into his old, destructive ways now that Derrick was gone and couldn't reign him in.
"What? You think I can't live normally with three people?" Philip shot back, genuinely a bit offended by his mother's dismissive tone.
"Do you remember how you rejected that caretaker before we hired Lucas, just because you didn't like his pronunciation?" Emily said pointedly.
"Wha—uh—" Philip was completely flabbergasted, genuinely surprised that his mother would bring up such a specific embarrassing example.
"I was young back then! Besides, the guy did pronounce things really weirdly."
"He pronounced Russia as 'Ruussia' with a double U sound, and he wasn't even Russian!" Philip said matter-of-factly, as if this completely justified his actions.
"It's a great idea, son," Richard's voice suddenly called out. It turned out they were both together on the call, and Richard had been silently listening on speaker the whole time.
"A man should live and struggle," he encouraged enthusiastically, supporting the idea of his son wanting to challenge himself before being thrown into the real world.
Emily, seeing that Richard had already agreed and wasn't going to back her up, didn't see the point in continuing to push against it.
She let out a long, defeated sigh and reluctantly agreed as well.
After they ended the call, Seth—who had been silently listening to their entire conversation with interest—asked what exactly was going on.
Philip repeated the story from start to finish once again, but definitely not the actual truth.
He repeated what he'd dramatically told his mother, but in an even more exaggerated, inspirational manner this time.
Hearing all of it, Lucas could only roll his eyes with an amused smirk, knowing the real reason.
But Seth? He was genuinely moved by his nephew's supposed ambition and noble goals.
He believed every single word of it without question, which was absolutely not what Philip had expected at all.
"Philip, you are like a son to me, and your words have given me so much joy," he said emotionally as he firmly gripped Philip's shoulders, his eyes actually glistening.
"My son Andrew is starting university this year as well, and I believe he has a lot to learn from your example."
"And after hearing your thoughtful words, I'm going to put him in a dorm as well!" he declared with a determined, almost militant expression.
Seth, although considered like a brother to Richard Whitmore, was not of the Whitmore bloodline himself.
Richard was an only son with no siblings.
After enrolling in college, he'd met Seth, who was a hardworking scholarship student struggling to make ends meet.
Seth was incredibly hardworking and deeply committed to his goals, and Richard could clearly see that dedication.
After talking to him extensively, Richard came to genuinely like his straightforward and loyal personality. He also found out about Seth's family situation—they were drowning in debt.
Richard "sponsored" Seth by giving him enough money to completely clear their family debt and live without constant worry about food during Seth's time in college.
After that, Seth became Richard's devoted underling, although Richard would much prefer to call him a brother.
Post-graduation, Seth was brought directly under the Whitmore conglomerate umbrella.
And now he was the head director of Marz Corp in England—a massive position.
"What? Uncle, no! You don't have to do that! Why would my personal choice affect Andrew's entire life?" Philip tried desperately to talk him out of it.
He'd met Andrew before several times. Although Andrew was much smaller in physical size compared to his massive father, their personalities were remarkably similar.
And Andrew really looked up to Philip, calling him "brother" whenever they met.
"What nonsense! Of course he'll have to do it!"
"Matter of fact, he will not be given any allowance except for exactly what the scholarship students receive," Seth declared firmly, crossing his arms.
In Seth's mind, it was only right and fair for his son to struggle even more when even his boss's privileged son was deliberately putting himself in that challenging position.
Philip was completely speechless at his uncle's words. His attempt at persuasion had completely backfired, and now Andrew was in an even worse situation than before.
He quickly started another topic about the specific whereabouts and layout of the institute, desperate to change the subject.
'If I keep trying to persuade Uncle Seth, I'm afraid Andrew will end up having to build a tent outside the dorm entrance,' Philip thought nervously.
---
They made a quick stop at Marz Corp's sleek headquarters building and then left for Ashford once more, to officially check Philip into his new dorm.
After about half an hour of driving through the city, they'd finally reached the grand entrance of the Ashford campus.
Beautifully arranged stone tiles had been expertly laid down along the path, with well-organized rows of tall cypress trees standing proudly on both sides.
A stone wall extended on both sides of the entrance, connecting to massive pillars at the main gate.
Just as Philip was about to step out of the car, Lucas posed an important question.
"Philip, if you're really committed to staying at the dorm, what would happen to the luxury apartment we've already rented for you?"