"Now, tell me what my mother had to say about her eldest son."
Stefan asked and leaned his face on her hair. After dinner, he saw that she was sitting and chatting with his mother for a long time.
"Oh, yes, quite a lot!" she pretended to make a serious expression.
"Really?" He lifted his eyebrows in a surprise gesture.
"Yes. You were very naughty and were a handful, weren"t you?"
"Really? Was that what she said?" He repeated it. Wirata made a straight face and nodded.
"Yes. Tell me about it." She said, making Stefan pondered, tried to look back into his past.
"Hm, I don"t know. I don"t remember much about it. At fifteen, my parents sent me to England already. And when I came back during school breaks, I was with my father, followed him around, mostly to observe him in his office and practice lots of sports as he made schedules for me. I kind of feel as if I didn"t have a normal life like other boys at my age."
He said when thinking about his youth. Wirata could see the picture clearly, a little boy who acted like a young adult.
"I am kidding. Your mother didn"t say negative things about you. But she told me that you were a good boy. You loved Sam so much. You would take all the blame for your brother when the two of you did naughty stuff and got caught."
Wirata said and laughed softly, felt good to tease him. And now the image of little Stefan was stuck in her mind. The boy who was following his daddy around. And his daddy was a powerful man.
"See? I already told you that I am a good guy. I"m always a brave brother to Sammie. "
Wirata smiled more when hearing the narcissist. He was adorable and she should be careful not to let her strength down too much. But when she thought like that, little Stefan appeared in her head again. Wirata sighed. She remembered how much love Jacqueline had for her son. It showed through her gentle and caring voice when she talked about both of her sons.
"Including not allowing Sam to interfere with your work?"
Wirata asked. She remembered the first time she knew Sam. She never bothered to ask about his family. In her eyes, Sam was a true gentleman and from a prudent rich family. Sam"s personality had never p.r.o.nounced Mafia gangster. So Wirata never guessed that his family would involve in this type of business.
"Yes. This kind of work isn"t suitable for Sam. I want him to do whatever he loves. And Sam always wanted to be a doctor since he was young."
His voice was gentle when he talked about his younger brother.
"You are talking as if the business you"re doing nowadays, it"s not what you want."
Wirata said and turned to face him. Her face was at his broad chest. She could hear his heart was beating in steady rhythms.
"I am the eldest son. My father has expected a lot from me. I was prepared for the family"s works since I could remember. Don"t get me wrong. I didn"t say that I had been forced or anything. I am a Mackenzie and it"s my duty to carry on the family"s legacy and I am proud of it."
He explained with a smooth tone. Wirata did not detect any sadness or unhappiness in his voice. So, he liked his work and his life. That was great for him. She always believed that a lucky person was a person who could make a living from the thing he loved.
For Stefan, Wirata thought it was because he was reckless, not afraid to take risks and no fear of getting hurt at all. So, the business he had been doing was suitable for a daring man like him.
"But if you could choose, what would you do? What would be your dream?"
Wirata asked more questions. She wanted to know if he had ever dreamed as everyone else had. He was in a thinking mode for a moment.
"Hm, I don"t know. Perhaps, an artist? " He said with an unsure gesture.
"Really?"
"Hmmm. I don"t really know to be honest. I don"t like to dream. It"s wasting time. I am okay with my life."
The voice answered her questions smoothly and Wirata was surprised that he cared to answer all her questions without irritation. He did not seem to mind her asking silly and quite personal stuff.
Stefan kissed on her forehead. Tonight, she seemed to want to know more about his personal thoughts. He liked it when she wanted to get more involved with him like this.
"What about you? Did you like the job at the company?"
He asked. Stefan still did not know much about her personal life.
"Yes, I did. I really liked it. I like the numbers."
She answered without thinking but it made Stefan paused for a minute as he had believed for all his life that numbers always meant money. So, she liked the money...
"I don"t mean money. I am a left-brained person who likes numbers, logic, and reasons."
She said out as she could read his mind well.
"I didn"t say anything."
He mumbled. Stefan felt better as soon as she said she did not mean money. He believed her. All this time that he had been with her even it was just a short while; he had learned that she was a direct person and spoke the truth most of the time. It was not the truth when she was nagging him. That"s all.
"Why do you have to run a shark loan business?"
Wirata asked. She gently touched his chest while he was stroking her arm and thinking for a moment.
"Actually, I didn"t mean to run this business at first. But it was more like a favorite to a few people I know."
"How?"
Wirata asked furthermore to get a clear answer. She knew he was not a person who allowed many people to question him especially when it came to his personal stuff. She felt relaxed and happy in his arms. It was the first time they had ever talked openly to one another, and never discussed anything like this together before.
"Well, in the beginning, somebody I knew was in trouble and he asked for a favor, so I helped him out. I never asked for any interest, just wanted to help as he was a good man. He gave my money back with some interest that I didn"t ask for. And later, he introduced some other businessmen to come to me and suggested that I should do them a favor, too. They didn"t mind to pay interest. They even set up how much interest they would give me themselves. So, I let my manager run it. And that was how it started."
"So the interest percentage was from the debtors? Not you who was the creditor?" She asked with a very surprised tone because she had never heard that kind of story before.
"Yeah. I let them tell me how they were going to pay me in their own terms. But I was a little surprised, most of them set up higher interest than the banks. Well, I just accepted what they wanted." The smooth voice with a hint of amus.e.m.e.nt said.
Wirata could understand clearly. The city that was full of casinos and entertainment places like Las Vegas, there would be a lot of people in need and desperate for money. And Stefan Mackenzie had loads of it. So, nothing was wrong with making more money from what he had.
The way he thought made Wirata"s heart softened towards him. Because he was thinking of helping people out at first. He did not think about how much profit he would get from his investment.
Wirata used to think of him as a bad creditor. She kissed on his chest to apologize for that thought.