CHAPTER 11

Reena was watching TV during the break between her shoots. The news channel showed the scene of Adam playing with the street dog.

The news anchor said, “Adam Conreid is seen feeding a street dog right before Conreid Headquarters. He might not have succeeded as an actor who played the role of the self-made superhero ‘Coinman,’ but he’s definitely a better hero in real life. Perhaps, the recent accident might have even made him a better person?”

Reena felt envious of the dog receiving Adam’s pattings and belly rubs, but she showed her frustration by throwing the remote at the TV screen. “What sort of news is this? These useless news channels… If it was possible to capture farts, they would make 24x7 flash news of all the celebrities around the world doing it.” She walked out of her motorhome and participated in the shoot with an angry expression. The director tried to calm her down by praising her beauty and acting skills. This was the same director whom she had slapped, and then it became news.

At Ducksbelly.

The half-chewed chicken piece fell out of Adam’s mouth. “That was a promotional pic?”

“You thought it was real?” Evelyn could only shake her head. “He’s a reputed director. Even if he had made a mistake, he wouldn’t let such a career-ending event easily go public, would he? People can be bought with money. Even the news channels.”

“Y-You’ve got a point.”

They were both sitting at the same table like she and the real CEO Adam used to. However, there was a slight difference from the past. Adam seemed to be eating a lot more freely without being reserved in the way he put the food in his mouth and chewed. He wasn’t being mechanical, and Evelyn noticed that. The change was subtle, but it wasn’t bad.

“Doesn’t this mean that the news channels are deceiving by spreading false news?” he asked. “It makes me wonder just how much of the content they publish is fake.”

“I don’t know about the fake news, but I stopped buying newspapers when they began emphasizing the ads more than the news.”

“Hah,” Adam slightly laughed as he totally agreed with her words. He could see from her expression that it wasn’t that she was disrespecting the newspapers but just that she lost respect over them. And once lost, restoring respect was easier said than done. “I still read and follow the news because I like reading.”

“You? Like reading?” she chewed on a meat piece and shook her head as though he had just joked. Someone who liked reading wouldn’t stop in their tenth standard, would he? She felt like he was perhaps trying to look cool in front of her.

Adam also could tell that she didn’t believe him, but he didn’t press the issue either.

“You said we have to attend school this afternoon, right?” He asked.

“Yes. Not one but three Conreid Schools in three different cities.”

“What? Does that mean I have to write three speeches?”

“Haha, don’t worry. What do you think I have been doing since morning? Catching flies? I’ve already prepared the speeches for all the upcoming events in the current and the next week.”

“That must have been hard.”

“That’s part of my job.”

“Yeah, but I’m not gonna use your speeches this time.”

The food almost fell out of her mouth. She looked up at him with a confused expression. “What? Don’t tell me you’re not even gonna make a speech? That would make you look bad.”

“I never said I won’t give a speech.”

For a few seconds, his words made no sense at all. Even as time passed, she couldn’t comprehend his intentions behind rejecting her speeches, unless he was really thinking of firing her soon.

After going to headquarters, they both took one of the two choppers stationed on the rooftop, and traveled to the nearest Conreid school first.

A few thousand students were already waiting outside.

“Are you sure you don’t want the speech I prepared, sir?” she asked tensely as the helicopter was about to land.

He leaked out a big smile. “This is the first time you called me ‘sir’ since I returned.”

She paused in surprise. She stopped calling him respectfully after he forcefully grabbed her wrist once, and she slapped him. But now, she ended up calling him sir for some reason she couldn’t tell.

He was about to open the door, but she put her hand on his hand, stopping him.

“At least let me brief you on the bullet points you need to go through. You can’t just randomly spout during a speech for school kids. If things go wrong, the news channels will make a week’s worth of content out of it.”

“It’s alright,” he opened the door and walked out. The principal and the staff grandly welcomed him. The students were cheering for him, and it was an overwhelming response he surely hadn’t expected to receive.

Both Adam and Evelyn occupied the VIP seats along with some other prominent people of the city.

The school programs started. Dances and joke skits followed one after another. An hour passed pretty fast. Once the programs ended, the principal gave a short speech before handing the mic to Adam.

“Please don’t butcher it,” Evelyn hoped.

Adam gave a once over to the crowd of students before addressing them. “To be honest, I didn’t expect much before coming here, but the joke skits made me and my secretary laugh, so, thanks to all the performers for working hard. I’m not going to bore you with a long speech as I want to leave this school earlier than all of you do.”

His words made some children giggle. Even the principal and the teaching staff showered simple smiles.

“So before I go,” Adam continued, “I want to tell you all something simple but important for every student. And that’s about selfishness and selflessness. You need both in life if you want to achieve as well as thrive. You need to be selfish enough to sit beside classmates who are better than you at studies so they can clarify your doubts, and at the same time, you also need to be selfless enough to clarify the doubts of those who come to you. If you receive, you should also give. Otherwise, you’ll just be a hypocrite. It’s this giving and receiving that makes studying in a school so wonderful. Don’t miss out on making full use of it. Go out of your way to help yourself and others, and you’ll surely achieve your dreams and make the world a better place while at it.”

A brief silence followed.

“That’s all,” Adam said. The students started clapping.

“Sir,” one of the girls in the front row raised her hand. “I’m the first ranker in my class, so I don’t have any friends who can clarify my doubts.”

The students started murmuring from hearing her question.

“What are you talking about?” Adam said and smiled before looking at the teachers sharing the stage. “Aren’t they in your friend list? Aren’t your teachers your biggest and smartest friends in your class, Ms. First Ranker?”

“U-Uh,” the girl started blushing in embarrassment, and the other students laughed hard. This time, even the teachers began clapping for Adam’s response.

While the school girl flushed like a tomato from embarrassment, Adam took out the ink pen in his shirt pocket and tossed it to the girl, surprising her and many students. As Adam got down from the stage, many asked for his selfies, and some chanted the name Coinman. However, he politely refused to give them selfies saying he needed to visit two more schools.

They didn’t waste time, and the helicopter left pretty quickly.

Adam looked at Evelyn who was sitting opposite to him, and she wasn’t speaking a word. “Was that okay?” he asked.

She pressed her lips together and said, “I…” she helplessly waved her head. “I didn’t see that coming. If I had known you were so natural at speaking, I wouldn’t have prepared the speeches, I swear.” She touched her throat.

“No. Preparation does more good than harm most of the time. We have two more schools to cover, so let me hear your bullet points.”

“S-Sure,” she looked quite confused at this point. Was this really the same Adam from before the accident that she was speaking to? How could he change so much? From his expressions down to the nuances, he looked like a completely different person. Did some part of his brain that had been lying dormant all these years get awakened because of the accident? Her doubts had no answers at this point.