DOUBLE STANDARDS

Joe started off as a high school prodigy, always standing out in everything. Entering into college, he carried the same aura he had in high school. People started flunking around him, wanting to mingle with him, not because he was intelligent, but because he was rich, athletic and knew how to attract the right kind of attention. Joe was every girl's dream man, and was every guy's dream on what it meant to become a man. Guys always stayed close to him because anyone associated with Joe was someone to look out for, and girls wanted to be around him because any girl he is seen with makes the other girls jealous. Being with Joe was like standing in front of the president, but one thing was always a source of concern and it was something never spoken aloud but always whispered behind his back. No one actually knew Joe’s background and the few who tried to ask never got a response at all.

This made people form their own narration about where Joe truly came from. Some said he came from those old money family, and they probably sent him to a normal school to pave a way for himself. Others wanted to believe he came from those secret royalty and was just trying to be humble. But in reality Joe was far from being humble. Although he doesn’t say much, he was like the boss of the underground which made a few believe he could be the son of a mafia lord or one underground boss. Joe did not just carry himself with the authority and aura of a mafia Lord, he carried the ruthlessness of one which made those who were not close to him fear him, even those privileged to get close to Joe feared him and always made sure to be in his good graces. There was no doubt however that with all his fortune and fame, the only person he really cared about was Mia, who never even looked at him.

On several occasions Joe would publicly announce his love for Mia, bringing expensive gifts worth millions of dollars to try to impress her. One time he got a customized bugatti in her name and wanted to give it to her for her upcoming birthday, but she said she wasn’t into cars and just left. Mia never looked rich or acted rich, if anything she was the direct opposite of Joe, looking at her, she was like any girl from the countryside and it was hard to really understand what Joe saw in her that had made him fall head over heels for her since the first time the both entered into college. One time Joe decided to gather over 1,000 students in school to secretly plan a birthday surprise for Mia since she rejected the customized bugatti. Yes he had such an influence, but he did not also want to do it in school knowing Mia would always go home during the weekend and her birthday just happened to fall on a weekend.

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Like Joe, No one on campus knew where Mia lived so the plan was for one person to secretly follow her home, and that person would lead them to where Mia lived. With every plan in place, Mia was secretly followed home by one of the guys loyal to Joe, and when it was the next day which happened to be Mia’s Birthday the guy that had followed Mia home came to Joe in the early hours of the morning looking tense. Joe although seeing the tension in his posture was more eager to get moving and reach Mia before she would wake up for the day, he did not just plan to surprise her, he planned to use his influence on her entire family offering them 10 bars of gold with the hope that they would help him persuade Mia into giving him the attention he had been seeking from. This was just how rich he was, being able to bring out 10 gold bars spoke volumes of his wealth and status even though no one actually knew where he came from.

He had also brought 1000 students along with him, giving them 1 gold coin each and three gold coins with flowers to give Mia for her birthday. He figured since he couldn’t get her with the fine things of the current world, he would go old school and at the same time flash some of his old money wealth. The guy he sent to follow her looked like he wanted to say something but was afraid of Joe’s wrath, so he swallowed hard, faked a smile and started leading everyone to Mia’s house in a convoy of 200 exotic cars that he had hired for that day. But then something happened as they drew close to Mia’s house. It was an environment he knew very well, in fact, in that environment held a secret he did not want the world to see. Seeing the direction the car at the front was moving, he knew the place like the back of his hand but this time he prayed they were just passing by.

His car was in the middle of two hundred cars, that was how much of an appearance Joe wanted to make, and because of this, he could not just turn the car around. Immediately they reached the mountains around the one way road, cold sweat broke down his cheeks, because he knew those mountains and the secrets they held. Then the lead car stopped in front of a mansion in the middle of the mountains and every other car in different directions came to a stop. Together all the students came out of the cars as rehearsed in school and began shouting Mia’s name with some students releasing the fireworks they had prepared and others singing love songs with trumpets. When the residents of the house came out to see what was causing the commotion every single student froze in shock.

The all knew the head of the house, they had seen him on TV a lot of times, the mansion itself did not look intimidating, but the man that worked out of it was and standing besides him were two ladies the first was Mia, and the second was an older woman with a striking resemblance to Mia. With everything happening Joe was still yet to come out of the car and every student standing would not blame him because standing before them was a man known as the King of the south and one of the most powerful men in existence. When the man asked what all the noise was all about, every student gradually gave way in fear, stopping directly at Joe's car to indicate that the reason for everything was inside the car.

It was then Joe finally came out with his head down and immediately he did, one of the servants recognized him and subconsciously screamed his name Joseph. This was when everything became revealed. Joseph was the son of one of the servants of the house, his father standing there looking at Joseph with an expression on his face that said “I thought you would run away, why come back”. Turned out that the whole mountain was a gold mine and Joe’s father was in charge of mining but had also been stealing those gold. Knowing he couldn’t leave he had given it to his son and sent him to school with the hope that he would be successful and never return because he was not just a servant, his entire family were supposed to be servants but he had found a way to make his son escape that faith. He would always tell Joe that the work in the mines was hard work, but some had to do it so he could have a better life, but now Joe had just ruined everything for both of them in the presence of 1000 people.

THIS IS MY ENTRY INTO THE INKWELL COMBINED WRITING PROMPT #51