"Still calling your grandfather 'old man'. I thought you would respect me more after I died."
Saying that, the figure in masculine night blue robe turned around, his head of black hair just gray enough to show his age, which his strong back belied. His eyes, their blue deep like an ocean, reflected Alex's present state with a calm smile.
Alex held the gaze from the eyes with the weight of the years for a while, before averting his own brown eyes with a pout:
"Calling you 'old man' is a mark of affection, okay, old man? I already respect you enough. And death doesn't bring respect. If it does, that is hypocrisy or self-deception, nothing more."
"Indeed, you are right. But I'm happy to see that you are taking things well enough, Alex. You are not surprised to see me at all."
The deep, wizened gaze left Alex to return to the shimmering scenery, making him let out a silent exhale of relief, before he rolled his eyes:
"No kidding. Anyone but me can be surprised. Moreover, I died two times before and I came back. What can be a surprise after that? Anyway, we will be meeting again soon enough. The third time is the charm, right? So, make it quick."
The old man frowned, then shook his head in disappointment, his gaze not leaving the garden beyond the pavilion. However, he did not comment on what disappointed him, instead, he smiled:
"I thought you would be curious how I did it."
The eye roll that replied to that statement this time carried all the indignation Alex seemed to have been nursing for well over a year. His voice carried the grudge he did nothing to hide as he spoke:
"I knew from the very start that that thing was a trap. I didn't give a damn about being your heir but you just had to throw it at me in spite of everything. Anyone would smell something fishy. So, no, I don't want to know how you did it, nor if it has something to do with a prior hypnosis or if you are speaking live from the other side. Say what you want to say, and maybe, as I said, I will be able to catch up on some sleep before the sun rises."
The not-so-old old man clicked his tongue with a headshake:
"Tu-tu-tu, so much anger buried in you. That is not good for your health. Many should be envious of you, wanting to be in your place and inherit the throne of the Lenner family."
Alex raised an eyebrow, then snorted in disdain, his nose wrinkled, and his mouth curled in an arrogant smirk:
"Humph! That is them. I don't care, nor do I need to care."
The old man turned back with a smile, his hands still behind his back, and appreciatively nodded:
"Yes, you are different, and that is why you are the most suited to be the heir of the Lenner family, my heir."
Alex's expression froze. He opened his mouth, but without managing to find something to say. But his grandfather seemed to find any answer unnecessary. He changed the subject:
"Now, let's talk about the main reason why we are here. The box has been opened, therefore the red string has been tied. Congratulations, your fated one has appeared, and you are now engaged."
Alex paused. His brain short-circuited for a moment, then rebooted as he blinked, and exclaimed:
"I am what!?!"
He glared at his grandfather, as if ready to jump on him if not for the restraints keeping him on the chair, but also confused:
"What do you mean by that, old man? How is that any relevant to becoming the legitimate heir? You are dead already, can't you stop playing tricks? Is that box even related to the heirship at all?"
This time, it was the old man's turn to display a smile with a touch of arrogance, as the deep blue of his eyes shone with the weight of the authority he used to wield during his lifetime, that he seemed to still be able to wield at any moment even right now. His voice went down a notch to become deeper as he stated:
"You have become the heir as soon as I said so. There has never been a need to prove anything beyond that to anyone."
The wind stopped, only then making it noticeable that it used to softly blow over from the field of green and the tapestry of bloom below the scintillating layer of shimmer.
Alex looked at his grandfather from his chair, then, after a moment, broke the silence:
"So?"
The old man raised an eyebrow, and his smile, as infuriating for Alex as his own smirk was for the woman who had tied him in the chair, climbed up a few more degrees:
"Oh? Your mother didn't tell you? That the box can only be opened on a night of the full moon, and only when fate aligns?"
Alex gritted his teeth at those words, showing his emotions, in this case, his very strong dissatisfaction, without any guard or any mask. He had received that damn message, and he had tried, even if only out of curiosity, to open the small wooden box with an exquisite design every full moon, when bored.
Even if he had only tried casually, without any interest in the heirship it was said to hold the key to, that was his right. And he also had the right to be angry, very angry, and hold a grudge, after learning that he had been played.
He took a deep breath, and spoke through his teeth:
"You are taking revenge, right? I refused all your arrangements for me ever since the accident, so you left one last parting gift before going under, didn't you?"
"Oh, quiet. Am I so petty in your eyes?"
Though he said that, the satisfaction at the corner of his mouth said otherwise, and Alex didn't even need to look at that to affirm with a side-eye full of disdain as much as it was full of conviction:
"Yes."
Not bothering to argue, the late patriarch of the Lenner family simply turned to the beautiful garden as he explained:
"It is fate. Everything is fated."
The blatant disregard made the corner of Alex's mouth twitch:
"And I will still refuse."
The old man turned back to his defiant grandson, his lips tugged up in an amused smile, a playful one, even:
"We will see."
*Snap* *Crack*
He snapped his finger, and the noise, louder than it should have been, shook the shimmering backyard until it cracked, and broke like a mirror. Alex fell into a vortex of reflected pieces of the scenery earlier while his eyes remained on him.
As he looked at his grandfather's satisfied smile, he suddenly calmed down, smirked humorlessly, and spat out just before he was swallowed up:
"Damn you, old man..."
The old man's smile widened, then the vortex collapsed, and darkness reclaimed its throne, along with silence, as everything should have been, when asleep.