Equilibrium

Chapter 12 - Mandrake

Over the next few weeks, Zen kept his head down. He'd been slapped on the wrist, with a promise of a punch in the gut the next time, and Zen could take a hint.

On the other hand, he was rankled, and decided not to hide his relationship with Kevyn from his family. It was the part of his life that was still his own, and so he clung to it even more. The same with his professional life. He was inspired to do a fair amount of writing for his Dissertation.

He invited Opal over for a week, and that had been wonderful. Kevyn had his young cousin over for a visit at the same time, and so they went to the summer carnival and to the Magical Arts center together for family classes and free sparring.

It was the happiest he'd been in a long time if he refused to remember Yuki's dire warning that everything would change.

It was after the kids had gone to their respective homes again that Kevyn finally asked, "So, that Rafi guy hasn't bothered you again, has he?"

"No. Everything is quiet on that front," Zen confirmed. Zen had told Kevyn everything that was said in their meeting, and how he had given him the drive. Kevyn had been more than understanding of his compliance. He'd asked if Zen had been able to get into the encrypted file. He hadn't. And he wasn't sure that was all that important, either. No, the dirty business had to do with niche ingredients, and a Black Market he would be an idiot to poke his nose into.

So, yes, he'd kept his head down. That did not mean, however, that his head was in the sand.

~

All the same, Zenneth had been surprised when his sister called him one Sunday morning. "You look like shit, Zen," she said, more concerned than he thought she should be.

"Late, night," he replied. "And it had been. And an awful one. He and Kevyn had fought. It was their first of any consequence. Zen had been about to go to see his investment banker, and when Kevyn showed some curiosity he'd explained some of the ins and outs of his portfolio. Diverse traditional investments, ventures, and a vacation property that he rented out.

And it had quickly become clear that Kevyn found it all quite ridiculous. When he asked Kevyn what he did with his money, he said he put it in his bank account - plus whatever his 'guy' suggested he invest in, plus investment in his Aunt's company, of course.

Zen thought it was Kevyn that was ridiculous. You don't just listen to what your investor tells you. They have their own agendas - mostly concerning margins and have an intrinsic lack of consequences tied to their decisions. At the end of the day, it's not their money.

And so they fought. Lightly, at first, but trampled feelings had things spiraling out of control. And Zen got an ever-increasing feeling that this was a fundamental difference between them. And a seed of doubt formed, whether this could work between them. He wrote out a list of three investors that he ought to talk to and gave it to Kevyn.

"I'm happy with what I'm doing," Kevyn insisted.

"This is something I know about," Zen replied. "You're dating me. Why wouldn't you want to take advice that could help you?"

"Because I have enough," he said and shrugged. "Because I don't want to spend any more time thinking about it than I already do. C'mon, Zen. we just focus on different things and that's okay."

"You laughed. Scoffed," Zen accused.

"Not at you."

Zen seethed, unconvinced.

"Okay, maybe I was being -"

"Sanctimonious?" Zen supplied.

"Maybe," Kevyn answered, getting angry himself. "But it's not like you never scoff about my volunteering."