The Lovers Survivors

5. Rich And Poor

The NIS agents are looking at Tyler and talking with each other. He sees them whispering and laughing before leaving the hallway. He looks down and sees the clothes he is wearing. His work uniform seems like trash comparing to the fancy suits they are wearing. All of them look rich and comfortable in their life. They have reached a level he will never be able to experience.

The handsome agent comes back with another man, tall and strong. The look on his eyes scares Tyler, he hurries to get up and stands before him.

"Is he the one?" the man asks as he looks at Tyler and frowns when he sees the bad state he's in.

He offers his hand and Tyler shakes it immediately, "My name is Robert Johnson, I am the head of the search team."

"Hello, sir, I’m Tyler Wright." Tyler gives him a nervous smile. "I am sorry to interrupt your work, but I am really worried about my brother."

"Your brother's name is not on the list of the corpses we found," Robert says. "The family members are always the first ones to know the news. You didn't have to come here, you just wasted your time."

Tyler gulps and looks at the young agent who just shrugs. The tall man is about to go when Tyler suddenly grabs his arm, "Please, sir. I need you to find my brother."

Robert looks at his hand and pulls it away from his arm. "Your brother is not the only one who was inside that plane." he frowns, "There are about a

hundred more we are searching for. Now, if you will excuse me, I have better things to do."

Robert leaves and the young agent approaches Tyler, "I am sorry, our boss can be rude sometimes." he smiles, "Don't worry, I'm sure we'll find your brother and the other passengers too."

Tyler simply nods and looks around. He sees the agents looking at the main gate. He turns around and sees a man around his fifties enter the building, he's surrounded by five guards and accompanied with a beautiful woman.

He's wearing a fancy double-breasted blue suit and the woman, who must be his wife, is wearing a long black dress with a nocturne blue fur coat around her shoulders.

"Mr Robert Johnson," the man calls the head of the search team. "I had to come to you personally."

Robert widens his eyes, "Mr and Mrs Evans, what a good day to have you here."

Parker taps his back, "I heard you are in charge of the search team. How are things going?"

"We found some corpses, sir. But do not worry, your son is not on the list."

"He better not be." Parker looks around and spots the strange-dressed young man. He raises an eyebrow at him and looks away, pretending not to have seen anything. "My son needs to be here before July, he has a wedding to attend to."

Robert nods, "Do not worry, sir. He will surely be there at his wedding."

"You have to speed up the searching, Mr Johnson," the woman says. "Make your men work day and night."

"I will do everything, Mrs Evans, please do not worry.”

Tyler, who has watched everything, clenches his fists and mumbles a curse.

"Are you alright, Tyler?" the young agent asks.

"How can I be alright when I just witnessed preferential treatment just before my eyes?!"

The agent presses his lips and sighs, "Do you know who this man is? He's the c—"

"I don't give a s**t about who he is!" Tyler shouts, attracting everyone's attention on him. He looks around and realizes everyone is looking at him, even the man in question.

"May I know what is happening here? Who is this boy?" Parker frowns.

Tyler ignores him and walks toward Robert with a scary look on his face, "You!" he points at him.

"Just a minute ago you were talking about how you're trying to find all the passengers, and you didn't give me time, and now you're willing to do anything for this man." he looks at Parker with disgust.

"This man?" Mr Evans looks at Tyler with disbelief. "Do you know who I am?"

Tyler shakes his head, "I don't care who you are, it doesn't matter to me." he gives him a fake smile before he looks back at Robert, "Now you need to explain to me why you treated me differently. Is it because I'm not wearing a designer suit? Or maybe because I don't smell like money?"

"No, it's not like—"

"Then what?" Tyler crosses his arms. "What's the difference between my brother and his son?" he

stares at Mr Evans who hurries to look away and avoid his eyes.

"My son is a worldwide known actor, and the heir of Evans Corporation." Parker starts, "Of course, there is a difference between him and a commoner."

Tyler clenches his fists, "A commoner?" he raises an eyebrow. "Who do you think you are? Just because you're filthy rich do you think you're higher than any of us? Do you think you own the entire world? Do you think you own us?"

"Mr Wright, please calm down." Robert puts his hand on his shoulder. Tyler is the one who pulls his hand away from him this time.

"As you said earlier, you will keep searching for all the passengers. You're not going to be responding to this man's orders."

"What a disrespectful brat!" Mrs Evans exclaims. "Honey, my head hurts." she puts her hand around her husband's arm.

"I am sorry, my dear." Parker looks at her. "I am sorry that people like him exist." he looks at Tyler and smirks, "No matter what you say, you will always stay good for nothing. My family and I are known everywhere, we're known for our success and fortune all around the world. But what do you have?" he points at Tyler’s chest. "What do you offer the world?" he shrugs. "Nothing."

Tyler can't speak anymore. This time, the words were too harsh for him to stand.

The handsome agent heads toward him and places his arm around his back, "Let's go, Tyler," he walks him outside the building to let him breathe some fresh air.

"I'm impressed, to be honest," he tells him.

"Why would you?" Tyler raises an eyebrow.

"You weren't afraid of him, you didn't care about who he is, and you just spoke honestly. That's impressive." the agent smiles.

"I hate people like him." Tyler mumbles. "They think they own the world when all they own is selfishness and arrogance."

"True," the agent smiles again. He looks at his watch, "It's 6 pm, my work time has finished for the day. Perhaps you'd like to join me for a coffee? I'd like to apologize for my boss' behaviour."

Tyler shakes his head, "You didn't do anything wrong."

"I know, but I want to invite you anyways." he shrugs.

Tyler gives him a small smile and looks down, "But I don't think I'm fitted for a coffee now. Look at my state."

The agent furrows, "There is no rule that says we should be wearing specific clothes to have a coffee."

Tyler chuckles and nods, "You're right."

The agent asks him to follow him to the parking lot. Tyler is surprised to see the fancy black Mercedes. "Are you rich?" he asks.

The agent chuckles, "I can't be as rich as Parker Evans, but let's say that our company pays us well."

"That's a damn nice paycheck." Tyler widens his eyes while admiring the car.

"Get in."

The young agent starts the car and looks at his guest, "Do you listen to any specific music?"

"Rap."

The agent hums and looks for a rap playlist on Spotify before he connects his phone to the car's player.

"What's your name by the way?"

The agent chuckles, "Really? I've been wearing this badge during the whole time and you still didn't catch my name?"

Tyler presses his lips and reads the name of the badge, "Archer Jones."

Archer laughs, "Good morning, Tyler Wright."

The next morning, Leighton and Julian wake up to realize that the sun took over the storm's place. A nice ray of sunlight enters the cave to illuminate it.

Julian groans because of his back pain. He has been sleeping on feathers since he was born so lying on rocks is still difficult for him.

Leighton watches him nag and rolls his eyes. He gets up and leaves the cave. He smiles when he sees the landscape around him. The rain just made it look even better, it released its magic touch and made everything look brighter.

The droplets of water are still falling from the tree leaves, and some birds took advantage of the water left on the ground to drink from it.

Leighton stretches his arms and lets out a heavy sigh. He smells the nice fragrance of the flowers mixed with the one of the wet dirt. He smiles and starts walking.

Julian hurries to follow him. They might not be in good terms, but the actor can't stay alone in the

middle of the forest. He knows Leighton is the only one to know the way out.

Leighton stares at him and raises an eyebrow. He then looks in front of him and smirks.

Moments later, they arrive at the sands again. Julian sits down because he's tired, and Leighton runs to the water. He can't stand staying next to him because he only brings bad and negative thoughts to his mind. He prefers to swim in the cold water and let it chase any memory of the plane explosion.

He swims for a long moment and starts searching for fish for their dinner. He manages to catch two of them later.

When he's about to leave the water, something catches his attention. He sees something of an average size being dragged by the water. His heart beats faster every time he has a clearer look at what it might be, he starts praying and wishes it's not what he thinks it is.

When he arrives, he covers his mouth. He recognizes the child who was sitting next to him in the plane. His face is covered with scars and his body is ruined with small burns.

Julian runs to him and gasps when he sees the child, "Is he... is he dead?"

Leighton asks Julian to help him pull his body to the sand. He takes a breath and uses his fingers to check his pulse. It takes him a moment to look back at Julian and whispers, "I can feel his pulse."