Finley Cai Aies Hall: January 1st, 20XX

We looked at each other from across the table with a business card and an unexplained letter in between us.

The man and I stared each other down with contrasting expressions. Mine was probably a mixture of confusion and annoyance while he was a sort of cocky confidence that could seem either incredibly charming to some or extremely irritating to others, namely me.

He was rather young for a lawyer, but as was obvious by a large number of certificates on his wall and the piles of documents on his desk, he was an experienced one.

He finally realized that I was waiting for him to talk and gave me a smile that I could only assume was supposed to be comforting. He then ruffled through his desk for the right documents and started asking his pre-prepared questions.

“Finley, was it?”

“Yes.”

“You’re emancipated?”

“Yes”

“Do you have an adult you are close to or can depend on for emergencies?”

I shook my head in response.

“No. there was no one to ask so I could only go for complete emancipation.”

“Have you read the letter we sent last week?”

“Yeah.”

He looked uncomfortable with my curt answers, but I didn’t want to speak more than I needed to. Being called to a lawyer’s office after a full school day had put me in a less than pleasant mood.

“I’m William Truman, the lawyer in charge of your case… you’re going into your last year of school, right? In the Business management course?”

“Yes.”

He reshuffled his papers and pushed forward the business card on the table.

“You found out about your mother last year, correct?”

I once again nodded but sat up in my seat with newfound interest.

What did this have to do with my mother?

“I’ll assume you already know about her passing.”

William looked at me expectantly for a grieved expression, but I didn’t even bother trying to pull one up. I didn’t even know her name until a few months ago, so it would be ridiculous to even try to summon any emotion over her.

He coughed uncomfortably and leaped on to the next topic. His hand brought the business card into my line of vision.

“Have you ever heard of this company?”

The extravagant card glared up at me with a single word in the center of its golden gilded edge,

Volui

Stolen novel; please report.

I knew that it was a rather large multi-media company, but I was unsure of what it had to do with this meeting. I nodded to his question as a reply,

“I do.”

Once again, uncomfortable with my curt replies, he hurried through the rest of what he had to say.

Because he was so obvious about it, I almost wanted to assure him that despite my curtness, I didn’t dislike him. He had a kind face and honest eyes.

“Her will came to light recently, and this-”

He raised the card once again,

“Was one of the things she passed down to you.”

I took it from him and looked it over, wondering what was so significant about a single business card that she would leave it in her will.

“Is there someone at this company that she wants me to meet?”

He raised an eyebrow, both at the comment and the fact that I replied with more than a single word but didn’t comment and continued on with his information dump.

I took a sip of the drink given to me, a decision I regretted upon hearing the next sentence. William brought out multiple deeds and other sheets of paper and laid them in front of me.

The company and all possessions of Belphoebe Hall have been transferred into the belongings of her only child and heir, Finley Cai Aies Hall.

William read along with the large black letters against the stark white background but stopped as I choked on the drink. He sprinted around the table and patted me on the back to help clear my airway.

“Are you okay?”

I nodded and took another drink as William sat me back down to clear my throat.

After making sure I was okay, he continued down the list of her possessions, which seemed to go on forever. When he finally finished, he put the paper back down and gave me a comforting smile that made his brown eyes twinkle with the reflection of the light.

“It’s a bit much to process at once, isn’t it? Do you want to take a break?”

I loosened the necktie on my uniform, which felt like it was strangling me before I shook my head in response.

“Let’s just get this over with.”

He nodded and heeded my request.

“Thankfully, you’re old enough to inherit these without too many complications; you being emancipated helps as well.”

He paused to make sure I was listening, then kept going.

“As for the signing of the contracts and documents, you must go down to city hall with your official lawyer. You’ll also need one to sort out the shares that are owned in the company.”

Before I could fully process how fast the pace of the conversation had become, he had already brought out a bunch of profiles of people I could only assume were lawyers.

“These are some good corporate lawyers I can recommend and a few that specialize in estate planning. There are a couple of general lawyers as well”

He pushed out three lawyer’s profiles.

“These guys’ personalities might fit with yours well, they aren’t big talkers and get the job done quickly, but they are prone to concessions so you might get a few losses in getting the properties”

He brought out another five,

“These guys’ personalities would definitely clash with yours as they get a bit wild sometimes, but I would recommend them because they never let a case go and they’ll get you as much as you deserve and then some.”

He finally looked up at me and noticed my sick expression. William slowed down to a stop and asked once again,

“Are you okay? I know this is a bit much to handle, but we have to get through it.”

I took a deep breath to calm down and tried my best to stay focused. As I looked over the profiles of the lawyers and considered them all, a thought occurred to me,

“Have you handled everything so far?”

He showed a surprised expression at the sudden question but nodded all the same,

“Yes, but why do you ask?”

“May I ask you to continue then? I would like to make this as quick and un-stressful as possible and it looks like you are the most informed on this case”

“Personally, I wouldn’t mind, but you shouldn’t make your decision because I’m the first lawyer you’ve met. I would suggest meeting with the other-”

Keeping my tone as calm but insistent as possible, I interrupted him.

“With what’s gone on so far, I have no problems entrusting this to you.”

He stared me down with an amused expression, and with a somewhat condescending tone that I ignored, said,

“I don’t particularly mind working under a guy younger than my younger sister, but I will mind if you talk down to me, can you assure me it won’t happen?”

“As long as I can have the same assurance, we have a deal.”

He chuckled; a rich and infectious sound.

“As the dependent in this contract, are you sure you’re in the position to be making demands?”

Despite the instigative comment, his tone was warm and unaggressive. It made me reply in kind and I smiled for what was probably the first time that day,

“As your new employer, I think I’m perfectly in that position.”