Descendents of Aventurine

Identity

Gust tried to open his eyes and he could feel a sharp pain. Everything around was dark and dizzy. He felt trapped in an earthquake and was about to get swallowed into the underworld.  What is happening? Where is he? He thought to himself.  A sudden jolt made him fall on the ground and he quickly realized he was tied to a chair. More importantly he wasn’t in a room; he was locked inside a truck.

Flashback

(Earlier that day…)

“Here come our Ace of Disgrace……ladies and gentlemen let’s cheer for dis-Gust   whoooooooo…”

Gust brushed past by Josh nonchalant.

The self-proclaimed king of their University. This was heightened by his well appreciated physique, and, to put a cherry on top of his ego, he was liked by everyone. Literally everyone, even the professors. One reason being he was from an affluent family. And this gave him power to do what he liked. All he liked was manipulating people, coercing innocents into illegal activities. But he never got his hands dirty. He had plenty of his henchmen.

“Ouch!! Gust don’t be so cold we are welcoming you we are your friends-”

Are you? Gust faced Josh who was scorning at Gust.  

“But do friends name call??…Aha!! Well may be then I should call you Beef Jerky” Gust spoke out innocently. A slight smile crept up at the corner of his lips.

“Are you mocking me?”

No

You think you are smart huh? You are trying to fool me?

I don’t want to fool you. You already are one. 

There was a dead silence in the university corridor. Students had been watching the show from the start. And the last words from Gust made some one scoff out loud enough to trigger Josh’s rage. He pushed Gust to the ground with all his strength-

You have been troubling me for quite some time DisGust. I should have dealt with you a lot earlier. Being an ace in class doesn’t mean you are an ace in life you filthy orphan. No family, no connections in this world mean you are a looser.  Surely you can lead a life in the gutters but you think you can establish yourself in the world without money, influence, pedigree.

Josh was growling with rage.

He hit Gust with his ankle boots twice and was about to hit him for the third time when the class bell rang and immediately his followers stopped him.

Josh!! It is Mr. Matthew’s class. Stop now. Let us head back to class, he is not fond of late arrivers.

With one of the main characters leaving, the crowd soon dispersed into various directions.

Gust laid there for a few minutes. His face was bruised from those harsh blows. Despite the pain he was in his eyes were still blank. As if there were no feelings. He was looking at the mess that had been created earlier from that scene. His eyes fixed at a photograph that had fallen out of his backpack. And a soft smile crept on his lips.

Gust had been an intelligent student throughout his school. In his orphanage “Shelter everyone loved him. Shelter never felt like an orphanage to him. Thanks to the ward sisters. When Gust was 5 years old he believed this is how life should be. Home is a place where you are cared for. Shelter was his safe place. Gust had attached a deep sentiment towards his orphanage.  He felt he could never live anywhere else. He could never fit into the happy family disguise. However, he received his biggest blows when he witnessed his friends being adopted. He never understood why his friends were so excited.

Out of curiosity he asked to Jenna one of the ward members “why is everyone so happy when they get taken away by elders?”

“Because they get to be part of a family”

“So? We are a family too. Right?”

“Only when you get adopted Gust, you get an identity. You get to be the son or daughter of so and so. You get to lead a happy life”.

Gust thought for a while and answered “well I have an identity, I am Gust, eleven years old boy goes to shelter house Elementary School and I am happy living here with you all. So I don’t intend on leaving you”

Jenna thought it was nothing but a child’s babble until she witnessed Gust’s staged tantrum in front of couples every time they came to adopt kids and when Gust was introduced to them.  No one could scold him because somehow or the other he would find faults within them.

Gust did not mind being an orphan until his high school for which he had to move out of Shelter’s school. While filling up the admission details he was bummed up with information details like father’s name, occupation, job type. Why were they important?  He self-reflected. Very soon he got the answer. Identity of parents gave acceptance. Having no identity means being an outcast. Gust was an outcast in this new school. Things were not very smooth for him because his class mates ostracized him.

It was at this time Gust had met Josh one autumn morning.  Josh had returned from Paris and had joined during mid-session.

Gust was however invisible to josh till he graduated.

Gust had been a promising student throughout his academic career and thus scored straight A’s. This made him eligible to get into his favourite university which was one of the top universities of the city. He received full time scholarship from Peterson Company enough to bear his rent at hostel because Gust could no more stay at Shelter.

One of the rules of shelter was once the children turn 18 they had to leave their home.

For the first few days everything progressed smoothly, until josh came up to gust one day wanting Gust to do his assignment for him. When gust turned josh down he was surprised and irked.

“You can’t say no, not at least to the heir of Peterson Companies.

Why can’t I?

Because my father sponsored you. You owe that to him and you owe that to me. Josh spoke with authority.

Gust calmly stood up and said “I don’t owe anyone anything. Students receive scholarship through hard work, which was my case also. I am neither your father’s servant nor yours.”

He was about to leave the class but stopped to say “moreover Peterson Company belongs to your father. You are not an heir yet. Maybe you focus on what is important rather than being jerk”

This line was enough to make Gust Josh’s lifelong target and the hunting had started from that day onwards. That night Josh had ordered his disciples to teach Gust a lesson after finding out his daily routine.