Chapter 14 - Great Great Great Great Great Great...... Uncle

Marc Sanderman kicked all of his directors out of the meeting room and immediately called his own assistant to help him take care of his great uncle's request. "Alex, meet me in my room now. I need you to do something for me," he spoke briefly on the phone and then walked out of the meeting room to his own office. After he plopped his butt on his chair, the man looked at his watch to check the time. Only then did he realize it was already 5 pm. So, that meant he had been torturing his directors for two hours for the preparation of their new project before the meeting was cut short by Loriel's call. What would his uncle do with a hostel? Marc was wondering. He had known this great uncle of his for almost his whole life, but still, he could never understand the man. Loriel would come to visit his family from time to time, and he was the Sanderman family's biggest secret. Loriel Ashborne's existence had been a secret that was being passed down from generation to generation by the Sanderman family, and only the heir would be given this knowledge, along with their inheritance. If Marc had siblings, they wouldn't know who Loriel actually was. He was the only child so he didn't have to keep the secret from his siblings. However, his cousins didn't know, and their parents also didn't know this. Only the senior Sanderman was entrusted with the secret from his father, Marc's grandfather, and their fathers before them. Marc only found out the truth five years ago. He would always remember that day like it was yesterday because it was so shocking and had a great impression on him to this day. His father, Jacob Sanderman, who was on his deathbed, called Marc to the hospital to tell him this big secret before he passed away. His father said the man who sometimes came to visit their home in summer was actually his uncle, not his younger cousin. It was quite surprising because the man looked so young. "Wait... so, Loriel is not your younger cousin, but... YOUR uncle?" Marc couldn't believe his own hearing. Was his father delusional because of the drugs he consumed during his medication? He turned to the doctor who was standing beside him and asked the man with a raised eyebrow. "Is my father lucid? What did you feed him?" The doctor waved his hands nervously, "Sir, we didn't feed any drugs to your father. He is completely lucid." Marc batted his eyes in confusion. He turned to his mother who was sitting by the bed with a devastated expression. He asked his mother if what his father was saying was true. The beautiful woman nodded weakly. "It's true. You should let your father finish his story before you interrupt him," she said. The elegant lady motioned the doctor to leave them and gave them privacy. "We will call you if we need you." "Alright, Madam." The doctor nodded respectfully. "I will just be outside." After the doctor left, Sarah Sanderman pulled her son's hand to sit beside her and listen to his father's story attentively. "Don't keep standing there, you make me tired just by looking at you," she complained. Marc obeyed his mother's order and sat docilely by her side. He didn't want to add to her stress during these tough times. His father had been fighting cancer for several years, and they knew it was now time to let him go. Marc looked at his father with furrowed brows. "So.. Loriel is your uncle? Why did you always introduce him to me as your distant younger cousin if it was not true?" He started to think there was something that was not right from the way his father kept it a secret and only revealed it to him now, on his deathbed. "Actually.. he is not my real uncle..." his father said with a weak voice. "Uh? I don't get it..." Marc rubbed his messy hair. His face was filled with confusion. "If he is not your younger cousin, but also not your real uncle... then, who is he?" The Sanderman senior coughed and replied. "He is my great uncle." "Great uncle?" Marc's eyes widened. "I still don't get it." "Well... in fact... he is not just my great uncle, but...." Marc's father smiled cheekily, "No... maybe actually he is my great great great great great great great great great great..... uncle. It's too many 'greats', I've lost count." Even though the man was on his deathbed and ready to die, he couldn't help but feel amused at his only son's reaction when he told him the secret that he had been keeping for so many decades. The secret that only the heir of the Sanderman family was allowed to know.