Date: Fri, 26 May 2006 19:58:18 +1000
From: Hayden Som <equinoxneo@hotmail.com>
Subject: Pure Chance chapter 2

The following story contains gay themes, is fictional, and contains no
explicit sexual content.  The author retains all rights.  Copying or
reproductions in part or whole is not allowed without the authors consent.

Okay, that said, this is my second story I'm posting on Nifty.  I love to
hear from people so email me your thoughts at the address provided above.
Or you can leave a comment on my blog (where I will update and post each
chapter before I submit it on nifty, you'll also find other stories I've
written posted there) so drop by at;

http://gayshortstories.blogspot.com/


Chapter Two: Throwing Bones

Talan Kedron believed that everybody deserved the benefit of the doubt.  It
was hard to believe his own girlfriend could actually be intimate with
another man.  His head hurt him too much to even think about it, so he
pushed it out of his mind altogether.  He wasn't going to start believing
every scrap of gossip coming from such questionable sources as the
pretentious socialites who mingled with his family.  Of course, if he told
his mother that she would have a stroke for sure!  Those people were her
livelihood, the regulars at her chain of very expensive Day Spa's.   Most of
those socialites were extremely influential and thus a great asset to his
father's new career path.

His parents were the main reason he was even with Cassandra, after all they
did play the matchmaker too often to count.  The first girl he dated wasn't
good enough for his mother and it didn't last long because of it.  After
that he resigned himself to letting his mother set him up instead.  If she
didn't put so much pressure on him he would still be single now.  He cared
for Cassandra quite deeply though and held a lot of affection for her.
Still, he wasn't a fool, he knew he didn't love her, but he could see
himself marrying her, growing old with her, raising a family with her and
perhaps, eventually come to love her.  In these modern times, love didn't
always come into the picture and taking the next best thing was as good as
it gets.  He had no illusions about that.

"My, my, Son, aren't you a bit lonely out here by yourself?" his mother
asked behind him.

Talan turned around, he said, "Out here I have the stars to keep me company
Mum."

"Sure, if you like having one way conversations,"  his mother said, "Come
inside now, you'll catch a cold if you stay here too long."

Talan conjured up a smile and positioned his arm for his mother to loop hers
around.  Together they walked back inside the mansion through the
magnificent French doors and into the splendour of the entertainment hall.

"Look at all those women who pine for you Son," his mother whispered in his
ears.  It was true that many of the females looked their way as they walked
in.  So did most of the people there; his mother was a sight to behold in
her silk gowns and glittering jewellery, they could just as easily be in awe
of her beauty and grace.  She chuckled lightly and continued, "Oh how many
hearts you could break if I let you run loose!"

He smiled at her remark, she couldn't be further from the truth.  Most of
these women didn't have a personality that wasn't garnered from years of
pretentious snobbery, but he respected her too much to disagree with her.

The entertainment hall was crowded with all manner of people.  Most were of
different occupations, the more important such is several High Court judges,
members of parliament and prominent television personalities were being
personally entertained by his father.  Currying favour for his career Talan
rather suspected.  The hall was expansive and a large crystal chandelier
hung on the high ceiling above them in the centre of the room.  It was like
a scene from a movie where the royalty would hold an extravagant ball for
the local gentry, which wasn't far from the truth.

They hadn't always been so rich.  He still remembered the days when he went
to school with worn clothes, holes in his shoes and carried a dirty old
school bag that resembled a potato sack.  His father had struck a gold mine
when a distant relative in England passed away and left them with a sizable
inheritance.  He remembered he was still a boy when that happened.  The
money wasn't a lot but the antiques that were left behind fetched a tidy
sum.  His father wasn't stupid, he invested it straight away until he had
enough to start an enterprise that made him the owner of over a dozen
successful apartment living resorts and also the owner of just as many sky
rise buildings in Sydney.  His mother's Day Spa business eventuated out of
their success and branched out to become successful and highly profitable on
its own.  His father was still expanding, and only made the company public
recently to buy out many more properties in his attempt to own Sydney under
the banner of Kedron Incorporated.

His parents had to sacrifice a lot in order to get them to where they were.
In fact, growing up he rarely ever saw his parents and he was mostly raised
by a stern yet kind hearted nanny.  He still loved his parents, he could
never tell them how much he disliked this mansion they bought several years
ago.  It was too big and felt sterile to him, yet his parents were happy and
as long as they stayed happy he didn't care.

Talan spied Cassandra making her way towards them.  Smiling she said to his
mother, "Marlene, do you mind if I take your handsome son for a dance?"

His mother offered his arm to her, "Be my guest dear."

Cassandra took his arm and led him to the dance floor.  Talan placed his
hand on Cassandra's waist and the other upon her shoulder.

"You always smell nice honey,"  Talan said taking in her aroma as they
slowly danced.

"Thank you Talan," Cassandra said, "I never tire of your compliments."

He didn't want to bring it up the issue of the ghastly rumour he'd heard
earlier, especially like this, but he had to know.  He said, "I hear that
you've been, um, spending a lot of time with, um, a male friend lately."

"What?" she pulled back to look at him, "Oh, silly, yes, I have, I forgot to
tell you because you've been so busy with your work.  My brother is visiting
me from England for the first time and we've been catching up on
everything."

A weight lifted from his shoulders, relieved he said, "That's great."

Cassandra give him a disapproving look, "Don't tell me you had the wrong
idea, you know you're the only one for me."

"No, not at all, I didn't believe for a second you were like . . . that,"
Talan said.
"Good, because I want you to meet my brother soon, that is, when you're not
busy," She said to him.

"Why didn't you invite him here tonight?" he asked.

"Are you kidding?" she said, "He hates these things, says they're more posh
than the Queen's public appearances."

Talan laughed softly, "I know what he means."

The orchestra finished playing the current score and Cassandra said, "I'm
going to freshen up and get a drink, I should probably get going soon too,
it's getting late."

"Okay then, I should probably check on my father to make sure he's not
keeping his guests up late either," he said.

Talan walked up the marble staircase leading to the mezzanine level and
spotted his father laughing boisterously.  He made his way next to his
father and nodded an acknowledgement to the other guests.

His father slapped him on his shoulder and gripped him there tightly.  Talan
conjured up another smile.  His cheeks were going to be sore if these
gatherings continued to occur with too much regularity.

"Isn't that right Son, you can never have too much of a good thing!" his
father said to him.

"Yet there are too few good things to even enjoy too much of," Talan said
tactfully.  Throw these people a few pearls of wisdom and they'll gnaw on it
like dogs with a bone.  Of course these people weren't dogs, the expression
just seemed appropriate.

"You see how wise my Son is," his father beamed proudly.

"That is absolutely right," someone said.

"Very true indeed," another person said and for a moment they all continued
to interpolate on his insight.

"That is why," his father began, "I am considering appointing my son as CEO
of Kedron Incorporated."

A buzz arose from everyone within hearing distance.  People talked over one
another as they all pondered the implications.  Talan himself had plenty of
questions running through his head.  Instead he quietly asked his father,
"What did you say?"

"Son there has never been a better time to bring you into the company, I
just know you have what takes to succeed," his father said.

"Can I speak with you privately?" he asked.

His father led him to a corner for some privacy.  He said, "You're not happy
about my decision are you?"

"It's not that," Talan said, he sighed, "I just wish you'd asked me first, I
mean I've got other commitments that won't easily be brushed off."

"You mean being a legal aid lawyer?" his father said disdainfully,
"Honestly, I don't know what you see in that line of work, you don't even
care about working your way up."

Talan took a deep breath,  when his father imposed something on him he
always managed to strike up a fair compromise.  It seemed unlikely he could
dissuade his father this time.  He said, "Look Dad, at least give me the
time to earn my way there, get a degree, start from the bottom and work my
way up, you know how I feel about having things dropped on my lap."

His father scrutinised him for a moment, then he said, "You know, that's
what I love about you, you've got a mighty pride and could never accept
being handed things on a silver platter.  I still think it would be best if
you let me make you CEO of Kedron Incorporated."

"But Dad, I'm happy being a lawyer and I'm happy doing legal aid work . . ."
he began.

"But nothing Son," his father cut him off, "You could have worked for any of
the top legal firms in Sydney and maybe even become a high court judge one
day like some of these fine people, yet you have no ambition, I don't get
it."

"Perhaps I don't care about money and power," Talan said quietly as he
stared at the floor.

"Is that really what you think about me?" his father said, a dangerous tone
entering his voice, then more gently, "I'm going to forget I heard that.
Maybe you should go home and think about what I'm offering you, all I want
is my son to take over my business when I retire, why don't you go home and
think about it?"

Talan did just that.  He decided not to stay and argue with his father, he'd
never seen his father in a bad mood but he was pretty sure he could come
close to bringing it out of him.  He was too upset to even say goodbye to
anybody after grabbing his leather jacket and helmet.  He had the helmet on
before he reached his motorbike and as soon as he hopped on he had it
started and revved up.  Leaving in a squeal of burning tyres he rode out of
his parents mansion and headed towards his apartment in Sydney.

All his life he'd somehow managed not to accept too many handouts from his
parents.  With the exception of having his law degree paid for him, he
pretty much survived on his own resources.  In law school he took a job
working at the city's brewery to pay for his study expenses and so he could
move out and live independently.  The money was good and he was never short
on cash.  Yet his parents still gave him a platinum credit card and bought
him a ridiculously expensive Porsche.  He never used the credit card and he
bought a motorbike as an excuse not to drive the Porsche.

How could his father have the nerve to know what was best for him, after
all, he never raised him.  His nanny, God rest her soul, taught him
everything he now knew about what was right and wrong, and what it meant to
be a real man.  She told him many stories about her deceased husband and
Talan always strove to be as virtuous as that man.  His father wouldn't know
the first thing about him.  He knew his father meant well, both his parents
did, they always tried to do what was best for him, what they couldn't
understand was that the best thing for him wasn't always the right thing for
him.

So he rode through the streets of Sydney, attempting to take his mind off
his father's imposition.  As he entered an intersection a few blocks from
his apartment he turned left without thinking and forgot to check for any
pedestrians.  He noticed a dark haired man sporting a goatee laughing with
another lady as he took a step onto the street.  The man saw him just in
time to stop himself from taking another step and Talan passed him with only
inches to spare.  Talan's heart started racing and he thanked God he didn't
run the man over.  Talan slowed down quickly and looked back to make sure
the man was okay.  The dark haired man looked like he was struggling to keep
from falling into the other woman's exceptionally large breasts, and in his
attempt to evade them he ended up bumping his head into the traffic light
pole with extreme force, then he landed heavily onto the sidewalk.

Talan turned his bike around to see if the man needed any assistance.
Feelings of guilt were already starting to overcome him.  The scantily clad
woman with the large breasts was kneeling over the man worriedly.  After
getting off his bike he made his way towards them and the woman looked up at
him with fury in her eyes.

"You careless bastard, don't you bikies have any concern for other people!?"
she screamed at him.

He held his hands up palms outwards, he said, "I'm sorry, it was an
accident."

A few people had gathered around now, curiosity mingled with concern.

"Do you know what you've done, do you know who this man is!?" she screamed
at him shrilly.

"There's no need to shout miss, I'm sure it's best we call the ambulance
first," Talan suggested.

"I'm not stupid you imbecile, but you should know that this man is no other
than Dr. Day from KPS FM, and if he has to be hospitalised and can't present
his shows a lot of people are going to be very disappointed, and then you'll
hear from our lawyers, no, you will hear from our lawyers," the woman said.
He refrained from telling her he was a lawyer, he didn't want another mouth
full from her.  In a huff she took out her mobile phone and dialled for an
ambulance.

As the woman spoke on her mobile, Talan leaned down to take a closer look at
Dr. Day.  He wore a green military shirt and fashionable jeans.  His hair
was cut trendily and styled in a messy look.  His goatee was kept very neat
and the rest of his facial hair from his sideburns down to the goatee was
also neat and closely trimmed.  He looked young, a lot younger than he would
have guessed from his soothing deep radio voice.  The doctor's eyes seemed
to shift around and it looked like he couldn't focus properly.  Then his
eyes steadied and focused.  Talan leaned down and lifted his visor to get a
better look at him.

"Are you okay?" Talan asked Dr. Day, "Can you hear me?"

The man mustn't have heard.  He smiled and said, "Mmm, blue."

Talan couldn't help but smile himself.  He was about to say something but
the doctor's eyes went out of focus, then he promptly went unconscious.

"Shit," Talan swore under his breath.  He didn't usually swear but he was
sure this time he could make an exception.  He continued swearing, "Damn it,
bloody hell."

He stopped when he realised people were still watching.  When he looked up
he saw that a small crowd had gathered.  The woman was glaring at him
venomously and he could pick out a few stray words being passed around.  The
most common ones he heard were 'idiot', 'ran over', and 'Dr. Day'.  It
didn't take a genius to figure that one out.  When he first heard the woman
say the man he almost ran over was Dr. Day he couldn't understand the
importance of who she was referring to, but then it slowly sunk in as he
remembered the rising star of KPS FM's new psychological help show.  Even
his mother enjoyed listening to the show when she found the time and
admittedly he himself listened sometimes as he fell asleep.  The man gave
extremely good advice and it was accessible to all kinds of people
regardless of age, sex or social status.  His shows were always relevant and
informative, and he also seemed to help a lot of the people who called for
his advice.  To think he may deprive the people of Sydney of a very
important person.  His face flushed red with heat and shame at the thought.

"Shame on you young man," a middle aged woman scolded him, echoing his
thoughts, "Dr. Day is such a nice gentleman, why, my husband and I listen to
his shows all the time.  You better pray for God to forgive this
transgression of yours."

Murmurs of agreement spread through the crowd.  Talan was beginning to feel
he'd been at the wrong place at the wrong time.  Well, there was nothing for
it now.  He was going to have to make sure Dr. Day would make it through
okay.  He was even willing to pay for the damages and accept legal
responsibility.  The fault was his after all, he knew that the causation
could be attributed to his negligence.

"Yeah, I called up for his help once when I was in a rut," an emotional male
voice said.  Talan looked around to see a young man in tears, "The doctor
helped me get my shit together and I swear if Dr. Day doesn't get through
this, you're gonna pay for it."

What the heck!  Somehow he managed to cause the doctor's injuries in the
vicinity of several of the doctor's devoted fans.  Great.  Fortunately the
sounds of an approaching siren saved him from any more mortal threats.  The
paramedics did their work and he followed them to the hospital on his
motorbike.

The emergency waiting room had a few other distressed looking people waiting
for news of their loved ones, so it was fairly quiet.  That was until the
woman with the large breasts came storming in followed by a band of
reporters and cameramen hot on her heels.  He groaned and braced himself for
the worst.  In the past he'd dealt with the media due to his line of work,
and like any other lawyer he had his fair share of them.  This was going to
be bad.  No matter what he said they would still manage to twist his words
and make him look guilty.  All he could do was say as little as possible and
keep a neutral expression.  His father wasn't going to be happy with him.

The huge breasted woman pointed at him and said quite loudly, "That's the
man who ran over Dr. Day."
A stream of paparazzi came at him like a swarm of flies.  A dozen questions
were fired at him and countless camera flashes near blinded him.  He took a
deep breath and said calmly, "It is not true that I ran over Dr. Day, though
I did nearly have a collision with him and in avoiding the collision Dr. Day
unfortunately hit his head on a traffic light pole.  I am prepared to take
full responsibility for being the cause of his injuries.  Thank you."

Then more questions, mostly asking who he was or what his name was.

"My name is Talan Kedron," he said clearly.

Shocked exclamations and gasps escaped the reporters.  Some of them dropped
their mics and Dictaphones.  Then they erupted in a barrage of a hundred
different questions.  Yep, his father wasn't going to be very happy with him
at all.  He was finally saved by the hospital staff when they ushered the
media out with threats to sic security on them.

The woman with the enormous breasts remained behind smiling at him
maliciously.  He said to her, "I'm glad you're having fun, you didn't have
to get the media involved."

"But darling," she purred at him, "They would have caught up with you sooner
or later.  I just decided to save you the trouble."

Talan refused to play her game.  He decided to ignore her instead.  When she
received no response from him she went to speak to the nurse at reception.

"Hi, I'm Jessica Barker, Dr. Day's personal secretary," she introduced
herself to the chubby female nurse before handing a card over, "I have
informed his family and his flatmate of the situation and I'll be back in
the morning to check on his status, but could you please contact me on that
mobile number if he wakes up before then."

"I'll be glad to do that Jessica," the nurse assured her.

Jessica thanked her and said she had to leave and get everything ready for
the coming media storm.  As she passed Talan she said to him threateningly,
"You'll be hearing from the station's lawyers."

Talan sighed.  That woman was really mean.  He was about to question the
nurse on Dr. Day's condition but she glared at him so he decided to give it
some time before he asked.  He sat down on the hard plastic seats and
lamented over the recent events as the hours passed.  He could not have
chosen any worse a time to come under the eye of the media in such a
negative way.  He was positive things would work out though, his father
would understand.  Hopefully Dr. Day would understand as well.  He wouldn't
blame the doctor if he hated Talan for nearly killing him.  He really hoped
Dr. Day was going to be alright, he didn't know how he would live with
himself if things turned out to be bad.  The night's events were taking a
toll on him and he found himself leaning his head against the wall with his
eyes closed.  The sun would be up soon and he knew he should stay awake.
There was no telling if that evil woman Jessica would slip some poison into
his mouth while he slept but sleep overtook him anyway and he dreamt of
himself riding down an endless road in a barren land on his motorbike.
Every now and then in his dreams he would see the face of Dr. Day but
whenever he tried to look closer the doctor would disappear.

When he woke up he felt disoriented and it took him a moment to recall where
he was and what had happened.  He checked the time and saw it was close to
nine o'clock.  A man with short frayed brown hair and beady eyes sat next to
him playing with a Dictaphone.

"I was recording you while you were sleeping," the man said in a whispery
and slight reedy voice.

Talan was slightly disturbed by that, "Okay, um, I don't understand."

"Well you see," the strange man said, "I find people more interesting when
they're asleep, the noises they make are positively fascinating."

The skin on Talan's body crawled all over with goosebumps.  The hair on the
back of his neck also stood on end.  Alarm bells rang in his head and his
whole body screamed for him to run and be as far away from this man as
possible.  That was strange considering he'd never been scared for his life
before and he was more than capable of taking care of himself.

"I'm glad I could entertain you," Talan said warily.  He glanced at the
Dictaphone again and noticed the 'ABC Radio' sticker on it.  Relief settled
on him but he still couldn't shake the peculiar feeling he had about the
man.

"No, No, I must thank you," the beady eyed man said, "Your slumberous noises
were quite entertaining indeed.  I feel like I know you a bit more now,
Talan Kedron, is it?"

The man was still creeping him out, he said, "Yes that's right."

"Your father is a business genius and you are a well known legal aid lawyer,
a good one at that may I add," the strange man said, and in a little chant
he went on, "Little rich boy, wants to be emancipated, won't take daddy's
money, wants to make his own path."

He didn't think his past actions reflected his personal life that obviously.
  He hadn't done anything wrong, but he knew people often questioned his
choice to constantly take up work for legal aid.

He saw the nurse walking up to him but he stood and met her halfway.  She
said with barely hidden distaste, "Dr. Day is awake and conscious now,
visiting hours are from eight to ten, you cannot see him without his
permission though."

"Okay, great, can you tell him I want to speak with him for a moment I
really want to apologise to him," Talan said.

"Humph, I guess that's a start," the nurse said, "Why he would even want to
talk to the man who almost killed him is beyond me, Dr. Day is such an
intelligent man, I wouldn't blame him if he refused to see you."

At that she turned on her heels and left.  How was it possible for one
person to have this many loyal fans.  It was unbelievable.  It was also
unheard of considering Australia's affliction with the tall poppy syndrome.
He shook his head and looked around for the strange man from before.  He was
nowhere in sight and Talan thought nothing more of the man as he waited for
the nurse.