Serendipity - A Chance Encounter 111 I Broke Your Car

"So what's the occasion? Why are we having dinner tonight?", Liam spoke as soon as he entered the dining room of the Cho Family's Villa. At the table sat, Mr. & Mrs. Cho, Daniel was still on his way.

"Let's wait for your brother, he will be here soon.", Mrs. Cho replied. "Son, who are you dating these days? Why haven't I heard any good news from you?"

Mr. Cho glanced at his son and went back to look over his newspaper, "I can help you look for a wife, Liam. My friend's daughters are good candidates."

"What? Please don't meddle with my love life. I will marry whoever I want and I am not in a hurry.", Liam refused as he munched on some peanuts.

"Oh, sweetie we're just worried that you're lonely. Do you have a girl who you like?", Mrs. Cho asked in a very curious expression; she propped up an elbow on the table.

"Mother, I am not lonely. I am just very busy with everything that's going on at work. If you want to help me, maybe you could tell your other son to lessen my workload."

From behind Liam, Daniel appeared, "Are you complaining already? It's not even half of what I'm planning to dump on you."

Liam turned his head, surprised at his brother's entrance. His lip twitched because of what Daniel said, "You really are such a tyrant boss! Do you even recognize me as a brother? How come you are so mean to me and give me huge responsibilities!?"

Daniel gave his mother a kiss on the cheek and chuckled as he sat opposite Liam. "I'm giving you more workload that's because you are my brother."

"I don't even know what that means.", Liam sulked like a little boy.

Mrs. Cho pacified her youngest son, "That means your brother loves you and he trusts you that's why he's giving you more responsibilities."

Upon hearing, Liam turned to look at Daniel like he just heard the sweetest compliment.

"Mother, when did I ever say that?", Daniel immediately became defensive.

Liam plastered a huge grin on his face and teased Daniel, "Aww.. bro, you should've told me that you feel that way so that I wouldn't complain so much, I love you too!"

Daniel cringed at his brother's clinginess. Daniel is 2 years older than Liam and when they were kids, he took care of his brother a lot. When Daniel started to go to school, Liam became clingy and Daniel was just being himself, teasing his little brother all the time.

Growing up, they would always play together especially since they were both boys. While Liam was so sweet and cheerful, Daniel was quite cold but he's caring towards Liam whenever he's not trying to make him cry.

One time, it was Christmas season and little Daniel was around 8 years old. Little Liam came into his room looking very scared. Daniel asked, "What's wrong?"

"I'm sorry… I… I broke your favorite toy car.", Liam extended his hand to show it to his older brother.

When Daniel saw the broken car, his little heart throbbed. It was the only car that he ever played with but then his naughty little brother broke it. "What happened? Why didn't you ask permission?", he asked with a pout on his face as he took the broken car from his brother's hands; he examined it.

"I liked your car… I wanted it, so I played with it but it fell down and broke.", Liam whimpered.

"You liked it?"

Little Liam nodded his head, "Yes, I liked this car."

A few days later, Christmas came and they were so excited to open their gifts from their parents. After playing with their new toys, Daniel handed over a wrapped box to Liam with a smile on his face. "Merry Christmas."

Liam's face brightened up and eagerly received the box from his brother's. "You prepared a gift for me?"

"Mhmm. It's something you like.", Daniel said. He drank his cold milk as he sat on the lazy chair.

"Can I open it now?"

Daniel nodded, "Sure."

Liam pulled and tore the wrapper apart until he finally opened the box. But upon seeing what was inside it, his face fell; his lips trembled. His little hands reached in and took out a broken car. It was Daniel's favorite car which he broke a few days ago, and it was still broken just like how it was days ago.

Liam looked at his brother, tears were forming in his eyes. Though he wasn't saying anything, it was apparent that he was feeling very guilty.

"What? You said you liked it. So it's yours now.", Daniel nonchalantly spoke as he stood up.

Liam broke into tears, ran to his room and locked up.

Daniel was such a naughty boy and he was laughing at his brother's reaction. That was his way of teaching him a lesson not to mess with his things anymore. And true enough, Liam never touched any of his things after that.

Though that was one sad Christmas present, Daniel did make up for it the next day by giving Liam a real gift. It was a different kind of toy car from the same brand and Liam loved it. But he will never forget the trauma that he experienced by his brother's cruelty as a child. Never mess with Daniel Cho's possessions.

…

Dinner was served and the Cho Family started eating. Liam then started the conversation again, "So, Daniel's here now… what did you want to talk about?", he asked before he took a bite of the beef stew.

Mr. Cho lifted his head and looked at both his sons, "I will be stepping down as Chairman."

As soon as Daniel heard this, he looked at his father with a perplexed look. This was something that he didn't expect to happen; at least not anytime soon. They have talked about this before and they have agreed that his father will stay as the Chairman of Cho Corporation for at least a few more years. What is this sudden announcement about?

Liam also had the same reaction as Daniel. Although the positions or ranking in the company was something that he wasn't really 'interested' in, his father's announcement was quite unexpected at that moment.

"Why so suddenly? I thought you would remain as Chairman for at least a few more years?", Daniel finally asked.

Mr. Cho & Mrs. Cho looked at each other and held hands, "I'm getting old and I want to enjoy my life while I still can."

"What do you mean, dad? You're not that old, you're still 60!", Liam exclaimed.

"I want to travel with your father, we haven't really done a lot of traveling over the years because of the company. And besides, Daniel is already handling things well.", Mrs. Cho stated.

Daniel was still in a daze, he's been the CEO of Cho Corporation for almost 6 years now but he did his duties with his father's guidance. So if his father would really step down from being Chairman, that would mean that he would have to bear a much heavier weight on his shoulder. Was he ready for something like this?

"Son…", his father called him.

Lifting his head, Daniel waited for his father to speak to him.

"I will be stepping down but it doesn't mean that I won't be helping you anymore, I will still be around whenever you'll be facing difficult decisions. You have done a really good job since you've become the CEO, what are you worried about?"

"It'll be different. I don't know if I'm ready for this.", Daniel admitted.

"Well, I won't be stepping down until a few months later. I'm just telling you ahead of my plans so that you can start preparing yourself.", Mr. Cho then turned his attention to Liam, "That means… you are going to help your brother in protecting this empire, so I expect more from you two. Make me proud, boys."