Dion Hill
A strong character that one. So arrogant and ignorant. One man with an ego giant enough to cover the whole world. Dion Hill was the only child and son of the world’s richest man in the world—Bowman Hill.
In contrast to his son, Bowman Hill was a generous man who loved people and advocated for peace and tranquillity. Bowman would always give to charity and give scholarships and bursaries to the deserving. He was making a chance in the world. The man had a heart of gold.
However, his son, Dion Hill, was different from him. Dion had a sense of pride. His pride told him that he was better than anyone on the planet. Dion Hill was greedy and stingy. He would mind his business a lot, even when there was someone in need.
These useless people… Stinking up the air that I breath. These useless peasants… Why are they here, anyway? Is it to occupy space and become an eye-sore? How pathetic.
Dion believed that only his father and himself had earned the right be on the planet. In fact, his father was the only person who deserved his respect. The rest of them were unworthy of looking at him or talking to him.
……………………………………………………………………………….
This week, Dion was visiting his father in the United Kingdom. It was the week of his father’s birthday, and so it made sense that he spent the week with him. It hadn’t even been a day and already Dion was screaming at a poor little maid, “Is that how you wear your uniform? There’s stain on your collar and you’re parading around proudly. Is filth your pride?”
“No, sir.” The maid spoke for herself, “The stain only got there a few minutes ago. I couldn’t get to change as you had already arrived. I was told all the servants of this house were required to line up to greet you—”
“Are you talking back at me! Who are you, to hold a conversation with me?”
The mention was sparkly clean. They had heard that the son of Bowman would be visiting again, and they had spent the entire month deep cleaning every inch of that building. Each of these ladies and gentlemen had put on their newest cleaning uniform and had properly groomed themselves for his arrival. They stood in two lines… One on either side of the door. Ladies on the right and gentlemen on the left.
Dion had demanded to walk in through the double door, and so they opened the big door. He demanded that they shoot flowers above his head (the flowers where not allowed to touch him, because flowers are dirty), therefore, his personal butler shot an umbrella above his head (inside the house). And he demanded that they hoot the horn for him and hail his name.
Now, he was inside, yelling at the poor little maid. She was the newest edition. Her name was Daphne. She was shaking. She had never been shouted at like that in her life. Daphne was meeting Dion for the first time, she never anticipated being sacked on their first meet, “I prioritize hygiene; clearly, you don’t. Box your rags and go!”
“Dion!” finally, Bowman was out of his study. He was walking down the stairs to welcome his son. “Look at you, you came!” Bowman tried embracing his but this self-sufficient son pushed him off as though disgusted and in disbelieve of his father’s gesture. Dion dusted himself off and then stretched out his hand to shake his.
At this point, even Bowman was offended. He slapped Dion’s hand away. “Hey, come quickly. I have something to show you!” Bowman was running up the stairs, he was pulling Dion along even through Dion’s resistance. Dion, finally, saw what Bowman was trying to show him. They were walking through the corridors of the mention. The entire house was framed with paintings done by the deceased wife of Bowman and mother of Dion. The artworks were exquisite with no doubt lingering on. Each piece rouse interest and impatience.
This reminded Dion of something. He had a gift for Bowman. Bowman unwrapped the gift and saw a piece of artwork. He was surprised, “This is your mother’s! I have been looking for this! Why do you have it, Dion?”
“When I was 10, I saw you gathering all of her paintings. I thought you were getting rid of them—”
“Getting rid of them? I would never do that. I was collecting them, so that one day I could do this,” he pointed at paintings framed up on the walls. “I wasn’t getting rid of them. I would never do that to my wife.”
“I know that now.” Dion then said, “I have cherished it and everywhere I went, it went with me. However, that piece of art has become obsolete to me now. It is your turn to keep it and care for it.”
Bowman could almost cry. He was emotional as he looked at the painting he was given by Dion. The painting was an image of a green landscape. It was beautiful. “Your mother and I met in this park. It was her favourite spot for painting. She would drag me there every time, to keep me away from work. She said I was working too much and that I needed a break, but the irony is, she was always painting—always working. She was the one who worked too much.”
Dion could only wonder how his father could love a woman who had died over 20 years ago. Bowman never married again or dated after his wife’s passing. His intense feelings while he looked into the landscape painting shocked Dion very much. Dion could never understand what the man was feeling.
He always looks in pain when he brings up that woman. My mother. She died giving birth to me, too bad I never got learn to feel the things he felt on her too.
Dion also wondered why Bowman would ‘torture’ himself like that. It felt as though Bowman enjoyed the pain he felt for that woman.
Is this what love feels like? Pain? Then, why is everyone chasing love if all it does is shatter them to shreds? Is everyone a masochist?
AHHHHHHHH!
Came a noise from down stairs. Bowman quickly ran down, he was worried. He had to find out what happened, the servants never cried like that before. Dion couldn’t be bothered, he went to his room to refreshen up.
“What happened?!” Bowman was shocked at what he saw.
The entire kitchen floor was flooded with water. When they opened the door, the water streamed out and filled the rest of the rooms in the first floor. It was a giant pond. Someone must have carelessly left the tap running, and it flooded the home.
“Mr. Bowman,” Daphne stepped forward, “it was me!”
“I was so stressed out that I kind of zoned out when the tap was running. Now, the entire building is a mess, because of me!”Bowman asked, “But why were you stressed out, dear child?”“Sir Dion has fired me. My mother is very ill, I need the money, sir!”DING DONG!!That was the doorbell. Bowman had been expecting high profile guests. He had invited them over to celebrate his birthday. He never anticipated welcoming them into a flood. Now, Bowman was thinking that if he reached down the stairs and walked out to meet there, things would be better. He thought that maybe, if he directed them to the patio and kept them out of the house until the house was all dried up, would salvage his dignity.Bowman knew how judgmental his associates were. He knew that his extreme success had made him a target of jealousy and hate, even among the people who frequently smiled at him. It would be damaging if they walked in and found that Bowman could not manage his household. They would most likely sell
Daphne was ruminating over what Dion might have meant the previous night. She had asked to keep her job, but Dion was not exactly clear on his decision on her request.………………………….last night nemory…………………………….“I depend on this job, sir. I don’t want to lose it.”“You got me out of bed for this?” scorned Dion. He hated that he had to get the door for Daphne, when she had only petty matters. “GET OUT!!!”Daphne did not waste any time, she bounced instantly. Shut the door behind herself as soon as she was out.…………………………………………………………………………………“I mean, what did he mean by that” Daphne pondered. “Do I keep my job? Or do I move on?” She was the kitchen. Daphne could not sleep the previous night—she was very anxious about her job and so, she was the first house-help up that early. She was supposed to get started in making tea for her fellow house-helps so that all of them would be energized for the day’s work.However, Daphne’s mind was not at work. She did not want to have to work and only f
Bowman knew his son to be grumpy, almost all the times. He saw Dion sitting very quietly in the car. He may had been quiet but surely, his mind-space must have been loud. He could see the frown on Dion’s eyebrows. Bowman was in deed curious on what was bothering Dion this time, “So, Dion. What are you grumpy about today?”Dion did not feel the need to answer that, he only looked away. He looked into the scene through his window. Not that he was admiring, no. He never admired anything. Not even nature itself. As far as he knew, he was perfection itself, and nothing compared. Admiring other things only lowered his standards, the way he saw it.They were far from home by now. The journey was quiet and Bowman did not like that. He thought he should break the silence. Actually, he thought he should ask Dion what had been bothering him ever since they left the mention. “So, tell me, why is there Mr. Liam and Miss Thandi following?”“Protection and maintenance.”“And the people in the car be
Bowman made sure he took his son through all the activities he had planned but Dion would not do the garden and there was no convincing him otherwise. Often, Liam would curse each time Dion called on him. Liam hated his job entirely but it paid him well and he got to see Daphne. He thought that was enough reason for him stick around.One morning, Daphne was hesitating on Dion’s door. She had to return his clothes after doing the laundry. It was unfortunate that Liam was nowhere to be seen that morning. Allegedly, he went for his morning jog. She couldn’t get him to pass on the clothes to Dion. And Daphne knew that Thandi would never help her out.Finally, a knock. He opened. He saw her. He tried to close but she pushed it open. The door hit him bad on his face. She had pushed quite hard. The extra effort was just so she could be sure he that didn’t overpower her.“Ow, I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!” she tried reaching for him—“Don’t touch me!” he helped himself up.“I’m here to return your
Dion saw the things written about him on tabloids. His name was tarnished yet again. He had to remind himself that some people really wanted to destroy him, even mere maids. But Daphne’s case was not that at all. It was only ‘one thing led to another and another to disaster’ type of situation. He did not want face Daphne again; he only wanted the next day to come so that he would leave for his country already.The next day came faster than expected. It was the early hours of the morning. Dion was all packed and ready to leave that darned place. Liam and Thandi would follow him as usual. All of their bags were already tossed into the boot. Bowman was rather shocked when he saw the news. It was nothing new to see his son on the news but this time, it had gotten widespread. The people were even boycotting Dion from ever being the next CEO of his father’s company—the International Transport Service Unit (ITSU). That company employed a lot of people and these people were worried for their
Dion walked the halls of the big building, in Metallic Wholesalers. He was too excited. He couldn’t wait go there and show his face as the new CEO of the company. The respect that the people gave him was shockingly amazing. Most, if not all, of the functional managers went rushing out of their offices to welcome the only son of Master Bowman Hill. Sadly, not one of them had a shake of his hand. All Dion did was flash through the passage and look down on every hand that made way towards him. His goal was to get to his new office and there was nothing to stand in his way. They could only try and convince themselves that he was a very busy man, but little did they know that a terrible storm was rumbling above the dark clouds.In his office he found his PA. She was happy to introduce herself. Shoulders back, chest out and a broad smile, she was confident, “Terresa Fourie, your personal assistant.” She had her hand stretched out for his grip, “How are you, sir?”Dion only chose not to ente
Dion entered the premises and it showed. Every person in the building got on their toes. It was jitters and nerves. And perhaps fear. The big ITSU, that took up the largest land of Johannesburg. It was the first branch that Bowman built. He had extended it many times and renovated it many times to finally be as worthy for nominations as one of the land-markers of the town. “He’s back!” cries had begun.“What’s he doing here?”“Oh, no. What if he’s been told that I came in late five times last week? I am sacked!”“What if he knows that Brian and Zack had a fight again?”“What’s he doing here!”It was panic. As he walked through, they made way for him. They sat at their desks and each one as serious as though doing their work with passion. He paid no attention to them this time. He was on a mission. He was meeting Gabriel Wilson, his mentor. Gabriel Wilson was the marketing manager and he was previously appointed by the CEO Bowman Hill to work closely with Dion. This arrangement was don
Felicia was always jealous of Thandi—the personal maid to Dion. She had ideas of him falling in love with her. It was common for billionaires to fall in love with their maids. Dion took Thandi everywhere he went. This was for professional reason, but Felicia did not believe so. She always wanted to get rid of Thandi—she just hadn’t figured out how to.“You went to see your father. Did you take off with her?”Disgusted by Felicia’s insinuation, Dion scoffed, “What?”“She’s pretty. You don’t pay attention to me. Do not be surprised by my insecurities.”“She may be what you say, but she’s not my standard. I don’t go for those.”Thandi was taken aback by Dion’s response. She had no romantic interest in Dion, but it did sting hearing what he said about her. Dion did not care, he had no filter at all. Liam did laugh at her, it was a mimed laughter and he