The Ancient Genes

Roxley House, Trinity.

A while ago..

Max stood in the side with a sigh as he looked at Ander, Roman and Melinda engaged in a conversation.

"It's time to use this opportunity and eliminate this enmity. How long are we going to let this continue? It isn't doing great for either of us." Melinda said, looking at Roman and Ander.

"You know, we are going to lose support from some of the elders and even our position in the Guild Union will be affected by it," Roman said with a frown.

"It is going to be affected no matter what you do." Melinda shook her head.. "Do you really think that we can make a complete comeback from this incident without suffering anything?"

Roman knew that it wasn't possible.

"We should use this opportunity to our advantage. You know, your cousin, Omen has been getting ahead of himself. He is pushing Barnes as an enemy and using it to boost his fame, when he is the one causing all the chaos."

"Melinda!" Roman frowned when she brought up a sensitive topic of the family like this.

"It's not the time to be hesitating, you know what Omen has in mind. Are you really going to wait for him to get his claws on your neck, before you begin to fight back?" Melinda asked with a frown.

Roman couldn't retort to it at all.

"Let me make something clear here, I am in support of ending this pointless feud. And, if needed, I will help you out in dealing with the trouble on your side," Ander said with a calm look on his face.

"You are always the first to help aren't you? Do you think I don't understand the reason behind your actions." Roman glared at him.

"Enough of it!" Melinda frowned, she was unhappy that he was still not thinking straight here.

"Wow! Now even, you are going to take the prick's side!" Roman said in anger. He was clearly upset here.

"It's time we tell this idiot, the truth Melinda or else he won't allow us to proceed further," Ander suddenly said as he looked at Melinda.

His words immediately caused Melinda to frown and it was clear that she wasn't willing to do it.

"Tell me what?" Roman frowned looking at the two. There was a secret that they had, and he wasn't even aware of it? You can imagine him raging at it.

"What's going on?" He asked looking at the two, but Ander just kept quiet and stared at Melinda.

"Will you two answer me?!" Roman shouted in anger. He was clearly about to lose it.

"Fine! We lied! Ok!" Melinda finally said and sighed.

"Lied? About what?" Ander asked with a frown.

"Do you remember the days back in the Academy?" Melinda asked, looking at him.

"Yeah? Why do you ask that?" Roman looked at her as his eyebrows scrunched together.

"Well, Ander never pursued me in the Academy…" Melinda said with a calm look.

"What?" Roman was confused, he couldn't understand what this was suddenly about.

"He was only acting, we were only good friends, and nothing else," She said with a sigh.

"Then...back.." Roman was clearly having a hard time arranging it all in his head.

"It was all an act that I orchestrated," Melinda said with a straight face, "Since, you were not noticing how important I was, I decided to let you know."

Roman's eyes widened in surprise.

He clearly remembered everything and it all started to make sense. The three of them were good friends and Roman had admitted his feelings for Melinda. But, with passage of time, things between them had not gone so smoothly.

One day, the two had a fight and it left their relationship in a place where they didn't even know if they were dating each other. It was then that Ander came into the competition and it honestly turned their friendship upside down.

At one point, Roman had almost lost Melinda for sure, but in the end he managed to win her heart once again. And, since then, he had cherished her till today. It was only then that he realized her importance in his life.

But, now she was saying that all of that was orchestrated, just to get him in line.

"You two are lying…" Roman wasn't willing to accept it. He had been prideful and looking down on Ander the entire life for beating him.

But now, didn't this mean that he was laughing at him all along.

"You really think, I will pursue a crazy lady like her?" Ander couldn't help, but shake his head.

"What did you say?" Melinda glared at him, and he instantly turned silent.

Roman could not believe his ears. He felt that his entire life had been a lie.

"Why would you do something like that? We were good friends!" Roman suddenly looked at Ander.

Ander shook his head and sighed, "Well, I thought that she was a good match for you. She was smart and could handle an idiot like you. So, when I saw you going down the wrong path, I decided to sacrifice our friendship for your betterment."

"Ander.." Roman didn't know what to say. He had been thinking bad about him all along. Yet, he was thinking about him.

"You sure make me laugh, didn't you sell him out because I managed to get some dirt on you?" Melinda laughed looking at Barnes, and sweat began to form on his face.

"Y-You.." Roman's face churned in anger. This guy not only sold him to save his ass, but was even pretending to be his savior.

"Calm down, Roman. I was helpless. If I didn't give into her threats, I wouldn't be with my wife today." Ander tried to calm him down.

Ander actually was after Lesia from the very start, but she had been a star those days and was hard to approach. She came to the Academy a few times a month due to her shows and hence, it was even harder to see her.

So, in order to get close to her, he actually bought the whole company that she had signed up with.

And unfortunately, he had told Melinda about it one day after getting drunk. In the end, she blackmailed him that she would inform Lesia about it.

If Lesia came to know about it, she would definitely be creeped up. She would even put her guard up thinking of Ander as some weirdo.

Hence, he allowed himself to be blackmailed as he didn't want any chances and that is how the rivalry between him and Roman begun.