Mr. Xi was a tall man at 6'2, with an appearance of an Asian action star. His physique was the aesthetic ideal, muscular but not too bulky, and his stylistic choices were also pleasing to the eye.
He had straight shoulder-length hair that was pitch black and well-combed. His suit was a crisp Armoani three piece suit. The charcoal gray vest looked custom tailored, straight out of the bag.
Mr. Xi's jacket was a sharp green resembling the eyes of a viper. Its lines were clean and the fabric had a remarkable sheen to it. It was tailored to fit snug, accentuating his stature and physical features.
He noticed the maid preparing the tea set observing these fine details of his clothing, and smirked.
"Hello. Is there any dirt in my suit?" He asked.
The Latina maid shook her head. "Oh, no, Senor! It's good suit. That's all."
"I see. That's also a good uniform for you, very good." He pointed at her maid uniform. "It accentuates your greatest features well. Especially your skirt length."
"Ay, tiene mucha labia! Pero al menos es guapo." She muttered.
Mr. Xi sipped his tea. "Why, thank you. And it wasn't just lip service, the Faust really chose good uniforms for good-looking maids."
The woman became flustered, and went to the kitchen still beet red. She grabbed a tray and handed it to a young servant who was still in training. "Felipe! Ve a entregar esto, no voy a volver alli de nuevo!"
"Por que, Mama?" Felipe asked, confused to be given the task of serving the guest when he was supposed to just be drying the dishes.
"Solo hazlo, tonto!"
Felipe slumped, having no choice but to listen to his mom or else he would get hit by her shoe.
As he was about to go, he suddenly got pulled by his hand.
"Yo, Felipe!" A familiar face greeted him. "Where you goin'?"
"Ah, Mr. Jones." He nodded. "I'm taking this to the guest."
"Shouldn't it be your Ma's job? You shouldn't be doing jobs that aren't for you, right?"
"Si. But you know my Mama." He sighed. "I was suppose to be resting after cleaning up Mr. Faust's Marsedes-Bentz. Took me all day to vacuum the seats. My arms still hurt, to be honest. Anyway, are you visiting Mr. Roland—"
"Aw, poor guy. You should really rest. Go take a nap over here." Harker patted on a nearby chair.
"Eh? I can't, Mr. Jones— Whoah!"
Felipe suddenly sat on the chair without realizing.
Harker supported the tray before it could fall. "See? You might break these things if you don't rest instead. I'll hand it to someone else, you should go back to your bedroom and sleep."
"I don't really feel sleepy— Yawn…."
Felipe was surprised that he suddenly felt drowsy. "Oh no…. You might be right. We can't afford breaking these tea sets…."
Harker patted his head. "I got ya! Go along!"
Felipe felt inclined to follow his advice, since he does feel weak and tired. He handed the tea set to Harker and went to bed. He was so tired that he didn't even notice Harker plucked a few strands of his hair when he patted him.
He went to steal the boy's uniform from his closet while he was sleeping. Then, he ate the hair strands.
"More tea, Senor?" Harker said, setting down the plates.
There were only two people having tea with the handsome Asian businessman. One was Mr. Faust, who was also an attractive man in his age and had a good mustache. The other was Roland, of course .
"Thank you, Felipe." His best friend said. "Could you wait here a little before you bring the desserts? Mr. Xi might decide to change his tea or add some more sugar."
"Oh, the tea is good. Very good." Mr. Xi said. "But I have to admit that these teacups are too small for my fingers. My wife…. well, my late wife even used to call them 'bamboo fingers'."
Mr. Faust frowned. "We could have the tea set changed for you. I'm sure we have bigger ones—"
"No, it's alright. I don't want to trouble you, I just got nostalgic for a moment." He sighed. "Aixiang was….. A good woman, from what I knew her as."
He looked really pitiful, and Faust went to comfort him.
"Our condolences." Mr. Faust said. "Truly a tragedy."
"Whether she was innocent or not, it must still be hard to lose a wife and a daughter." Roland said.
Harker knew the man was being insincere in his 'nostalgia'. It was easy to see from his eyes. And he also knew that the Fausts could see through him, yet chose to play along.
Mr. Xi sighed on his dainty teacup.
"I got here as soon as I could when I saw her name mentioned on the news, you know? I just couldn't believe it…. But she was growing distant to me these past few years. Possibly because I was always busy with work, I just never thought it would get this far….."
He slumped like a deeply-troubled man would. "Now I worry that people would think I also have something to do with the kidnapping business. The news of my daughter's disappearance is already spreading like a wildfire in Vegas, and this would potentially make things messier in the company. People would be anxious if they're working for a child kidnapper and assaulter."
"Have you talked to the police?" Roland asked. "It's only been 5 days, and the only evidence was the boys' testimony and finding that room. That's enough to incriminate your wife, but not you. They might speculate that you were an accessory to the crime."
"But I wasn't." Mr. Xi said. "I was unaware of the crime even when it happened to my own house."
'That's a lie'. Harker thought to himself.
"Then all you need to do is to prove that. You weren't aware, partaking or condoning the crime." Roland said. "If Xi Hua was here…. She could have testified on a trial as a witness. Though she may also be accused as an accomplice or accessory depending on the boys' testimony."
"Going on a trial is indeed troublesome. My birthday would be lonesome enough without my Hua-Hua and my Aixiang." Mr. Xi said. "If only there was some way for me to avoid it…."
Harker's eyes noticed the briefcase he was carrying. Why would a billionaire carry a briefcase when he had big tough bodyguards to carry it for him? The reason was obvious as soon as he brought the trial up….
"I heard you were doing well in Law school, Roland. And you're graduating soon. Once you pass the board exam, you may become a licensed defense attorney. A very good one, I believe."
He brought the briefcase to show its contents. "I decided I should give your graduation gift earlier since I might not be able to after everything that has happened. And to also ask for your advice and support in case of anything…."
Roland narrowed his eyes and his expression changed from polite to stern. He looked offended that this man thought he could bribe him.
"I believe that every defendant is innocent before proven guilty. So there's no need for that, Mr. Xi."
"I know, I know! This is just a gift, as I said!" Mr. Xi opened the briefcase…..
And inside were thousands of the best-quality Gold South Sea pearls, costing a million dollars each!