1 CHAPTER ONE

The sun had just set when Jayden got off the plane. He walked over to the luggage area and took his belongings before setting out of the airport. He looked left and right in order to find even one familiar face but cast his gaze down in disappointment. What had he expected, a fleet of cars just to pick him up and show off his family's wealth?

Meeting a row of taxis by the lane, he decided to hop into one and pay the fee of just one person instead of waiting for other passengers. Telling the driver his address , they quickly took off. He was about to relax his head on the headrest when his phone rang. Checking the caller ID, he picked up on the third ring.

"Are you in home already?" His father's gruff voice sounded through the phone like he was disinterested and he was.

His dad has not had a single interesting conversation with his son since he was thirteen years old and came home to New-York from studying in Switzerland. It was like his son had completely changed from a very conserved person to someone he couldn't recognize.

"I just got off the plane. I'm on my way to the apartment" Jayden responded in the same disinterested voice.

It wasn't that he didn't like talking to his father, it was just that the old man had not really invested time with him since he came home nine years ago. Jayden was born in New-York, United states but had spent the first thirteen years of his life in Switzerland before finally going back home to complete his studies. Now he was twenty-two years old and a top student of business major from the New-York university. However, he held a secret he had never told anyone, which is that he studied Philosophy as a minor in school.

"Okay, don't forget our agreement, Jayden. I would not take it lightly with you if you so much as have a misstep over this discussion" Jayden rolled his eyes at his father's words but remained silent. He had never wanted to be a part of such agreement but it was the only way he could get his father to accept his offer of traveling the world on his own to seek for the answers he has desperately desired.

All his father wanted was for Jayden to finish his studies and take over his business but had been so surprised but unwilling to let him do what he had wanted.

'Is it so wrong that I want to travel the world for a few years before settling down in the same nine-hours of stressful work for a whole week for the rest of my life?' Jayden wondered this silently.

"I have not forgotten your threat father; I would play my part accordingly" he answered his father rather dryly to communicate his displeasure. His father on the other hand paid no mind to the blatant disrespect and hung up the call but not before muttering 'What a son'.

Tired from his journey and frustrated from his father, Jayden placed his hand on his temple trying to smooth out the nabbing pain he was feeling so suddenly. He rubbed his temple not knowing he was gaining the attention of the driver. The old man, looked at the young one who tried so hard to not look tired.

"You're not from around here?" the old man asked curiously, staring at him from the mirror.

"What?" Jayden was more irritated than confused. He stared back at the driver with a pointed look that meant 'elaborate'.

"Your accent. It doesn't sound like someone from around here but you look like one. So, I'm asking if you are from Switzerland?" said the old man. He had noticed the boy's accent and was just genuinely curious and also because he had an aura about him. Jayden was tempted to not answer because his headache had once again doubled but he knew better than to disrespect an elderly man. What he said to his father was unintentional but still passed across his displeasure.

"I'm a Swiss. I just spent most of my life in the US" Jayden's explanation was short and precise. He wasn't about to go tell a complete stranger his life's story.

"Hmm…" muttered the old man, as he looked back at the road.

He had an urge to strike a certain conversation with the young man but he didn't know how to start or go about it. It was like his spirit needed him to say it. Meanwhile, Jayden was happy for a little peace and quiet. He didn't mind the old man talking, he just really needed to think about his next move. He didn't plan on staying in Switzerland for a long time, it would defeat the whole purpose of traveling the world seeking for his answers.

"You don't plan to stay long in Switzerland, do you?" the old man asked.

Jayden was shocked. Had the man read his mind or what? He shrugged it off, there is no such thing and blamed it on experience and old age. The old man smiled through the front mirror, and looked at him rather strangely.

"It's not every day a young man like you come to seek for things he shouldn't be looking for at this age. Most men your age, prefer to work. The old man spoke with something in his tone, experience. It was like he knew something Jayden didn't.

"Who are you?" Jayden couldn't help but ask. He was going back to normal, being the inquisitive person he is.

"No one of special interest. You on the other hand is someone who desperately needs a mentor, tutor and since it's not one thing you seek, you are going to need plenty of those" the man said vaguely but Jayden's brain was already on overdrive thinking about what the man could mean. Sure, he had many questions and he needed answers but he never thought he would find a pattern in a taxi he had no choice but to enter.

"How do you know all these?" Jayden asked the busy driver very carefully and tuned his ears to try and understand.

"There is a way that seems right unto a man, but the end thereof is destruction" was all the old man said before smiling. Jayden knew those words. They were straight from the holy book people call bible. He had read the whole book throughout his university days while looking for answers but it only sprung up more questions. He knew this scripture by heart but never thought anything of it until now.

'What does this man mean? Surely, he is just an old man' he thought to himself. He stared back at the man thinking the view from the back of his head would give him some clarity but the old man just looked at him again with a sigh

"You look at me with the eyes of a child but seek answers to questions that are far more ancient than you and I." said the old man not caring for Jayden's internal rampage of questions.

"How do I find the answers, I seek?" Jayden asked trying to take another approach at this conversation but the old man didn't seem to mind his tone as he simply stared at him blankly.

'Okay, this man is not ordinary' Jayden concluded in his mind. How can one man change his expression and say so many vague words under the span of one hour. He had spent hours with men, both young and old and none of them spoke with such intensity as this old man.

"I only provide insight not the answers you seek. Finding answers take the right posture of heart and mind and not just childish infatuation" the man said sternly looking back at the road.

The traffic seemed to increase especially in the mainland bridge but there was no way to go back but to move forward. The old man, maneuvered his way to the front through whatever space was left by the car behind.

Just like the traffic that seemed to go nowhere for now, Jayden's mind was blank. He had thought about what the man kept saying, but came up with absolutely nothing.

'Is he right? Maybe I'm looking at this from a childish perspective' Jayden thought as he leaned back on the headrest, his eyes still peeled at the old man in case he said anything else.

No one spoke throughout the journey. Jayden didn't know what to say as his mind still reeled on the old man's words. He was always a curious person. Ever since he was thirteen, he had this natural tendency to ask many questions and while having answers to some, others just birthed more questions, hence his travel around the world.

Jayden believed finding answers to these questions, would give him immense joy and peace as his heart was never in one place. People left him because of his tendencies to ask questions from little events. Even his ex-girlfriend couldn't accept him the way he was and it had bothered him to no end. 'Is it wrong to want to know these things?' he asked himself

"Wanting to know things isn't wrong, it is your way of delivery that matters. If you ask childish questions, you get childish answers enough for your childish brain to understand" The old man said once again shocking Jayden. Jayden got irritated with the way the old man repeated childish when relating it to him. He wasn't childish. If anything, he was the top of his class at NYU and would have gone to the police academy to become a detective, if not for his father's blatant refusal to send his only son to the police force.

"Pride takes you no-where but a ditch. You need to let down your imagined walls and be ready to learn" once again the old man spoke with a stern tone.

This conversation wasn't common for the old man. If anything, it was the second time he did this and to a passenger at that. He didn't know what continued to compel him to do or say any of these things but he did and it turned out to always help the people in the end so he had no doubt, whatever he was saying to this young man was the truth.

The first time had been to a young man who he picked up at his home when the old man did uber services. This young man was depressed to his own belief and thought that he would just take a drive round the city to find something that would intrigue him or at least take his mind off the depressive thoughts. While driving the man round the city, he found out that the young man had failed entrance exam five times and was re-writing over and over just to get into the school of his choice but he kept failing. The old man said to him, 'Patience is a virtue not many people possess, so when a man falls, they rise up seven times'. The old man didn't know what came over him to say those things but he did and at the end of the ride the young man confessed to his depressive thoughts. He looked at the old man and muttered, " you don't know what you just did", you just saved my life today.

"This is my stop" Jayden said, bringing the old man out of his reverie. The driver took a sharp right to park in front of a three-storey building. He knew the young man was rich but to afford an apartment in this part of the city would cost a fortune. But the old man kept his thoughts to himself until he remembered something.

"Here, have this. It's better to have a guide when it comes to the journey you're about to embark on." The old man said, stretching his hands into the cabinet in the car and brought out a book and handed it over to the young man. Jayden took the book and scanned the surface. It was rough.

"But before you can understand, remember to position your heart and mind in the right way to benefit from it". That was what the old man said before zooming off into the cold evening.