Chapter 12 - the reaction

"Boss T," Sipho shouted to Thomas as he ran towards him.

"Sipho, didn't I say I want to be alone?" Thomas asked in a cold voice.

"It's bad, Boss T. Something has happened," Sipho said, catching his breath.

"What are you talking about?" Thomas asked impatiently.

Sipho didn't want to explain and anger Thomas more; after all, Thomas was the type of guy who could shoot the messenger. So, he showed Thomas the post.

Thomas became irritated because he couldn't read the post. Sipho was holding his phone, fearing if he gave Thomas his phone, Thomas might break it. He had seen Thomas throw a chair against the wall in class not so long ago, and because of fear, his hand was shaking uncontrollably, making it harder for Thomas to read the post.

Thomas snatched the phone out of anger and began reading the post. The more he read, the uglier he became. As soon as he saw the news about being removed from the student presidency, he threw Sipho's phone hard onto the stands of the sports field (Thomas was a rugby player).

He shouted, "F*ck!" as Sipho's phone hit the concrete floor near the stands. He looked at Sipho, his eyes red, burning with fury. He asked Sipho, "Why didn't you come find me sooner? That post was posted over 30 minutes ago!" His voice was cold, trembling from anger.

Furious at the broken phone, Sipho retorted... "Thomas, I've been looking for you since I saw that post. You never told us where you were going, and you didn't answer your phone when I called."

Sipho didn't call him Boss T this time around, showing how displeased he was with Thomas.

Thomas searched his pocket for his phone. He saw many missed calls from Sipho. He wanted some alone time, so he had his phone on silent the whole time.

He looked around, searching for those students who had kept looking at him and their phones. But to his surprise, all those students were gone now.

As soon as they saw Sipho, who was shouting and running towards Thomas, they knew he was about to deliver bad news to Thomas, who looked composed and arrogant. They could tell Thomas didn't know what was going on, on the school page, so they left the scene, fearing Thomas would vent his anger on them and possibly ask them if they participated in the comment section.

Surely their guess was correct. Thomas was looking for them to vent his anger and asked if they also commented on the post. Thomas saw some typing something on their phones. He was sure he could vent his anger on them, but now they were nowhere to be found.

Thomas thought for a bit and asked Sipho again, "Where is Ella now?"

"Probably at her usual spot," Sipho said nonchalantly as he went to pick up his phone.

Thomas looked at Sipho. He could tell Sipho was angry right now, from the missed calls and how out of breath Sipho was when he came to him. He could tell Sipho had been looking for him non-stop. He also knew Sipho had never disappointed him before; every task given to him, he outperformed.

"I'll buy a better one for you, Sipho," Thomas said.

"Sure," Sipho replied without even looking at him. He thought, "A simple sorry might have done the trick. After all, you never said sorry to anyone outside your family." He picked up his iPhone-9, now beyond repair.

He continued with his thoughts but never dared say them out loud. "The latest iPhone now is iPhone-14 Pro Max. If you used your brain or even cared a little, you could tell this phone has some special meaning to me. After all, the 14 Pro Max is currently around sixteen thousand Rand, even lower than my previous monthly allowance."

Sipho might not be as rich as Thomas, but that doesn't mean he is poor. The difference between a person who has hundreds of billions and a person who has ten billion is only marginal; they are both billionaires, after all.

As soon as he returned to Thomas with a broken phone in his hand, Sipho said with a straight face, "I'm going back. I didn't have lunch, and classes will resume soon." He didn't even give Thomas a chance to respond; he left.

Thomas looked at Sipho's back. His father's words echoed in his head. "Be firm with your subordinates when there is a need, but be rewarding when they outperform." He knew he didn't handle this well, but he thought, "Now is not the time for this; I'll make it up to Sipho in time. Now, I need to find Ella. She has interfered with me twice in two days. She needs to explain."