Reversal

Chapter 103 Interview 4

Searching through his memories, Christian has many pleasant memories with him when he was just a baby. But the first few days when he awakened the memories of his past life, the hatred was so great that all those memories were forgotten.

"I have memories of him being a good father when I was a baby...he raised me and cared for me... I know he had problems before he met mom, maybe that drove him to madness... but I still think I hate him... he was largely responsible for my older sister's suicide, I am mature enough to know that we are all to blame for Ashley's death because of not discovering her emotional problems earlier, but he was the beginning and the end of Ashley's sadness.... just thinking about my sister makes all my good memories with him seem insignificant."

"You must have been so hurt by her death..."

"I was in denial... imagine it, one day you fall asleep from a fight and wake up months later, finding out that one of the people you love the most, committed suicide..... I had hallucinations, my memories would play tricks on me for days... sometimes I thought I heard her voice or saw her, but it was just my memories overlapping with reality... it was hard, but I managed to live with it thanks to mom's help, but I don't think I'll ever get over it."

"It must have been hard.... I can't even put myself in your shoes because of your special memory."

"*Sigh* But it's okay... life goes on" Smiling faintly, Christian looks at Sonia and asks "Do you have any other questions?"

"Yes, how did you learn to shoot to defend yourself from those women?"

"The truth is that I saw how they shot a gun on TV... then it was just calculation and my instincts... the first bullet I shot I just hit by luck, the second one was already all with math in between... hard to explain, but that's how it was."

"Do you regret killing?"

Staring at Sonia, but with a more serious attitude, Christian speaks "I'll tell you the same thing I told my mother... I regret that everything ended like this, maybe if I had better skills I could have ended with the women just wounded and everyone alive... but I don't regret what I did, because at that moment my brothers' lives and even mine were at risk by people who only had bad intentions towards us... I didn't think twice when I decided to defend myself with everything I had, that's my answer... I regret how everything ended? Yes, I will have to live with that in my mind for the rest of my life, but I don't regret having done it, because our end would have been miserable."

"I understand," Sonia nodded. "I think that's the biggest question the audience had, thank you for answering honestly."

"I hate lies Sonia, I tend to avoid them most of the time" Smiling, Christian continues "Anything else you want to ask?"

"Yes," Sonia nodded. "Christian, you have great renown earned by the press, businessmen, politicians or scientists... you have many people who admire you or follow you as fans... you are a 12-year-old super-genius who took the title of the exhibitor to the corrupt elite, the title of the youngest billionaire, the youngest mathematical scientist, the youngest famous writer, practically everybody is watching you and expects a lot from you.... with all this, do you feel any weight on your shoulders?"

"..." Pursing his lips for a few seconds, Christian ends up shaking his head "The truth is that those titles I find irrelevant, I don't feel any glory or weight, I'm just me, Christian Grey, a kid who likes to spend time with his family and have fun... what others expect from me, I don't care."

"I see you're quite decisive."

"I don't like to beat around the bush, to me things are simple, I like it or I don't like it, I support it or I don't support it"

"I like that." Sonia nodded, then asked again "Christian, you've been in the corporate world for a while now, many people talk about you becoming another cold-hearted entrepreneur, what do you think about that?"

"The truth is it's a complicated question, I don't consider myself cold-hearted, but I know that the higher I climb in this world, the more people I will have to step on."

"How so?"

"I will give you examples, let's say I am creating an application, but at the same time another person had the same idea on the other side of the world... I will do everything possible to defeat him, after all I am fighting for my idea, but at the same time he will also fight for his idea, moreover, imagine that for him it is not a simple idea, but the dream of his whole life... I will not care and I will do everything possible to beat him and leave him behind... one of us will win and whoever wins, will be on top while the other is just a stepping stone to the top... I believe that, in business, you cannot have a kind heart, otherwise you will be crushed by the others... now don't get confused, I am not saying that you don't have to stop being respectful or humble either. I am just saying that you have to know when to put your heart aside and act based on your mind, while also knowing who deserves respect and who does not."

"And who would deserve respect? People who are on your level?"

"No, that's stupid." Shaking his head with a smile, Christian continues "Ever since I was born, I've had a certain way of judging others, and that way is simple... you respect me, I respect you, simple as that... if you treat me bad, I'll treat you bad, if you treat me good, I'll treat you good... I don't care where you come from, your skin color, your sexual orientation or how much money you have. In my eyes everyone is the same on the outside, and what I judge is on the inside".

"And if someone plays dirty with you?"

"I'll play dirty"

"If someone hits you?"

"I'll hit him."

"And if someone tries to kill you?"

"..." Looking at Sonia for a few seconds, Christian answered "I wouldn't know what to tell you. I think I still lack the maturity or the experience to know what to do in that situation... I don't trust the police or the legal system to lock up people who want to hurt me... and although they say that with what happened with the Elite will reinforce the persecution of corruption, I know it's just a hoax, and it may already be happening again right now or maybe tomorrow, I don't know... the point is that the more money you have, the more powerful your enemies are, and the higher you go, the more people you will have to disturb or step on, causing more people to have problems with you... so I wouldn't know how to react correctly, I'm sorry for not being able to give you a proper answer."

"Don't worry, I think you already made your position and concerns clear." Smiling, Sonia said "Christian, you are the first businessman to tell us about the dangers in the world of big business, most only talk about the good and the difficulties in the scope of their area and nothing else... no one has ever talked about enemies."

"I don't know why they won't talk about it." Shrugging his shoulders, Christian continued, "Maybe there is a hidden rule among the rich or big businessmen, but I don't care about their rules... there are many cases that are easy to see, for example, Musk with Bezos, those two women will not hesitate to push the other into a ravine if they have the opportunity... if they see you weak in one area, your enemies will exploit it, and even if they deny it, I know that's the way it is."

"You say Musk and Bezos hate each other?" raising her eyebrows, Sonia spoke.

"Even if they smile in front of the cameras when they are together, their looks always show annoyance with each other, unless there is a romance issue in between the two, I would say they are enemies... although they could also have an affair and be enemies, it would be a good idea for a book." Smiling with amusement, Christian spoke.

"I think you just created a pretty fun idea for the viewers." Smiling she asked "And you, do you have anyone you consider to be a rival or enemy?"

"Not really, I just invest in companies and support from the side, my other own and functional company is Starbucks, but as you may know, our coffee tastes very different from the normal one, that's why I don't consider myself an enemy of traditional coffees."

"So, you think you don't have any enemies?"

"I think I do... but I didn't earn it because of my companies, since all the problems started when I exposed the Elite, so someone must be angry."

"You keep talking about someone chasing you, do you have any proof of that?"

"I don't need proof to know that someone is targeting me, he already showed his tail when he tried to kidnap me... and I have a feeling that I will suffer again because of his decision, I don't know when or where.... but I can't shake this uncomfortable feeling." Smiling slightly as he speaks, Christian looks down at his hands in a slight daze "Will I live? Will I die? I don't know..."

"Christian... if it's true that you're being targeted, isn't it better to report this to the police?" With genuine concern in her voice, Sonia asked.

"I'd like to believe the police Sonia..." With a bitter smile, Christian spoke "But after the case I revealed to the public, I no longer believe in anything but my family and myself... how to trust a country where even their former president was locked up for hiding and participating in a pedophile ring?"

"..." Looking at the child in silence, Sonia couldn't help but feel sad and bitter. 'He's just a little boy, but he doesn't trust anyone anymore... but what to tell him? I perfectly understand his thinking...'

"Sonia, do you have any other questions?"

"I have asked almost all the questions already, but let's go on a little more to know more about you... what do you do for fun or to pass the time?"

"Actually, I spend most of my time preparing program mockups, sometimes I research the market or similar things, in general, it's quite fun... in a way, I see investments as a game, only, instead of using fake money, I use my real money... but if we talk about what I really enjoy, I would say it's art and music."

"That's a pretty risky vision, but apparently it works perfectly for you" Raising her eyebrows, Sonia smiles "You also make art?"

"Yes, a few years ago when I started drawing illustrations for books, I took a taste for drawing, after that, I started practicing more and more on my technique and today, I paint with canvas, do you want to see some of my works?"

"I would like to."

Getting up, Christian stretches and smiles "Follow me".

Walking in silence through the mansion, they reached the second floor and Sonia looked at everything with curiosity followed by the camerawomen, and then she said "Nice mansion".

"Thank you, I gave it to my mother."

"You must love her very much"

"I wouldn't be who I am today if it wasn't for her."

"Who do you think you would be?"

"I think I'd be a millionaire anyway, but I'd be lonely, selfish and unbearable for everyone... it wouldn't be a good life in my view"

"..."

Arriving at a room, Christian opens the door smiles "This is my painting room, most of my drawings are inside."

Walking in, Christian just turns and waits silently as everyone enters.

Looking around the room curiously, Sonia sees that the area seems to scream work area for art. The walls are stained with paint, it has no curtains and the sun floods the entire room. There are torn and other used canvases in one corner, multiple open containers of paint in the middle, brushes lying all over the place, but most striking are the dozens of canvases with work that appear to be finished placed on the walls.

"You seem to spend quite a bit of time on this."

"Lately I spend at least 4 hours a day in this place, these are not all my works, but the others are private." Looking at his drawings, Christian just smiles.

Approaching the finished works, Sonia looks at the curious landscapes he draws "A wasteland?"

"California."

Raising her eyebrows, Sonia asks "This is... the dam?"

"Yes."

"Why does everything look so dry?"

"I don't know... I would say they are a consequence of our actions or simply coincidences that affect humans."

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Edited By: Joy_a