Yours To Manipulate

Chapter 15: Rabid Lapdog

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"M'lady, you have a guest." I turn around to face Visayas who's still kept his 90° bow. "Who?" I ask, He straightens his posture and said, "Lord Timor Leste, my mistress."

Visayas has become very serious since I came back from North Korea's country. I don't know what happened but I'm not complaining. It's better if I distance myself from him. Especially if we want to keep things between us serious and professional. Wouldn't want to get caught like last time...

"Very well, bring him in." Visayas nods and left my office, I was just staring out my window, basking in my accomplishments of turning my country into a real-life utopia. Last week I helped Jun gather all of the information that he needed so he didn't have to suffer North Korea's wrath.

A few minutes came by before a soft knock came on my door. "Come in!" I said as I straightened my position. It's been a while since I've seen East-East. I wonder if he's been doing well...

When Visayas opened the door, I saw a distressed and dishevelled man, Timor was sobbing and clutching onto the hems of his dress shirt like a kid who got scolded by his mother. I gesture Visayas to leave us be and he immediately left and closed the door behind him gently.

"Hey, Tim..? You okay? Here, take a seat." I said as I gesture to the chair in front of my desk. I smile worriedly at my fellow country. I pull out a box of tissues from my drawer and gave it to him to which he thankfully accepted. "So...is there anything that I can help you with?" I ask, trying to be as calm and comforting as possible.

Timor nodded and blows into the tissue to which I cringed at. "Okay, what is it?" I ask as I picked up a glass from the table beside me before pouring water into it and giving it to Timor. "It's okay, you can tell me." Leste looks at me with beet-red eyes, "I don't wanna be independent anymore."

I flinch at his sudden words, "wh-what? What do you mean??" I ask, completely taken aback. Why would anyone want to be dependent? Timor looks away from me, I can tell he knew what I was thinking so I backed up a bit. "I mean...why don't you want to be independent?" I ask.

Timor sniffles, and wiped his cheeks with new tissue. "Independence isn't for everyone. I'm not making any progress with my country... We're poor and underdeveloped. I want to be a dominion country!" I blinked a few times, looking to see if the courageous country I met a few years ago was still there. Looking for a hint, a spark. But there was none. All I could see was hopelessness and despair.

I gulped and nodded, "o-okay... I'll just call Indonesia then... I'm sure he'd be willing to take you back in again.." I said as I grabbed the telephone, but Timor immediately grabbed my hand stopped me, "I want to be your dominion! Not Indonesia's!" I flinched and froze once again.

Dominions existed before 1939, I don't even think those exist anymore...

"T-Timor.." I try to look for the right words to say, but instead, more tears started pouring down from his eyes again. "I-I've been staying here...in your country for a week now.. and I saw..how much you've improved. More than anyone in the ASEAN. More than Singapore. And...and I want to be a part of your blueprint..of your plans... Phila please.." he said, voice quivering, holding back another batch of tears.

If I accept him, people will see me as an imperialist. "Timor I can't.. in spite of the EEZ rule, I can only claim 370 kilometres of territory from shore. You're over a thousand kilometres away from me.. and I'm not even sure if Indonesia or the associations would allow it.." Timor sobs again. "Th-then I'll ask! I'll tell them!" He said, now holding both of my hands in desperation. I could only chuckle and pull one of my hands away from his to caress his cheek, wiping away his tears.