In the Cage of Glass, and the Sun Amidst the Rubble (EP 10)
In the Cage of Glass, and the Sun Amidst the Rubble
By : The zero stone
"My basket used to hold nothing but trash, Bee.
Today, it has gathered enough value to hold up a friend.
Cracked glass can always be melted and forged anew."
The twilight sun outside the 45th-floor glass window did not offer a magnificent spectacle. It merely stained the horizon with a deep, bloody crimson, resembling a drying wound. Bee sat submerged behind his massive oak desk, his shoulders once proudly squared, now slumped as if he were bearing the physical weight of the entire glass tower alone. The stark red financial figures flashing on the computer screen stood like a silent executioner. A hundred million in debt—the bitter harvest of betrayal by a trusted partner—was suffocating the empire he had built from nothing, dragging it relentlessly toward an inescapable abyss.
The low hum of the air conditioner only deepened the brutal silence within the office. Bee’s mind was filled with the deafening roar of collapsing dreams. He felt like a cornered animal trapped in a luxurious glass cage. Outside, the tempest of bankruptcy howled, and within that darkness, a mysterious "whale" from a corporate recycling giant called Re-Genesis was ruthlessly buying up his devalued stock, preparing for a hostile takeover.
"It’s finally over," Bee thought, allowing a thin veil of tears to blur his vision of the ruthless metropolis. The past—where he had trampled, struggled, and even played the villain just to survive—was returning to claim its due in the guise of a faceless tycoon.
The office door clicked open softly. His secretary retreated with a respectful bow, leaving a man in a sharply tailored charcoal-grey suit to step into the dim room. The visitor's footsteps were firm yet silent. Bee did not bother to look up. He merely exhaled a long, defeated sigh, his eyes devoid of light.
"You’re here to sign my death warrant, aren't you... President of Re-Genesis?" Bee spoke, his voice raspy and hollow.
"I’m here to return the broken shards you once gathered for me... Bee."
The voice was deep, and hauntingly familiar—so familiar that Bee’s heart stopped for a fraction of a second. He snapped his head up, his tear-blurred eyes straining to see through the office's shadows. The man standing before him was the newly minted billionaire dominating the eco-industry. But as the neon lights from the opposite skyscraper illuminated his face, revealing the sharp jawline, the piercing eyes hardened by years of struggle, and that faint scar on the back of his hand...
"A..." Bee murmured the name as if in a trance, his body freezing like stone.
The world fell completely silent. Memories of their youth—the image of a grime-covered boy in the landfills, and the day Bee had severed their bond, playing the heartless antagonist to banish A from a circle of danger—flashed vividly in his mind. Bee took a sharp breath, a wave of desperate terror choking his throat. A has returned. He has come to crush me at my lowest point, to settle the score of past betrayal.
Bee closed his eyes and lowered his head, a sharp blade of guilt cutting deep into his chest. The armor he had meticulously built from false pride shattered completely. He felt a profound sense of self-loathing, realizing that he now had to submit to the very person he had once pushed away. His heart writhed in the agonizing grip of wounded pride; the more dignified A appeared in his flawless suit, the more wretched and ashamed Bee felt within his glass cage.
"If it satisfies you, then deliver the final blow, A... I have nothing left to fight with," Bee whispered, waiting for the execution of his life's work.
Bee’s eyes flew open, staring at old friend and the token in utter bewilderment. "What... what is the meaning of this? You’re supposed to hate me."
A offered a faint, gentle smile, his gaze entirely devoid of malice. It was calm and deep, like an ocean that had outlived countless storms. He took a seat in the chair opposite Bee, clasping his hands calmly in his lap.
"I used to watch you from the bottom, Bee. I watched the day you turned your back on me, the day you made yourself look like a monster so the thugs wouldn't find me, the day you chose to get dragged through the mud just so I could get an education," A said softly, his voice trembling slightly. "I know the whole truth now, Bee... I've known it since the day I traced the truth back to the foundation and found an old savings passbook from the Government Savings Bank, bearing the handwriting of an anonymous donor—a script I knew only too well."
The tears Bee had suppressed broke through all barriers. The suffocating tension that had threatened to snap his chest vanished into thin air, leaving only the raw, naked truth of two human beings who had once shared the depths of misery.
A rose and walked over to the glass window. The pane that had served as Bee’s cage now reflected two grown men who had been weathered by the world. A turned back, locking eyes with the only true friend he ever had, and delivered the words that would echo in Bee's soul forever.
"My basket used to hold nothing but trash, Bee. Today, it has gathered enough value to hold up a friend. Cracked glass can always be melted and forged anew."
Bee stood up from his desk, his wall of vanity collapsing completely. He stepped forward and threw his
arms around his old friend, weeping like the young boy he once was in that desolate alleyway. A patted his back gently. True wealth was never measured by the value of shares on a trading floor; it was having someone there to hold the scale when your life tipped dangerously toward the void.
As the night crept in, the facets of the glass windows reflected the city lights, flickering like scattered shards upon the earth—shining beautifully in the dark, not as waste, but as stars waiting for their day of rebirth.
👉 Read this story in Thai version : ในกรงขังม่านกระจก และดวงตะวันในกองขยะ
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