It’s not a very good day as the rain pours on the mansion’s roof. We’re all hiding inside, packing our suitcases for that the plane will leave at 2 p.m. and now, it’s still 8 p.m. we’re all early morning person kind of person actually.
I got up after Vi and we took a shower in turn. The hot shower seemed like a perfect opening for the day due to the laziness I suffer before getting up. I mean, look at that, it’s raining outside and it’s so comfortable inside the duvet. Can I please just snuggle under the duvet for the whole day? But Vi insisted that we shouldn’t waste any more time because this is our last day here and so, half-heartedly, I drag myself to the bathroom.
As I’m drying my hair, 2 maids come inside, bringing trays of breakfasts. “Here is your special breakfast for today!” one of the maid says, putting down the tray with sandwich, boiled egg, and toast on it.
“Wow! What a surprise! Thanks!” I say, get up, and come closer to see the whole package of special breakfast both of them bring today.
“Wow! Yea! Thanks” Vi takes the toast and bites it, “Yummy,”
“Do the others get this special breakfast too?” I ask.
“Yes, of course. You’ll not get enough nutrients with the airplane’s food, won’t you?” the older maid says, looking at us in a pity-ish looking. I and Vi simply laugh and they excuse themselves to go to the kitchen. A thought slips into my mind as they close the door behind them, do they know that they’ll soon be unemployed when this house is sold?
This is terrible, I keep thinking of this kind of thing. And after 10 minutes of indulging ourselves in this super breakfast, I encourage myself to ask Vi, “Vi, do the staffs here know….you know..” I shot her a look, hope she understands what I’m trying to say.
“What?” she says blankly, chewing her sandwich.
“Do they have any idea that they’ll lose their job as soon as this house is sold?” I ask.
“Oh, I don’t know. But they can always move to the state if they want to continue their job.” She shrugs.
“That’s not possible! You got your own maids and staffs there! Where will these people sleep if they join you in the state?” I bite my toast and there are some pauses in between before suddenly..
“Good morning guys!” the door bursts open and there stands Jeremy, Ian, and Hayley, holding their own tray of breakfast, all bright looking and smiling at us although the thunder roars outside.
“Wow! Hey!” Vi says, shocked.
“I think it’ll be fun if we all eat our breakfast in the same room, isn’t it?” Hayley beams.
“Oh right! Sure!” Vi says. We all make a circle on the floor and happily, eat our breakfast. Why don’t we do this everyday? This is much more fun than in the cold, elegant dining room!
“So, we are going to go to your secret hiding place, aren’t we, Princess?” Jeremy teases.
“I’m not a princess!” Vi says, “But I’d like to!” she adds.
“and where is this secret hiding place?” Ian asks, spreading the peanut butter on the bread.
“Oh it’s a secret! That’s why it’s called secret place!” Vi replies.
“Okay….” Ian replies.
After we finish our breakfast in our warm, cozy bedroom, we head downstairs, bringing all the trays and give it to one of the maid who scurried down the hall to help us with all the trays, despite her small body. People here are soo nice, especially the staffs here. They’re way nicer than those in the State.
“Good morning!” a businessy voice jump all of us and when we turn our head, it’s Mr. Freyson, walking down the stair, make his tie and he seems to get difficulties in it.
“Come here, let me help.” Vi says.
“Oh no dear. I can handle this myself.” He says, smiling. He twists the glossy black tie and folds it and slips it and folds it again and turns it back. He doesn’t look like someone who can “handle this myself” at all.
“Sure?” Vi says. Mr. Freyson looks up at us, all looking at him. A flush of pink spreads on his face. “Alright, alright.” He says, letting Vi does his tie.
“Where’s Mum, anyway? She always does your tie, isn’t she?” Vi asks casually although I can catch a slight quiver in her voice.
“She’s upstairs.” Mr. Freyson answers, try not to sound too gloomy.
“She has waked up, hasn’t she?” Vi asks, twisting the tie and make a final touch to the tie.
“I don’t know. You know what Honey, I’m actually a little late. See you later!” Mr Freyson kisses Vi’s forehead and as he does so, Vi replies, “There’s no “see you later”, Dad. I’m leaving this afternoon.” She says.
Mr. Freyson looks at her, amazed. “Really? Wow! Why you never told me?” he asks clumsily.
“Hello? You’re the one who booked the ticket for all of us!” Vi replies, rolling her eyes.
“Oh, yes, of course!” Mr. Freyson says, even clumsier. “Ok then. Have a nice flight, Dear.”
“Does your mum gonna come too?” he adds as he almost near to the entrance door.
“Yes, she is.” Vi answers.
“Ok, perfect!” Mr. Freyson raises a thumb and leaves.
We settle ourselves on the sofa, still too dumbstruck to talk about anything. Clearly, this must be a big cat fight that Mr and Mrs. Freyson even don’t talk at each other, or at least, Mrs. Freyson doesn’t do Mr. Freyson’s tie anymore. This is too much for Vi to contain. I mean, for you guide, here are some questions that crowd my mind:
- How could Mrs. Freyson not do her husband’s tie?
- Do they even sleep in the same room, anyway?
- How can Mr. Freyson forgot that today, we’re leaving
- Has he actually sold this house?
- Why did he even say “perfect” after Vi told him that Mrs. Freyson are going with go with us back to the State?
- Has he really forgotten about Vi? I mean, not at all, but as a good daddy kind of thing?
- Has he really sold half of the company’s stock and make it a joint company?
Actually, it could be a really long list includes the question about Vi and the staffs and other things. But I decided to put it in only 7 numbers.
We’re silent in our own thoughts for some minutes and Vi looks more than sad. But then she gets up and says cheerfully, “come on!”
We strolled down the hall, the familiar ones where we usually pass when we go to the library, then we turn left, to a narrower aisle. I’ve never been here before and I thought it’s gonna ended up in kitchen or maid’s bedroom.
Which is not.
It leads us to small corridors with doors in both sides and then suddenly Vi stops walking. We’re standing in the middle of the corridor, where the hell is the secret part?
“Here we are!” she says excitedly.
“What?” Jeremy’s face blank, and the others are looking around, searching for the secret door with the same color as the wall or a small door on the floor or anything. But there’s nothing like that here.
Vi grins and she touch the ceiling, there, is a small square with a small handle. No one will notice it’s there! She pulls it down and a set of stair comes down, complete with its dust rains us and makes us cough.
“Wow!” I say, coughing even more and wave my hand on the air, getting rid of the dusts.
“Come on!” Vi climbs the stairs and we follow her. As we climb up, the room on the ceiling contains even more dusts. Vi switches a small bulb on, it shines the whole small room with its dim yellow light.
“oh my god! It’s the same exact position as when I left it here!” she touches the photo frames that stand on a small table, thick with dusts.
There’s a small flowery carpet in the middle of the not-so-big room. And there are some big pillows, and a rack of books. The left side is a small table with photo frames and a small window, also covered with dust.
The ceiling is high enough that the girls can stand, but the guys can’t quite stand up here. The height of the wall is the same height as mine. And so when I stand up, it touches my head.
But for a little girl 10 years ago, it’s spacious enough. I’m now picturing little Vi play with her dolls here, her hair in braids, wearing a cute flowery dress. And as I do so, my eyes spread across the whole room, I can see frames and frames of photos, nicely posed with little Vi smiling at the camera, sometimes not.
“When was the last time you here?” Ian asks, take a photo frame with little Vi and her parents in a place what looks like a party. The frame’s glass is stained but still, it doesn’t cover the pretty dress she was wearing in the picture.
“2 years ago.” She smiles at some of the photos as she has her flashback.
“Wow! Who is this guy?” Hayley suddenly asks, she’s holding a crumpled picture from the box in the corner. there, is a picture of a little boy, laughing at the camera with blond hair just like Vi's. and her teeth are so neat and white, he's standing somewhere with tall yellow grasses everywhere around him.
“Don’t you dare touch that!” Vi suddenly snaps. Her voice raises a note and her face is tenser.
“What?” Hayley asks indignantly, holding the picture of a little boy. Her face shot a “no one shout at me” kind of look.
“That’s private!” Vi snatches the picture away from Hayley’s long manicured-nail fingers.
“Oh, a little scandal for the princess?” Hayley teases.
Uh-oh. She has just said the wrong thing. All my senses tell me so.
“Don’t make me mad at you, ok?” Vi says in a warning voice, make us all plunge into silence.
“Wow, wow, wow, don’t take that seriously.” Jeremy says, touching Vi’s tense shoulder but she casts it away. “What’s with him?”
“I’m sorry,” she says. “I think, I need some fresh air.” She climbs down and leaves, a single tear rolls down her cheek.
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