On my way home the Hue brothers accompanied me. Skylar let them borrow a car to send me. “Just to make you safe,” he had said. “I don’t want to be blamed in case you lost yourself in this place,”
Oh really?
I noticed each of the Hues have different mannerisms: Auburn keeps waving his hair, Red straightening his suit, and Crimson licking his lips. Of all three, Crimson looks more attractive, although they all look alike.
“Does Sir Bloodson ever have a girlfriend?” I asked. No harm in breaking the silence in this way, right?
Crimson’s tongue paused on his lower lip. He sucked it in as he drove.
“None, I guess, Miss Booke,” he said, “Mr. Frazier had said that he never accepts anyone as a friend. Let alone a girlfriend.”
So he was being truthful, I reflected.
“Does he have any brothers, aside from Ray and Rain?”
“He had a twin,” said Red, “Unfortunately, the child died together with his parents,”
“Oh,” I only managed to say. That’s why I felt pity for him. “How did they die?”
The brothers looked at each other, Crimson on the rearview mirror, waiting for one of them to answer. After a moment they all shrugged, “We don’t know, Miss Booke,”
How the hell wouldn’t they know? They’re butlers! Well, never mind. I would ask someone about this, probably Cordelia or Cedric.
Then I remembered.
“I haven’t met Cedric’s fiancée yet,” I said.
“You mean Lady Taraluna Coebalt, Miss Booke?” asked Auburn beside me, on the left.
“I think. Who was she?”
“She’s the daughter of the deceased Anderson Coebalt,” said Red on my right, “The owner of the Azurythm, one of the most powerful clothing companies. They are well known for their eccentric designs,”
“Wow,”
Red arranged his yellow necktie, “If you don’t mind knowing, Miss Booke, Lady Coebalt was kidnapped,”
“What? Why?”
“The convicts sold Lady Coebalt for her sensual dancing,” he said, “She was good in dancing at the age of seven. She spent her seven years exchanged by different clubs. Her previous name was ‘August’.”
“How was she rescued?”
“An illegal running bar was raided last year,” said Auburn, “There they recognized her by her bracelet,”
“That’s a horrible experience for her,” I said, “I couldn’t believe Sir Lovemist could be her friend,”
“Sir Lovemist was also kidnapped when he was four years old,” mumbled Crimson from his tongue.
“W--, What?! He too?”
“The metal strip on his jaw,” Red said, “was his memory of his slavery in sex,”
I shuddered.
“He was abducted when he was lured by a radio-controlled butterfly,”
“He was sold in different countries for nine years,” Crimson added as he rotated the steering wheel. I couldn’t help but to lock my jaw open.
“Auspiciously, he escaped with the other dolls from a ship. He was one of the survivors,”
“Oh God,” I said under my breath, “What happened to the two after they were retrieved?”
All three of them shrugged.
“Therapies,” said Crimson.
“Reunion,” said Auburn.
“Manage press conference,” said Red, “To control rumors,”
“How did--…” I said as I looked at the window. I didn’t finish my sentence. I could see our fields form afar.
“How did you know that I live here?” I said when we reached our house.
“We are your butlers, Miss Booke,” said Red as he opened the door, “We must know which places our principle go,”
And then I got home earlier than my curfew.
“What in the--… Jacky!” Dad exclaimed as I got home. Mom’s arm was about to slap Dad’s mouth when there was a hint of him cursing. She does that everytime someone cursed. I guess I inherited that gesture (still remember when I almost did that to Cedric?) Mom never allows us to curse. Levi swears a lot, that’s why Granny made her eat bitter gourd to ‘clean her mouth’. She makes us, me Carter and Levi, eat bitter gourd after cursing. It tasted as bitter as you think, bitter! I guess when Gramps (coz Gramps give the worst punishment) hear us cuss at the same time; we would find ourselves gargling dishwashing liquid.
“You’ll live with him the next month?” Dad said.
“Is there no other way?” Mom let her arm down.
I shrugged, “I don’t know. Isn’t it the way it should happen?”
“Yes. But,” said Dad, “it’s just not right, Jacky,”
“We don’t know what that Bloodson would do to you,” said Mom. She ran her hand on my hair.
“You are too young to live together,” said Granny.
“But the Lovemists and the Lyrics are there, Mrs. Ramritzy,” Auburn, who was standing by the door with his brothers, spoke.
“They are with the same age as your granddaughter,” said Crimson, or Red, “We will keep her safe,”
“How can we trust you?” said Dad.
“Dad, they are my butlers, a high-class one,” I said, “They had been nice to me,”
“Jacky, they are Bloodson’s butlers,” he said, “He takes hand of them, he can even fire them. It’s his money which supervises them. They are not your bodyguards.”
“Excuse me, sir,” that was Crimson, recognized by his green fringe of hair. His voice was whole and stern. He looked offended. “Hired bodyguards like us doesn’t always think that way,”
“We are butlers. Once we found our principle, we will devote ourselves to them,”
“Protection, guidance and respect, that’s what we give,”
What a speech! I felt like shouting bravo. If I could have felt cocky I would have clapped and whistled. But truthfully, it was inspiring. They work physically and mentally together. These guys do love their job.
“Trust them, Larry,” Gramps had sneaked from nowhere.
Dad frowned.
“We might make offences,” he said in a low tone. He then turned to the Hues.
“Are you sure you can defend my granddaughter?” he told them.
“With all our might, we will,” they all said.
He nodded slowly. He turned and walked toward the backyard to get some air.
There was something different in Gramps’ features. The way he talk, the way his eyes flashed on us. His hunched shoulders projected as he left.
I hate the thought of it, but I think this will be another first time Gramps looked helpless.
___
