Chapter 9

“Last night, I had a dream about you. In this dream, I’m dancing right beside you. And it looked like everyone was having fun. The kind of feeling I’ve waited for so long.” I sang softly beneath my breath as I rubbed the oil splatter off the counter. The thing about having guys cooking while I was a sick little lamb in bed, was the fact that none of them were particularly clean. Yes, while Mr. Elxa was considered a neat freak, he’d obviously missed the small splatters of oil and water stains in his busy, hectic lifestyle.

Imagine my horrors when I eventually got well enough to step back into the kitchen and then realizing that Jon had attempted to radicalize everything there. The refrigerator was stocked up on bacon –as per Jon’s crippling weakness to that fatty food –and soft drinks lined the cupboard. No vegetable nor fruit was seen in sight, and it seemed as if Mr. Elxa hadn’t protested against it too.

Really, was it truly a myth that only the women in the house would ever be concerned about their health?

“Don’t stop, come little closer. As we jam, the rhythm gets stronger. There’s nothing wrong with just a little, little fun. We were dancing all night long.” I continued on, feeling nothing but refreshed. Instead of being Jon’s personal nanny, I was rather beginning to feel like the maid of the house –taking care of both men’s well-being and keeping their environment clean. I was still halfway through my three-week break, but Jon wasn’t making things hard at all –for he wasn’t even planning to go out.

No, I had somehow turned Jon from a crazy party-man into a locked-up-in-room man. I didn’t really want to approach the subject of what he was doing, spending his hours in there. Lord knew what I would find if I ever chanced myself to walk in one day. One thing I’d learnt growing up was that a teenager needed space. After my mother died, I’d gotten all the space I needed –in the form of the entire apartment, so at least I got what I needed.

“The time is right to put my arms around you. You’re feeling right, you wrap your arms around too. But suddenly I feel the shining sun. Before I knew it this dream was all gone.” I sang along to the internal song of my head at the moment. Digital Love by Daft Punk wasn’t the most popular of songs, but neither was I a mainstream song listener. I tended to listen to the funny, not-so-normal songs of Panic! At The Disco, The Decemberists and The All American Rejects. But hey, why judge?

“Digital Love isn’t something I find common amongst women your age, Ms. Hurst.” An even voice interrupted my instrumental humming, and I jumped, turning around in surprise to find Mr. Elxa standing at the entrance of the kitchen.

“What do you find common amongst women my age, Mr. Elxa?” I asked with a grin. After so long of living together with them –almost a month and a half now –it was safe to say that I knew Mr. Elxa to be pure as a nun. As far as I knew of him, he had not shown any sign of interest in the female body, nor displayed any inclinations to find a partner who could connect to his heart. In fact, I was beginning to silently think that he was still a sad little virgin like me.

“Nothing.” He replied evenly, making his slow progress to the fridge. Ever since I woke up from that one week of sickness, it appeared to me that Mr. Elxa was in much greater pain than before. “But that is quite the point, isn’t it? Discovering the strange likenesses of the younger generation that I will always fail in understanding.”

“Hey!” I protested, crossing my arms across my chest as I watched him retrieve his usual revitalizing bottle of water. I’d become accustomed to helping keep that bottle full whenever I saw it almost empty, saving Mr. Elxa from the chore of refilling it before stuffing it back to the refrigerator. “You make us sound like aliens from another planet.”

Over the times, Mr. Elxa had seen the progress that I was making with Jon, and seemed to be relaxing himself around me too. We had never shared much of such casual chit-chat before, but nowadays he seemed more inclined towards such short conversations which gave me brief glints of his life –no matter how sad and mundane it seemed to be.

“Rather, I would go so far as to over-generalize, Ms. Hurst, and declare your gender alien to me.” Mr. Elxa continued after a pause of our conversation that he took to have a gulp from the bottle. I distantly remembered the first time I grabbed Jon’s liquor, mistaking it for Mr. Elxa’s bottled water.

“Okay, women are hard to understand. But you’re not even trying –so you can’t declare that we’re aliens.” I protested, but Mr. Elxa shook his head, turning to face me entirely, serious eyes on me as if he wasn’t joking about the casual conversation topic we were exchanging tips over.

“You, Ms. Hurst, are an alien to me. I have never come across a woman harder to understand, and I have come by my fair share of women.” He declared, and I frowned, throwing the dirty rag that I’d been using for cleaning to the sink.

“Have you, Mr. Elxa? Far as I know, you could still be a virgin, and neither Jon nor I would be left none the wiser. We don’t know what you do outside of the house, and when you’re at home, you’re in the study with your business. So unless you have a hot, busty secretary hiding somewhere outside –because I don’t know if you have an office outside or not –I’m pretty convinced you don’t have much acquaintances with women.”

And then, the first inkling of something amazing that I had never seen before quirked on the corner of his lips. A smile. Or at least what could be best described as a smirk, for the rest of his face remained emotionless while the tip of his lips twitched ever so slightly.

“You speak like Hayden.” I heard him mutter softly beneath his breath –obviously not wanting me to overhear.

“Do not doubt my experiences with women, Ms. Hurst.” He declared quickly after, and the haughty catch in his voice and eyes almost made me choke. “I am past my prime age of chasing skirts, but I still have my ways.”

I wasn’t sure to be terribly impressed at his confidence, or shocked that he dared to declare himself very much desirable. But then, considering his massive pool of wealth, his air of unique charms. While some women would be turned off by his blandness and his never changing expression –which was pretty much a lack of it –others would be terribly attracted to his wealth and beauty and voice.

And, above it all, Mr. Elxa had managed to score a good one with a woman, who eventually gave him Jon. So the theory of him being a virgin was definitely out of the way, though I could imagine Mr. Elxa being a man extremely dedicated to the memory of his lover, Jon’s mother –thus giving up any pursuit of a love life. Of course, those kind of things happened only in dramas, but my life ever since getting to know Mr. Elxa was pretty much a dramatic one.

It seemed almost ages ago that I felt like the mundane, plain Jane who no one would even care for even if she ended up robbed, raped, killed and left on the street corner.

“You’re kidding.” I spluttered when he showed no sign of changing his slightly-smug expression, and again the corner of his lips twitched once more. Was he amused at me or my reaction?

“Why lie to you?” He asked, as if he couldn’t conceive a better reason than spend time crafting up a lie for me. He opened his mouth for more, but was interrupted by the ringing of a doorbell that surprised the both of us. Still, he covered up his surprise quickly with a straight face. “In fact, that must be one of my many women looking for solace in my embrace.”

I choked on my saliva, and was still left in a coughing fit even as Mr. Elxa made for the door with slow progress.

“Is that a delivery?” Jon asked, popping in as I was still barely recovering. “I’ve ordered for something to be sent.”

I shrugged, stepping out from behind the counter at the kitchen to get to the door. Call me nosey, but I’d begun to know myself as the housekeeper of the place, so naturally I was curious about anyone who could come knocking on the doors. We didn’t have visitors at all, and any doorbell were usually rang by any deliveries Mr. Elxa or Jon ever sent for.

“Ellen.” I heard Mr. Elxa’s even voice address in his usual businessman tone. “What a surprise to see you again.”

It wasn’t something people who were unfamiliar to Mr. Elxa would pick up in their sensors, but I, having known Mr. Elxa for one month and a half, and have heard the many tiny variations in the tones of his voice to speak for the different emotions he felt inside, knew that there was a catch in that voice. That slight hint of displeasure was there in his voice –that hint that spoke volumes for someone who knew him.

Still, the visitor –named Ellen –had no idea at all, as her soft, superstar-voice replied in a gushing tone.

“Elxa, it’s so nice to see you again! How are you doing? Oh, I do apologize for not having appeared for so long. Things have been so heavy for me recently, I really do not know how to cope much longer anymore.” I heard the voice say, and came finally into view to see a tall woman of almost Mr. Elxa’s height with curly blonde hair permed perfectly. Her delicately gloved hand was on Mr. Elxa’s forearm, the first physical connection that I had seen anyone attempt to make on Mr. Elxa.

She wore white silk gloves that went all the way up her forearms, and on her head was pinned a beautiful flower-pin encrusted with what I would describe as a plethora of different-colored gem. Her neck was decorated with a chain of diamonds, and from the side view, I saw a long dangling earring, with chains of tiny diamonds dangling from her beautifully-shaped earlobe. The side view of her face determined a very charming looking woman with sharply defined jawline and cheekbones, and a round nose. Her eyes were a soft green, but her lips were full and red. Her lipstick was most definitely of the provocative type, but it made her complexion even more stunning with the contrast.

And even though the overall look was that she was older than me –perhaps Mr. Elxa’s age –she was ten times more beautiful than the Plain Jane of the house was. Strike that, she was a thousand times prettier –as I surveyed her model-thin body, clad in a long haute couture that must at least have come to live by Thierry Mugler’s hands, if not Emanuel Ungaro.

Yes, I sounded like one of those high-classed women, but I’d only come to know of these high-classed fashion designers only thanks to my mother’s obsession over them and their clothes when I was younger.

“Of course.” Mr. Elxa’s tone of voice was purely business, though Ms. Ellen didn’t seem mindful of his lack of emotion at all. She must be someone who knew him well, then. “Jon and I are doing fine, don’t you worry. Do come in and have a seat.”

This was the first time I had ever heard Mr. Elxa willingly pull Jon into the conversation, and that could only mean one thing, for he was never the type of person to mix his family with his business relationship. She must be family –strange as she was with her British accent.

Ms. Ellen nodded with a smile so charming that I wondered why Mr. Elxa wasn’t turned on at all, and took his free arm as they both turned with the intention to walk back –presumably to the sitting room. They had barely taken a step before Ms. Ellen stopped abruptly in surprise, and Mr. Elxa stopped as thus with her.

“My, my, you didn’t tell me you hired a new housekeeper, Elxa.” She gushed.

While I was a little affronted by her obvious assumption that I was merely nothing but a tiny, insignificant addition to Mr. Elxa’s strange tiny family, I forced a polite smile on my face. She was right, in a sense. I was the housekeeper, wasn’t I? There was no point in me being worked up over it. It would be a different case if I was Jon’s or Mr. Elxa’s love partner, but it remained a fact that I was here because I was hired anyway.

“It is a pleasure to meet you, ma’am. My name is Kaylen Hurst. May I take your coat?” I offered with a polite bow. Mr. Elxa’s eyes flashed something dangerous that I couldn’t understand when I straightened from my bow, but I ignored it as best as I could with a sweet smile. Ms. Ellen gratefully unloaded the fur coat in my arms with a dismissive thanks, and continued walking in my direction.

As I was expected to do, I hid my internal sigh and kept myself out of the way as Ms. Ellen brushed by me with her long trail of dress. With her obvious taste in high-classed goods and accessories to adorn herself, I was surprised that she wasn’t followed by a personal maidservant or butler.

“Aunt Ellen!” I heard Jon’s lively greeting in the living area. So I was right, she was family. I rushed to hang her coat –faux fur, I realized –and went back silently to the living area where they were, fulfilling my role as the unofficial housekeeper even though I technically was on a three-week paid leave. Jon was in a familial embrace with his aunt, and upon his face wore a bright, delighted smile –something I rarely saw at all. Mr. Elxa, if possible, only looked icy at the close contact between the two.

“My darling boy Jon!” Ms. Ellen replied with the joy of an aunt seeing her nephew. “How long has it been since I last saw you? My, my, dear boy, how much you’ve grown over the years! You are a fine, strong man now!”

There was absolutely nothing wrong with this scene of reunion between aunt and nephew –save the fact that Mr. Elxa stood by her side, looking frozen and icy-cold.

“You disappeared for so long I thought you were gone! Why are you back now? Where is Uncle Archer?” Jon asked with the enthusiasm of a child, and I guessed quickly that his Aunt Ellen must have not seen him since he was a child, for Jon suddenly reverted to his young –child –version again.

Apparently Uncle Archer was a sore topic for both Elxa and Ms. Ellen, for the woman in topic flinched, and Mr. Elxa –if possible –stood only straighter. His hand over his cane tightened ever so slightly, but he consciously loosened those hands, still refusing to offer more words.

“Uncle Archer passed away a month ago. He was involved in a car crash in Britain, dear.” Ms. Ellen said softly, with the pained emotions of a distraught wife. Immediately, I felt a little sorrier for her, striving to be less harsh upon her in my assessment of her. Jon’s face fell almost immediately, to something between sorrow and apology, and he hung his head with the charisma of a three year old boy who had just been scolded for spilling the jug of water.

“I’m sorry, Aunt Ellen.” He apologized, hanging his head in shame. “I didn’t know about that.”

“Nothing on you, dear.” Ms. Ellen breezed back her reply, and her free –still gloved –hand ruffled the top of Jon’s bowed head though they were almost the same height. “It isn’t your fault Archer was always careless when driving.”

“You must be suffering so very much, Aunt Ellen.” Jon reported, as Mr. Elxa finally got them sitting down on the couch. Jon took a seat by his aunt’s side, and I silently noted that it was the first time that Jon willingly took a seat on the same couch as his enemy, who had simply remained silent.

I hurried to the kitchen to fetch the visitor a glass of water, barely breaking between Jon’s and Ms. Ellen’s touching reunion conversation when I left the glass politely on the low glass table before the lady. Retreating again to my inconspicuous corner of the room, I watched the scene unfold before me.

Any traces of the casual, careless and sometimes-vulnerable Mr. Elxa from before was entirely gone, and I saw in the tautness of every muscle in his posture that he was ready for some sort of danger. For the same fact, Ms. Ellen seemed to sit in the same way –except with more natural regality in that pose. If I didn’t know better, I would have expected Ms. Ellen to come from the royal family or something.

Through the conversation that Ms. Ellen and Jon shared animatedly, Mr. Elxa put in no words and simply kept his eyes on Jon’s aunt, as if afraid she would turn into a monster. Neither of the two in the conversation seemed to notice, as the two recollected the good old days. Ms. Ellen appeared to me as if the rich, powerful but kindly aunt to Jon, as she entertained his conversation topics kindly and gently. Her words were always soft and gentle, filled with ‘dear boy’ and ‘sweet darling’ in the way a motherly figure would do. It was easy to see why Jon would be so taken to her –considering his growing up without a proper mother figure.

And then, when the next break in the conversation finally came, Mr. Elxa opened his mouth, and out came one sentence that was spoken in a tone that sounded as if it came from the Arctic.

“What brings you back for a visit, Ellen?”

She spun around back to look at Mr. Elxa, as if having totally forgotten his existence as he sat quietly on the other side of her. Something between alarm and shock flashed in her soft green eyes as she looked at Mr. Elxa, but it was gone in a quick blink, and she smiled her gentle smile.

“Why, to visit my nephew and see how you are doing!” She declared with a placating smile that deceived Jon. But I’d grown up in a world where people all had selfish ulterior motives, and I had no doubt that Ms. Ellen had hers too.

“We are doing fine, Ellen.” Mr. Elxa’s coldness was a douse of water to her fire, and I could almost see Jon’s anger spark back to life at Mr. Elxa’s being a relentless downer to the lively atmosphere. “Besides, if you were really interested, you would have visited years ago; not now.”

It suddenly appeared to me as if Mr. Elxa was silently angry at this woman sitting beside him. It struck me how similar he was acting to Jon when I first met them. Before Ms. Ellen, Mr. Elxa suddenly was the angry little hurt boy that Jon was. The boy over-filled with hatred, hiding beneath the icy cold man with wealth and power on his hands.

For the moment, Mr. Elxa appeared to me as a colder, more powerful and scarier version of what Jon was.

“I was busy, Elxa. I’m sorry I didn’t visit you after May’s death, but it was too heavy for me! Did you really think I didn’t want to come see my sister’s darlings?” Ms. Ellen’s frown was delicate and gentle, almost as if she were chiding a kindergarten kid for upturning the vase. Mr. Elxa was entirely not taken in by her act, for the icy sharpness in his eyes never changed.

“I think you didn’t want to see your sister’s murderer.” Mr. Elxa said coldly, and with that, he stood up and tapped his way out of the room in the tensed, heavy silence. A short while later, the sound of the study door slamming shut echoed through the house.

“He’s still like that?” Ms. Ellen finally broke the heavy silence with a tired sigh –sounding like a mother who had given up on her child. Strange, Mr. Elxa had sounded the same a month or so ago when he first hired me.

“I thought he changed. Apparently not. He’s still a bastard.” Jon’s anger was burning back to life after such a long moment of absence that I felt a little indignant. I’d worked so hard to make Jon accept Mr. Elxa’s presence in his life, and my employer had taken just 4 sentences to spoil all of it. Was Mr. Elxa really adamant about breaking all sorts of relationship with his family? Jon was enough, but Ms. Ellen?

By what I knew of their family, this deceased ‘May’ was Jon’s mother –which made her Mr. Elxa’s lover since Mr. Elxa was Jon’s father. I wasn’t sure of the relationship between this ‘May’ person and another man named ‘Jed’ but I was pretty sure they were close, and they died together. Perhaps Jed was a brother of Jon’s? I was murky about how May and Jed passed away, but it was obvious that Jon blamed Mr. Elxa for it, and Mr. Elxa had been fine taking the blame all for himself.

Yet, given his reaction to Ms. Ellen, was it possible that she had something to do with the death of her sister –his lover?

“Don’t be so hard on him, dear.” Ms. Ellen cooed, apparently quick to forget the unpleasant things of life. Considering how her husband had died only a month ago, and instead of mourning she had flown here to visit her long-lost nephews, it spoke much about her personality of leaving the bad things behind and moving on quickly. I guess you could call it good thing. “He also lost someone he loved that day in that accident.”

“Well, he certainly got past that quickly.” Jon bit out angrily, and from my inconspicuous corner I saw Jon’s fists clenched tight –almost as if he planned to punch his father’s face in. “He just got right back to his work for the next fifteen years of life.”

“He had to support you, Jon. Elxa doesn’t seem like it, but he’s still hurting about May and Jed.” Ms. Ellen continued to comfort, and my first impression of her changed quickly. She was definitely some sort of a motherly figure –at least one very good at pretending to be. She and Mr. Elxa must have had some sort of feud, but she had definitely worked her way well to her nephew’s heart.

“Serves him right.” Jon exploded angrily. “He’s the one who killed them. It’s his fault.”

Even though I knew that Jon’s mother had passed away in a car crash –in which Mr. Elxa had been involved in, thus his leg injury –it struck me suddenly that Mr. Elxa could have been the one to order the accident. He hadn’t been shy in proclaiming that he was a man of many connections, and he could have easily asked for one of his contacts to have staged the accident.

What if this ‘Jed’ person had been an extramarital affair that May had, and Mr. Elxa got so angry that he ordered for his wife to be killed? It didn’t explain why Jed was in the car along with May and Mr. Elxa at the time of accident, but it was a terribly convenient way to get rid of the cheating couple.

Kaylen, you’re being presumptuous. Mr. Elxa isn’t like that. Besides, you’re not part of their family. My inner voice was beginning to rouse, and when she spoke internally, she was usually right and more rational than the usual me. I sighed silently and agreed with my inner-self. I was assuming too many things. I wasn’t even sure what the definite relationship between all of them were, and here I was; coming up with theories of Mr. Elxa being a jealous lover and a bad father.

Okay, Mr. Elxa wasn’t the best of all fathers, but at least I’d seen him try his best to provide for Jon for the past month –so it could count for something.

Respect your employer’s privacy, Kaylen. You don’t want to get fired from this awesome job, do you? Some things are better off not knowing. The world is better without you knowing things.

Again, I agreed silently with the voice of wisdom. Honestly, I think sometimes my social skills only came in the form of this inner voice that never appeared when I needed her. It was only in times like this that I actually acted normal –to make people ignore me from awkward situations. Still, I shuffled my way obediently –and silently –out of my corner, slipping away unseen out of the living area. I didn’t have much to do as a housekeeper, so I decided to hole myself up in my room –at least until Ms. Ellen was gone.

I passed by Mr. Elxa’s study on the way to my room, and hesitated for a short moment. He could see my silhouette past the frosted glass, so I ducked quickly out of the way, but staying in the hallway close to the door. It was mostly quiet, so I could hear the very soft snippets of conversation happening inside.

“Tell me,” Mr. Elxa was speaking sternly –presumably through the phone to one of his many contacts, “exactly what happened to Archer Lorren.”

Archer Lorren. The name set in quickly. Archer was Ms. Ellen’s late husband. The pause of silence only meant that there was a waiting reply.

“You mean to say they’ve declined so far? The Killians were never much for hunting people down so ruthlessly. Why did they go after Archer this time?” Mr. Elxa’s voice was all business, but it shocked me that he was talking about ‘hunting people down’. Surely he really wasn’t…

Kaylen, respect your employer!

“How badly are they chasing Ellen now?”

The reply must have not been good, for it took long for Mr. Elxa to find his response.

“I get it. Do what you can in Britain to soothe the situation over. I will do as I deem fit here with Ellen. Does anyone else know that she is here in the States?”

I held my breath and my heart pounded. Ms. Ellen was chased by some people? Her husband was killed by them? This was really turning out to be a drama about the mafia or something. It was hard to believe that Mr. Elxa was a mafia boss, but I knew from TV dramas that the most successful and connected businessmen were the ones with the strongest dealing with the black market and hired mercenaries.

“Good, keep her presence here a secret. Make her disappear. I will deal with her.” Mr. Elxa concluded, and I bit my bottom lip to prevent any terrified shriek from coming from my mouth. Mr. Elxa had sounded exactly like the corporate boss coolly arranging for his rival to be ‘dealt with’. And if Mr. Elxa wanted Ms. Ellen to ‘disappear’ by ‘dealing with her’…

Kaylen Hurst, for the last time, respect your employer and don’t be presumptuous! Okay, Ms. Ellen and her husband must have pissed off some dangerous people! Mr. Elxa could be arranging to protect her. Don’t assume, and be a good employee. Go back to your room and ignore everything. You are better here in any other place, and you have good pay. Don’t screw it up. This is the only thing good out of your life.

Inner Me was getting angry, and I –despite my desire to know more –agreed. I was a nosey bitch, but at least I knew better than to get myself in serious trouble. So what if Mr. Elxa was a mafia boss. He was paying me for an easy job, had given me three-week paid leave even though I was feeling entirely fine. My life was great. Even if the police came to the door right now, I could just pretend that I knew nothing at all –which I really, honestly, knew nothing at all. Besides, Mr. Elxa had been stern in telling me not to mess with his business, and I didn’t want to get fired.

So what else could I do?

I shrugged and moved along to my room, forcing myself to forget.