SEA'S BRIDE (PHILMYTHO ROMANCE II)

CHAPTER 2

In my entire life, I have never eaten breakfast like this pancake dish layered with lobster, caviar, and truffles finished with Dom Perignon Rose hollandaise sauce. Bagels with Alba white truffle cream cheese on top, along with Goji berry-infused Riesling jelly and—get this—gold leaves.

And then there’s another platter that has a variety which includes slices of Balik salmon, two duck eggs, Oscetra caviar, crème Fraiche, and mini brioche. There’s also an Omelette filled with Scottish lobster and crab, Italian truffles, and fresh English asparagus. Boy, I was just used to eating fried eggs, beef tapa, dried fish, and garlic rice for breakfast. Now how on earth shall I eat all of these?

“Something wrong, Miss Emalia?” Leandro who looks plainly worried asked me suddenly.

“Ahh…well, nothing really but, I—I…well I—do you have fried eggs and garlic rice instead?” I mustered all the courage to ask him what I really want instead.

Yet what he immediately respond back was a question instead. Telling me with his wondering stare he said, “Don’t you like the food, Miss Emalia?”

My eyes paused towards him, blinking for a short moment. I lost whatever answer I have to give him back and before I could collect the words, Leandro snaps his fingers that in as quickly as a flash there were three maids rush instantly by his side.

“Throw away everything perishable on the table right now, and then serve Miss Emalia some fried eggs and garlic rice instead.” He ordered them which they swiftly obliged. Leandro’s face is plain but his words sounded authoritative. He could be something higher than a butler if that’s the case.

The urge to protect the table before they could even touch any of the plates abruptly came rushing to me. And with that cause, I pulled my tongue to say, “Just what exactly are you going to do?” I politely asked.

“Throwing them as ordered, miss.” one of them answered.

“N—no, there’s no need. I’ll just eat them, Leandro.” I told them—giving it as an emphasis to Leandro so they would withdraw from the task—than witnessing how they recklessly throw these precious meals.

I seated back into the chair and began digging in every slice and bite. Sweetness, savory, and bitterness combined inside my mouth as I continue to consume everything on the table since I’m too afraid they might just throw it away without being eaten. I can’t bear witness that when the rest of the world’s population starve to death.

After quite a while of continuous eating, the rest of them glued their eyes on me as I was able to finish all the types of breakfast served to me. I could already feel the weight in my stomach as I haven’t burped just yet.

“I hope you enjoyed your breakfast, Miss Emalia. You may take a fifteen-minute break for now before I show you around.” Leandro said before he goes to head out from the dining hall.

The whole eating spree made me quickly forget my query to Leandro. And so as soon as I finished my meal, I rose immediately to follow him where he left.

“Leandro, just a moment please—” I called out to him while catching for breath at the same time.

Good thing Leandro turns around to face me, “Do you need anything, Miss Emalia?” he abruptly asked with a tone of anxiety over my sudden hastiness.

Finally recovering from the lack of air, I straightened my posture and recalled my purpose of chasing after him, “Well, I’ve been meaning to know where I really am and what am I doing here?” I asked, hoping that he’ll answer it this time.

But to my confusion, he retorted a question back to me saying, “Well, how do you see it, Miss Emalia?”

My left brow arched up from the other. What does he mean by that?

“I don’t get you.” I honestly told him back.

“It seems like you are ready for our quick tour. Do you mind following my lead?” he added saying, inviting me as his other hand gesture the way to follow him.

I wonder how long will Leandro dodge off from all my queries. Though the whole atmosphere around doesn’t scare me a bit, I still can’t help but feel a portion of oddness from everything that is happening now. Yet despite my hunches, I still followed Leandro anyway.

Trailing behind him lead us through another door after passing through the open hall again. I believe the open hall is the center of this house or whatever kind of building it may be. The door walkthrough extends to a short corridor leading to a large room.

“This is the entertainment hall. Master has instructed us to ask if you prefer arcade games. We recently imported and installed the latest games & consoles in this room from the only best game developers.” Leandro’s introduction was just a small contribution to how my jaw lost its capability to shut up.

Am I really seeing the latest consoles and arcade machines that have the latest high-end games from companies like Nintendo, Bandai Namco, Sega, Konami, and Square Enix inside this room?

With the never-before-seen new consoles here, any game geek would call this place heaven. Just by seeing the yet-to-be-released hologram edition of Playstation 10 which is even better than the Playstation 5, I bet they would prefer living here forever. Also inside here were other consoles like the Xbox series Z, another yet to be released which is far off better than the latest versions currently out in the market.

I went over to have a closer look and my captivation did not allow me to withdraw myself from touching it for myself. All these must have cost them a fortune to purchase. But abruptly having the thought of it immediately made me decide to place it back quickly before I could damage it or so. I would not be able to afford to pay for it had I break it otherwise.

“Aren’t you fond of playing games, Miss Emalia?” Leandro suddenly intervened from my shallow silence to ask.

I nod back at him replying, “I’m amazed but I don’t have the forte about games like any of these. Like, I do not know how to play any of it at all.” My smile is too pathetic looking. I just hope Leandro does not bother to get intrigued by it at all. Assuming by the way he just nods and resort to moving on another door, I suppose he does not bother.

The gesture made me assume that I should follow him and that’s why I did. I’m just surprised Leandro did not snap the maids to throw those games away. They would be jerks to do such had it been anyway.

“Good thing you did not throw those consoles away because I won’t be able to play them.” I suddenly said to kill the silence between us as we both walk, which I later regret.

“It doesn’t matter, our master will use them.” Leandro’s response was too plain. It made me suddenly thought whatever is really going on in his head. But before I could even think further, Leandro opened another extension door at the far end of the game room. He then gestured me to enter first, “Here please, Miss Emalia.” He then said.

I obliged and entered the room. Inside is another vast hall but what captivated me even further is the Olympic private pool inside and two smaller Jacuzzi. If my hunch is right that I’m in an underwater dome or whatsoever, this would be the very first time in my entire life to see an Olympic size pool underwater.

“—apart from the Olympic swimming pool and Jacuzzi’s, we have at the far end two more extending rooms for hot bath areas and a spa room. If you wish to have a body massage now, we can call our resident therapist to prepare the room for you.” I haven’t realized that Leandro has been doing his showcasing spiels since the moment ago.

“Just how huge is this house to accommodate all the things you have shown me?” I sarcastically ask.

“We have only seen the thirty percent of the whole mansion so far.”

“Are you serious? Just how exactly big is this mansion?”

Leandro looks up as he bid his estimates, “It’s approximately a bit wider than the mall of Asia.” He then said.

Hearing it made me almost fell back from where I stand. Is this place even considered a home with that kind of house size? I would not even be surprised anymore had this house actually own a soccer field inside.

“How many people live in this gigantic mansion?”

“Just our master,”

“Am I still in the Philippines?”

“Yes, you are, Miss Emalia.”

I ran out of questions to ask that Leandro will likely answer. He continued showing me around which appeared that this mansion has so many secret passages and each room connects to another.

Leandro showed me a tennis court, an indoor shooting range, a private bar, bowling area, spacious home theater room nearly bigger than a real cinema house and Leandro still says we have more to see but my feet could no longer keep up especially with the shoes I’m wearing.

Among the rooms I saw, what really made me curious is that all doesn't seem to have a single window, likewise the same with the main hall.

“It’s too hard to escape from all the rooms when a fire suddenly appears here.” I suddenly commented while looking around.

“If you have noticed, there are three doors in each room. We have been only entering and departing from two parallel white doors as these are interconnected with the other rooms. The black doors adjacent to these two doors are connected to the main hall. It served as the fire exit as well no matter which room you are from.”

“You lost me, Leandro.” I shyly admitted as I did not get his explanation. Well, I just have to remember that the black doors are fire exits just in case.

While the two of us are walking around this unexplainably and unbelievably huge mansion,—if it is still considered a mansion—the thought somehow came to me that how come there aren’t any pictures of his master that we’ve ever counter yet?

The last room, as Leandro said ‘for now’, was actually his master’s study. Facing us from the door is an executive desk made out of the fancy mabolo trunk with one brass base table lamp and file manager on top. On the other side lies a pile of papers that I did not bother to check. A thick maroon carpet surrounds the place, and his table has a receiving futon fronting the desk. I just happen to realize that his study doesn’t even have any single of his photos as well.

“I just noticed, Leandro. There isn’t a single portrait of your master in this house, isn’t it?” my eyes wander yet I wasn’t able to hold back to ask.

Leandro placed his right palm on his chest and said, “My master is not that fond of portraits, Miss Emalia.”

“How come?”

“It’s something our master doesn’t talk about. We never attempted to ask either.”

“Why not? It’s just asking.”

“Being inquisitive is restricted for us servants.”

“It’s not illegal to ask why a person hates something. Besides, don’t you think you at least need to know who you are serving? I mean, look at just that kind of restriction. That’s against Labor code!”

“That’s far from being covered by the Labor laws actually. And we’re far being protected from such laws anyway.”

“What?”

“—it’s something you will not be able to grasp. Let’s move along.”

I find that part humiliating, what does Leandro think about that just now? That I can’t understand anything about Labor code?

How rude of him. Yet, instead of igniting an argument with him, I just let a petty reaction of mine fade along with the cool breeze of these inverter air conditioners that keeps on sending me shivers.

Upon exiting the room, I saw a book that had been slid halfway under a settee. Out of curiosity, I went over to pick it up and it sparks me up to flip it open after reading the title cover, ‘Universe of Women beyond Men’s Thinking’

Leandro then shadowed beside me to ask, “Something wrong, Miss Emalia?”

I quickly replied, “Nothing, but I wonder if I could borrow this book?” showing him the book in my hands.

“Yes, you can.” Leandro instantly said back.

Our tour ended soon after I told Leandro that my feet were already feeling sore. And though it appears like he isn’t convinced with my honest reasoning, I didn’t allow him to win it back from me.

I remembered to exit from the black door, and true to what Leandro had said; the black door indeed led me back to the main hall despite the number of rooms we went through. And so carrying the book in my hand, I climb the grandeur staircase back into the room where I woke up. I can only assume that as their so-called ‘favored guest’, this is the room designated to me. When I got inside, I had to shake both my feet to lazily wear off the pumps that made my heels swollen. Then, I jump onto the bed to bury my head into the treasure I just found.

As I scan through the pages, a thought just pops out inside my head. It just makes me wonder as to why Leandro’s master would ever read a book that revolves around women’s universe. Perhaps getting my nose from the contents of this book might give me a little hint of information as to what kind of a person is Leandro’s master.

***