The Metonia

“Anouk! Asnee! Don’t run! You will get hurt-” as soon as he said that Little girl Anouk tripped over a stone followed by her little brother Asnee who bumped into her and they both ended up falling.. A small chuckle came out from the cherry plump lips of Hieu who was standing by the water fountain watching those two little kids play.. He walked over to them and saw Anouk and Asnee pouting.. He kneeled down in front of them “I told you not to run too fast na” He said with his soft soothing and calm voice.. They both looked down in guilt and apologized knowing that they were wrong.. Hieu notice a tear leaving Asnee’s eyes.. He said and wiped it making the little boy look up at him with big puppy eyes.. “Are you hurt?” Hieu asked and the little boy nodded.. “Let me see” Others may see Hieu just as a servant and a caretaker of those two kids but to the Kids, he was basically their father, their mother as well as a teacher.. They were like a group of three bestfriends.. Anouk and Asnee were way more attached to Hieu than to their own parents.. Asnee pointed at his knee.. Hieu look at it and it was a small unnoticeable scratch on his knee.. “Oh no! What’s this! It must hurt a lot right!?” Hieu said while pretending to look extremely worried.. “Noo! I’m a strong big boy!! It doesn’t hurt!!” little Asnee said while folding his small fragile arms across his chest.. Hieu softly smiled to himself and then transformed his small smile into a big one “That’s great! But you know what” He pouted pretending to be sad “If we don’t go and see the physician, I will get scolded for not taking proper care of you” “But I don’t like him!!” Of course like every other child Asnee disliked Physician because he would give him bitter herbs to eat.. “I don’t like him either but do you want me to get scolded?” He looked at Asnee with puppy eyes and even the little boy couldn’t resist those eyes.. “What will I get in return” A small naughty grin formed on Asnee’s lips.. Hieu begin to stroke his chin pretend to be thinking hard about something.. He looked at Asnee and then at Anouk and then back at Asnee with a smirk “How about we sneak into the kitchen..” he paused allowing the kids to complete the rest of his sentence.. “And cook..!” Said Anouk “LOTUS ROOT SOUP!!!” Asnee said loudly out of pure joy.. The small girl and the older male put their Finger on their lips motioning Asnee to not to be so loud about their ‘secret mission’ Usually it was not allowed for anyone to step in the kitchen without King’s permission.. Not even Queen Thuy was allowed to step into the kitchen.. But those three crime partners would usually sneak in the kitchen when no one is around and cook their favorite food ‘Lotus Root Soup’.. The real reason why no one caught them was because that the King secretly told everyone to let them in.. Hieu was the person whom the King trusted blindly.. Hieu was sent to the castle when he was only 6 to serve the future unborn King or Queen.. He was raised there.. Few months after he was sent to the castle, Prince Kiet was born.. Ever since that day they never left each other’s side until he had to marry Queen Thuy.. For some reasons that King Kiet was unaware about, the emotional distance between two males increased.. King still wonder about why their relation has disappeared but whenever he see Hieu playing with his children Prince Asnee and Princess Anouk, memories of the past begin to float in his head and he begin to smile again.. After they were done visiting the physician, they all quietly headed to the royal kitchen making sure no one is around.. Hieu was busy in cooking the soup and the kids were helping him by fetching the ingredients for him and watching him with their big doe eyes.. Anouk and Asnee have tried the same soup with the same recipe by their professional chef but it always failed to beat the taste of the soup made by Hieu.. Hieu heard Asnee’s stomach growled.. He chuckled and said “Looks like someone is hungry” Little boy pouted and admitted by nodding.. Hieu couldn’t help but pinch little male’s cute chubby cheeks.. Asnee huffed and said “Don’t do that! I told you I’m a big boy!” Older male raised his hand and surrendered.. “Fine.. Anyways.. I’m almost done! Now it’s time to put the secret ingredient in it!! Quickly guys look away!” He said while putting his hand in his pockets.. The siblings Quickly looked away and covered their eyes.. “All Done!” he said and the sibling looked back at him.. “Hieuwee! Why you never tell us about the secret ingredient!” Anouk asking while softly whining.. He looked at Anouk and said “If I tell you then it won’t be the ‘Secret’ Ingredient anymore na” Anouk was about to say something but his little brother cut her off by saying “Can we please argue later? I’m hungwwyy” He said while rubbing his belly.. Hieu playfully and softly punched his belly which made Asnee punch him back playfully.. They sneaked out from the kitchen and quietly went back into their room.. The reason why the other servants deeply disliked Hieu and was jealous of him because they notice the way King treats him specially.. Some even call him a attention wh*re and say that he is just using the prince and princess to get King’s attention.. King gave him a special room that looked nothing like the normal room of a servant because his kids would always insist to sleep with their favorite person, and of course he won’t let his kids sleep in a servant’s room.. The three of them were busy in enjoying their favorite food when the door suddenly opened making two little kids to flinch and the older male look up with wide eyes and his mouth full of soup, making his cheeks look more chubby.. It was King Kiet.. As soon as he opened the door his eyes automatically met the hazel ones as if there was some sort of connection, some sort of attraction.. King couldn’t helped but smiled a little.. To him Hieu looks like a squirrel whenever he is hungry because of his habit of stuffing his cheeks making them look chubbier.. Hieu felt a small finger softly poke his cheek making him quickly gulp down all the soup in his mouth.. He ended up chocking badly suddenly he felt a hand rubbing his back.. As soon as he stopped coughing he realized that the hand that is rubbing his back is too big to be Anouk or Asnee’s.. He quickly moved away and looked at that person only to see the eyes that never fails to fasten his heartbeat, soft shiny hair that he want to ruffle badly, soft cherry lips, and that soft sandalwood scent.. Without realizing, Hieu’s cheeks begin to turn red.. Their eye contact broke when they heard the two kids laughing.. Hieu panicked and looked away meanwhile Kiet cleared his throat and asks “What is a so funny kids?” “Hieuwee’s cheeks!! Our big brother is blushing!!!” said Anouk.. Anouk noticed his flustered cheeks causing him to panic even more and his cheeks turned into a deeper shade of red.. He tried to hide his face but failed which caused everyone to laugh.. “Anyways.. What were you guys doing” King Kiet changed the subject.. “We were just eating our favorite Lotus Soup!!” Asnee said without realizing that it was their ‘Little secret’.. Hieu and Anouk looked at each other before looking at Asnee making him realize what he have done.. Asnee realized and bit his tongue after spilling their secret.. “I-I mean we asked the chef to make some for us.. Hehe.. Yeah..” He nervously laughed trying to save their secret.. King played along and nodded “I see.. Can I taste?” Their eyes widen from surprise.. Usually King would rarely visit them because he would always be too busy.. But today not only he visited them but now he is also trying to play with them and taking extra interest in their matters.. “Uh.. S-Sure.. Here you go father” Asnee was the one sitting beside him so he gently pushed his own bowl of soup towards the King.. King took a bite and once again the memories from past begin to show up in front of his eyes.. He remembered this taste by the depth of his heart.. He remembered a small 7 year boy whining to his father about how everything seems tasteless to him.. His high fever still wasn’t completely gone.. “But almost every chef in this castle tried their best but if you still can’t taste anything then why don’t you take your medicines and get well as soon as possible.. Then you can eat whatever you want to” his mother said softly.. “I won’t take those bitter medicines!!!” Little boy begin to cry.. He felt a hand on his shoulder which made him look up at that person with his teary eyes and runny nose.. A 13 year old boy bent down a little bit and wiped away his tears and nose.. He faced the King, the father of that 6 years old boy and said “Your majesty.. Can I cook lotus root soup for him? My mom taught me how to make that.. It is also good for health” 13 years old Hieu said.. King couldn’t see his only son sad so he allowed Hieu to cook for him.. That was the day when he first tasted this soup.. He was never able to forget that taste and now that he got a chance to eat it again after a long time, it sure refreshed all the memories from the past.. Kiet looked up at Hieu and said “It’s delicious” “Just like the old day” he thought.. The whole time no one dare to say a single word unless King ask something.. He would ask small questions like how’s study going or if they have read any new books yet or if they want something.. They would just reply with yes or no.. King was wise enough to sense how nervous they were, including Hieu.. To the point where he begin to feel like he is disturbing them by being there.. “Why are you all being so nervous?” he asked Hieu opened his mouth to answer the King to deny and say that there is no such thing like that but he immediately closed his mouth when the young prince begin to speak.. “Um dad.. It’s that you rarely visit us.. Usually it’s just me, sis and Hieuwee.. We are not used to it” Hieu’s eyes slightly widened at the blunt answer of the young prince.. King opened his mouth to say something but choose to not to say it.. He knew that his son was right.. He is always too busy and rarely get time to check up on his own kids. “He is right.. it’s usually just them” He thought.. It’s surprising how sometimes a father can get so busy in his own world of responsibilities that when he finally get time to sneak out of his own world and step in to the world of his kids, he ends up feeling like an outsider.. He was feeling guilty.. Kiet knew that no matter how much he tell Thuy, his wife and the mother of Anouk and Asnee to spend time with them, she would just make an excuse.. He knew that those two poor kids never got the love and attention they deserved from their own mother.. Their father was always too busy, their mother never cared about them.. But it puts Kiet’s mind at peace knowing that at least they had Hieu.. He knew that Hieu was giving them the love they deserve, fulfilling the emptiness caused by their parents.. King Kiet nodded “You are right.. Anyways.. I have to go again now.. But don’t worry I will try to come back again soon” He gave them a small smile and left.. Asnee looked over to Hieu and asked “Did I say something wrong? Did he left again because of me?” Asnee was quite wise for his age.. Hieu looked back at Asnee and gave him a heartwarming soft smile.. “Nope.. It’s just that he have a lot of work to do you know.. Don’t over think it.. And let’s continue..” he paused and took a sip from his Lotus soup.. Hieu pouted “It’s cold now” Asnee who was over thinking about the reason why he left all of a sudden, couldn’t help but forget about it and laugh at Hieu’s face expressions.. Anouk laughed and said ”You are the oldest one here yet you still act like a child” Later that night King Kiet went to check up on Queen Thuy who just finished having a massage.. “Don’t you get tired of all this?” King asked.. “What? Can’t I even take care of myself now?” Queen looked at him unbelievingly.. Kiet sighed and shook his head knowing that it will be useless and just a waste of time to argue with her.. So he changed the topic by asking “I went to check up on the kids today.. I was happy to see them happy in their own world.. You should also visit them sometimes” “I don’t want to.. I don’t know why you can’t see it but they are becoming too ungrateful day by day! They never listen to me! It’s like that lowlife is brain washing them!” King Kiet took a deep breath to stay calm “Look I know that you don’t like Hieu for some unknown reason but haven’t I told you not to use bad words for him?” “Come on! Your concern for him won’t change his identity and make him one of us” “I don’t know what is your definition of ‘one of us’ but to me, he is one of us” Queen was about to say something back but she got cut off by the voice of the guard informing them that Hieu is there to see the Queen.. “Speak of the devil and the devil is here” Queen Thuy mumbled.. King mentally rolled his eyes at his wife and said “Let him in” Hieu who was waiting outside the door cursing his fate, not wanting to face the Queen heard the voice of the King.. His heart begun to race once again.. It was the second time today that he got to see Kiet.. He stopped cursing his fate and went inside nervously.. “What do you want” Queen said in a harsh tone.. One of the main reasons why her own kids dislikes her is because she is always harsh and rude towards their favorite person.. She would call him names and sometimes when she get angry with him, she would throw whatever she have near her at Hieu.. Sometimes Hieu get lucky when she misses her aim but the other times he have to bear it.. He once accidently dodged as a natural response from her body which caused him receive 30 whips and no food for 2 days.. Luckily Anouk and Asnee only know about their mother being rude to her not her mother harming him.. He also choose to stay quiet knowing that he can’t go against the Queen.. “Um.. The physician asked me to give you this” He never dared to look up.. He was looking at the ground by the time he entered the room.. Hieu had a small pouch full of herbs.. He extend out the pouch by both hands.. Queen called her personal maid in the room to grab that pouch from him and hand it to her.. After handing the pouch to the Queen, the maid left.. Hieu was also about to follow her and leave stopped when Queen asked.. “Why did he give this to you today? Usually he would give these to my maids.. You better not be playing tricks” Hieu was confused so was King Kiet, who was quietly observing them.. “S-Sorry my Majesty but I didn’t understand.. What do you mean?” Hieu asked still not daring to look up.. Queen Thuy chuckled sarcastically “Don’t make me say it and become the bad person.. You know what I mean.. Are you sure that these herbs are from the Physician? Are you sure you are not trying to poison me or something?”