Where The Dead Ones Go Book 2 -Republic-

Chapter 4

"Are you sure this is the right unit?" I asked in a barely whisper as we stepped inside the supposed home of Mr Atomo after Kairos unlocked the door.

"Unless all units here have the same keys then maybe no?" Morris answered as we marvel at the sheer grandiosity and utter cleanliness of the living room we see the moment we arrived.

The floor is gleaming so much you can check your reflection on it clearly. The pieces of furniture are thoroughly cleaned and masterfully rearranged to make them pleasing to the eyes.

The dusty chandelier has been wiped clean, and I just noticed the precious gemstones encrusted on its gold plated handles as it shines brighter than before illuminating the room that is thoroughly scrubbed and wiped.

I noticed my own shoes that I left here this morning polished and neatly arranged with Kairos' and Morris' in the newly cleaned shoe rack.

"Ok, our shoes are here, so we are inside the president's home but what in the world happened here?" Morris asked in shock as he walked around carefully and understandably afraid to even touch anything afraid to dirty their pristine appearance, "It's like a typhoon of cleanliness has ravaged this place from floor to ceiling."

Morris nodded as he followed him and checked the remote controls being adequately placed near the sofa. The barely-there airconditioning is cooling the entire room even more than it shamefully did last night.

Suddenly, a delicious smell wafted from the kitchen that made my stomach groan in anticipation.

"Ah, you have finally arrived, Young Master Kairos."

We looked around and saw an old man dressed in a crisp black blazer and grey pants walking from the dining room towards us before bowing respectfully.

"It has almost been two years since I saw you and you certainly have grown more dapper than before, Young Master," he said appreciatively before facing me. My cousin next, "The way you carry yourselves business-like, you two can only be Mistress Irene's, am I right, Young Lady and Young Lord?"

We nodded as I replied, "We are, yes."

"Lady Vivet and Lord Morris, it is my honor to finally welcome you to the house of Master Atomo. I am Jeeves Elinika, the butler of House Axiopisto," he said meaningfully as he looked around us with his sharp eyes, "Properly welcome you two, that is. When I arrived here, I thought I entered the wrong unit! The depraved state of this home almost made me faint in distress. How can he ever let a good young lady sleep here confidently with such grime and poor ventilation, I never know? But perish the painful and traumatic thoughts of your last dinner here. I have personally assured that you will only experience the best culinary delights our household provide."

Kairos looked at the butler in shock as if he didn't expect him to be here at all, "So you are the last resort he is saying earlier, Jeeves?"

"I prefer if we are his first resort, Young Master. Alas, how I miss the days when we are useful. So long have we been cooped up at the back at the villa without no one to wait upon and you two finally arrived! We are just overjoyed, I tell you all!" he exclaimed excitedly as he ushered us quickly to the dining room, "Now, enough about my torturous predicament. Your dinner will soon be served, so let's get you all prepared."

The moment we arrived at the dining area, we saw that just like the living room, it is cleaned from floor to ceiling. Everything seemed like a brand new and shiny.

Two maids are waiting upon Mr Atomo who is sitting comfortably at the head of the table being served appetizers.

"Please, my Lady, take a seat and allow us to serve upon you."

I let the butler pull a chair for me, and I sat excitedly when I saw the delicious entree.

"Oh my, Young Master! It is good to see you again!"

"And you as well, Seola and Tina."

The two maids look at mine and Morris direction as they bowed a little, "And this must be our house guests! Oh, just give me a second and I will get your appetizers! What do you two prefer? Soup, bread or fruits?"

"Soup will be great, thank you," I answered quickly that made her smile.

"On it, young Lady. I am Seolla, a humble maid of House Axiopisto and this is my friend Tina. Just call our name, and we will be at your beck and call for the duration of your stay here," she introduced herself and the other maid who is taking the order of my cousin, "Now, we are all well aware of the disgusting garbage our Master Axiopisto has forced you three to eat last night. I assure you that we will not serve any of that nonsense tonight and for the rest of your stay here."

Tina nodded and threw an accusing look at the president who winced uncomfortably, "Indeed. How can he forced a woman to eat that disgusting thing is beyond me. Anyways, please give us two to three minutes before we serve the main course that I am sure will wipe away the sad memories of yesternight."

The two then quickly left to fetch our appetizers as the butler is left with us and patiently teaching Kairos how to properly use a knife and fork.

"I am sure I have taught you the basics of proper fine dining. How come you reverted back to your barbaric self? Oh, don't answer Young Master, I do know who is to blame for your pitiful eating habits," he then glared at the president who just heaved a sad sigh.

"Why am I getting blamed for his manners?!"

The old butler dropped the knife and fork with clutter as he walked menacingly towards his Master that surprisingly made Mr Atomo cower like a child, "You are his foster father, Master Atomo! It is your sacred duty and obligation to make sure he will not act uncivilized both in and out of the house! Just look at him! Look!"

We saw Kairos eating his bread rather savagely and drinking from the soup straight from the bowl Tina gave him.

"What?"

"What, what, Master?! How dare you take him as your own, have him work for you but miserably fail to make him act like a proper young man? Honestly, to think you just think about calling our entire household help because Mistress Irene's children are here and not before you feed them with pure disgusting grovel!"

The ranting of Jeeves was cut when Seolla rushed from the living room with a phone on her hands, "A call from Mistress Irene. She is asking for you, young Lady."

Everyone fell silent as I grabbed the phone from the maid and took a deep breath before answering, "Yes, Ms Irene?"

"What is he feeding you two, Vivet? I hope something edible and not microwavable junk?"

I bit my lip as I silently apologized to her in my mind for lying.

"Nothing to worry about, Ms Irene. We are well taken care of here by his excellent household help. They are serving us delicious appetizers now, and I can just smell the decadent smell wafting from the kitchen that can only be our main course."

"Hmm. If it's Jeeves who is handling your stay there, then I suppose there's nothing for me to worry about. Hand-over the phone to Morris. I want to talk to him."

"Keep your damn mouth shut, Morris."

"How can I speak if I did, Vivet?"

"Shush, you already know what I am talking about."

"Fine, fine."

He laughed at our thoughts as I handed him the phone and watched through his mind's eye their conversation.

She seemed to be following our expenses and was curious as to why we stopped spending today, which my cousin explained that we are busy until the afternoon.

Our foster mother reminded us of the auction tomorrow night and her strict spending orders before telling him to give the phone to the butler whom Mr Atomo is begging to save him.

"Yes, my Mistress? Yes. Of course, they will be taken care of. I am honoured for your seal of approval. No worries, I will handle everything just as I served you before. Indeed. Yes. Yes. I am sure Tina and Seolla will be most pleased by that, Mistress Irene. I will. Enjoy your night, my Mistress!"

Jeeves then threw the phone at his Master who barely caught it before it slammed in his face.

"This will be the first and last time I will cover up for you. Any more slip-ups and you will be on your own, Master Atomo. Are we clear?" he asked threateningly to which our host responded with repeated nods. At the same time, the butler looked at the two maids, "Mistress Irene wants you two to know that she will be sending you her full set of cosmetic replenishments by tomorrow morning."

The maids high-fived each other as they gaily waltzed back to the kitchen to get our meals served.

"Now, please be advised that if there is anything you want us cooked, our two dozen chefs are ready and waiting in the kitchen to prepare just about any cuisine you would love to have," Jeeves reminded us as he proceeds to return instructing Kairos how to use fork and knife again.

"Wow. Two dozen chefs? Where are they this whole time?" Morris asked as Seola and Tina emerged from the kitchen pushing trays of scrumptious dishes and serving them masterfully and efficiently with ease.

"Like us, they are stuffed in one of the several mansions and villas owned by our Master Atomo doing nothing and lazing around with no one to serve upon," Seola answered before offering me beef soup, "Please, try this bulalo. It is made of beef shanks and bone marrow. The broth is especially flavorful, I assure you."

I took a spoonful and didn't regret it. It is very delicious, indeed!

"Ah, to see a smiling guest once more. I feel so recharged once more," Tina exclaimed as she gave Morris a serving of crunchy kare-kare with fresh vegetables, "Please, eat a lot. We can cook for the whole building and still have a lot of leftovers!"

"Wow, thanks! This is really better than yesterday's dinner!" my cousin replied as he continued eating just about anything the maids laid down in front of us.

Jeeves is currently watching Kairos use knife and fork to eat his crispy pata, an Anoixian deep-fried pork with crunchy skin and tender meat, "Hush, young Lord. Let's just pretend that it didn't happen, okay? Now, Young Master, if you do it that slowly, we are already in the desert, and you still haven't finished cutting the meat."

The son of Khronos just dropped the utensils and grabbed the meat and is about to eat from it but stopped when he felt the piercing gaze of the old butler who is glancing at my direction pointedly, "If you want to impress the young Lady, you have to do better than that, Young Master Kairos. While eating with hands is simply comfortable, this is not the time nor place to do that. It simply won't do to show your savage side to our beautiful guest here, right?"

To our surprise, he relented and put down the meat he is about to shove in his mouth before washing his hands with the bowl of clean water Tina offered and dried it with the towel from Seola before picking up the knife and fork once more. This time, he did it rather professionally and started eating correctly that made Jeeves heaved a sigh of relief.

"Not totally unsalvageable, thankfully," he muttered loudly before smiling respectfully at me, "Please, continue eating, young Lady. We still have a lot from where those came from. Let us make you all feel the famous hospitality we Anoixians are famous for."

Mr Atomo snorted as he let Tina fill his glass with republican rice alcohol called lambanog, "Famous excesses, you mean."

"Well, we are also known as the Land of Eternal Excesses, so we better live up to our reputation, Master Atomo," his butler said before taking away the bottle of alcohol from him that made the president groan sadly, "However, there will be no excessive drinking in front of the underage children. One glass is enough."

He groaned and sighed, "Always no fun with you, Jeeves."

"Hmph, I didn't last in this job serving four generations of House Axiopisto having "fun". I am here to serve and entertain the guests of the esteemed family that my ancestors have been with since time immemorial."

Morris looked up at the venerable butler and smiled, "Wow, so you and your family have been with Mr Atomo for centuries?"

"Yes, young Lord. The whole household help of House Axiopisto as well. We even have evidence that even during the Golden Age, our families have been part of this old dynasty even then."

"Unbearable since time immemorial."

"You are saying something Master Atomo?" Jeeves asked pointedly as Seola and Tina giggled while they are taking away our cleaned off plates to serve dessert soon.

The president looked positively scared and shook his head, "No. Nothing."

"Well, if it's nothing then let me get back to our young ones here," the butler then looked at the three of us attentively, "How was it, my dears? If there is absolutely anything you want then just tell me and I will have it ready immediately."

My cousin nodded and thought of the scrumptious desserts we saw on the menu of the restaurant yesterday, "If you have palitaw, budin, nilupak and puto then I will have nothing else to complain anymore."

"Funny you should request of that, young Lord," Seola said as she put down a huge plate full of all the desserts Morris just imagined earlier, "Way ahead of you, of course."

He clapped his hands appreciatively as he began eating, "How did you even do that? It is as if you already know what I am going to ask for!"

"We only live to serve, young Lord," Tina responded happily as she put down a tray of delectable leche flan and pinaltok, "Only the best for our only young Lady here."

I gulped, and my mouth started to water when I looked at the ultimate desserts I saw at the wedding earlier but didn't get the chance to eat.

"Wow."

"Oh please, don't get amazed just yet. We are only barely starting," Jeeves warned before clapping his hands. At least a dozen chefs came out of the kitchen bringing various cakes that can only be found here in the republic, "May I tempt you with the cakes Young Master Kairos is fond of?"

And true enough, the son of the god of time happily dig in after the chefs put several slices of different cakes in his plate.

"Heh, show off."

The butler looked at his master and grinned, "It has been so long since we have someone like them to dazzle and impress. Please, let us enjoy ourselves, Master Atomo."

Our host nodded and looked at his son, Morris and Me before reclining comfortably, "Be our guest."