Chapter 12: Unexpected Happened Inside The Mansion.
999 Words
Arden expected many things upon rising in a mafia mansion.
Death? Possible.
Interrogation? Very possible.
A lecture on trespassing? Very likely.
A fancy chandelier threatening to fall on him dramatically? Also a possibility.
But dinner?
With table manners??
With bodyguards dressed up like they were going to a funeral-s***h-fashion show???
That, Arden did NOT expect.
He sat stiffly at the long banquet table, his eyes wide, his hands on his lap, smelling food that was so good it almost made him cry.
He didn't dare touch anything yet because the silence was louder than his heartbeat.
Kaito sat at the head of the table, calm and elegant, unreadable, cutting his steak like he wasn't the most terrifying human Arden had ever accidentally insulted.
Behind Kaito stood two bodyguards.
Four more stood behind Arden.
Two more were guarding the doors.
Arden felt like a child being watched by twelve titas at a family party.
Finally—NO ONE was speaking.
Cutlery clinked softly.
Even the air was nervous.
Arden could not take it anymore.
He turned to the nearest bodyguard.
“Sir? Please sit."
All the guards blinked simultaneously.
Kaito paused mid-cut.
The guard touched his chest nervously. “M-Me?”
“Yes you,” Arden said, patting the chair beside him. “You look hungry. And also tired. And also spiritually constipated.”
The guard sat down-very carefully-like the chair might explode.
The silence became even more profound.
Arden choked on it.
No. NO.
He refused.
He would NOT die in silence.
So he did what Arden Santos always did:
He opened his mouth and let chaos fall out.
“So! Kaito!” he said loudly.
Kaito's fork paused mid-air.
Arden cleared his throat. "My question of the night… the question all readers of life want to know… the question burning hotter than my mother's belt when I forget chores…"
Everyone lent forward slightly.
Arden pointed dramatically at Kaito.
“Are you really a mafia boss?”
The entire room inhaled sharply.
Two bodyguards almost fainted.
One dropped his spoon.
Someone whispered a prayer.
Kaito laid his eating utensils down with calm precision.
That somehow made it scarier.
He laced his fingers together on the table.
His eyes lifted, slow and deadly and… annoyingly gorgeous.
"Yes," he said simply.
Arden blinked.
“Okay cool,” he said, taking a big spoonful of rice because he needed emotional carbs, “because all I know about mafia is from movies and w*****d and people like you are always dangerous, mysterious, rich—"
Kaito raised an eyebrow.
“—and honestly probably using a fake name in order to hide your identity because mafia bosses always have dramatic long names like Kaixterious Von—Saki—Torres or something—”
One guard choked.
But Kaito didn't laugh.
Or chuckle.
Or react normally.
Instead, he nodded.
"Correct," he said calmly, "Kaito is not my full name.
Arden froze with rice in his mouth.
The bodyguards straightened, bracing themselves.
Kaito raised his glass slightly.
“My real name is—"
And then he said the longest, most dramatic, mafia-coded, fantasy-novel-level name Arden had ever heard.
"Kaito Danveru Armandez Hiroto Sakamura da Monterro De La Cruz Draven"
One bodyguard cleared his throat, dutifully adding,
“You forgot ‘the Third,’ boss.”
Spoon fell from Arden hand. He blinked once.
Twice.
Thrice
His brain tried to reboot.
It failed.
“…Sorry, come again?” Arden whispered.
Kaito let out a tired god-type sigh. “Kaito Danveru Armandez Hiroto Sakamura da Monterro De La Cruz Draven.”
Arden stared at him.
“So… you're telling me that your name sounds like six different countries fighting for custody?"
Arden stared at Kaito like he had just confessed he was born on Mars.
“That’s… that’s not a name,” Arden whispered. “That’s a WiFi password.”
Kaito looked offended. “It is my family name.”
“No, that is a full encyclopedia.”
A bodyguard snorted. Kaito shot him a look. The snort immediately developed into a cough.
Arden sipped some water as he felt panic set in.
"That's… a lot of syllables," he said. "Does your birth certificate need a second page?"
Kaito was not offended.
Not at all.
In fact… that tiny smirk was back.
“It is a name that my family has carried for generations,” he replied calmly.
Arden blinked again.
“…Can I call you Kai?”
The bodyguards collectively sucked in air.
Before anyone could stop him, Arden went on, "Because if I try to say that whole name, I will pass out and die. I'm fragile. My lungs are decorative."
There was a long moment of silence.
Then-
“…Kai is fine,” said Kaito.
Arden look shocked.
Bodyguards blinked.
The world tilted. Kaito merely took another bite of steak, as if he hadn't just let Arden have the privilege of a nickname no one else had ever dared to use.
Arden stared at him in utter astonishment. Then he whispered, “.I survived again.”
Kaito looked over at him. “Barely.”
Arden began shoving rice into his mouth. “Kai, please don’t say things like that during dinner. I almost choked and died like a tragic telenovela character.”
Kaito actually looked amused. The bodyguards looked terrified. The room finally relaxed. And then Arden did something even stupider.
He said casually, "So, now that we're eating together. does this mean we're friends?"
Kaito paused. His eyes softened, dangerously, almost imperceptibly. “That,” he said in a quiet voice, “depends on how long you plan to survive in my world."
Arden gulped. He had no idea what that meant. But he smiled anyway, placing a piece of chicken on Kai's plate.
“Well,” said Arden cheerfully, “lucky for you, I’m very hard to kill.”
Kaito was staring at the piece of chicken.
Then at Arden. Then, he smirked.
“Interesting.” Arden choked on air this time.
- Writer
