WAGNER HOUSEHOLD-E

`Wow, thanks, mate. How did you know I liked these' Hadwin spoke to his butler with his mouth full.

The butler sighed and bowed his head, ` The crew were attentive and helpful, Master Hadwin'. He prepared to walk away before Hadwin stopped him in his tracks by touching his sleeves with his greasy fingers. The butler turned livid. He was a neat freak. Shikes, now I have to wash and starch my clothes.

`Which branch mate? Any cute chicks?' Hadwin winked and slurped the soda making a loud sound.

Butler Lionel winced and squinted his eyes. he looked at Hadwin with disdain and pulled his sleeves from his dirty fingers.

`Westgate branch' he replied curtly and scurried off to change his uniform. Sometimes he wondered if Hadwin belonged to the Wagner clan or was an adopted child who needed taming.

`Mom, did you allow our dog to eat fast food?' Abigail walked to the kitchen and looked at his brother with disgust. He just recovered from his injuries and was eating junk food as his life depended on it.

`Mommmmm!' Abigail yelled louder until she heard footsteps coming into the kitchen.

`Will you shut your shitty mouth?'Hadwin glared at her and threatened to throw a chicken popcorn towards her face.

`What in the world are you doing? And why in the name of God are you eating that forbidden food here? Take it away immediately!' Mrs Wagner was angry at Hadwin eating junk food when he was in the process of healing and a maid quickly took the remaining food from the table and looked at Mrs Wagner if she could take the remaining food from Hadwin's hand. Mrs Wagner nodded, and the maid snatched the chicken nugget from Hadwin's hand, bowed and rushed out.

`Why mom? I craved for McPhearson chicken. Why mom? Oh, mom?' Hadwin started weeping like a widow, albeit a tear and pouted his lips for sympathy.

`Mom, Hadwin has been stealing my essential oils and creams. They go missing faster than he can pull up a car', Abigail sat gracefully, and a maid placed a napkin on her lap. She started eating and narrowed her eyes.

`Wasn't me. Its Ace', Hadwin pointed at Ace who was sitting quietly, one hand reading a newspaper and another eating his meal.

Ace Wagner choked when he heard Hadwin talk. Shit, when did he enter my room?

`I merely borrowed' Ace continued reading and brushed it off as if it was a small matter.

`You could have asked Ace. I didn't know you had it in you to use girly creams and oils', Abigail smiled and cut her steak. She motioned for Mr Lionel the butler to come forward.

`What do you mean?'

`Oh, you know a feminine side to the Ace Wagner', Abigail placed the box of Jungles Jones product on the table and rummaged inside. She separated her oils and took out 2 jars of lavender oil, a peppermint candle and passed them to Ace. Butler Lionel whispered into Abigail's ear to pass the lemongrass oil and Ylang Ylang candle to Hadwin, who was looking like a lost puppy.

`And I as the ever-thoughtful sister procured these for you', she passed the oils and candles to Hadwin who looked at it and started reading the instructions.

`Are they good, dearie'? Mrs Wagner questioned, seeing how her children bonded over essential oils and candles. She was bemused. I must thank the person who made this, she smirked.

`They are good mom. Do you want some?'

`Next time perhaps, dearie. Finish your meal. You are getting skinnier by the day'

`I'm perfectly fine mom.' Abigail finished her meal and excused herself and climbed to her room.

`Ace, Did you call the girl for dinner?', Mr Wagner enquired.

`Yes, father'. Ace recalled her face and sighed when he realized she did not trust the vampires. He finished his meal and went to his room.

Ace made sure the door was locked and looked at the time. It was already 9.45 pm and he wondered if she was awake. He picked up his phone and called her.

Astrid was asleep when her phone started ringing. At first, she ignored it. But her mobile rang again and again. She set her ring tone to Roses (Imanbeak Remix) by SAInt JHn and it was getting noisy.

She sat up on her bed and opened her eyes groggily. She swipes her phone and answered angrily `HELLO'?

`I…I am sorry', a deep voice spoke on the other hand.

`Huh?', Astrid looked at her phone and saw strange numbers.

`WHO ARE YOU'?

`I can hear you well and clear. There is no need to shout', the voice chuckled.

Astrid went silent and started thinking. The British accent was impeccable. There could be only one person with that voice and accent.

`Is this about dinner?'

`Yes'

`I will come okay'

`Ermmmmm, I can arrange a pick up' Ace did not know why he offered her a ride, but he could not help those words from spilling out. He behaved differently with this girl and he was alarmed.

He seldom dated women and the last relationship he had ended in a day when he overheard her telling someone over the phone that she found a fat cash cow. He left the restaurant on the pretext of a toilet break and never dated again. He wondered how Hadwin managed to date so fast and break up just as fast.

`It's ok, I can manage. Can I sleep now?', Astrid yawned and flopped on the bed, closing her eyes without ending the call.

Ace could hear her movements over the phone, her rhythmic breathing and slight snoring. After a moment or so, he heard a sound of the loud breeze, the rustling of leaves and branches in the background and the line went static before the call ended. Ace wondered where she stayed. He did not believe the address she gave her.

Ace got up and undressed before stepping into his jacuzzi. His body and mind reacted well to the lavender oil. He submerged himself totally underwater and closed his eyes. After 3 minutes he came up gasping for air. Water dripped from his lashes and his hair. He quickly washed and stood in front of a mirror. He took a good look at his body.

Ace Wagner has a set of tattoos covering his chest and his hips, which he did in Japan 2 years back. The artist was named Gakkin. His designs were unconventional, and he captured a niche market. Ace had to wait for 6 months to get his slot.

The design of his tattoo started from his hips, moving towards his chest just below his collar bone. He had to be mindful of his work at Wagner Corp, otherwise, he was tempted to tattoo his entire body.

The tattoo on his left side has the design of a phoenix rising from ashes. The wings were spread mid-flight. They were painted in a deep hue of crimson, maroon, burgundy and orange. The beak of the phoenix ended just below his collar bone and his name was written in the beak in Sanskrit.

On the right side of his chest the tattoo started just as the left side; from the hips going upward. Its was a design of 2 Golden Arowana swimming in turbulent Japanese wave designs in hues of blue, azure, cerulean and sapphire colour. The Arowana was inked in different shades yellow, cyan, gold and beige. However, at the edges of one of the fish was outlined in violet (colour of his eyes) and another fish outlined in pale brown and amber colour, the exact colours of Astrid's eyes. He frowned. At the tail of violet outlined fish, there was wording in Japanese which read Zephyr belongs to Vampire.

Meanwhile, the tail of the brown outlined fish had wordings in Finnish which read Jumalallinen, Arvokas Nainen translated into English to Divine, Precious Lady which symbolized his love for his mother. He just realized the gravity of the name, its coincidence and similarity to Astrid Kaija and his mood turned sour.

How could it be? Someone having a name like my tattoo? Did I ever think of it happening to me? Ace did not want to change any words on his tattoo. He took several sessions to get himself inked and it stung like hell. He flexes his muscles and lit the peppermint candle. He just wore his boxer and slept soon after, lost in dreamland.