Closer than an actual kin

"Oh my God, what?" Chloe burst out into loud laughter, hearing his words. "How come I never knew about this?"

"As if he would come out to anyone he meets. That's not how it works, Miss Smith," Irvyn looked away, embarrassed but trying not to let it show.

"Guess there is a few gossips I need to get from him, haha," Chloe laughed at him, while taking the mental note of questioning her assistant the first thing she goes to the hospital tomorrow.

"A-anyway," Irvyn jumped up from the sofa, and stormed towards the front door. "Now that I feel totally fine, I'll be leaving."

"You could spend the night here all fine, Irvyn," Chloe stopped him in the middle. She was still worried about his condition, even though he was looking all okay after that injection shot.

In response, he turned his head back towards Chloe, and let out a small sigh. "No, there are people waiting for me back at home." And with that saying, he took his leave.

"People? Isn't that only his housekeeper, Suzy?" Chloe scratched her hair in confusion, mumbling to herself. Ah well, maybe his relatives or someone from his family stopped by. She didn't think too much about it.

– – – – – –

*knock knock*

Irvyn's eyes shot open by the soft knocking sound on the wooden door. "Young master, it's 7 am already."

"Huh?" he took his cellphone from the bedside table, and turning it on, it was indeed showing the time at 7 o' clock in the morning. "How come I didn't notice my alarms?" Wondering to himself, he got off from the bed before responding to aunt Suzy. "I'm up, aunt."

"Did you have trouble sleeping yesterday, young master?" Aunt Suzy slowly came into the room, with a tray in her hands. There was a porcelain teapot from which hot steam was coming, and there was a small container, probably containing sugar, and his favorite teacup.

"Humm," he hummed in response. "Did I wake you up by any chance last night?"

"No. I was asleep comfortably, thanks for the concern," Aunt Suzy smiled at him, saying the exact words that would reassure him. But only she knows that wasn't true at all. She was indeed woken up by the sudden clicking sound of the front door unlocking. She had realized that Irvyn was out at the really odd time. She didn't overthink about it, until this morning when she found out he wasn't awake the earliest of everyone like usual.

"Young master?" she spoke up carefully, watching him slowly taking his seat over the sofa, and pouring the tea on his teacup.

"Yes?" Irvyn took a small amount of sugar in his tea, like he always prefers, and kept stirring the spoon.

"Your health… it is fine, right?"

Irvyn's hands froze by the words. He looked up, and found the elderly lady looking back at him with a worry-filled gaze. He stood up, took her by the hand, and made her sit beside him.

"It is, aunt. Please don't worry even a little bit about it," he squeezed his hands over hers, giving her the reassurance he needed to.

"That relieves me, but you must say when you are not feeling well, okay?" Aunt Suzy looked at him with trembling eyes, filling up with tears but not falling down. "I might not be your kin, but that's my duty, and my happiness as well, to be able to take care of you."

"Aunt Suzy! Never say those things ever again!" he shouted out loud. "If anyone, you are the only person I can think of as a kin."

In response, Aunt Suzy chuckled out. "Yes, yes. It was my bad, young master." She took out a golden pocket watch from her apron pocket, and looked at the time. "Oh my, the clock is running so fast today. Young master, I will be leaving now. Please come down for breakfast after you are done with your shower."

Irvyn just simply nodded in reply, letting go of her hands. And with a small bow, Aunt Suzy left Irvyn alone in his room.

– – – – – –

"The entire dining hall was filled with the sweet aroma of freshly cooked bacon, and egg omelet. But among those aromas, one distinct aroma was so sweet it was hard to ignore.

"Fruit cake!" Yvette squealed out in joy, before she even reached the dining hall. Hearing her voice, Aunt Suzy turned back towards the stairs, halting her steps.

"Oh my, you sure do have a fine nose, Yve!" she passed a gentle smile at Yvette, seeing her brighter than she was yesterday.

"Can't ignore the obvious round-sized fluffy cake I see here," Yvette walked up towards the dining table, seeing the cake being placed by Aunt Suzy.

"Glad to know one of your favorite desserts then," Suzy responded with her usual smile.

Just then, Yvette noticed that they weren't the only people present there, as someone was already chewing on his toast, while reading through something on his tablet. But she acted like she didn't see him, and took a seat farthest from him.

"I assume it is a common courtesy to greet someone a good morning, right Miss Juan? Or to be more accurate, Mrs. Collins?"

Yvette looked straight at him in response to his words. How shameless a person can be to seek a simple greeting from someone he just acted rudely with yesterday?

"Ah, I deeply apologize, Mr Collins, but it seems like I have tiny issues with vision. I really can't see those people who don't count me as a person himself. So sorry for that." Yvette replied with a formal tone on her, even though the remark was really mean, and she knows that herself as well.

"Excuse me?" Irvyn glanced at her this time, gripping the knife in his hands tightly.

"Not excused, sir," completely ignoring him, Yvette took the plate served to her closer and started cutting a piece out of the toast and bacon to eat.