House Owner

Jean slowly approached Natalie, a distant look on his face.

'The former owner must have been a mysterious person indeed. What I have seen is enough to make me want to meet him or her or whatever the person is.'

He then stopped and stared at Natalie for a while.

"Mom, why do you think the doors were painted that way?"

Natalie shrugged with one of her shoulders.

"How can I know? Perhaps it was the former owner's preference."

Jean's eyes narrowed slightly.

"Come to think of it, who was that previous owner?"

Natalie frowned and lingered for a moment. She then blinked for a couple of times and turned around to face outside of the room.

"Even if I tell you, you won't know the person."

Scratching the back of his head, Jean wore a complicated look.

"From your description, I might be able to recognize him or her or whatever the person is, in case we happen to meet by chance."

Upon hearing that, Natalie spared Jean a quick glance and then looked away. With a distant look plastered on her face, her mood darkened a little.

"You won't meet him."

With a startled expression, Jean scowled and gaped.

"Why?"

With a snort, Natalie glanced at Jean.

"He is late."

A forlorn expression immediately surfaced her face. This sudden change of a mood by Natalie when explaining about the previous house owner, startled Jean to some extent.

'Why does she seem like she is feeling bitter? How stupid… she is talking about a person who died.'

After a short period of silence, Natalie approached Jean and looked down to face him. Still in a melancholic mood, she gulped.

"Do you know what, son. This house belonged to your grandfather. You might not have met him, but honestly speaking, he was one of the most hardworking people to have ever lived on this world."

This statement from Natalie revealed to Jean, why his mom was gloomy when talking about the previous owner. It also made him to understand how Natalie was able to own such a luxurious house despite her low monthly wages.

Blinking for a couple of times, Jean froze for a moment.

'So, I happened to have had a rich grandpa. How comes mom never talked about him with me. There must be something that I need to know about this.'

With a complicated look on his face, Jean glanced at Natalie.

"So, I had a grandpa that I never had a chance to know, even from you, mom. I hate to admit this."

Jean was burning with resentment. The fact that he had a grandfather who he never had a clue of, made him burn with ferocity.

Giving Jean a furtive look, Natalie suppressed a groan.

'I knew a day like this would come. If he would have listened to my suggestion. But … did we even had a choice? That was the best we could do at that moment.'

Natalie was clearly referring to Jean's dad when thinking about the suggestion she made to him. What she was referring to, only known to her.

"Jean, I understand your feelings, but I think it is the right time for you to know about your roots. Forgive me for not telling you this earlier, but you need to understand that it was for your own good and well-being."

Jean's frown deepened, turning into a scowl.

"Okay, despite me not being a fan of your decision of not telling me what I need to know about my grandpa, I think you have your own reasons of doing so. Just tell me if you can, I want to know what that reason is."

Turning in Jean's direction, Natalie scowled.

"I would have liked to tell you now, but you have to remember that were in the middle of something when this matter emerged. The house tour is not yet over. We just got started, remember. We shall have enough time to discuss about this. Let's commence with our tour for now. It is too, as important as what you want to know."

Although, Jean was eager to find out some information about his family, he was equally eager to understand something that had been bothering his mind for a while. The narrow gate. He needed to understand its main purpose as stated by Natalie during their brief tour, the previous day.

This could only be possible if Jean was going to commence with the house tour. So, there was no way he was going to let that chance slip away at this moment. He could have had the same chance of exploiting the gate some other time, but his intuition couldn't allow him to hold on any longer.

'I could have done this yesterday, but it was already late. I tried so hard to hold on my patience till today. I don't know what made me this impatient. Was it mom's statement, or the main purpose of the gate itself? There is only one way of confirming this. Checking on the gate itself.'

Staggering out of the storeroom, Jean entered the corridor and placed a hand on his waist. He then turned to face Natalie who was now closing the storeroom door, holding a map in one of her hands.

Sighing heavily, Jean scoffed.

"Where is our next stop, mom?"

Now turning to her left, Natalie gestured for Jean to follow.

"This way!"

The two were heading deeper to the left wing of the house. They were on their way to inspect other rooms and territories of the house before proceeding to the right wing.

Some minutes later, the two figures entered the living room from the corridor on the left wing of the house, with bright smiles shining on their faces. This was a clear indication that they were done with the house tour on the left wing. Now, they were heading for the right wing.

"Mom, this house is more than I expected. You remember our small house in the village, it is nothing compared to this house. Come to think of it. In whose hands did we leave our village house to, mom?"

Natalie paused for a moment.

"It is safe because it is within our small compound. From time to time, we shall be checking on it when we shall be visiting your grandparents in Kelb village. We can even rent it to one of the workers in Celta village."

With a mirth, Jean scratched the back of his head and said,

"It has been a while since I visited my grandparents."

Jean was talking about Natalie's parents. These were the grandparents that he had grown to know them while growing up. So, when Natalie mentioned to Jean that; the house they were in currently belonged to his grandfather, he never doubted the fact that he was a different one from the one he was used to.

This was based on the fact that, his grandfather in the village was not financially stable. Despite Jean being young, he could still be able to tell the difference between the rich and the rest.

Sparing him a quick glance, Natalie grinned.

"I shall be taking you there soon. They too are missing you. Remind me to call them, so that you can have a chance to exchange some thoughts with them."

Jean grinned.

"That's good of you… where are we starting from on this side?"

Natalie moved and entered a corridor just to the right of the kitchen door as Jean trailed behind.

"I guess all you will have to do is just to follow me."

Moving from door to door and entering from room to room, the two swiftly inspected the right wing with ease. This was what made Jean happy. He wanted this face of the tour to end so that he could have enough time to check on the narrow steel gate.

'I can't wait for this to end.'

Jean thought deeply as the two entered the last room on the right wing of the house.

This room was somewhat different from the rest of the rooms that the two had inspected down stairs, especially in terms of location, structure and nature.

This room was strange in some ways. Its entrance was located on one of the walls of another room, that stood in the middle of the furthest end of the right wing.

The door of the room was painted with the same patterns and colors similar to those of the room that it was located. It was difficult to identify it.

It was only by the aid of the map that Natalie had picked from the storeroom that the two were able to trace the entrance. When they stepped in, the room was eerily dark. Unlike the rest of the house, this part of the house was not connected with electricity. It looked like an outward extension to the house.

Natalie moved her hand to the side of the room and touched something, and in an instance, the room was illuminated by something strange. It was a lamp like device that was fixed on one of the walls of the room, five feet above the ground.

'This doesn't look like a normal lamp to me. What could this be?'

Illuminated by the device, the walls seemed strangely rough and uneven. The floor on the other hand, had some signs of depressions and small cracks.

This scene clouded Jean's mind with numerous elusive thoughts.

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