𝑫𝑬𝑨𝑫 𝑨𝑳𝑰𝑽𝑬《 Philippines CountryHumans AU 》

i.

"Hah..."

Martial groaned as he threw his calendar away from his desk. Today was basically cleaning day. The maids were currently on vacation, so he would have to clean the entire mansion on his own.

He slowly stood up, stretching his back before hearing a satisfying pop. Martial exited his room and headed for the storage room where the cleaning supplies were situated in.

He started with sweeping the floors, then moved over to mopping the marble tiles. He wiped the windows until they were sparkling. It was quite a sight to see- Martial the Country Leader cleaning an entire mansion on his own.

His brother would have-

...

Right. His brother was dead. Martial stopped his aggressive cleaning as he looked down at the garden where he and his younger brother, Philip, used to play tag.

They were so close before. Before everything. Philip was what kept him up and running. He was the one that always comforted him when he was sad, and the one that somehow made him happier when he was already cheerful.

But he died 2 years ago, and Martial was the only one left of their family that was broken beyond repair. Honestly, Martial didn't even know if he should call it a family when the only member was him.

Was this punishment? For hurting and killing? People wouldn't care if he killed to do the right thing. No matter what the reason was, he still killed someone. Killing can't be justified.

His eyes softened at the gazebo which was still standing up even after storms and earthquakes frequented the country. Martial sighed, tearing his gaze away from the gazebo and picking up his cleaning supplies. He needed to move on, but how could he?

He shook the thought away, but it never really left his mind. It was just pushed to the very back, forever lingering and weighing on his consciousness.

After putting the supplies back into it's proper shelves, Martial took a quick glance at the broom. His gaze hardened. That's right. He forgot to clean Philip's room.

Martial never went near Philip's room. It always brought haunting memories of that day. That day when his brother died. He would usually just tell the maids to sweep the floor and clean the windows, but that was about it. Everything else was kept the same- dusty and filled with spider webs.

The photos, the desk, heck, even the blankets haven't been cleaned in 2 years. Martial swiftly grabbed the broom and speedwalked over to Philip's room. He stopped in front of the door.

He looked at the doorknob and slowly opened it while releasing a shaky breath.

Huh. That wasn't so bad.

Martial sighed inwardly. Taking the broom into his hands, he headed inside the room.

Suddenly, soft snoring entered his ears. Martial's mind went blank as he continued to listen to the snores of-

No.

It can't be.

It must be an intruder of some sort. Martial turned around as his once steady breathing became ragged, shallow gasps.