If Things Should Stay the Same

Chapter 4: Withholding

"Alesander! Yewshwa!" Someone called out from the other end of the hall, dragging two duffel bags behind him. Bathing his brown hair in the early morning sun peering through the large windows as he traversed the passageway, he felt oddly familiar to both Alex and Joshua who were looking at his figure from the other end.

They had just left Alex's bedroom, having to cross the West Hall to get some breakfast, after Joshua had persistently prodded the young master to wake up prematurely from his fitful sleep. Although a bit floaty in the mind because of being roused much earlier than usual, he instantly knew the identity of the person from the nicknames he called out and the way he pronounced them.

"Sev?" Alex exclaimed in surprise, nudging Joshua with his elbow. "Joshua, it's Sev from high school!" he said to his butler, appearing to be quite ecstatic upon recognizing a classmate of theirs.

"You remember? I'm so glad. I haven't seen you guys in years." Sev waved his hands up in the air as Alex ran up to him with Joshua following closely behind. "How long has it been? I missed you both so much!"

"Eight? Nine years? Nine years, I think." Increasing in pace until he was beside Alex, Joshua counted his fingers before repeating in affirmation, "Nine years, yes."

Sev hugged both Alex and Joshua, squeezing them tightly in his embrace until he felt he was impeding their breathing to which he immediately let go. Catching his breath first, Joshua took his place a couple of steps to right and behind Alex while the latter began to talk to their longtime friend back in high school.

"What are you doing here?" asked Alex, curious to know what their friend was doing here in the household.

"I'm working," Sev smiled.

"Working?" Alex was caught off-guard by Sev's response.

The shock must have been clearly written on his face as Sev was quick to explain in an innocent childish tone while maintaining the cheery smile on his face. "I've been working as your dad's assistant for about five years... and now I'm apparently to be a butler afterhours."

Alex then recalled his father once mentioning of a new employee who, although was an inexperience fresh graduate, had exceeded much of his expectations. He was not certain if that person was indeed Sev as his father never came to mention the name of this prodigious staff member.

However, if his memory was not mistaken, his father had often expressed his awe at this recruit's potential and dedicated hard work which allowed for promotion within six months of starting. In fact, his father had stated on one occasion that his assistant was the same age as both Alex and Joshua. Aware and taking into account Sev's dedication to any job he was interested in, he came to conclude that their friend was, without a doubt, telling no lie.

"Don't you think you'll need a bit of rest in between jobs?" Joshua asked, sounding concerned.

"Yeah, I think that's a bit too much, don't you think? What about going home to rest or to even see your sister?" Alex agreed with Joshua's point at the matter. "You can't just work 24/7 like a robot. It's ridiculous!"

Sev was no older than they were. There was only so much work and stress a body can take. Alex knew well the stress his father had experienced before he hired the mystery assistant who handled much of the burden of maintaining the firm's accounts and audits.

Every day was like a nightmare to see him constantly immersed in his work up to his nose, his brow in a fixed state of looking furrowed. Not to mention that his father got so irritable at times, he and his mother had to leave him in the study along, only getting Miss Elena to quietly leave a tray outside the door for him to eat.