My "Ikemen" Butler

Chapter 3: My Butler, Unexpected

            Hiromi took a sip of her earl grey tea, looking out the window seriously, her vision focused. “This is almost expected, but quite frankly I was expecting something worse than this.” She sat down her teacup on the platter again and turned around to face the huge, well furnished room.

            “With Mr. Clint huh? He’s very hard to impress. Knowing him, he’s probably expecting qualifications for an S-class butler even from someone with no experience like you. After all, you were chosen by a Kokubo” she said looking at Kaoru now, who was standing right beside her. “You better prepare yourself well and work hard tomorrow,” she added as she stood up and began to walk out of the room but Kaoru gripped her hand gently before she could go anywhere.

            “Then, as I said before, I’ll do whatever it takes to be your butler Hiro-sama ‘cause I want to protect you and repay you with the kindness you bestowed upon me,” Kaoru said as he slowly knelt down putting one of his hand near his heart.

            “Then, I’ll entrust everything to you,” Hiro said as she extended her hand towards him and Kaoru looked up at her with a satisfied gaze and grabbed her hand, holding it tightly. It was like as of the moment, they entrusted themselves with one another.

The next day…

            “There are five tests we usually hand out to confirm if one could be a certified butler. You need to pass all five so that you’ll be able to be one, but your ranking is also based on how you’re able to perform in these tests. Will the examinee please step forward,” Mr. Clint was saying as they were starting the test.

Kaoru looked at his mistress who was standing right beside him at that moment then and Hiromi looked and nod for him to go on encouragingly which boosted up his energy even just a little. Kaoru went up front confidently and he was now face to face with Mr. Clint and Mr. Kokubo.

“Ready?” Mr. Clint asked and Kaoru, without batting a gaze, said “Yes,” confidently.

“Then, let the examinations begin!” Mr. Clint said with a smirk on his face and as soon as he said that, the doors behind him opened wide revealing a huge room full of clutter.

“Nani kore?” Hiromi asked confusingly.

“You’ll need to clean this room and make it look presentable in 3 hours. The furniture must be well arranged, room should be well lit and well ventilated and no speck of dust should be in sight,” Mr. Clint explained to him.

“There’s too much clutter in there to be cleaned in just three hours,” Hiromi’s aunt exclaimed.

“Gumene Hiro-chan, Kaoru-kun, that room used to be my hang-out place. Now it looked like a storage area,” Tetsu said, his face looking flushed.

            As the test started for Kaoru, they had no other choice but to wait in the living room until it’s over. Hiromi and Mr. Kokubo, now face to face with one another, can’t help but look at each other piercingly. If nobody in that room knew what their relationship is with one another, they will probably think it’s a girl and an old guy who’s at war with one another.

            “Heh,” Mr. Kokubo chuckled after a while.

            “Nani?” Hiromi asked irritatingly.

            “Do you really think that that kid can pass this exam?” Mr. Kokubo said feeling confident that he’ll win that battle.

            “I trust him,” was all that Hiromi could answer.