I remained silent behind the closed door, peeking through the keyhole to see how Elena would do. After looking at her struggle to answer a simple question, I started to get bored.
I wasn't feeling like watching her take hours to go through a bunch of extremely hard and complicated tests. Even the teachers seemed bothered by her attitude; of course, none of them voiced their complaints.
What was worse was that my mother was encouraging her behavior, patting her head, telling her she could take all the time she needed, to take it slow, and not to rush over things. A complete shift from when she simply stood still and glared at me from a corner of my room.
Where were those encouraging words when I was doing the test?
I immediately understood what this meant.
Things were back as usual essentially; even if my mother was back, she would likely not spend much time with me because she was "busy." One way or another, even on her vacation days, she had always been busy. Even in the past week, I had spent more time with my uncle's family than with her.
"Whatever, I don't care anymore; let's go." I said to myself as I headed back to my room.
"Eh? Are you sure? Young master? Is there anything else you're curious about the young lady?" The maid was trying to stay as close to the door as possible, probably to convince me to stay. Her tone seemed a bit surprised.
I don't want to think about this anymore… I'm done.
I wanted to remove the bracelet on my right arm and toss it away, but then, just as I was about to toss it away, I began thinking of the consequences. I wasn't ready to live without it, so I angrily put it back on and kept walking forward.
"Young master?" The maid tried to call for me; her voice was distant.
"I'm going back to my room; I have no intention of stopping." I yelled to make sure she could hear me.
I felt beyond frustrated; I wanted to unload all the rage that was slowly piling up in my head. But there was nothing to do. I tried to think of all the things I could do… and found nothing; there was nothing I could've done.
I couldn't go out to meet my cousins; I couldn't play video games; I was fairly sure my TV had also been confiscated. With no computer and no friends, I had nothing to do except maybe train myself.
As I finally reached the door of my room, I found a butler knocking on the closed door; his face was covered with a wooden mask, a simple mask with nothing on it, just a couple of holes for his eyes.
"I'm here." I answered him.
He tried to say something, but I wasn't in the mood to listen to him, so I quickly entered my room and slammed the door in front of the maid's and butler's faces.
Haaa, what an annoying day.
The first thing I did was throw myself at the bed, staring at the ceiling, imagining what my life could be if instead I lived with my uncle. I would surely miss the delicious meals my father would prepare for me, but in exchange I would gain the coolest parent.
Walking around like we owned the world wherever we went, having access to unlimited wealth, and obtaining everything I wanted so long as I kept my body trained.
Not only that, but he was filthy rich, on a whole other level when compared to both my father and mother.
Speaking of which, my father promised to give me whatever I wanted if I ran with him that day… I wonder what I should ask him.
I thought of many objects, be it a cool car, a motorcycle, one of those griffons I saw on the street the other day, and much more. I wanted something to show off to the other kids, but I didn't know what would impress them.
I should probably ask Leo or the others for something like that.
"What are you thinking about the young master?" The maid suddenly interrupted my moment of peace. As usual she was standing next to me, peeking her curious head from under the bed.
"How did you get here?" I asked her.
"I can't reveal my sources; I can't have you block them." She said with a mischievous smile on her face.
My first instinct was to look around to search for any possible opening; maybe there was a hidden trapdoor beneath the bed or maybe a hidden door in the bathroom or the large walk-in closet.
"Hehehehe, you're not going to find it so easily; we took great care in making sure everything was well hidden." The smug look on her face was irritating me; the satisfied smile was urging me to look deeper into every crevice I could find.
"Hey, what's your name?" I asked the maid as I tried to move the bed away so I could take a look if there was something behind it.
"My name? Oh? Have you finally taken interest in me? I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I'm already taken." She said while giving me a playful wink and striking a cute pose.
What are you talking about? Hey, I can't just call you hey" and you for the rest of time.
There was nothing under the bed either. I felt extremely tired after moving the bed back to its original spot, so I lay on the ground; my stomach was already beginning to grumble in hunger.
The maid calmly walked back to my side, looking at me with curious eyes; she was scrutinizing my every move. Then, after getting seemingly bored by my lack of reactions, she laid down next to me.
"Are you hungry?" She asked me.
I was, but I didn't want to admit it, so I turned my head away.
"They won't serve your dinner here today." The maid then told me.
"What?" I shouted, turning back to face her.
"Your father wants all of you to eat at the table set up in the large indoor garden; that's what that butler was here to say." She explained.
I felt floored; that was why I still hadn't eaten in a while. I felt bad for having slammed the door in front of that poor butler; he didn't do anything to deserve such treatment; he was just at the wrong place at the wrong time.
"Haaa!"
"You shouldn't exhale so loudly; you sound like an old man." She said. I don't know how, but she was far more energetic than I was. I was feeling already spent, yet she was as energetic as she was that same morning.
What could make her that energetic, coffee? Is that drink my father takes that powerful… But I don't think I smelled that from her… So it must be something else… Is she naturally this energetic?
She reminded me of Leo.
Speaking of that rascal, where the hell did he run off to… If he had just waited for me, I could've avoided taking all of those tests. I'll get my revenge sooner or later.
After a moment of pause, the maid got up and stood by the door.
How does she know when… Am I that obvious… But I do feel hungry now; I can't possibly resist… But that would mean she won… Ugh! Why are you like this woman?
I rolled around on the ground, indecisive of what to do next, cursing my pride for making me suffer.
But I don't want to eat in front of the others; Elena will be there. Why would I want to go there and get cursed at or glared at? I'm not that masochistic.
It was depressing to think; it deprived me of any motivation.
"Can't you just bring my food to my room?" I asked the maid.
"I can't leave your side, remember?" She reminded me.
"But we're home! There's nothing dangerous out here!" I tried to argue back, but she simply wouldn't listen to my arguments; she stood firm in her response.
"But—" The maid then shook her head, shutting down any further arguments.
Fine! Fine! I'm fine! I got it! I can't escape this! I hate this!
I reluctantly got up and then headed to the indoor garden where the rest of the family was w