"Uncle!" Johannes exclaimed with a smile on his face as he headed towards the man in front of his house.
Johannes' mood was once again changed, he was more cheerful around the man that he was referring to as "Uncle."
Royce and Jonathan were left behind but just walked toward them, while Johannes already started talking to the man.
The man had dark-brown hair and bright blue eyes, he looked rather friendly and kind.
"Getting used to calling me Uncle aren't you, young boy?" the man chuckled as he ruffled Johannes' hair. "You remind me of your father when we were in high school, he was always cheerful you know. Oh! Did I mention that he was a bit of a boast? As his best friend, I was his biggest supporter." the man continued, a smile forming on his face.
The man looked behind Johannes to see Jonathan and a person walking with him, "Did you make a new friend, Johannes?" The man asked Johannes, referring to Royce.
Johannes looked back and looked at the man, "He's a new student in my school, his name is Royce, he's also my new classmate. Mum requested for him to be tutored about the last lessons by me."
The man walked towards Royce, "Royce? What a lovely name! My name is Nathaniel Colton, I'm a friend of Johannes' father, you can call me Mr Colton if you want to. Nice to meet you!" He gave a hand to Royce, gesturing for a handshake which Royce did accept.
Nathaniel Colton, a famous fashion designer. He owns a big fashion company that his parents left behind. He's a good friend of James Brahms, Johannes' father, though he's the complete opposite of him.
"Such a wonderful child." Nathaniel chuckled as he ruffled Royce's hair, a habit of his. Maybe his hair is soft, he couldn't resist ruffling it, Royce thought.
"Has Johannes started being short-tempered around you?" Nathaniel asked Royce with a small laugh following his sentence.
"Uncle, what are you whispering to Royce? I can hear you whispering something!" Johannes exclaimed who turned out to be behind Nathaniel the whole time.
"He's a lot like his father's high school days, always grumpy about something. When I first met his father in Junior Highschool, he was in a really bad mood and accidentally yelled at me but that didn't stop me from trying to be friends with him though~" Nathaniel said with a smug grin.
Nathaniel fixed his posture, "But anyway, hope you two become friends. I'm interested in what will happen between you two." Nathaniel said with a wink and smile.
Nathaniel looked back at the black car that was parked near them the whole time. "Oh right, I almost forgot why I was here." He opened the door to reveal a sleeping male in his teens and a child reading a book.
"Hellebore, wake up." Nathaniel said as he shook the sleeping one.
"E-eh? Is Graham done with his presentation?" he said in a sleepy voice as he rubbed his eyes.
"Dad! I taught Hellebore some history about different countries!" the child said with a proud smile which made Nathaniel laugh a little bit.
"Such clever child you are, Graham." Nathaniel praised with a smile, "Do come out now, Johannes and Jonathan are waiting over here." Nathaniel said as he moved from the child's view to reveal the three.
~~~
The bell of the pastry shop rang as Nathaniel went inside, "I'll be there in a minute, no need to rush." Nathaniel said over the phone, "Plus, the meeting starts in an hour. There's still time." he chuckled.
"If I may ask, where are you?" the other line of the call asked,
"Buying cupcakes," Nathaniel answered as he walked towards the cashier to order.
"For yourself?" the other line guessed.
"No, it's for you of course. I'm not the one that loves cupcakes." Nathaniel chuckled, "What flavour do you want?" Nathaniel asked as he looked at the menu near the cashier.
"...I'd take anything." The other line mumbled, kind of embarrassed that someone else is buying his own snacks for him.
"Oh please, I know you. You're picky when it comes to food, you don't even want onions on your plate." Nathaniel teased. "Anyway, you want strawberry? That's your favourite right, James?" Nathaniel said
"Yeah. You still remember my favourites huh? Nothing really changed then." James responded on the other line of the phone.
"Something did change though," Nathaniel said
"And that is?" James asked with a confused tone.
"Your height. You look much taller ever since we last met, I still miss the days that I could tease you—" Nathaniel was cut off by his phone suddenly beeping.
Nathaniel raised a brow and looked at his phone, on the screen it said: "Your call with Ankle Biter has ended" with a profile picture of a small white snake.
"Huh... he still hates being called short after all these years?" Nathaniel muttered.
~~~
The five all went inside the mansion, Johannes' house was even more incredible inside. Golden walls and shiny tiles plated the foyer, and there were even a few pieces of ancient art. There were too many floors to count, which was probably the reason they had a whole elevator.
The living room was really big, with 3 big white sofas and a coffee table in the middle. On the wall, there hung a big family picture. In the picture, Johannes and Jonathan sat on a red sofa in the middle while the two other people behind each corner of the sofa were probably the parents.
Royce realized that Johannes looked a lot like his mother, while Jonathan looked like his father. You could tell the similarities already just by looking at the family picture.
"I'm old enough to take care of Graham, why do we have to be in your house?" The black-haired male scoffed as he sat on one of the sofas, glaring at the three. "And who is this foreign person?" He pointed at Royce with his snobby little finger.
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
Now Royce finally understands why Cameroon doesn't like him; his temper is much worse than Johannes' short temper.
"You're only fourteen, Hellebore. Plus, do you even know how to cook?" Johannes responded which made Hellebore more annoyed than he already was.
Johannes took off his bag and put it on a different sofa.
Johannes gestured for Royce to put his bag too on the sofa, "We'll eat first, Jonathan will be cooking for us. We'll go to my room later. Obviously, Jonathan will take care of these two, don't worry about that, Jonathan is good with kids." Johannes assured.
Royce and Johannes both walked to where Jonathan was, he was in the kitchen already preparing the things he needed for cooking. Graham helped him out while he had his notebook out.
"What are we cooking today?" Graham asked Jonathan, "I want to help!" he said with a smile.
Jonathan took Graham's notebook and started flipping through the pages, all of the pages were filled with cooking recipes. A weird thing to have in a child's notebook.
Jonathan stopped flipping pages and gave it back to Graham, "Shepherd's pie?" Graham asked which Jonathan nodded as an answer.
"Graham likes to help a lot, pretty unique for his age. As for Hellebore..." Johannes then walked closer to Royce, "He grew up in the streets with a gang until Uncle found him, that's why he acts like that." Johannes whispered to Royce
Royce looked back at where Hellebore was, he felt concerned for Hellebore. Living alone in a house with no parents was already hard, living on the streets would've been harder for Hellebore.
~~~
Johannes opened the door to his room, Royce following him while he brought his backpack with him.
Johannes' room was massive, with a large bed, a balcony, a bathroom, a TV, and so many things that cost more than a fortune. His wall was filled with posters of Johannes, not too much obsessed with himself, huh?
Richard didn't lie that Johannes owned some stuffed toys, the stuffed toys were scattered around his bed.
Next to Johannes' bed are two large bookshelves on each side of the bed, the bookshelves had papers taped on it while genres were written on them; Religion, History, Science, Fiction, Romance and so on.
Though, it was not really that perfect. In the corner of his room, a big clear piano was found and a table next to it. The table was a complete mess, music sheets scattered on the table while some were falling to the floor.
His desk that was right next to his bed along with the bookshelves was also filled with unorganized books and papers.
"Don't mind the mess, I don't have much time to clean up since my schedule is always filled with work, hehe..." Johannes said with a nervous laugh
Suddenly, the two heard a cat meowing, and another one... another one, and another one. Cats surrounded the two.
"Are these... yours?" Royce looked at Johannes that nodded in response.
"They're my cats, they stay in my room because my father doesn't want any cats scattered around the mansion," Johannes answered.
Right, Johannes did mention that he owns 8 cats. A big number, but what can you say? He's a cat lover.
Johannes and Royce both went inside the room while the cats followed them.
"Those two are Jophiel and Chamuel, they're twins and the youngest!" Johannes said while pointing at two cream-coloured cats.
"Gabriel, Azrael, and Ariel," Johannes pointed at the three red cats, "These three cats are very close!" Johannes added.
"Michael and Raphael," Johannes pointed at the cinnamon-coloured cats.
"And...," Johannes started looking around for a specific cat, "Wine!" Johannes pointed at the cat that was sleeping under his bed, not really giving a care about anything.
Royce realized that Johannes is really excited about introducing all of his cats. He also noticed the similarity in the names that Johannes gave them.
"Are they named after angels?" Royce asked Johannes.
"Checkmate! They're named after the 7 Archangels, you and Richard are the only ones that noticed that. For Wine, I just named them "Wine" because of their red eyes. A cute name for them though!" Johannes responded with a bright smile.
Royce could only smile in response, he just watched Johannes in awe as Johannes talked about his pet cats with excitement.
Johannes stopped and realized why Royce was there in the first place, "Oh right, we're here to study. Sorry about that." Johannes said as scratched his head in embarrassment.
"It's fine," Royce answered with a chuckle.
Johannes pointed at the desk next to his bed where a laptop and a few books were found, "We could study there, don't mind the mess." Johannes said as he approached his desk while Royce followed behind.
"I'm not good with keeping things organized," Johannes said as he gestured for Royce to sit on one of the two chairs near the desk.
"Alright, let's start with math first. Do you already have notes from the recent lesson?" Johannes asked as he and Royce both sat down on one of the chairs.
"Yeah, are we studying that first?" Royce questioned, grabbing his bag and placing it in his lap to look for his textbook.
"Yeah," Johannes responded, his textbook already laid out with an eraser and pencil.
"We have a test on Monday, right?" Royce asked Johannes
Johannes nodded as a response flipped several pages, before muttering, "Dammit."
"What's wrong?" Royce asked Johannes as he peeked at Johannes' textbook
"Cameroon decided it'd be funny to rip out a quarter of the lesson. Like I wouldn't get in trouble for that at the end of the year. That little... He thinks that everyone is good at memorizing like him." Johannes sighed.
"Not to worry though, I think I still remember the lesson. Good thing my speciality is math." Johannes sighed.
It was obvious that it was a lie, Johannes has a poor memory and often forgets the lessons sometimes.
Royce looked at Johannes' curly handwriting and his perfect cursive. Then he looked down at his textbook, at the same lesson. "We could use my book?" Royce suggested, afraid Johannes would think it was silly.
He quickly regretted saying a word, but then Johannes responded before he could kick out 'Nevermind.'
"Sure." Johannes responded,
Johannes added, "If you, um," he blushed, "want to." he continued.
Royce nodded queasily. "Yeah. Yeah.. that's good."
---
Apologies for the long wait
also, I can't think of a title so I came up with something random
Faces
James Brahms (father)
Johannes' mother (from the family picture [https://img.wattpad.com/5b8400eec4b51222dbdb8cb4e7f6383976a2245d/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f70336a32304a444f6b7038754f513d3d2d313233383536373432322e3136666161366466363663346438646236393235363435353332362e6a7067?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]
Johannes' mother (from the family picture
Johannes' mother (from the family picture [https://img.wattpad.com/2cb51dc7d02705ae777d5af16dc327b1d76a93dd/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f46315f5a6152785a6939493131773d3d2d313233383536373432322e313666616136656432616664343363633833383136363836303232392e6a7067?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]
Nathaniel Colton
Nathaniel Colton [https://img.wattpad.com/2c3e4dd939d08ccf3c9221850b572187d1b8b2e8/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f6569326b735f794c6f6d504342673d3d2d313233383536373432322e313666616137333131356138316631663838303838373531383335312e6a7067?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]
Graham Colton:
Hellebore Colton: [https://img.wattpad.com/c873b0d5882c3f695da48dba4a3f50ea7a88c9d6/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f436968584a7062584d4f70495a773d3d2d313233383536373432322e313666616137343236613233653538363935363231393638363830352e6a7067?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]
Hellebore Colton:
Emo Hellabored (I promise he'll get a glow up soon) [https://img.wattpad.com/b85dbb4e3a93cae80eeba9be981ad39a7dd5978a/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f473273557a4f6c7849364d3545673d3d2d313233383536373432322e313666616137383433303436373832393731333430313632393231362e6a7067?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]
Emo Hellabored (I promise he'll get a glow up soon)
~~~
I just had to add Nathaniel, it adds to the comedy [https://img.wattpad.com/9c0eb20b98bc6121c82aa72762ef00dfb8db7e32/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f4964754176555261303555426f773d3d2d313233383536373432322e313666616137393930653839613238623433383133383231393937372e6a7067?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]
I just had to add Nathaniel, it adds to the comedy