24.5
The task of keeping his composure was a great one.
John was torn between screaming for joy and maintain his polite demeanor in front of his father’s guest.
For Serene had come.
To both visit and fetch him back to the Perxin’s mansion along with Uncle Edgar and Aunt Dalene. To free him from the needless toil of living in the Sarvod residence and whisk him back to where he truly belonged.
Somewhere far, far, far from where the other Sarvods were.
Somewhere where his father’s anger could not reach him, somewhere where his mother’s icy stare would not freeze him, somewhere where…
He had the freedom to experience life’s joys.
John’s feet moved into a brilliant dance, bringing Serene around as he boldly familiarized her with the crowd that had gathered before the Sarvod household.
“That’s my third uncle, that younger man there is my cousin, the girl standing besides him is also my cousin but she’s also…”
His voice faded when he noticed an uncomfortable expression appeared behind Serene’s emerald eyes.
“…”
“Is something wrong?”
“Huh!?” jolted from John’s question, Serene’s tail around her waist tightened. “N-nothingAtAll.”
Though the tigerkin was able to keep hide her emotions behind a smile, her bond with John instinctively told him all he needed to know of her troubles.
A quick glance of the room at the disdainful expressions the guests had on their faces was all John needed to know.
She was the only beastkin among the crowd of humans.
Moreover, this was a room filled with Sarvods, his blood relatives who all shared the same view as his father when it came to their social standing in Shi Jou.
Of course, a tigerkin like Serene was frowned upon.
She’s my friend! Don’t make her uncomfortable!
“You want to wash your face? Is that right Serene?” John suddenly spoke in a louder tone, one that caused the watchful eyes that had Serene had garnered from everyone else to alleviate.
“Let’s...”
Without another word, John held her hands as he guided her past the crowd of disapproving guests and relatives while he drowned out their disapproving murmurs and gazes with his loud series of ‘Excuse me’, ‘Coming through’ and ‘Pardon me’s.
Making his way to where Kahnira had been standing, he gave her a knowing nod to follow as he detracted Serene from the eyes of his father’s guests.
“I’m sorry.” John spoke. “I didn’t think my— the other Sarvods in my family would give you those looks.” John continued on walking with her with his hands still holding onto hers.
Serene shook her head, “Mama told me that would happen, I was prepared. I was just…” her eyes drifted off into the distance.
“You were just?”
“John, can we go somewhere to speak? Just the two of us? Somewhere no one can hear us?” the tigerkin’s expression softened the further the walked, her hardened expression returned to the mellow cat that John knew and love.
“There’s always the back of the main house, the maids would be usually be there preparing, but now that there’s guests, no one would be there.”
Shove!
“Hey!!!”
The girl with tangerine hair gave him a light push as she stuck her tongue out at him, “Last to reach there will have to do what the winner says!" Serene bolted and got a head start.
“Oh no you don’t!”
With great tenacity John dashed after her, he can hear Serene’s joyful giggles, losing his breath as he as he laughed maniacally at Serene’s silly voice.
He can almost hear Kahnira telling him off from the distance at his laughing and running, but he did not care.
John continued to laugh, at his maid’s incessant worries of him, at the tigerkin’s cheekiness, fully aware that Serene had bested him in their little competition this time.
Perhaps it was because he had been cooped up the past few days of vigorous training for this party.
The moment he heard Serene’s playful giggles, John had forgotten each and every horrible thought that went on inside his head for the past few days.
Whenever she wanted to do something, John would follow her lead and dial up the level of mischief Serene was up to the next level, making the gravity of their mischiefs much, much more inappropriate.
And whenever he wanted to just sit and talk, Serene would be the first to run to him and lean by his side, chat with him about whatever ramblings that came to his mind until the both of them would drift into sleep.
She was his playmate as much as he was hers. the fact that he knew Serene was the only one who did this for him kept his heart strong, gave him courage to face whatever challenges that life threw at him.
“H-hah… Y-you…a-always…” John placed a hand on his chest, wheezing as he walked slowly towards Serene who had a smug and cocky expression. “D-don’t play fair…”
“You never like to admit defeat, goofball!” the tigerkin whose tail was standing straight behind her proclaimed with victory.
“I don’t do that!”
“Yes, you do, you are doing that right now, silly.”
“I—”
John made a face at Serene, unable to argue back at her sound logic.
“See?” Serene used her striped tail and brushed at John’s face. “You just don’t know how many times I let you win.”
John opened his mouth to protest against Serene’s unfair victory, but stopped himself before he could.
“Fine, I’ll let you have this one.”
You’re lucky I am in a good mood today, Serene.
“Figured you would say that.”
John still panting, shook his head in defeat, quietly vowing to himself that he would get back at Serene next time.
“So… h-hah…hah…” slowly correcting his posture, John spoke. “What’s so important that we have to talk alone?” From the corner of his eye he could see Kahnira standing watch for any eavesdroppers, giving John the assurance that no one was around but him and Serene.
“John…” Serene’s voice became small, her eyes looked towards the ground. “Do you remember our promise?”
“You’d have to be specific on which one,” he flashed a cheeky grin. “There’s the one that I would teach you magic, the one that we made during the school trip, then there is the thing with your ears, or was it the one where we swore to always be there for each other? There’s so many, haha! But I assure you I mean to keep all of them, you just have to remind me if I ever forget…”
Serene did not make a sound. Her curly tangerine hair covered her face as her head hung from her craned neck.
“Serene?” John approached her, lifted on of her hands, only to find that the usually feisty tigerkin was trembling. “Serene, what’s the matter? Did anyone do something to you while I wasn’t around? Was it because of my relatives earlier? I—”
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“No!”
“!!!”
The girl’s furious shout sent John stumbling a few steps backwards, his dark eyes widened as he watched his best friend having an unexplained shift in her emotions.
“Please tell me what happened, I don’t know what—”
“DidYouMeanIt?”
“Did I mean what? Our promises?” John’s voice was shrill. Rather than fear, a sticky sense of unease clung around his chest. “O-Of course! All of it! You are the most important person—”
“WillYouUpholdThemEvenIfItIsYearsFromNow?”
“Y-years from now?” it was at this moment did the caged bird that was in his mind fluttered and flapped its wings, desperately sought a way to understand Serene’s words. “I-I don’t understand, we can talk about this when we get back to your place—”
“AnswerMe!”
“!!!”
With a horrified expression, John stared at the girl who now had tears flowing down her eyes. Her haughty beauty was sullied by the sorrow in her emerald eyes, her tail had now puffed like she had never before, conveying the multitudes of angst and misery behind her.
Ba-dump! Ba-dump! Ba-dump!
John froze where he stood, his body paralyzed when Serene’s agony reached his heart. The flesh to his heart tore at the sight of her sadness, his eyes watered just like hers, he wished he knew what she was talking about.
It was as if the brief moment he was away from Serene had generated a grand chasm between their bond.
Serene made no sense.
Like his father, she was angry at him for no reason.
Like his mother, she was disappointed without explanation.
“I-I…”
The longer he looked into her moist emerald eyes, her tortured wailing, the starker the truth became.
John no longer understood her.
And she, no longer wished to converse with him.
Before John could even finish, Serene broke into a run.
Even so, his heart had answer, one that he knew that will remain true in spite of all that has transpired.
“…know I will always l-love you.”
Alas, his reply did not reach Serene’s ears. Leaving John with an outstretched arm over an empty space.
Whatever reasons Serene had for her outburst, John did not understand. The sight of her leaving only caused the void in his heart to expand, his mind repeated the pained expression in her eyes, playing it over and over again for him to find the slightest hint of what made Serene upset.
Minutes passed, yet John was still stuck in his rumination, he wanted to chase after her. But if she had become upset by his words earlier, what chance did he have if she goes after her again.
“Master…”
“O-oh, Kahnira!” John jolted the moment he heard her voice. “I-I didn’t notice you, sorry I was too…”
With her two soft hands on his back, Kahnira directed John as she pushed him with all her might.
“I heard everything you said…”
“…”
“There must be a reason Lady Serene was behaving that way. She must be under a lot of pressure.”
“I…n-no.” John shook his head. “I know her well, she’s—”
“Master!” the girl with white hair raised her voice, her brows furrowed into a scowl that John rarely, if ever saw. “She is your close friend! If you don’t deal with her now, you still have to deal with her later!”
“I…” letting out a deep sigh he gave Kahnira a smile. “You’re right. She is, my responsibility, after all.”
Without another word, John went after Serene who ran back into the party. Passing through the quiet hallway where his old room used to be, through the guests rooms and making past the Sarvod library. By the time the brilliant lights and heavy aroma of food enveloped his nose, a vehement commotion from one of the meeting rooms entered his ears.
“…you are expecting us to…for the sake of…!?”
“We were the ones who granted your request of….”
John heard his father’s voice.
“And you are breaking our deal?”
“I’ve had enough, Sarvod! From you and that snake you keep around you!”
Wham!!!
The two doors swung open, and out stormed all three Perxins—Serene somehow joined Uncle Edgar and Aunt Dalene while John was deep in thought.
John could only watch the grimace that Aunt Dalene had on her, silently following them as the crowd parted to make room for the Perxins as they made to the entrance, where their coach had been waiting for them.
John looked to the meeting room, where his father and Ha Lun Mien sat without so much paying attention to the Perxin’s outburst.
“Uncle Edgar!”
Understanding nothing, he ran after the Perxin’s following them to their coach.
“Uncle Edgar, Uncle Edgar!!!” John’s urgent voice caught the last Perxin who have yet to board the coach. “W-what happened? I thought I’ll be going back with you?”
To which, the man gave John a kind, yet bitter smile.
“The bridge of diplomacy has crumbled, dear John.” Edgar shook his head and pushed his glasses. “I am afraid your father has other plans…”
“B-but, but… that’s n-not…”
“I’m sorry, John. We’ll just have to send your belongings back here. You’re a good kid, don’t let anyone ever tell you otherwise,” with that piece, Edgar entered the carriage and closed the door.
“Hyaaa!!!” with a loud crack of the whip from the coachman, the carriage moved.
“But Serene, I haven’t…”
John who was not finished gave chase after them.
“Aunt Dalene! I don’t understand, why?”
He called to both mother and daughter, but they both ignored him as their ride picked up speed, leaving John in the dust as he shouted from the compounds of the Sarvod Residence.
“Please!!! Tell me what—”
John’s voice halted when a giant hand touched his shoulder.
“The Perxins are difficult. It seems they have abandoned you.”
“!!!”
Amidst the dark night and the stone pavements, Lun Mien behind him.
The man had a smile as he greeted John, one that shone ominously under the dim moonlight.
“Don’t fucking touch me! You’re the one that did something to them didn’t you!? You’re the one that made the Perxins—”
“So what if I did?”
Lun Mien’s wicked expression grew wilder, his lips became more crescent, his black eyes crinkled and creased until his eyes were tiny slits.
“Everything I do. I did for your family’s sake. I did it for you, John.”
!!!
A violent shudder crept down John’s spine, his hair stood up the moment he saw Lun Mien’s expression.
“You m-must have done fowl play! T-the Perxins are good people, how could you h-have t-threaten them!?”
His voice shuddered as he pushed the man with all his strength.
The longer he stood beside this man, the worse the unease in his stomach became. His breathing became shallow, his rage filled head became one that surged with primal fear.
Fear that compelled him to run, to leave and never look back.
Fear that fueled Lun Mien’s growing delight.
“Do you know what you speak of, son?!”
“F-father?!”
“Your ardent defending of the Perxins has made you blind!!!” his father roared. “It was bad enough you call them as though they were your relatives! You dare insult Lun Mien!?”
“!!!”
“What have I taught you, boy!?”
Wham!!!
A furious palm landed at John’s face, followed by a his vision turning white, his ears made noise that they should not.
Ringgggggggg….
“…”
This time, instead cowering from the brutal strike, he planted his feet firmly against the stony ground of the Sarvod Residence, raised his chest in defiance, ready to receive another blow.
Instead, his unusual actions stopped his father’s second attempt at striking him.
“You are a Sarvod, first and foremost! Your ties with outsiders like the Perxin’s are no longer of any concern, do you hear me?”
“…”
“If you understand, very well. Come my child, that must have hurt,” his father opened his arms to John, inviting John into a hug just like always whenever he was struck.
Sarvod this, Sarvod that. You hate your own brothers and sisters the most, so what if I call them Uncle Sarvod and Aunt Dalene.
“I understand you are upset, John. But this is for the best, you know I am always looking out for you, my dearest child.” With his hands outstretched, Dai’Ne continued gestured John into a hug.
I’m sick of you. I am sick of mother. I am sick of my sister that you love more than anything else. The Perxin’s had never beaten me, they have never shouted at me for doing something wrong, they never hated me because I was different… Even when Uncle Edgar left in anger, all he did was apologize to me.
John moved past his father, leaving Dai’Ne and Lun Mein as he returned to the party, somewhere where he was certain his father dared not to shout and inflict injury upon him any longer.
With a bleeding nose and a red hand mark upon his right cheek, John returned to the guests.
He would not cower.
Not to the disgrace his father had inflicted on him, nor the looks that the guests gave him when he was with Serene Perxin.
He would not throw a tantrum nor would he speak back to the man who so merciless struck him without an ounce of concern.
His head held up high as he entered the room of people, ignoring everyone that looked in his way.
“Does it hurt, John?”
“First, Dalene Perxin and now his own son?”
“Did the Perxins get you too? They are horrible people aren’t they?”
Their eyes were like worms that sought to crawl under his skin, to rummage through his body and fish out a response from him.
These people do not matter. None of them do…
“This is why blood is more important than outsiders, You never know when they will betray you.”
“What’s the matter, John? Why did you run after the Perxins?”
“I never knew the Sarvod boy was in contact with the Perxins.”
“The boy must have done something stupid.”
They shared the same blood, the same name as him.
But none of them mattered to him
They are but husks who walked and talked like him, none of them had an ounce of compassion nor autonomy in thought.
The mumurs from the guest increased as they looked at young John’s swollen face.
He paid them no heed, darting his eyes only at the grand hall as he was in search for the thing that still mattered in his pitiful life.
“John.”
His mother stood in front of him before he found his target.
“Why did you run out and disobey your father?”
Instead of responding to her, John continued to dart his eyes around, until he spotted the young girl with snow white hair and scarlet eyes, standing behind the crowd.
His mother, Fenley then crouched to his height, observed the mark on his cheek as she put on a face of concern.
A face that she had never bestowed on him, only ever to his younger sister that his mother deemed to be worthy of all the praise and love.
“Does it hurt?” Fenley spoke. “Here, I’ll—”
John moved away from his mother, before making his way to Kahnira.
Don’t pretend, don’t even try to act in front of these people!!! You are not my mother. And that person who hit me is not my father!!!
He grabbed his maid’s hand.
“Let’s go, Kahnira.”
He declared as they left for the exit in the back, walked their way back through the vast meadows where gentle breeze and lonely moonlight accompanied them.
Whatever would come of the party was no longer his concern, John duly did his part.
And he was rewarded by a brutal strike from his ‘loving’ father.
“Master, your face… Did your father…?”
It was only when she was truly alone with him and far away from the main house did Kahnira sprung the question on him.
“W-what happened master?”
“The Perxins…there must have been a falling out between our families,” John spoke. “M-maybe that’s why Serene…” with tears forming in his eyes,
John looked up into the dark sky.
“Maybe she knew and asked me those things… Uncle Edgar also said something similar, about failed diplomacy.”
“That’s… D-does that mean we won’t see them anymore?”
“I-I don’t know, Kahnira. I d-don’t know…”
The maid held John’s hand tightly as they walked in silence, with only the rustling of their footsteps keeping them company as John threaded on with a heavy heart.
Dai’Ne Sarvod only ever told John he loved him.
In truth, the man never once cared for his son’s well-being, it was only ever when John proved himself useful, did he only appear in his father’s mind.
Fenley had a heart of ice.
She was not a woman incapable of emotions, but when she had any, it was all a show to the people around them, deep inside, this so-called mother of his never once thought of him as her child, only as a nuisance and a status symbol.
His father was a successful man in the bigger world, his mother was known for her intelligence and beauty.
But deep inside them all, John knew.
He knew something had been wrong all this time.
It was only now, did he come to realize it.
Had he not left the Perxins for home on that day, would things have been different?
Had he not lived with Uncle Edgar and Aunt Dalene, would he had ever realized the truth behind the dysfunctional world that he was born into?
Had he continued on playing with his family’s games, would he turn out just like his parents?
He can only shed silent tears as reality nestled into his mind.