Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday dear Aiden
Happy Birthday to you.
From good friends and true,
From old friends and new,
May good luck go with you,
And happiness too.
How old are you now?
How old are you now?
How old, How old
How old are you now?
5
"Fwoosh!!!"
"Happy Birthday Aiden!!!"
"Happy birthday bro!!!"
"Hihi! Thank you! Thank you!" I smiled with glee at the birthday cake infront of me.
A few days passed since the announcement and in the meantime, both me and Jovian started having an extensive training in the nearby dungeon and the Ruther forest, hunting small and medium games and occasionally killing a few goblins or such. But since today was my REAL birthday, big bro thought of taking the whole day off.
The entire day, the three of us roamed around Lexington, playing and eating street foods, something which we avoided to save some petty pennies along with a picnic in a dense, less visited area of the Ruther forest. At night, both of them surprised me with a cake, a special gift from Jovian as one of his clients worked in a bakery. I looked at William and Jovian with happiness and said in gratitude, "Thanks a lot big bro for the cake."
"Don't mention it, Aiden." Jovian shrugged his shoulders and smiled gently. But William gave off a prideful look and said in a comical tone, "Hehe! Brother Aiden you should also thank me for if I wasn't there then father would've surely caught hold of big bro and seized your cake. Hehe!"
"Yep! Thanks for that too!" for once, I smiled gratefully at William which petrified him for a moment. After all, I've pretty much 'thanked' William by beating the crap out of him. And this time wasn't supposed to be much different and therefore in his dazed state, I caught hold of his shoulder and pulled him towards me.
"Wah!"
"Hihi! But no one said that I wouldn't 'punish' you for not telling me about all these?!" I smiled evilly at him to which he rebuked instantly, "If I told you about it how would it ever be a surprise?!"
But it resulted nothing for I smiled gleefully and proceeded to pinch his cheeks so wide that his face almost turned bright red.
"Haha!" Jovian laughed seeing our small antics but didn't interfere. After all, who doesn't like to see the pitiful, sobbing face of William, crying to be let free.
"But man, time does go fast, doesn't it? The time when you were a baby, crying and sprawling around the house seems like yesterday. And look at you now, ready to take your oaths already!" he said in a reminiscing tone.
I stopped my pinching for a second, turn towards Jovian and smirked, "don't act like an old man now, bro. The title of old man in this house is still father's."
Jovian shook his head but didn't object. After all, in this whole house, apart from him no one much cared about that old dumb guy, not me and definitely not William. Mom might show that she cares but in truth, she too doesn't care about him. One might ask why hasn't my mother already dumped him after all, she is one who's selling her body to earn a two-course meal for everyone and honestly, I don't know. Mother is a little mysterious and she's the only one who I haven't been able to figure out in the whole family.
Well, Jovian didn't say anything after that. He simply watched on as I tortured my little brother for my own pleasure, asking him for my present and everything. After that, all three of us sat down for a simple game of cards which, quite surprisingly, William won and after that there was a wrestling match and on and on.
It was only after 9 pm did we stop. In fact, we wouldn't have stopped if our stomachs wouldn't have started sounding alarms.
"Grrrrrr…"
"Grrrr…"
Both mine and William's stomach growled like a hungry beast and we giggled at the timing. Sitting backwards, Jovian looked at William and asked, "has mother again taken overtime?"
William, who was now lying on the dirty rug nodded his head and replied, "Yea. Mom has been doing overtime since the start of this week. In fact, right after announcing Aiden's baptism in the Church of Craven, she has been doing overtime. Both of you were doing some hardcore training so mom didn't want to tell you. She was worried that big bro would get angry at her for risking her unborn child."
Jovian frowned. It was true that both me and he weren't coming home lately because hunting in the night is one of the basics of adventuring and Jovian wouldn't let me take the exam without knowing how to do it and since we were leaving the house at the break of dawn and returning later than usual, mother might've forgotten or intentionally not told us to not hamper our training but even then, he was angry at mother's decision.
'I could earn more than half of the family's income! Can't she be a little less workaholic' was clearly written on his face but if it was mother's decision then even Jovian wouldn't be able to shake her resolve. Jovian obviously knew but other than sighing, he didn't do anything.
Shaking his head, he stood up and beaconed at me and William, "Well, since mother's isn't home why not make ourselves a dinner. Just for the three of us."
"Whoa, Really?" I asked shocked, because brother making dinner meant that we're having some good meat.
"Yippiee!!!!" even William shouted out loud in joy. Looking at William's happy face, Jovian's smile turned brighter and he nodded, "Why not?!! This will be the last dinner you would be having as a child! After the baptism, you will join the workforce, so why not enjoy yourself with a little meat."
"Well, if you're offering so kindly, why not!" I beamed a smile.
…
"Its quite chilly tonight, isn't it Lily?" asked a lady as she pocketed her hand in the woolen jacket she was wearing.
Lily, Aiden's mother, turned towards her and smiled lightly, "it is." She answered through her teeth, the cold nearly freezing her to the bone even when she was wearing a woolen jacket, one just like what the lady was wearing. The jackets were not Lily's, no she didn't have the monetary stability to buy a woolen jacket obviously. It was a gift from her organization, the Peaches.
The Peaches or the Peach Association is a famous prostitute company which specializes in lust and sexual services, catering to all kinds of men with all kinds of desires. Small, big, mature, old, everything and not only limited to just women. As it happened to be, there is actually a bigger market for male prostitutes, especially younger ones.
Lily turned towards her left to a blonde, scrawny boy. He was no older than five yet he had experienced things one cannot even describe. Looking at him, Lily couldn't help but think of her second child, Aiden.
'he is also going to turn five after few days. I pray to Lord he gets selected as an adventurer and not fall in something like this.' She prayed in silence before smiling towards the boy and asking him in a gentle voice, "Macron, you must be feeling cold. C'mere boy." She said, as she pulled him closer to her, picked him up and wrapped him under her own jacket.
The other lady pouted a little and said in a slightly angry tone, "Lily don't coddle him so much. He's been doing pretty bad for quite a few days. Spoiling him will give him weird ideas. In fact, I think todays summon must be related to him."
"I didn't want to kick that man but he was tying me too tightly!!" shouted Macron but Lily pulled his face in her bosom and said in a soothing tone, "Now, now, child. It wasn't your problem, absolutely not. I will talk with the head mistress so don't cry. Don't cry."
The other lady, whose name was Caitlyn looked strangely at Lily and asked, "Are you really gonna talk with the headmistress about this little pest?"
Lily gave a harmless smile at her and said, "There's no harm in trying."
…
The group of four, the last one being a small silent girl headed deeper into the market area. The days were chilly in Lexington but the nights were on a whole different level. There haven't been any snowfall yet but once there is, whole streets would be clogged with snow that's for sure. But currently, the streets were not only empty and devoid of life, the air was dry and breathing it in felt like breathing needles.
They hurried their steps until they came to a place which was illuminated by bright red lamps. The temperature here seemed a little warmer than the other areas, especially near the red lamps. The lights were deep, bloody red almost terrifying at first but the more one went into the streets, the warmer it felt and the lighter the hue of the red became until it was nothing more a light pinkish red, a premium lustful color while a warm current blew over the area. True, it was chilly here that no one could stand here for more than a few minutes but at least the air didn't feel like needles.
After going through many intertwining roads, the group came to a place above which a small signboard was glowing with a pinkish hue, 'PEACH' it said. A wrinkled man stood guarding there who upon seeing the group immediately let them in.
All of them entered the building and headed downstairs at once. This place was the headquarters of the Peach Association, the place where the most of the talented prostitutes of the association were gathered. The whole group used to work here a few months ago but then, Lily and her group received a transfer letter to go one of the substitute places to ramp up their efficiency and it was only now that they were recalled.
They headed straight to the floor manager's room, which was situated pretty deep in the building. The first one to enter was obviously Lily.
"May I enter, madam?"
"Come in." came a tired reply.
Lily entered the room to see her old boss, Madam Lucienne sitting in her usual leather seat, a large woollen pelt jacket covering her curvaceous body behind thick layers of soft fur. Her long black hair was tied in a long pony tail.
She was a lady in her late thirties but from just looking, one would be completely dumbfounded for she didn't look more than early twenties. Her face was a perfect oval, her large blue eyes had an enrapturing glint, her lips were painted blood red. But most important of all, her skin glowed with an eerie lustful glow, something which made men inherently suck and lick her flesh like a ravenous beast. She was a sensuality in the whole Lexington prostitute business but she rarely did it now. For the past few years, she had been explicitly managing other prostitutes. Other than sex, she was masterful at expenses and calculation gaining the position of manager immediately after turning thirty.
Lucienne looked up at and smiled gently at Lily. "its been a long time since I saw you, Lily. How are you…" her voice trailed off as she saw her inflated stomach.
"Another one? When?" she asked a little shocked.
"A few days after leaving the HQ, madam." Lily smiled apologetically but before Lucienne could rebuke her or anything, she explained herself. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you but I feared that you might recall me back from the assignment and I didn't want to leave the assignment without completing it. it was the first assignment where I could lead the team, you know, madam."
Lucienne gaped at her for a few moments before sighing tiredly, "My oh my… you've grown dastardly, Lily. Not the meek, obedient girl anymore I see. But you made a mistake here, a big mistake."
"Mistake? I-I know it was wrong of me to not inform the association about my child but it is already my fourth and I can't let the association deal with it like always. The association already helped me financially and morally in the birth of my previous two children and have paid a hefty sum for their upbringing. If I have anymore—"
"You fear that the association might look at you as a liability and fire you. Is that what you think?" Lucienne smiled at her lightly. Lily looked at her shocked, because it was the real reason. The Peach association has a strange rule where instead of aborting every unwanted pregnancies, something which is very fatal due to wrong surgeries or inexperienced doctors, the association pays a small stipend every month for the upbringing of the children in return for a promise.
…