Maxwell made his way to the kitchen with his tray of food. He knocked lightly, well he was not supposed to but he did anyways, and without waiting for a reply, he pushed it open and made his way to the dining table made for the other staffs. Only Gerry and Miriam were seated at the table at the moment, as the other staffs had long finished with their meal and were now working at the mansion's grand hall on the ground floor where the birthday party would be held.
Both Gerry and Miriam had their eyes wide open in surprise. Gerry especially, because she never for once even guessed that Edith would let his son join workers to eat. She was sure Edith was not aware of him coming to join them.
"Maxwell?" Gerry called out softly, looking beyond him to see if Edith was following behind. Seeing no one, she asked worriedly, "Is the lady boss aware that you're...joining us here?"
"Don't worry, Mrs Gerry, mom knows I'm here now." Maxwell replied with a broad smile, now at the table already, and pulled himself a chair close to Miriam after placing his tray on the table carefully, making himself comfortable.
Miriam was happy that he joined them. She thought his mother would keep him to herself till the party.
They all ate quietly while two parties were sneaking glances at each other while one was looking on, like a mock spectator, shifting gazes between the two in an amusing way. Gerry smiled lightly and shook her head as she hurried with her food. It was almost 8am, and there was quite a feast to prepare for the birthday party.
Soon, they were done with their meal and Gerry and Miriam got ready to start everything.
"Mrs Gerry, please can I get an apron?" He said in his ever so calm voice, just like his father, Robert.
Gerry whipped her head in his direction, eyes wide open and mouth agape. She nearly choked on her saliva. Her head subconsciously flew to the door and back to his calm face. What was this boy saying? Did he want Edith to roast her alive or what?
"What did you say?" Gerry wanted to be sure she heard right.
"Mrs. Gerry, I already told you my parents know I'm here now..."
"To eat. And now you're done. So it's best if you leave before they come in here and see you working. I might be in trouble for that." Gerry said softly, in an attempt to coax the boy to leave. But looked like he wasn't buying any of that.
"Mrs Gerry, don't you think we're wasting much time just standing here talking about this? We need to get going with the preparation now." Maxwell said and started looking around for an apron. He sighed frustratedly when he couldn't find any at the kitchen, but then he remembered they kept them in the changing room, so without a word, he darted out and grabbed an apron and a hair net from the changing room just next door and came back to the kitchen with an enthusiastic expression.
"How do I do this..." He mumbled to himself and kept turning the apron up and down, trying to check where was supposed to face outside.
Miriam couldn't help but chuckle. She felt like this was his first time wearing an apron, and his reaction was very amusing. She really was itching to go and help him wear it, but she was afraid her mom wouldn't like that idea, so she stood still, watching as Maxwell checked the oversized apron out.
Gerry looked on helplessly. She really didn't know what to do right now to stop the boy. But she wanted to believe him for telling her that his parents were already in the know that he was there, so she took a step towards him to help him out with the apron.
"Ah...got it!" Maxwell said happily as he slid his head in the apron, and Gerry stopped on her tracks. It seemed he figured it out and wouldn't need her help.
Both Gerry and Miriam couldn't hold their laughter anymore as soon as the apron was let down. It almost reached his feet, and it was big enough to meet up and cover his whole back when pulled backwards. Maxwell joined in the laughter as he looked at himself in the apron. Honestly, that was his very first time in an apron, and he strangely felt so happy about it.
----
Meanwhile, Robert and Edith were done with their meal, with Edith finishing faster than usual. And Robert could sense that she was in a hurry to check on his son in the kitchen. He could only sigh inwardly at his wife's behaviour. He didn't know why she had to be so hostile towards the less privileged.
Even before they got into their arranged marriage, he knew she was very condescending, and very bossy, but he couldn't go against his parents since they were not ready to let go of the deal they had already made with Edith's family in their business. And as it looked, Edith's parents were richer than Robert's parents, and so her family had an upper hand in most of the decisions made in the family.
He never went into this marriage with an iota of feelings for Edith, but as his parents told him once he complained, that didn't matter. The business was more important, and he should focus on that rather than loving his wife. And that was a giving, since his parents were also in an arranged marriage. And he was very sure it was the same with Edith's parents. To them, love didn't matter.
But he grew to learn that it was not a healthy practice. If someone from such a family didn't take care, they would never grow to learn how to love. Like his elder daughter, Lois, who was now in a boarding school per Edith's own will.
Edith had always wanted to have a male child as her first born. And so when she gave birth to Lois, she was very disappointed and never showed her the kind of love she deserved. Lois was sent to boarding school as early as 3rd grade, and Edith never even bothered to tell Robert about her plans until one day he came from a business trip and met the absence of his beloved daughter. When he questioned Edith about it, she just shrugged it off, as if it was no big deal. He remembered driving straight to the school to see his daughter. And it broke his heart to know that he had already been there for almost a month.
Robert remembered it became a heated argument between him and Edith, where at the end Edith threatened to divorce him if he even tried to get Lois out of the school. It got to their parents and both parties strangely sided with Edith, and promised to provide the needed money for extra care for Lois. Robert could only look on helplessly as her daughter grew up without proper care and love from her parents, especially her mother.
Robert was snapped out of his thoughts when a phone rang at the table. He saw Edith pick up her phone and excused herself to receive the call. He got ready to get up from the chair when he heard some faint laughter coming from the kitchen and his eyes darted towards that direction. He got up and made his way slowly towards the kitchen and glanced through the slightly opened door.
Robert stilled at what he saw. Maxwell was in an apron, an oversized one, and Gerry was helping him wear a hair net which was also a little bigger for him. And they were all laughing like there was not a single thing to worry about in this world. And there was a small girl, who looked so much like Gerry. She must be Maxwell's new friend he was talking about. He saw the joy in her eyes as she helped her mother fix the hair net on Maxwell's head.
Robert felt a pang in his heart. He had never seen his son this happy in his life. He quickly took out his phone and snapped a picture of the scene unfolding in front of him now. He felt like he may never get to see his son this happy, at least, not any time soon. So he wanted to have a picture to keep as memory for him in future.
As he looked on, so many thoughts ran through his mind. How happy his son was, mingling with other people who were not in his social circle. And for some reasons he felt happy for him. At least, he got the chance to meet someone and make friends on his own. He had the feeling that this should never end.
All those children that most often come to their mansion were all from rich homes, and most of them were forced to come along, and so some, or most of them never looked cheerful and enthusiastic about their visits, even if it was a party. So he never saw his son mingling and laughing so heartily like he was doing right now.
Robert looked on, and he couldn't wish this glee in his son's eyes to ever depart. He silently made a vow. He would never let his son go through what he did. At least, not into an arranged marriage. He would leave his son to make friends and choose for himself the lady he wanted in future. And he was surely going to work hard towards this goal by working hard in the company and gain financial freedom for his own benefit. That, only after that, could he be able to go against his wife on issues like this.