Hutch was exhausted by the time he and Celina returned home, but the day was far from over. While it felt like it was sometime after eight, in reality, it wasn't even four in the afternoon.
The day had gone much as Hutch had expected. He frequently answered questions and rode elevators, before joining up with Celina's terrifying bodyguard, Rod, and then they were chauffeured around by him in an inconspicuous black sedan, to the vendor's Celina's assistant had hired for the New Year's Eve Celebration, with some not-so-suspected stops in between.
By lunch, which was some Italian beef subs from the best trattoria in all Cauthard City, Hutch had found himself with a new pair of winter boots, and the best quality winter coat he'd ever owned. He'd been sized up for a suit, which would be delivered to the tower's penthouse the day of the celebration and had a couple of bags of new décor for his room and new clothes for his closet. Although most of what Celina ordered for him, would be delivered directly to the house the following day.
Hutch was grateful for everything she was doing and willing to do but couldn't fully express his appreciation no matter how many times 'thank you' fell from his mouth, which lead him to insist on making dinner. At first, Celina had protested, but willingly threw up her hands in defeat when he used his position as her potential future butler to get his way.
This made their last stop of the day the grocery store, which they would go to after returning to Cascel Tower. Here, they picked up Hutch's security package on the way past the security desk, and Celina checked in with her assistant, one last time for the day, while Rod had one of his underlings move all the bags and packages from the car into the back of her explorer.
The entire day, in the city, had been an experience he wouldn't forget. He'd gotten to walk a mile in the life of Celina as her shadow. He got to see, firsthand, how she interacted with others. How she solved problems and expressed her appreciation to those who worked with her. Most importantly, he learned that she never changed. She was consistent in her demeanor, and personality. Always kind. Always considerate. Always genuine.
Had the grocery store been anywhere near the downtown, Hutch much suspected that Rod would have accompanied them there too. For despite the city having a lower than national average crime rate, Cauthard City still wasn't a place where Casimir would allow his wife to wander unprotected. Cauthard Hill's, however, was a quaint little, picturesque village that serviced the wealthy population that lived there, and crime was near non-existent in the avenue of theft and robbery. Unfortunately, even wealth couldn't cure humans from domestic violence and incidents of road rage, and every occurrence was the talk of the town often making the front page of the local newspaper, giving the residence something to gossip about.
Now, Hutch was more than familiar with the grocery stores of the commoner. He knew how to clip coupons, wait for sales, and calculate the cost of a grocery list before even stepping foot in the store. He knew better than to step into one of the stores for the elite, imagining that even the sale items were over-priced, as one would be paying for the privilege alone, just to shop in such a place. To him, grocery shopping was an oddly nerve-racking experience of hoping he brought enough money and had calculated everything correctly down to the last dime, while praying that every coupon he had brought would be accepted at the checkout. He had never expected to enjoy the experience of shopping as much as he did that day with Celina. It was a strange experience to simply walk the aisles and for her to randomly set things into the cart, which would constantly mess up the calculations he was attempting to do in his head. However, this led to her giggling at his frustration, and a thorough ruffling of his hair as she reminded him that he didn't have to count every penny, since her future potential butler didn't have to pay for the groceries. He merely had to know how to prepare the food. And even though they'd gone in needing only a handful of ingredients, Celina took full advantage of his presence, circling the entire store until their cart was full, claiming, "May as well plan for the rest of the week, and then some, since you're here to help."
It would take Hutch three trips to clear out the back of the truck, once it was situated safely inside the garage, and while he brought them in, Celina had begun to put things away. Working together, they were near done, when Casimir came in from the lab with Julian, and after the typical 'welcome home' pleasantries, they helped until the last item had been put into its proper place.
"Jay, would you mind helping Hutch take those bags up to his room?" Celina asked, pointing to the bags of bedroom décor, he'd set at the bottom of the stairs.
"It's okay. I can get them," Hutch replied, heading over to the stairs, not wanting Julian to feel obligated into helping. He'd lugged them that far on his own, and there weren't all that many to begin with.
"Don't be a pain," Julian muttered, as he came up behind him, grabbing one of the bags from the floor, before Hutch could get a hand on it. "They want a minute alone."
"Oh," Hutch responded, having not taken the obvious hint, as he followed Julian up the stairs to the second floor.
"She really ran you around today," Julian said in a matter-of-fact sort of way.
"How could you tell?" Hutch responded in a rhetorical manner as he carried the bulk of the bags, half winded once they'd reached the top.
"She'll calm down once the new year gets here," he continued, as he led the way into the room Hutch was given to use, setting the bag onto the bed before taking a seat on it.
"That's good to know. Not sure I could keep up if I had to do this every day. Not that I'm complaining, I needed the work out," Hutch replied, as he set down his bags and sat on the floor next to them.
"She likes you being here," Julian smirked at him as he spoke, "it gives her someone to spoil. You know you're just a break from her monotony. You're like a shiny new toy. You make her happy. You should enjoy it while it lasts, Cuz."
"And what about you?" Hutch questioned, as he began to empty the bags, trying not to take what Julian had said to personally.
"Oh, well, I'm not doing so bad. I'm still trying to come to terms with my dad not being a serial liar. That's been a tough one to swallow. Finding out that the hero of his story is, actually, related to us, and is now living in our home, well that's just an undeniable fact. That wasn't difficult at all to wrap my head around. But you know what the hardest part of all of this has been, the most difficult thing for me to come to terms with is? Maybe you'd like to guess?"
"I'm not very good with guessing games," Hutch replied, not wanting to give much thought on the matter.
As far as Hutch was concerned, whatever Julian was dealing with was ultimately his problem, and despite his appearance, he was old enough to deal with his issues on his own.
"Right. Dad mentioned that a few times, as if it were a running theme for your character," Julian remarked as he stood and stepped over next to Hutch, opting to glare down at him. "What I don't understand, is how they can so easily see you as the hero of his story. Even when I believed Dad's stories were just that, I knew that the character of Jules Hutchinson was the villain. You judged without ever knowing the truth. You hated without ever knowing the reason. And I loathe that I am named after you. I don't trust you, Hutch. They may be willing to turn a blind eye to the things you did, but I'm not so easily swayed by your innocent looking face. You are just like me, an adult stuck in a child's body. But there is one difference between us, if you cross my family, in anyway, I can afford to ruin you. Now, I'm going to leave you to set up your space, along with this little reminder, Cuz. Don't get too comfortable. Dad and I are going to figure out that amulet, and when we do, we're going to send you back to Illimev. Because strange as it might seem, I do agree that you deserve to go back there. I want you to go back there. You belong in that world, Hutch. You deserve to live in a world that you helped to create, the moment you betrayed your king. You are the traitor, Hutch. You are the monster, not the hero."