"…ase! Chase!"
Someone's voice called back Chase's mind that was lost in space.
"What's wrong?" Chase blinked.
Rip looked concerned at Chase. "It's your turn to answer, but you weren't responding when I called you. Are you okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine." Chase reassured Rip.
"That's good." Rip released a sigh of relief.
Turning to the rest of the players looking at him curiously, Chase said something that both surprised and confused Rip and made Ian raise a brow in doubt.
"I'll skip."
An expression of surprise appeared on Rip's face, but he didn't question Chase's decision, he simply told his answer to the question.
With that, this round ended as well.
In the game, currently Chase and Blake were the only losing parties. With Blake being bottom number one with a total of two points and Chase bottom number two with a total of three points.
Everyone else had four points each.
Time passes quickly when one is having fun.
By the time they realized it, they had played many rounds of Twenty Questions.
Not knowing when, the golden sun outside had unknowingly reached the midpoint of the sky, casting its heat rays into the room through the glass, only to be neutralized and suppressed by the cold air conditioner.
After everyone all had their turns a few times to choose a question to ask from their handful of cards, it was again Chase's turn to ask a question.
"Who do you consider your friends?" What a weird question. Chase thought to himself as he discarded the card in the trash pile and picked up a new card from the deck.
"Everyone who considers me their friend!" Rip cheekily answered, thinking himself smart.
But sadly, Chase was there to burst his bubble.
Chase raised an eyebrow, "So if you consider them your friend, but they don't, does that make them not your friend?"
"Uh…um…" Shocked, not expecting someone to question him with his loophole, Rip struggled to think of a comeback. Finally, he acknowledged his defeat as his shoulders drooped. "…I guess…"
Then, in an instant, Rip straightened up his depressed back and declared in a cheerful yet domineering tone, "But I'll hound them until they think and admit we're friends!"
Everyone burst into laughter.
Whether it was because they thought Rip was being unrealistic or because they admired his spirit that never gives up, nobody would know.
When it was his turn to answer, Blake kept silent again.
Rip and Chase thought that he was just too shy and thin-skinned to answer this sort of question that could be made fun of so they generously allowed him to skip this question even though they were looking forward to hearing Blake admit from his mouth that they were friends.
In fact, it was one of the secret reasons why Chase picked this question to ask and not the others like "What is your most embarrassing childhood story?", "If you were given a chance to be reborn, what background would you like to be born into?", etc.
However, although they didn't say anything nor did their expressions change, a sourceless feeling of unease and doubt crept into their hearts.
It made Rip's hair on the back of his neck stand up and Chase's heart to drop into the pit of his stomach.
But that feeling came and went and it was forcibly suppressed into the deepest part of their minds, forcing themselves to not think about it and forget it.
This was only temporary, however.
Like a planted seed, with enough soil, water, and sunlight, it will germinate and blossom into a deadly gorgeous flower spitting venom.
At this time, a special ringtone suddenly sounded in the air, breaking the peaceful atmosphere that hid a growing stiffness of bonds.
"Shade…" Ian looked up at the empty space above in displeasure at being disturbed.
Rip and Chase looked around in confusion. Where was the ringing tone coming from? It sounded close but they couldn't pinpoint its exact location, and it seems like none of the people in the room had their phone ringing.
When Ian inexplicably called out a person's name, identical confused expressions emerged on the duo's faces.
?
Who was he calling? They don't see anyone in the direction where Ian was looking and no one here had "Shade" as their name.
"I'm sorry, master. Butler Srca is calling." Suddenly, a dark blue shadow flashed down from the ceiling and appeared in the light.
Startled by the sudden, unexpected appearance of a third party, Rip and Chase flinched. After processing what just happened, Rip and Chase were shocked, their eyes wide and their jaws on the floor.
It was the first time Rip had heard of and seen Shade, because his father never talks to him about his job or what he really does for Ian. So naturally, Rip did not know that Shade was his father's only colleague currently.
The figure, with dark blue hair that looked almost black, standing against the light unexpectedly did not appear bright and distinct, instead, he appeared blurred and shadowy as if in the moment, he would disappear back into the shadows, unable to be found.
The other did not look at anyone else, having no regard for anyone other than his master.
Unlike the stunned duo, Blake appeared nonchalant, as always, no waves could be seen in his dark eyes.
Levi merely smiled slyly as always. He did not appear surprised at all for he had already known about the existence of Shade and the fact that he hid in Ian's shadow to guard him. It would be strange if he didn't know about this, he was the right-hand man of Angus Everett after all.
While his childhood friend Angus was gone on his business trip, it was his duty to look after Ian and, not to mention Levi, there's no way the overprotective Angus would allow someone he didn't know of to be around his precious little brother.
Furthermore, neither Angus nor Levi would never allow anyone unsafe around Ian. That's why Ian never hid from them the people he took under him. After all, in this mansion, even in this entire estate, where everyone and everything was his brother's eyes and ears, there's no way Ian could hide anything for long.
"Answer it." Ian ordered in a softened tone. Then he glanced at the three new employees around him. 'Sling must be calling for them…' Ian deduced.
And Ian was correct.
After Butler Srca heard what had happened, he strongly berated the new recruits of the main mansion without care for their trembling hearts.
He didn't scold them for letting Mr. Levi take part of their group away but scolded them for letting others insult and slander their masters, even if they were only complaining.
Butler Srca expressed deep disappointment with this batch of staff. Although they did well in the special training, they failed miserably when it came to matters of actual importance and actually carrying out their duties to their masters.
Once Butler Srca understood that Levi had taken the three new employees away, including his son, he carried on with the first day report to work of the new employees.
It wasn't until he really needed the missing employees to come back for something that he called Shade.
The impeccable and well-trained Butler Srca had a feeling that Levi was together with his liege, and since Shade was always with Ian, Butler Srca opted to call him.
With fast reflexes, Shade answered the call just a second before it was about to hang up, at the command of his master.
"This is Sling, Shade, call I speak to the master?"
Shade said nothing and passed the phone to Ian who gladly received it.
Calm, with no trace of the displeasure from before, Ian asked, "What is it? Do you need them back?"
Before Sling could even say anything, Ian had already saw through his intentions with the phone call.
Sling, "…Yes, master."
"They'll be right there," Ian said and then hung up.
Standing up from his seat, the purple bean bag made a light crunching sound as Ian left its hold.
Taking the coverless book he had placed on the transparent, glass table back into his arms, Ian said, "Butler Srca wants you three to go back and report to him, so this game ends here."
Turning to look at Blake, Ian said, "Since you're the final winner, our sponsor Levi—" Ian gave Levi a meaningful glance. "—will hand you your prize at a later time."
Against all odds and expectations, Blake became the dark horse in the game and he, who was once last, shot up straight to the top of the rankings, beating everyone who used to be above him.
"Now all of you should get going," Ian said with a gentle smile gracing his face as he gave an order of release.
"Well, that was fun," Levi said as he got up with a stretch of his long arms. The long, wide sleeves of his ropes slid down with his movement and gathered at his upper arms.
After stretching out the stiffness in his limbs, Levi added with a sly smile full of shenanigan, "Next time, we'll Jenga. Look forward to it!"
'Again?!' Was the unified exclamation of everyone's consciousness, besides Levi's.
Dumbfounded, Rip and Chase could only nod blankly while Blake turned his head away.
Even the smile plastered on Ian's face faltered for a split second.
With chaotic minds, the trio started leaving and headed towards the one-way glass door they had entered through.
Thinking that they were about to re-immerse themselves in the beauty of the natural forest again while making their way to the Everett Mansion, Rip's eyes twinkled. He was actually looking forward to it a little.
"Wait!" Levi suddenly called them to a stop.
Confused, the three turned around to look at Levi inquiringly.
Taking the lead, Chase helped the other two ask the question in their minds, "Is there anything else, sir?"
Amused, Levi smiled, his narrow narrowed eyes gleamed with an unclear meaning. Instead of answering their confusion, he asked, "Where do you three plan on heading?"
They looked at each other. Spotting the same doubt and incomprehension in the other's eyes.
Chase hesitated, "...The main mansion." Because of Levi's strange expression, they were a little uncertain about their answer. However, weren't they supposed to report to the Everett Mansion for their post today?
Suddenly, Levi started laughing. Following him, Ian also laughed.
Their combined laughter threw the minds of the three into disarray.
They couldn't figure out what Chase said that was so funny that it made even young master Ian laugh.
Wiping away the tears at the corner of his eye, Levi clarified to the three confounded babies why he and Ian laughed at them.
"…Didn't you know that you are already inside of the main mansion? This garden is the Backgarden of the Everett Mansion located in the center of the mansion structure."
Taking a pause, Levi lightly chuckled while shaking his fan, blowing streaks of light breeze towards his face, causing his hair to flutter in the air.
"Well, I guess I'm partly to blame as well since I took you guys around to the secret side entrance of the garden to get here."
'Secret entrance… is that something you should be telling us?! Also, how enormous is this mansion to be capable of containing a forest?!' Rip and Chase exclaimed in their heads.
"That said, you can go to the front of the mansion through that door." Levi pointed to the door on the other side of the room. Unlike the one-way glass door they entered from, this door was completely white with delicate patterns carved into the wood.
"Dylan!" Levi raised his voice slightly and called out to the other side of the door.
Open.
The door was pushed in by the same servant from before who had brought them the Twenty Questions card game.
"Yes, master," Dylan answered and bowed respectfully to Levi.
"Lead these three young people here to Butler Srca," Levi gave an order and dismissed the four of them with a wave of his fan.
"Yes, master," Dylan obeyed and led the three friends consisting of Chase, Rip, and Blake out of the garden's glass viewing room.
Before the three of them completely disappeared from the doorway, Levi suddenly spoke in a cryptic manner.
"I hope you three will remain… good friends."
The door shut behind them.
While walking to where Butler Srca and the rest of their employee batch were, Rip and Chase couldn't help but think back to what Levi had just said.
It's normally a good thing to wish for friends to remain friends, however, the intonation and way Levi said that sentence made them feel weird.
Additionally, what disturbed them even more was the fact that Levi had deliberately said it to them. Which gave them a creeping ominous feeling.
Actually…
All Rip and Chase were feeling right now was all in their head.
Levi really had just innocently and sincerely hoped for the three former roommates to be friends for a long time.
—After all, he had a bet to win.
But with the way Levi usually spoke as if he deserved a beating—either that or that he's scheming something—and those naturally sly and untrustworthy-looking facial features of his made Rip and Chase feel as if he's onto something bad that will happen. To them.
Poor Levi was suffering from yet another misunderstanding again due to the appearance he was helplessly born with.
However, ignorance was bliss.
Levi was blissfully unaware of the misunderstanding his face had brought onto the young Rip and Chase that inevitably and fatefully doomed the blossoming friendship of the two ignorant youths and one child.