Charles

Charles woke up in a new day with a new determination in his life. Today, he decided to clean the front garden a bit so at least it looks presentable in his eyes. The cleaning might too a few days or even weeks for himself to do it alone, but doing something is better than doing nothing.

The old Charles began his usual routine, that is to boil the water and pace between the heater and the bathtub to pour the water inside the pail. Charles’ hard work for the day paid off with a warm bath in the morning. His limbs had relaxed long enough, so Charles decided to finish bathing and prepared himself to cook breakfast.

To be able to do a hard work of cleaning the lawn, one must have a fulfilling breakfast. Charles thought that he would want to make a bigger portion of the pumpkin soup and eat a lot more today to do the garden work. He also has the bread from yesterday, if, the unknown male from yesterday didn’t finish it.

“Now that I think about it…” Charles suddenly reminded about the unknown male while at the same time, opening each window in the corridor to let the fresh air in. He shivered when the cold air hits his wrinkly skin. The air is fresh and chilly, but murderous enough for Charles, who has a little to no more layer of visceral fat, to die from cold.

“I wonder if that young man had left?” Charles continued to saunter to the kitchen while crossing his hands on his back.

He thought that in one way or another, he would die last night. Yet he is still alive and well today. Suddenly he halted when a pungent smell of milk entered his nose. The old man is left in wonder for a quick second before he resumed his steps, still undoubtedly curious for this delicious smell he’s sensing.

As he got closer to the kitchen, he heard a sizzling sound coming from the kitchen. His curiosity peaked and he quickened his pace to the entrance of the kitchen before he peeked his eyes to see what is going on that caused such sizzling sound and that delicious smell.

Inside the kitchen, the dark red bushy haired male is skilfully using the pan to cook something over the fire, while at the same time having the pot steaming with something on the same line as the pan. Charles stared in awe at the male who is flipping what it looks like a bread on the pan, and continued to do so even after the male placed the slice of bread on the kitchen counter behind him. He flinched when he noticed Charles’ staring.

“Uhm…” The male shot Charles a nervous look.

Meow!

He flinched again when the white cat meowed.

Charles bloomed a smile at the unknown male and the white cat as he walked to him. “Good morning, young man.”

The male shyly nodded.

“And good morning to you, little cat.”

The cat meowed again.

Charles then drifted his eyes up to see the male’s outfit had changed to a clean white tunic.

“Did you change your clothes?” The old man asked, while letting himself sit on the stool located at the kitchen counter, the seat he would usually sit on.

“Y-Yes…” The male trailed his eyes to Charles’s figure. “I wandered around the house and well, found these clothes, so I changed mine with this.” The male paused for a bit, then peeked on Charles’s face.

“You don’t mind it, won’t you?”

Charles chuckled. He thought that the clothes probably belong to one of the servants or anyone inside the house, though he didn’t know he had such a huge servant that have the exact same size as this male in front of him.

“It’s okay. They probably belong to the servants anyway. Take whatever you want.”

The male nodded in thanks. “I-I have made some breakfast. Would you mind eating them with me?”

Charles passed his glance to the male and the dishes in front of him. Most of the dishes are the ingredients from the cellar he had venture into before—salted meats and cheese—all of them were cooked and dressed to the male’s taste and turned into soups and sandwiches, making it look even tastier. The white cat was served with a cut of what looked like bits of fresh meat. Charles didn’t know that he had fresh meat stored in the cellar, but maybe he missed a thing or two back then.

“I also make this for you.” The male picked up the pot that was steaming on the stove earlier and placed it on the counter in front of Charles. Opening the lid, the male revealed a pot filled with freshly made pumpkin soup. The old man’s philtrum widened as he grinned happily.

“Pumpkin soup!” He remarked, before taking a deep inhale of the sweet scent mixed with creamy diary scent.

“This smell, is it milk?”

The male shot Charles a nervous look and fiddled his fingers, guiltily saying, “I-I found a pouch filled with gold inside the pocket of your long coat over there.”

The male pointed at the long coat Charles had worn yesterday. Apparently, the old man had forgotten to store it inside the closet of his bedroom.

“So, I went out to buy some milk.” The male ended his sentence, still looking scared and guilty.

Charles couldn’t help sympathizing with the pathetic-looking male. He looks so scared, different from the hostile look he gave the old man last night.

“It’s alright.” Charles then beckoned him to sit on the stool beside him.

“Because you used the gold without my permission, after breakfast, help me with the garden, will you?”

The male’s face lightened up. “I will! Thank you so much!”

Charles nodded as a response. He then watched the unknown male as he scooped the pumpkin soup into a wooden bowl and handed it to Charles, before proceeding to push a plate of grilled cheese sandwich towards the old man’s side.

“By the way, young man,” Charles spoke after positioning the plate of grilled cheese sandwich in front of him.

“What is your name, if I may ask?”

The male unexpectedly shot him a mysterious look, before he returned to his cheerful expression and spoke.