CHAPTER 5: Father and Son

XYNETH'S POV

I was already at the Emperial's Mansion, exactly at 4:00 in the morning. Thank goodness Yves had registered my fingerprint to open the door and gate, or else I would have spent the early morning outside the house.

As I entered, the house was quiet, and I noticed a note stuck on the refrigerator. I read the words:

"I have something to do today, please take good care of my son. I'll be back at six. Choose any room you prefer." That was the note Yves left.

Following Yves' instructions, I looked at the rooms. I went up the stairs to the second floor and saw seven rooms with different colored doors. I chose the sky blue door, which thankfully wasn't locked.

I looked around the room, which had a sky blue theme and a queen-size bed. I placed my luggage on the bed and opened it to unpack my clothes into the closet. I placed my laptop, phone, and notepad on the table, while other belongings were placed on another table.

I hung my clothes in the closet and arranged my shoes and sandals on the shoe tray. Underwear, bras, and socks went into another tray near the closet.

Once I finished, I left the room and checked my watch. It was exactly 4:52 in the morning. I headed to the kitchen on the first floor to prepare our meals.

"Oh yeah, where is that young and beautiful maid?" I muttered to myself while grabbing the frying pan to fry some chicken breast.

"Aww... Thanks for the compliment," a voice replied behind me.

I immediately turned to see the person who spoke. "What's your name?" I asked, still holding the frying pan.

She chuckled. "My name is Heira."

"I'm Xyneth. Nice to meet you," I said, introducing myself.

"Nice meeting you too. Anyways, I want to be the one cooking today. Can I? Besides, you need to wake up Xavy and help him with his morning routine," Heira said as she took the frying pan from my hands.

"Okay then, I leave the kitchen to you," I said, smiling at her before heading to the second floor to wake up Xavy.

I entered Xavy's red-colored room and saw him sitting on the bed, listening to a song. When he saw me, he put his phone down, climbed off the bed, and rushed to my side.

"Mama, you're here!" Xavy exclaimed, smiling.

I chuckled. "Hello, I'm your new babysitter. You are free to call me Mama since I'll be taking care of you."

Xavy hugged my knees. "Hello, I'm Xavy Emperial. It's nice to meet you, Mama."

"Nice to meet you too. Anyways, what time did you wake up?" I asked, bending down to match his height.

"I woke up at 4:30 in the morning," he said, still smiling from ear to ear.

"Wow, that's early. Do you want to take a bath first or go out of your room first?" I asked, kindly.

"I want to take a bath first. Let's take a bath, Mama," Xavy invited, giving me puppy eyes. I couldn't resist and nodded, knowing I couldn't say 'no' to this adorable kid.

It took us about an hour to enjoy the bathtub before finally deciding to rinse off. I grabbed a towel and wrapped it around my body, and I also grabbed a red medium-sized towel and wrapped it around Xavy's body.

I carried Xavy in my arms and used the blow dryer on his table to dry his hair and dress him up. After that, I dried my own hair and went to my room to change my clothes.

We both left the room and headed to the first floor, with Xavy holding my hand.

"Oh, they're here. Good morning, let's have breakfast," Heira said, smiling.

Xavy and I approached her, greeting her with a "Good morning" before we took our seats.

"Papa will be here in a minute, let's wait for him. It's almost 6:00, so he should be here on time," Xavy said, waiting for his father.

And as expected, exactly at 6:00 in the morning, Yves was at the front door. "Good morning. I'm here."

"Welcome back," Xavy said, grinning from ear to ear. I also smiled at Yves, who was looking at me with a smile on his face. Heira, who was already eating the fried chicken, didn't seem to mind Yves' return.

"Mama, give Papa a welcome home kiss," Xavy said, shaking my hand, which shocked me and made me form an 'o' with my mouth.

"Come again?" I asked, surprised.

"Kiss Papa," Xavy repeated, looking at me, while Yves whistled and grinned, walking toward us and ruffling his hair.

"Stop teasing her, kiddo."

"Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. Still a coward, I see," Xavy said, shaking his head as he hissed.

"Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. Still a small kid, I see," Yves responded, 'tsk-ing.'

"Let's eat before the food gets cold," I said, starting to serve rice onto Xavy's plate, my plate, and Yves' plate.

"Mama, where's the kiss?" Xavy asked, looking at me.

I smiled, placed the spoon down, and kissed Xavy's cheek.

"Done. I've already kissed you."

Xavy giggled after receiving a kiss from me, then he glanced at his father, who was looking at him. Xavy stuck out his tongue and mouthed a 'bleh' to his father.

"Coward," Xavy said in a low tone, enough for his father to hear since he was sitting nearby.

Yves chuckled and pinched Xavy's cheek. "You little brat."

Xavy just chuckled in response and then looked in my direction as I served the food onto our plates.

"Let's dig in. Thank you for the food," the three of us said in unison, while Heira had already finished eating.

'What a weird father-son bonding,' I thought.