TEN THINGS J o n a t h a n A n d r e w Y b a n e z
A U T H O R ' S B A B B L I N
G
Okay, I know there are a lot of BACKSTREET
BOYS story out there and most of them are centered on people having
with crushes either BRIAN LITTREL, NICK CARTER
or KEVIN RICHARDSON. I try to make this a little bit
different from the usual with the celebrities themselves falling for the
fictional character.
I admit that I am not a BACKSTREET
BOYS fan although some of their songs really caught my attention. But I
am, indeed, a very big fan of BRIAN LITTREL and KEVIN
RICHARDSON, but since it was BRIAN LITTREL who had a
heart problem, I think it was best to center this story around him. No, I don't
think that he is gay, but it would certainly be interesting if he
is.
D I S C L A I M E R
:
I would like to remind you that this is just a part of the
imagination of the author and none of these events ever happen. Any similarity
between events in the story and situations in somebody else's life is purely and
absolutely coincidental, accidental or, just simply, impossible. This story
doesn't state anything about BRIAN LITTREL'S sexuality or
choice of lifestyle, implicitly or explicitly. Remember this is just a
composition based totally on the imagination of the author.
This story
contains a homosexual premise and has homosexual undertones. If you are a minor,
you know the rules. Please don't read this and find something more suitable for
you age. But if you reach the age of majority, you can come back. If you're a
bigot who just wandered here by mistake, you are allowed to stay. I would like
to request you, however, to please keep an open mind.
Please
enjoy!!!
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TEN THINGS
By: Jonathan
Andrew Ybanez
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T E N T H I N G S X See a rainbow at dawn X Taste the first snowflake of winter X Go to Disney World Flash someone from a car X See the dawn Be a star X Touch a snake X Make someone smile Talk to God Kiss my soulmate
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C h a p t
e r 9
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Much to my relief, the distance from the airport to Tevyn's house was relatively short. In no time at all, we were able to reach his residence. I managed to reach the place without extending my unpleasant confrontation with the nosey butler. Sure, he was just very concerned and protective of Tevyn. I could certainly understand that. But it wasn't his place to question my purpose. It was just rude of him to accuse me of taking advantage of Tevyn. Tevyn, on the other hand, became more energetic and lively after his short but fulfilling nap.
The driver drove us off to a more exclusive part of the city and he stopped in front of a huge solid steel gate with massive walls enclosing the entire property. As the gates parted, I had to gasp at what I saw. Built in the Victorian Fashion, the three-story house could only be considered a palace. The building was complete with an east and west wing.
On the right side of the building was a medium size pond with five weeping willow trees sweeping across the corner. On the left side was a six-car garage. What really left me in wonder was the fact that it was barely March, where the weather was supposed to be very cold in Prince Edward Island, there was already a carpet of bright red-orange tiger lilies, purple irises and pink peonies blooming near the pond.
The car was driven near the balcony and the doorman opened the car door. Tevyn stepped out and exclaimed. "Welcome to the humble cottage which I call my home." He said. He turned to Giles and said. "Could you please instruct Joseph to prepare the van and the Land Cruiser for tomorrow. And please tell Taylor that he will be the one to drive the van since Joseph will take the Land Cruiser."
"Yes, sir Master Tevyn." Giles replied as he got out of the car. "Anything else, sir?"
"Well, will you please remind me that I have tell Maria something?" He said he headed to the front door. "I need to ask her to prepare the things needed for tomorrow."
Tevyn turned around and must have noticed the awed expression on my face. He giggled as he told me. "Don't be too surprise, Brian. It's nothing really. It's just my house."
"But it's a such breath-taking sight!" I gasped, still awe-struck. "You never told me that you were this loaded! I mean just take a look around you! It's not everyday I get to see a house like this!"
"Geez, it's just a house, Brian, nothing more." He shrugged in a matter-of-factly fashion. Then he snickered. "Don't tell me that you haven't seen a house before"
"Not this kind of house!"
As we entered the house, a battalion of household help greeted us. There were about five or six maids, two utility men, three cooks, a master chef, two gardeners and a pool boy welcoming us as we entered their receiving area.
"Welcome home, Master Tevyn!" An elderly woman approached him, and embraced him tightly. "It's so good to have you back. We were all so worried when we heard that you were confined in the hospital in Florida."
"Good evening, Maria. Indeed, it feels very good to be back home again." Tevyn embraced her back. "I'm fine now but we are rather hungry. Is dinner ready?"
Maria was a middle-thirtyish to early-fortyish woman with traces of Scottish ancestry on her kindly motherly face and her accent. She was kind of rotund and not too tall in her stature but she carried herself with a certain class and elegance. Her straight jet-black hair was tightly and neatly tied into a bun, while a stray lock of white hair fell on the side of her face. I don't know why but she reminds me of either Mrs. Doubtfire or the nanny in 101 Dalmatians.
"Dinner is waiting for you, Master." She said. "Rene had prepared your favorite tonight, Lobster Chowder and baked potatoes. For dessert, you'll have strawberry cheesecake. I hope that would be fine for you. He would have prepared something even more spectacular but Giles said you prefer for something lighter."
"Of course that will be totally scrumptious, Maria." Tevyn smiled then continued. "Thank you very much, Rene. I know we would love your cooking."
"Merci beau coup!" The French Chef nodded. "Bon appetit, Monsieur Tevyn!"
"Who may we ask is your guest?"
"Maria, let me introduced to you Brian Littrel. He is a friend of mine. I met back in Florida. Tomorrow, Brian is going with me to Cavendish." Tevyn told the head maid. "We would like to have our dinner now, so we could retire as soon as possible."
"Of course, Master Tevyn." She nodded. "I shall tell the boys to bring your luggage to your bedroom upstairs. And Master Brian would be sleeping on which room, Sir?"
"He will be sleeping on the guest room next to mine."
"I would suggest for him to take the one on the right side of your room. It has a bigger bed than the one on the left." She offered. She then walked away from us saying. "I will get the dining room prepared for you dinner. I shall send for one of the maid to call you when the dining room is done, Master Tevyn."
We started to head for the right wing when Giles called out from behind us "Master Tevyn..."
"Yes, Giles?" He spun around to face the butler.
"You had told me earlier to remind of you that you have something important to tell Maria."
"Yes, I almost forgot!" Tevyn exclaimed. He, then, called out the head maid. "Maria, I need to ask you something."
"Yes, Master Tevyn?" Maria came back to us.
"Tomorrow, we are going to Cavendish and we are going to stay there for about a week. I would like to ask you to prepare for all the necessary provision and other things to bring. Also, we would be bringing four maids, René, a cook and Richard the gardener. Joseph and Taylor, the utility man will also be coming with us since Taylor will drive the van. And before I forget please tell Richard to prepare a bouquet of Irises. I will need it tomorrow. You know that they were dad's favorite. I think that covers everything."
"Of course, sir." Maria nodded. "I will be instructing Rachel, Ana, Jessica, and Eleanor to prepare themselves for tomorrow."
As the rest of the staff walked away to continue their chores, Giles went ahead of us to the dining room, to the right wing of the house to be exact, in order to prepare the final details. "Well, let me give you a summarized version of a grand tour of the first floor." Tevyn said, as we started to walk along the long, wide brightly lit carpeted marble hallway. "We just came from the receiving area of the building. Behind that room we have the staircase and the atrium. At the left wing, we have the ballroom, the formal dining hall, the game room, and the audio-video room. Here at the right wing, we have the library, the kitchen, the dining room, the greenhouse, and my private office. I guess that's it."
"That's it???!!! That's all you can say, Tevyn? THAT'S IT??!!!" I said wide-eyed "Tevyn, this isn't a house! In my standards, this is a castle! I mean where would ever find an indoor greenhouse??!!! I think I need to have a map to locate my bedroom!"
"Brian, you are too much!" Tevyn just smirked. "And besides, the green house isn't indoors."
"It isn't?"
"It's actually outside, in the front area of the house. Do you remember the heavily flowered area near the pond? Well, that's the greenhouse. There's an enclosed path connecting the place from library and private office."
"Well, isn't it a little bit too open for the place to be called a greenhouse?"
"The glass walls which surround it open and close with a push a button. My dad wanted to have a blooming garden, even in the middle of winter and Mom wanted to have a garden out in the open. So to have a compromise, they had some Japanese architect group built that place. You might have noticed the pond design and the weeping willows. The pond is filled with Japanese carps and the weeping willows roots are actually restricted so that they won't grow to big. Think of them as semi-bonsai trees, not too big or too little." He explained and then smiled and shrugged. "Maria usually opens the greenhouse when I arrive and leave here. It's a special welcome or a farewell banner of some sort. What can I say except they love me here."
"Wow! That's why the flowers are so blooming even if the weather is too cold." I said as gazed out of the huge bay windows, looking at the garden still with amazed
"Mom used to plant yellow roses there, but after,... after,..." He trailed off while gazing sadly outside.
Aware of Tevyn's sadness, I decided to change the subject. "I bet there is an indoor heated pool in the basement."
"Don't be ridiculous! We don't keep our indoor swimming pool in the basement." He stared strangely at me. "That's where we keep our torture chambers!"
"WHAT???!!!"
"Just kidding, actually the maid's quarters and the laundry room is located down the basement. The indoor pool is at the third floor, together with the sauna and what used to be my dad's private office. Dad wanted to have privacy and mom wanted to have a view of the city while swimming. Hence, this was another compromise"
"To say the very least, this is one very amazing house!" I said, still locked in wonder and fascination of the building. "Exactly how many people are living here in this house?"
"Well, there are about six maids, a pool boy, a chef, three cooks, three utility boys, and Maria. We have Giles here, of course. I guess that sums it up." He said. "We have exactly 16 people living in this house."
"What!" I cried out in surprise. "Are you SURE that's everyone?"
"Oh wait, I think I'm lacking somebody." He thought deeply for a moment and then, with an expression of 'AHA' squarely written on his face, he replied triumphantly. "I forgot Joseph the chauffeur. Giles just hired him last month while I was in Toronto last January."
"How about you, aren't you staying in this place? Where are your parents anyway! Don't you have any brothers or sisters?"
Tevyn, just continued walking silently. I could see that there was this difficult expression plastered on his face. "Well, for one thing, I am in studying in Toronto, so I only come here for Christmas, summer vacation and spring break. My Dad's in Cavendish." He then paused and gave a smile, mixed with sadness and bitterness. "And my sweet dear mother is out in the world, correcting some injustices or something or the other. Last time, I heard she was cleaning an oil spill off the coast of Iceland. So without the staff, this place would just be virtually haunted."
Again, sensing Tevyns's silent distress, I decided to just shut up for the duration of the stroll to the dining room. "Long walk, ain't it?" Tevyn finally spoke up. "Now you know why I don't really like to live here. I mean who can relax if you have to run like how many kilometers just to get to the kitchen for some soda or sandwich from your bedroom."
"Well, it can be for exercise." I offered, trying to find a safe topic for us to talk about. I don't want to make him anymore uncomfortable than he is already is.
"Did you know that I once planned to buy a scooter to ride around this place?"
"Really?" I raised an eyebrow "Wouldn't that be a little bit too difficult to manage."
"Well, the hallway is wide enough for me to drive it around." I said in a matter-of-factly manner. "But between maintenance cost and getting the place dirty, I decided not too."
"Didn't you think of buying a pair of roller blades?"
"Nah, too expensive."
"WHAT???!!! You own a house this size and you say that a pair of roller blade is very expensive?!!!" my eyes reached their maximum size as I cried out. "ARE YOU NUTS!!!"
"WHAT ROLLERBLADES???!!!" He smirked at his little joke. "I was talking about the health care!!! You know, the insurance?"
I gave him a blank look and suddenly said, with a mocking expression plastered across my face. "OH! OH! This is the part where I laugh, right?"
"Do you know that I could strangle you right here,... right now for that joke!" He gave me a dark, evil, and threatening stare. Then, with a quick smile, he hit me hard square on the back and shouted. "TAG! YOU'RE IT!"
"OW THAT HURTS!" I cried out in pain as I massaged my shoulder.
He ran as fast as he can with me not far behind him. Running to catch up with him, I shouted, laughing. "YOU'RE GOING TO PAY FOR THAT, YOU LITTLE TWERP."
"CATCH ME IF YOU CAN, RAT BOY!" He laughed. "I wasn't part of the track team back in junior high for nothing."
"DON'T YOU DARE CALL ME RAT BOY!" I laughed as I tried to catch up to him. I speed through the hallway but Tevyn is much faster.
"I CAN CALL YOU ANYTHING I WANT, RAT BOY!" He was fast, very fast in fact. He failed to see Giles walking towards us from the dining room. Pushing him aside, Tevyn continued to run away. He managed to croak out some words to apologize. "OPPSS!!! SORRY ABOUT THAT GILES."
As Mr. Atkinson stumbled on the floor, I immediately stopped to help up. "Giles, are you alright? Tevyn and I were just fooling around, I guess. I hope he didn't hurt you or anything."
"Mister Littrel, thank you for your help." He still has that particular distasteful chill in his voice. "I supposed I should give you some brownie points on that."
"Giles, I know you don't trust me one bit." I started. "But..."
"You're bloody right on that one!" He interrupted me as soon as he got the chance
"DOES ANYTHING GOOD, OTHER THAN ACID AND SPITE, EVER COME OUT OF YOUR MOUTH?!!!" I finally blew out. "YOUR ATTITUDE IS SO HORRIFIC THAT YOU PROBABLY COULD EXORCISE SATAN OUT OF LINDA BLAIR'S BODY! I MEAN, LOOK AT YOU, WHAT CRAWLED UP YOUR ASS AND DIED!"
There was shock in his face.
"I'm sorry… I was out of line." I said as regret churned in my stomach.
"You sure are, young man!" he muttered, appalled by what I had just said.
I started talking slowly in an apologetic tone. "Could you hear me out for a minute without interjecting something crude, rude or obnoxious? Give me a chance here."
"Go ahead, I'm all ears." He took in a deep breath and sighed.
"As I told you before, I am here because I keeping an eye on Tevyn..."
"What do you mean?" The crusty old crab interrupted me. He was, finally, showing a hint of sincerity and curiosity on that hard and, otherwise, emotionless face of his. "What exactly are you trying to say, Mr. Littrel? Why on God's good earth are you keeping an eye on Master Tevyn?"
"As I told you before, I met Tevyn in a hospital back in Florida." I narrated. "He was supposed to receive my bone marrow back in Florida this morning, but he asked to postpone the operation after he had his reunion with his father. The reunion sounded so important to him." Shrugging, I added. "Right now I am just here to keep an eye on him, just to make sure that he is safe and that he returns to Florida. Or at least get the operation"
"Why would anyone in their right mine would help out a stranger if..." Giles exclaimed and slowly trailed off. The butler looked at me carefully, stared at my eyes deeply, as if searching for some truth in my words. Suddenly, his eyes grew wide as he gasped. "You are the one..."
"What... What do you mean?" I asked confused.
He was about to open his mouth to tell me something when, out of a sudden, a voice broke through the air and his concentration. "Hey, you people." It was Tevyn. "Try to look alive!"
"Master Tevyn, I'm sorry to have kept Brian from the dinner table." The old man quickly covered up our conversation, making me wonder why. "When you ran passed me, I lost my balance. Luckily, young Brian here was around to put me back on my feet. Thank you, Mr. Littrel, for your assistance. I'm sorry I've made tardy for you dinner."
"That's perfectly alright, Mr. Atkinson." I replied, still in confusion. "No harm done."
"Brian, you sound soooo totally dorky with all the proper and polite attitude." Tevyn laughed hysterically. Then mimicking Gile's British accent, he continued to tease me. "The next time we talk, I could probably bloody hell hear about your afternoon teas, clotted cream, crumpets and scones. You're such a silly twit!"
"At least, someone around here below the age of twenty five is mature enough to be polite." The butler lashed out and then smiled, as he darted his eyes at Tevyn. Giles, then, looked at me, with mischief dancing in his eyes. "Unlike someone we know. And I don't want to name names but..."
"Then don't...." Tevyn quickly interrupted Giles as he continued to laugh.
"Sir, I would suggest you and your guest should have your dinner now." Giles returned his serious deadpan expression. "The lobsters never taste the same when they get cold."
"How about you, Giles?" I inquired. "Will you be joining us?"
"Oh no, I always have my dinner late." He explained. "It's a bad habit too old and too hard to break."
As we walked along the long hallway towards the dining room, I looked back at Giles. I was wondering what was the reason why did Mr. Atkinson abruptly change the subject when Tevyn came into the room. As I got a glimpse of the butler, he quickly placed his index finger across his mouth and silently mimed the words. "Let's keep this between ourselves."
Now, I am more intrigued than ever.
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