First Day: P2 (II)

Ariel climbed onto her chair and waited patiently to be served. When the plate of french toast was placed in front of her, she squealed in happiness and clapped her hands, while saying, "Thank you, Auntie Pipi."

Pipi, or Patricia, smiled and replied, "You're welcome, Ariel."

Pipi had been working with the Smiths from Day 1 and was the oldest working staff there. She also happened to be the Head Butler's daughter-in-law. She married Butler Kim's son who didn't follow the father's 'line'.

Butler Kim is Kyle's Butler, while his father had been Kyle's father's butler. The tradition was broken by Felix when he became a coach gym instead. Butler Kim was not too happy about that as Felix should have become Alex's butler.

Though a butler did not need to have formal school education, there are still recognised butler institutions such as the International Butler Academy or the B'sh Butler Institute. The latter, though sounds like it's only from a certain country, is actually the world's most well known Butler Institute that provides butler training to various countries.

Anyone serving in any distinguished household would need to have gone to the B'sh Butler Institute. The course itself was not long (ranges from 5 days to 15 weeks) but what was important was that in households like the Smiths, two additional things were needed.

First, naturally, utmost loyalty.

Second, know the family inside and out.

To achieve the second, they would have to 'grow' with the family. They were part of the family, yet not.

In addition, whilst most employers would only employ butlers who are single to avoid family problems, the Smiths were different. Mainly because you would live and die with them, it was ridiculous for them not to have a life outside the people they serve.

Even the rule of not having any relations or connections with other members of the employees was not applicable. There was no question of being biased or playing favourites due to their utmost professionalism - and the first two points mentioned before.

Butler Kim had been extremely stressed out that his own son did not want to continue the tradition but Mr. Smith had been fine with that. Didn't make him feel any better.

Right now, Butler Kim watched as his daughter-in-law served the rest of the Smiths their breakfast and smiled.

At least, the line seemed to continue again.

His grandson seemed interested.

Just then, Alex came into the dining hall right on the dot. Butler Kim noted with satisfaction his eldest grandson, Aaron was beside him. He was 14 this year, and would help out in the morning and evening at the Smith House.

This was part of his training.

To integrate with the family and know their routines.

The best thing that made Butler Kim the happiest was the fact that Max had accepted Aaron. It would have been extremely difficult to be able to stand next to Alex if he couldn't even be accepted by the employer's beloved pet.

Extremely difficult, but not impossible.

Being a butler meant being able to know what to do, and how to delegate so it just meant Aaron would not have been able to personally take care of Max.

As it is, it was also obvious to all that though Max accepted Aaron, the latter was his subordinate.

In fact, it wasn't Aaron that directed Max - it was the other way around.

Not that Aaron minded.

The point was, he could work together with Max, and that helped Alex.

Ariel, seeing her brother arrive, was happy.

She didn't think of getting Aaron to make sure Brother Alex came on time and she told herself that she should do that next time. In order to help her remember, she said it a few times to herself and she hoped she won't forget.

If Daddy wasn't here, she would record it with the bracelet she wore but if she did that, Daddy would suspect something. Mama said that Daddy is very smart … of course he is! ... so she had to be very, very careful.

Ariel waved to her brother and said happily, "Brother! Brother! We have french toast!"

Even the stoic Alex couldn't help but smile as he looked at his younger sister, whose eyes were so bright and sparkling as she started eating her breakfast.

She was such a foodie and anyone who watched her eat would be enthralled. The joy on her face was pure and one felt warm just looking at her.

Alex greeted his parents and sat down next to Ariel. When his breakfast was served, it had french toast and some sausage links beside it.

Everyone had different side dishes with their french toast.

Ariel had hers cut into strips and she would dip it into the strawberry yogurt by the side. Aurora would eat it with some powdered sugar on it, saying the sweetness was a perfect complement to the crispy texture and fluffy softness inside.

Alex just shuddered thinking how sweet it must be.

His father, as usual, was the weird one who had the biggest plate. Not only did he have french toast, but also scrambled eggs (really? Another set of egg dishes?), sausage links, and bacon.

Perhaps Ariel took after their father in terms of appetite, but more like their mother in terms of a healthier version.

His mother would either have it with strawberry yogurt like Ariel or with crushed nuts sprinkled on top.

"Daddy, Rie stopped herself from sucking her thumb earlier," Aurora told her father.

Kyle raised an eyebrow and turned towards his youngest, "Wow, Rie. That's really good. Looks like we can get rid of the thumb glove."

Ariel wanted to nod at first but then stopped and pursed her lips before saying, "Not yet, Daddy. Just in case."

A thumb glove was a tool used to stop a child from sucking their thumb.

There are various methods, ranging from putting some bitter concoction on the thumb to wearing a glove that was basically a 'half glove' as it only covered the thumb and half of the palm.

There were also thumb guards, that was a plastic cover placed over the thumb and even an elbow guard that prevented the elbow from being bent properly so one couldn't reach the thumb to suck it.

"Oh?" Kyle said, tilting his head, surprised that his daughter wouldn't jump at the chance to get rid of the glove.

Ariel nodded seriously, "It has only been one … "

Ariel scrunched up her face as she tried to remember the word then said with happiness, "One week! It has only been one week …"

Then she looked at her father and asked, "One week is seven days, right?"

Kyle nodded.

"Yes, one week," she continued, "It should be …"

Putting up her hands she counted out loud until she reached 25 and said, "Twenty-five days then we can throw away the glove."

Kyle's face softened and he stroked her hair, "That's really good of you, Rie. You're really working hard. How about following me today as a reward?"

Ariel's eyes went wide.

"Today?" she asked.

"Yes, today," Kyle replied.

"All day?" she asked, wanting to make sure.

"Yes," Kyle told her.

"Even to the office?!" she nearly shouted that last bit.

Kyle smiled.

"Yes, even to the office," he confirmed.

"Yes, yes please!" Ariel replied, laughing and smiling so widely that her eyes almost couldn't be seen.

Hearing that, Butler Kim immediately started making preparations. He stepped aside and gave some instructions to the nearby maids who quickly went to get the items prepared.

"Mummy! Mummy! I'm following Daddy today!!" Ariel said with glee.

"Yes, Rie," Sayuri replied with a smile, "Be good, okay? Listen to Uncle Sam."

Rie made an OK sign and happily continued eating her meal.

Sayuri observed all of this with a smile.

Ariel truly was a natural at this. She had the innate ability to understand what makes a person happy. She was too young to know how to achieve the best results but after one year of learning the basics in her Clan's Arts, Ariel learned how to plan.

Of course, there were the exercises Sayuri had Ariel do every night.

The "What if" game whereby Sayuri would give her some basic and simple 'what if' situation.

What if Daddy looked unhappy when coming back from work - what would you do to make him happy?

What if Brother Alex didn't want to talk to you - what would you do?

Sayuri was also amazed at the little things Ariel noticed and picked up daily. Seeing things from a child's perspective was really refreshing.

Ariel may be too young to be able to articulate her thoughts so she would describe them as to how she felt. There were many things Ariel didn't know but being able to express her thoughts and confusion enabled Sayuri to guide her.

Each lesson was only for 20 minutes and Kyle always thought she was just 'tucking in' the kids to sleep. Reading to Rie a bedtime story and things like that. It was 'mother-daughter' time and Kyle did not disturb them during these moments.

It was true that it was 'mother-daughter' time.

Just that Kyle was completely oblivious as to what truly happened during those bonding moments.

Ariel was happy that she could be with her father today.

Sayuri was happy that Ariel was progressing well in the Arts.

Kyle was happy to see that his family was all well and good, and that Ariel was doing so well in breaking such a bad habit.

Aurora was happy to think she would be going back to school and be with her friends again.

While Alex … well, Alex was kinda happy and looking forward to a new class.

Would the Accelerated Class really be that great or would he still be bored to death?