"I can't take it anymore!" The head chef threw his apron on the floor, his veins bulging as he stormed out of the kitchen. Luna, who had come out of curiosity as to how much preparation had been done, saw the head chef stomping his feet from behind.
"There goes another one." She sighed, then turned to Damian, her butler, "What happened this time?"
"Lord Owen's been nitpicking his dishes. About time he'd flip out." His reply was nonchalant but it held the staff's emotions.
Owen had been very strict with the preparations: he wanted everything to be perfect- the location of items, musical tunes and even the food. At one point, he was doing his very best, but at the other, he was gaining enemies. He'd find faults that even the sharpest eyes couldn't find and drove the staff mad to the point that they had complained about it to Luna.
"I mean he's working very hard, but can't he tone it down a bit?" Luna exasperated, "He's putting too much pressure on them. He'll make enemies at this point."
"He already has, my lady." The butler replied, following her to the ballroom.
"It's only been a week though.' Luna smiled awkwardly as she rubbed her nose. The butler opened the door to the ballroom and saw the staff in a frenzied state.
"Place that over there!"
"Dust the windowsills again! He'll be here in five minutes!" The head maid alerted the staff in the ballroom.
"Five minutes! Can't he come a bit later?" A maid picked up the dusters and handed it out to a few others, each running rampantly to the windowsills.
"He's punctual. If he's late, know you're dreaming." A servant dashed the curtain fabrics to one side of the room, his face scrunched at the other servant.
"Why's he in charge of us? He doesn't even give a compliment." A maid frowned as she helped arrange the tables. "No, place this slightly to the left."
"Maybe he doesn't know how to give one."
"With that face of his, can't he even smile when we've done a good job?" A few maids brought vases and placed them on the tables.
"Hey think about it, if he did, all the maids would fall head over heels for him or faint." A servant chimed in their conversation.
"Why's he so perfect in ordering around? It's as if he owns the place."
"He's a noble. Of course he knows to boss around."
"Lady Oleander is such an angel! She doesn't nitpick and knows how to compliment unlike a certain someone." A few maids brought flowers to decorate the vases.
"Ah! We thought all nobles would be angelic like her, but who knew we would work under a tyrant like him?"
Luna chuckled, amused by the reaction of her staff to Owen's leadership. Of course she was worried about their situation, but them talking behind his back looked cute to her. It was as if they were children backbiting their teacher.
Owen took a walk in the garden to refresh his mind. Even though it was midnight, he was well dressed and not in a night suit. The cold breeze ruffled his hair as he gazed upon the full moon to the child standing in front of him.
"You again?" Owen's tone was softer towards the child, something that the Oleander staff had yet to witness. "Isn't it cold in that outfit?"
The child was in the same white pajamas that he was wearing at the Lily mansion. This time though, his body was almost hidden behind a stuffed bear held in his tiny hands.
Owen's gaze went to the steel collar around the child's neck. He wondered how he had come here.
"What's your name?" Owen crouched down to meet his eyes.
"Owen..." His angelic voice was barely above a whisper.
"Same as mine huh?" Owen patted his head, "I'm Owen Lily." He looked in the direction of the boy's gaze to the white lilies behind him. He turned to pluck one of them for the child. "What's your full name?"
"Lilian." The voice was masculine this time and not the angelic voice of the child. It was deep and somewhat familiar. It was as if he'd heard his own voice calling.
He turned around to see the child, but found a well built man towering above him. He stood up, the flower still in his hand. He faced the mirror imaged man: same height, same sharp features, same muscular build. The only difference? colder eyes, piercing gaze and a bit younger. The stuffed bear was nowhere to be seen. His hands lay empty, his greenish-blue veins visible.
"Owen Lilian... not Lily. It's Lilian." The breeze gently ruffled their hair as the two stood in silence for a while.
Owen Lily stood face to face with Owen Lilian. The Lilian noticed something in the Oleander estate as he slowly turned his head towards the left. He gazed back at the Lily as he dissolved into the cool, silent air.
The Lily? He stood frozen in his spot processing what he had seen. The child and the man were both Lilian- one's eyes full of hope, the other lifeless and alert. One man, different expressions.
"How do you feel after meeting a ghost?" Hugo's voice brought Owen back to the present.
"How long have you been here?" He inquired, his gaze sharp.
"Long enough to know he was Owen Lilian." Hugo smiled at him.
Owen turned his body in Hugo's direction, "For someone who'd seen a ghost, you're not afraid."
Hugo's smile widened as he replied, "Maybe it's because I'd seen him on our way to the Oleander estate?"
Owen arched an eyebrow for him to clarify.
"He travelled all the way here with us from the Lily mansion. Sometimes, he was in the form of a shy kid, sometimes a striking nonchalant adult."
"If he was with us, how come I hadn't seen him?"
"Because you'd be sound asleep by then. He'd only show himself when you'd have your guard down." Hugo tilted his head as if trying to make sense of what he had experienced. When Owen was asleep- that's when he'd always appear.
Owen moved his hair back with his hand.
"Funny though. You both are strikingly similar." Owen looked straight into his eyes as he continued,"Not only outer appearance, you're both alert and anxious."
"Anxious?" Owen repeated, his eyes wide.
"Though I get him. A ghost doesn't want to be exorcised. But you?" Hugo looked at him in confusion, "Why are you anxious? Alert too?"
Owen stood silent thinking as to why he was like that.
"Instinct, I suppose." He turned away not knowing the reason for his alerted and anxious state.
The next morning at the breakfast table, there was another person sitting with Luna and Owen. It was Hans Oleander, the uncle of Luna Oleander.
"I heard you've brought the ghost of Owen Lilian to the Oleander estate with you." Luna spoke as she cut a piece of pancake.
"I wonder who could've told you that." Owen looked straight into the eyes of Hans as he responded to her.
"It wasn't me. I didn't see you in the garden last night." Hans raised his hands in defense.
"I never said that I was at the garden last night." Owen was nonchalant as he spoke, "But now I know who was lurking in the garden using some sort of stealthmagic on my right yesterday."
"You even knew which side I was on?" Hans looked at him with a surprised look.
"The Lilian sensed something on his left and disappeared, making it my right as I was facing him." Owen ate a piece of pancake and then continued, "You blew your cover with your statement just now."
Hans laughed, "I was never good at being sneaky. That's my brother, Grace's trait, not mine."