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Marius is currently laying on the sofa of his room, lazily flipping through the channels of his television in search for a sliver of entertaining content. Even though it is days away from New Year, the shows airing on his television does not interest him a bit.
The Von Hagen Estate is dull despite the fancy furniture and the bright decorations adorning its every corner make the manor create a festive atmosphere. This year, his father is on another business trip and as always, all of his staff took their vacation save for Mr. Payton Way in order for Marius’ to carry out his family’s tradition of offering gifts to his ancestors in secret. Even though Marius appreciates the faithful butler’s presence in the manor, the loneliness and yearning in the young heir’s can’t be erased.
‘What is the use of decorating the manor when his family is not here to celebrate the holidays with him.’
He sighed, turning off the television when he grew tired of searching for something interesting in the television. He could just take a long, relaxing bath and probably sleep in his bathtub. He was about to head into his bathroom when Mr. Payton suddenly knocked.
“Master Marius, Dr. Vyn Richter is here.” The butler’s voice rang through the door.
Marius froze, a hint of irritation suddenly sparks in his chest. ‘It's the holidays and yet he plans to give me more homework? Talk about a cold-hearted tutor.’
The younger man dismissed his butler and dragged his feet to the living room. His heavy steps resound throughout the hall, slowly to delay his meeting with his insufferable teacher.
The psychiatrist frowned at his actions. “Is this how you greet your guests, Marius? With a lazy display of etiquette?”
“No student would be excited when their teacher suddenly shows up at their doorstep to hand them more homework.”
The other man merely hums, taking another sip of his tea.
Marius sighed and crossed his arms. “What are you doing here, Vyn? Don’t make others miserable if you’re lonely this Christmas.”
“There is no need to fret, I am not here to give you more homework. Although, if you wish to work on your psychology skills in the holidays, I could arrange a few worksheets for you to answer. After all, such enthusiasm deserves to be acknowledged.” Vyn chuckled at the growing horror at the young man’s face.
“No way in hell.”
The two men fell into silence. After what it felt like an eternity for Marius, the psychiatrist finally gave his reason for his visit.
"I believe you read Artem's recent update in NXX-010?"
Marius instantly shot up, fixing his laid-back posture to focus on the conversation. NXX-010, the murder case of Yvette Romero. In this X-NOTE, Yvette was murdered in her home to silence her from leaking all of what she knows about a certain shady organization dealing with illegal drugs. Unbeknownst to her killer, her son Cyril Romero, witnessed the act. The child was the one who called the police and is the case's eyewitness. However, directly witnessing a murder take place and seeing his mother die, is extremely traumatic to anyone, especially to a 10 year-old. Cyril is not willing to speak of the incident and has not been speaking since the incident took place. NXX has been investigating this case but no progress has been made, until today.
"He spoke?!" Marius can't help but gasp loudly. "What did he say? Did he finally give us a lead?"
"No, he only told the police to take him somewhere safe and avenge his mother." Vyn frowned as he showed the updated X-NOTE to the young heir. "The police initially planned to take him to an orphanage but Artem suggested that we would be the ones taking care of him for now and they agreed. Since the child is extremely cautious in my research center, I figured that letting him stay here for a while would be beneficial."
"What? Can't Artem take care of him? His place is much more homey compared to mine, it's a better place to get him to relax a bit." Marius gestured to his living room with a lazy flick of his wrist.
"If you have forgotten, Artem lives alone and he also has to work in the firm. There's no one to take care of him there. Unlike here, you could ask your butlers to keep an eye on him and Cyril's safety is much more ensured."
Marius then sighed. "Fine, but don't blame me if he doesn't say anything about the case."
"Not a problem, the point is to get him to open up a bit and ease his anxieties regarding his safety. It would take a while before Cyril could bring up the incident again." Vyn stood up, packing up his tablet. "Artem will bring him here tomorrow at 2 in the afternoon, make sure to give him a warm welcome."
_______________________________________
The next day, Marius had Payton prepare a variety of children's toys that might catch the boy's fancy, ranging from remote-controlled toy cars to advanced game consoles. He also searched about top-grossing kid-friendly movies if Cyril wanted to just sit in front of a TV.
You see, Marius is no stranger to handling kids, in fact he is quite fond of them and can take care of them with ease. But the problem is that he doesn't know how to deal with a child with traumatic autism. How can he make a child, who witnessed the death of his mother, relax?
Damn it, he should've asked Vyn for some tips.
Hours passed by when Payton announced Artem's arrival. Marius quickly went outside to welcome the child.
Cyril is holding Artem's hand while he clutches a serpent plushie to his left arm. The poor kid is as quiet as ever, keeping his eyes on the ground with a distant gaze. The senior attorney glanced at the kid before sharing a meaningful glance with Marius.
Artem tugged at the child's hand and gave him one of his rare heart-warming smiles. Well, rare in Marius' eyes, Artem always frowns whenever he is with the NXX. "This is the von Hagen Estate. Per your request, this is the safest place we deem fit for you to stay. And here is the current master of the house, Marius von Hagen."
The young heir then flashed a big grin. "Hey there, buddy. I'll be taking care of you from now on."
Cyril did not look up to meet the gazes of the two adults, only nodding his head in his response. Seeing this reaction, both Artem and Marius feel a little helpless.
"Don't worry, I got him." Marius nodded with a grave tone in his voice.
Seeing the determined fire in Marius' eyes, Artem slowly dropped the kid's hand and nodded in appreciation. "Then, I will leave him in your care." The other NXX member is always a mischievous man but he displays great seriousness when the situation calls for it.
After Artem left, Marius reached out to pat Cyril on the head. The kid flinched at the touch but relaxed as he raised his head to look at the young heir. Marius merely smiled at the curious glint in Cyril's eyes.
"Let's get you inside, kid."
_______________________________________
"Is there something you wanna do?"
After giving Cyril a tour in the house and introducing Payton to him, they are now in the living room, looking for a way to entertain themselves. But the kid didn't respond to him, his body tense with extreme caution as he stared at the Pax CEO.
Marius sighed for the umpteenth time. He invited Cyril to play with him to help the kid at least remove his nervousness in staying over a house filled with people he barely knew. But so far, none of the things Marius prepared caught his interest.
Video games? Rejected.
Basketball? No.
Remote car racing? Nah.
Hell, books? Nuh-uh.
Maybe the kid needs some space.
Marius decided to leave the living room for a while but still made sure to keep the kid within his line of sight.
"What should we do, Master Marius?" Mr. Payton asked. The butler also tried to help Marius to take care of the kid but Cyril was simply unresponsive to their questions, silently following the two adults as they walked inside the manor. After a few more attempts, Mr. Payton decided to back down.
"I don't know, Vyn's not answering his phone." Marius carelessly put his phone down on the kitchen counter to rest his head on his fist. "Is he sleeping? It's six in the evening."
The butler chuckled at his master's actions.
Marius then grabbed his phone and began typing away. "Mr. Payton, buy these things for him. He could use them during his stay here. I'll send them via text."
"Understood, Master Marius. Should I prepare dinner before I go?"
The young heir hummed before shaking his head. "No, I'll take care of dinner this time."
Mr. Payton looked unsure.
"Oh, come on, I can at least cook a simple dinner."
_______________________________________
Cyril and Marius are currently in the kitchen of the Von Hagen Estate. And Marius is internally panicking as his head snapped left and right, monitoring the state of the nearly-burning noodles while cracking eggs. Cyril is just on one side of the kitchen, watching the chaos at the sidelines.
The chosen dish for tonight's dinner was ramen and surprisingly, Cyril spoke as he expressed his enthusiasm. "Ramen is my favorite." Even though the child basically whispered, it's a huge improvement to hear him speak.
Ramen is not hard to cook, well the instant ones. But Marius wanted to show off and told Cyril that he will make ramen from scratch. And even though he is not that well-versed in the kitchen, there are plenty of tutorial videos on the internet to guide him. Besides, it's only ramen.
Oh, how wrong he was.
The noodles were already prepared but the problem is the next steps. The tutorial videos he found on the internet are extremely vague with their instructions and the demonstration is poorly edited, he can't see what exactly is the chef doing on the video. And he can't ask for Payton's help because the butler is currently away from the mansion, picking up certain items per his request.
Now he is here, trying to salvage what was left of the noodles he dumped into the cooking pot with haste. He just hopes that the estate won't burn down with his atrocious cooking skills.
"You gotta help me out here, buddy." Marius nearly whined but the child merely stared at him.
Cyril deadpanned at the sight of the young heir. "You don't know how to cook ramen?"
Because of the child's tone, a certain psychiatrist popped into his mind and the young heir pursed his lips, not knowing how to react. "You know, you remind me of someone."
But Cyril did not pay attention to him, making a beeline towards the cooking pot. Wait, is he about to cook?
"No." Marius grabbed Cyril by his waist and lifted him up high before placing him down on one of the chairs beside the dining table.
"I'm trying to help." Cyril's eyes are filled with frustration.
"You might hurt yourself."
"But I cooked ramen before."
"Eh?" Marius blinked in surprise. "But you're only ten. Your mom allowed you in the kitchen?"
Cyril stiffened at the mention of his mother and fell into silence. Marius winced in response and gently put his hand on the kid's knee. "Sorry, buddy. I didn't mean to."
The child shook his head and spoke in a soft voice. "It's not your fault. I just miss my mom." Without warning, the boy started to cry uncontrollably. "Me and mom used to cook ramen together…"
Seeing Cyril cry in front of him tugged Marius' heart quite painfully, the familiar longing for his mother resurfaced as he watched the young boy before him grieve.
Marius slowly and gently enveloped the child in a warm embrace, his hand caressing the kid's head as he whispered words of reassurance. "Let it all out, buddy. I got you, you're not alone anymore."
Cyril's shoulders shook violently as his quiet sobs turned into loud wailing and Marius' chest grew heavier each time the boy's cries increased in both volume and pain. But even though only one boy is crying in the suddenly-cold kitchen, two hearts wept for the loss of their own mothers.
_______________________________________
Dinner was quiet but the silence was comfortable for the two occupants of the dining table. After their crying fest, Marius pulled himself together and miraculously finished the ramen he nearly destroyed earlier with the help of a recovered Cyril.
Now that they finished eating, Marius asked if Cyril wanted to do something before retiring to their respective bedrooms.
"Painting…" Cyril muttered.
Marius' face lit up like a child who received a candy. "Oh, really? Well then…"
The young heir stood up and excitedly held the child's hand as they made their way to his personal studio. Cyril barely stopped the loud gasp that escaped him as his eyes took in the sight.
"This is where you paint?" Childlike wonder blooms in Cyril's face. "Is this room only for you?"
"Yup and today…" Marius moved to lift Cyril and placed him into a stool in front of a painting canvas. "This genius painter known in the world of modern art is now giving you a private lesson."
Cyril gave him an unconvinced stare which Marius made pout.
"Don't believe me? You haven't seen my paintings though, they're pretty good."
Marius then proceeded to teach Cyril various beginner-friendly painting lessons and tricks. The kid is listening to him with great concentration while moving his brush across the canvas in a gentle manner. Marius was patient with the kid and would softly correct the child's mistake. Their painting session lasted for hours and barely noticed that it was past Cyril's bedtime.
"Not bad, kiddo." Marius whistled at the finished painting of a serpent before him.
Cyril's eyes sparkled as he flashed Marius his brightest smile yet.
A knock suddenly sounded across the room and Mr. Payton entered when Marius gave his permission.
"Master Marius, I have the items you asked for downstairs. Should I bring them up?"
"Yes, please."
After a few minutes, the butler returned with many paper bags in his hands and placed them before Marius. The young heir then but Cyril just stared at him in confusion.
Marius chuckled. "I didn't know what kind of things you wanted but one can never go wrong with choosing clothes as a gift."
Cyril dug his hand into the large paper bag and pulled out a variety of kid's clothing. There's tons of shirts, hoodies, shorts and pants that surprisingly fit him well. There are also two pairs of shoes gifted for him to complement the clothes he received.
"Are these for me?" Cyril whispered, slowly turning to see the growing smirk at the young heir's face.
Marius nodded in satisfaction, tilting his head to gesture at the gifts he gave. "Take care of those, okay?"
Cyril was silent, hanging his head low. Marius was about to panic when the child raised his head once again, a bright smile on his face. "Thank you, Mr. Marius." He said with pure genuine gratitude.
The sight melted Marius' heart. Finally, Cyril's talking! "No problem, kid."
_______________________________________
During Cyril's stay in the Von Hagen Estate, the child grew more expressive and spoke more day by day. Vyn had also given Cyril the necessary therapy for the kid and later found out critical clues to the case.
With Artem's superb demonstration in the courtroom, NXX-010 came to a close. Now, the team is waiting for Cyril's new family that adopted him a few days ago in front of Vyn's research center. Vyn performed one final check-up on Cyril's mental state before transferring him to another psychiatrist's care since Cyril is about to move out of Stellis City.
"Once you graduate, come find me. I'll register you into one of my programs to promote your paintings." Marius raised his fist into a fist-bump which Cyril bumped with his own.
"Thank you for everything, Mr. Marius." Cyril turned to the other two. "Thank you, Mr. Artem, Mr. Vyn."
Artem chuckled at the cute display of affection from the child. "You're welcome."
"I wish you the best of luck in the next chapter of your life." Vyn nodded.
Cyril's new family waited a few meters away from them and Marius nodded in their direction. "It's time for you to go, buddy."
Cyril glanced at the people waiting for him and waved his farewells to the NXX. "Bye! Thank you for helping me!"
The trio watched as Cyril enthusiastically ran towards his new family, his new bright future. Cyril's steps showed no hesitance, bravely taking the boy down his own path. And as the car finally exited the research center's parking lot, the three men wished for Cyril's happiness and strength to overcome obstacles that may obstruct his way.
And thus, another case closed.