They were still walking when a guard appeared, stepping quietly into their path with a polite bow that spoke of high respect. The guard leaned in to speak a few words to Boss, his voice too low for the wife to hear. A brief exchange passed between them, words she couldn't catch, and then the guard turned and led all four of them off the main path into a different direction entirely.
Slowly they reached a beautiful artificial garden, and the wife felt like she had stepped through an invisible doorway into a different world, one far removed from the noise and chaos of the entrance. It had been built with clear intention; every element carefully arranged with all details in mind. Sculpted greenery framed a central gazebo, its structure beautifully crafted with all clean lines and elegant detail that caught the eye. The afternoon light filtered down softly through the overhead canopy, creating patterns of shadow and brightness on the ground below. The salt-edged ocean breeze moved through it in slow, quiet passes, carrying the scent of flowers and distant waves.
Inside the gazebo, some people were already sitting and talking among themselves.
Several of them looked up when the group arrived, their eyes cautious, their postures tight with nervousness that showed in every line of their bodies. A few shifted in their seats, adjusting their positions uncomfortably. Others exchanged uncertain glances, silently asking each other what was happening.
"More people with some problems?" One of the maids pressed her hands together in her lap, wringing them anxiously. Her voice dropped low with worry. "Is Master Zack actually going to come here and hear our problems? Or is this all some kind of trap?"
"Shh!" Little Sister hissed from beside her brother's wheelchair, her eyes going wide with alarm. "Don't say that out loud! What if someone hears you and it gets back to him? Do you want him to be angry before he's even arrived?"
"Why would he get angry?"
Boss's voice came from the front of the gazebo. The people looked at him and smiled warmly nodding at their group arrival, the boss and the two women beside stepped inside the structure together. The wife trailed behind them, still not entirely sure what she'd walked into or why she was here.
Everyone exchanged greetings in the way strangers do when brought together by circumstance. Small bows and quiet nods passed around the circle like a ritual. Boss dropped into one of the seats with relaxed posture that suggested complete comfort, and the women sat beside him taking both sides protectively. The wife, slightly at a loss for what to do, took the seat next to her new young friend and tried to look like she understood what was happening.
"Sir..." The pregnant wife leaned slightly forward, one hand resting on the gentle swell of her belly. Her other hand held her husband's hand tightly. He sat beside her motionless, legs stretched out before him, eyes calm yet hollow at the same time, entirely unbothered by the conversation moving around him as if he existed in a different plane of reality.
Both women beside Boss went momentarily still and directed their full attention not to the pregnant wife's words but to her baby belly with unabashed interest that lit up their faces. The pregnant wife noticed their stares, glanced at them, and smiled pleasantly, clearly used to this particular kind of attention.
"We should be careful with how we speak," Pregnant wife continued gently. "Disrespecting Crown people in a place like this could cause real trouble."
"Does Queen actually punish people for speaking freely?" Boss asked, sounding curious about the answer.
"Not that any of us have seen," the office woman said, sitting straight-backed and professional out of sheer habit built over years of work. "Even seeing Queen is a dream for most of us. Only Top Crown can get access to meet her directly. The rest of us have to fight just for a chance to see her from a distance." She paused, choosing her next words carefully. "So being this deep in Queen's palace already feels..." Her voice trailed off as she searched for the right word. "Surreal."
"You can relax you know..." Boss gave her a meaningful look but Office woman just looked at him with slight contempt.
"I am fine Sir, Thank you for thinking about me" Office woman still gave him a respectful nod then thought in her mind. "Mind you own business! You old looking man!!! Why is he wearing such blanket around his body like an old man?? Who is he? Why he has 2 beautiful woman coaxing to him?? Seeing their expression...they don't seem to be forced but still.....the 3rd one looks suspiciously quite.....I will keep an eye on you old man!!" Office woman sharpened her eyes and fixed them on him making Boss chuckle at her expression. Even though she look quite stoic in her manner and expression, Boss who was raised surrounded by many beautiful unique women, can easily tell that she is putting an act of perfection. He just smiled at her then kept quiet.
"Honestly, YES!!! Coming here is a dream come TRUE!!!" One of the maids nodded vigorously, her animated face moving through several expressions at once. "I'm shaking right now. I'm actually shaking! Do you see my hands?" She held them up as evidence, her fingers trembling visibly. "Just being here feels like something I'll tell my grandchildren about."
A small wave of laughter moved through the group, loosening the tension that had been sitting heavy in the air.
"Hmm." Boss smiled warmly. "I suppose Queen should make more public appearances then."
"Haha..." The laughter came a little awkward this time, since all of them privately thought, her frequent public meet would create a very different kind of chaos entirely.
The wife leaned sideways toward her young friend, keeping her voice low so only the girl could hear. "Does your boss know Queen personally? You work here right under him? So he must have some kind of connection to this place, right?"
Her friend opened her mouth in confusion, clearly caught off guard by the question. Then she suddenly closed it. She looked briefly toward her boss with an expression, which the wife couldn't quite read and spoke in a hush tone to her.
"Well, I mean..."
"Why don't we all just share what brought us here?" Boss said, raising his voice just enough to carry through the gazebo and cut through the smaller conversations. "Since that's why we gathered." Boss glanced at his young woman and nodded at her. She understood something in that look and nodded back.
"Yes! Honestly, I'll breathe better after I talk," one of the maids said, pressing a hand to her chest dramatically. "Waiting for Master Zack is hurting my head. I want to shout out my worries!!"
General agreement moved through the circle like a wave, and everyone nodded their willingness to share their problems.
.
Then they started talking.
Little Sister spoke first. Her voice broke many times in the middle of talking, the words catching in her throat as emotion threatened to overwhelm her. But her brother held her hand tightly, his grip anchoring her, making her feel steady and calm enough to continue. She told their story plainly without embellishment. Their father's unfortunate death that had shattered their world, Big Brother's accident that had stolen his ability to walk, the life they were trying to hold together with trembling hands. As she talked, Big Brother sat very still beside her, his jaw tight with tension, his eyes fixed somewhere in the distance where no one else could see.
The office woman went next. She described what had happened at the lunch table in vivid detail, her voice gaining strength as she spoke. She explained what has been happening with her and her colleagues for a long time, the pattern of harassment that had worn them down. She barely made herself stop from throwing out every curse word she knew as others helped her out and spoke up by cursing those bastards themselves, their voices rising with shared anger.
Then the maids. One of them made it halfway through her story before the tears came, spilling down her cheeks without warning. And then all of them were crying together, their faces crumpling as they passed a handkerchief between them in a chain of quiet solidarity that spoke louder than words.
The pregnant wife didn't cry. She complained instead, loudly and thoroughly, her voice filled with the righteous energy of a woman who had finally found an audience and was not going to waste it. She lashed out everything happening to her and her husband, every frustration and fear pouring out in a torrent. The husband placed a gentle hand on her arm at intervals, murmuring soft reassurances in a voice too low to hear, he was the only person in the gazebo who seemed both completely unbothered and entirely devoted at the same time.
By the time the last voice trailed off into silence, the gazebo had gone quiet. Several people had damp eyes that glistened in the afternoon light. Others were just still, letting the stories settle into their bones.
After a moment, Boss looked across the circle toward the wife.
"Madam, do you want to share anything?"
The wife blinked in surprise. "Me?"
"Yes. If you have something."
"Oh, why not!" Her young friend lit up immediately, turning toward her with bright eyes that sparkled with encouragement. "Tell them, come on, share your problem, you said you wanted to...."
THUP
The wife pressed her palm firmly over her friend's mouth, cutting off the words.
"I don't think it's appropriate," she said quietly while shaking her head in denial.
The pregnant wife leaned forward seeing her hesitation, her warm expression brought the wife heart race down a little. "Miss... please don't hesitate. We're all in this together." Her voice carried conviction knowing very well that she is same as them even though she refuse to accept it. "We don't know yet what Master Zack will do, but at the very least, we can share the weight of it. Right here, between us. We promise to never say a word out of this group." The others nodded vigorously, telling her to speak up.
The wife looked around the circle slowly. At Little Sister watching her with gentle eyes that held no judgment. At the office woman who had said her own hard thing with her head held straight and proud. At the maids with their damp faces still showing the tracks of tears. At the pregnant wife with her hand on her belly and her chin held forward with determination.
She released her hand from her friend mouth, who then supported her encouragingly. Then at last she looked at her friend man who suggested her to share her burdens.
"Don't you want to move forward???? If you can't even speak your problems then how will you solve it?"
The wife looked at Zack serious face and listened to his words and..... she don't why.....she felt that.....she do want to get out of this problematic circle, where she has been walking for so many years. She realized that, today in 5th rock meeting, when she raised her one hand to speak up, the other...the other hand fingers were clenching tight with anger.....with frustration.....with sadness... She knew now from where her so called audacity came to ask a question..... SHE WAS TIRED!!!! VERY TIRED!!!!....
Sigghhhhh…
The wife gave a small smile to Zack who gave a smile back.
"Ahmm...my new friend, stop staring at my man and speak up!" The young friend of the wife glared at her cutely making her embarrass and others laugh.
The wife calmed down and started speaking.
At first her words came slowly, halting and uncertain as she tested the waters. But soon they flowed more naturally than she expected, pouring out like water finding its path. She spoke of the things she had always wanted. Of books with their endless pages of possibility, of learning new things, of knowledge that she never got to know, of the quiet dream she had carried for herself all these years... She spoke of her children, though she said very little of her husband except what couldn't be avoided. She spoke of the marriage, of the years that followed like a chain of identical days, of the long afternoons spent sitting alone on benches, asking herself questions she had been too afraid to ask aloud.
When she finished, the gazebo was quiet again.
Then someone spoke a kind word that broke the silence. Then another joined in. And soon, everyone was speaking at once, their voices gentle and overlapping, their words warm like sunlight...... Slowly they began to comfort one another and be comforted in turn, trading understanding across the circle with the ease of people who had recognized something familiar in each other.
The energy in the gazebo shifted completely. What had been nervousness dissolved into something softer, more alive, a shared current of hope and connection that flowed between them.
Boss watched all of it unfold. He caught the eyes of the two women beside him, who smiled at him while nodding their approval.
.
After a while, Boss reached over and lightly touched the arm of the young woman beside him. She nodded and raised her voice clearly over the comfortable noise filling the gazebo.
"Everyone, Boss wants to say something."
Their conversation settled quickly and then together they gave the young woman a weird look.
"Are they... role playing?" Pregnant wife leaned toward her husband, curious about this strange dynamic. "Is this a couple thing? Do young people do this now?"
"GAH! No, we are absolutely NOT roleplaying!" The woman's face flooded with different colors, red spreading from her cheeks to her ears.
"Hmm." The other woman, who had been quiet through most of the conversation, tilted her head thoughtfully. "I don't mind if it was roleplay, actually.... What do you think, Boss? Should we..."
"NO. WE. ARE. NOT.!!!!!!!!!" The first woman glared at her, cheeks blazing with embarrassment. "Boss is Boss, stop putting strange ideas in the middle of serious conversations!!!!" She pouted angrily with her lips pushed out.
"Bleehhhhh." The second woman stuck her tongue out cheerfully, completely unbothered.
"You two are so cute together," Little Sister said sweetly, completely delighted by their interaction.
In the middle of all of it, Boss sat with the expression of a man sincerely reconsidering all his life choices up to this moment.
"Ahm...." He cleared his throat, trying to regain control. "Can we stop and focus please?"
Both women went quiet immediately, straightening up.
"Thank you." He looked around the circle, his voice settling as he spoke with clear authority. "I heard everything you shared. And I want you to know... none of you need to worry. With a few adjustments, I'm confident every problem you spoke of can be fixed."
Silence.........…
"I'm sorry..." one of the maids said carefully, her brow furrowed. "I don't... quite understand what that means?"
"Yes, please." Pregnant wife straightened up with effort, her hand still on her belly. "What are you saying, Sir?"
Everyone was confused on why this young man is speaking like this and not saying his problems... But there was two men who suddenly felt their world shatter!!!!
Two sounds split the air at exactly the same moment.
"FUCK!!!!!"
Both the tired husband and Big Brother spoke the word simultaneously, their voices perfectly matched in volume and feeling, ringing out through the gazebo. The two men who had said almost nothing for the entire conversation suddenly found their voices in perfect harmony. They looked at each other across the circle. The recognition of shared panic passed between them in an instant, a moment of perfect understanding.
"WHY ARE YOU CURSING?!!!!!" Little Sister and the pregnant wife both turned on their respective men, their faces flushing with embarrassment. They began bowing apologetically in all directions, trying to smooth over the outburst of their men.
The wife beside young woman went very still.
She looked at Boss with surprised eyes.
Her gaze moved over him slowly, taking in every detail with careful eyes. His casual clothes that spoke of comfort over status, the blanket still draped around his shoulders, the easy way he sat without performing importance, the way the palace staff had bowed to him earlier, the way guards moved aside without being asked, the way maids looked up with that expression...
Her eyes got wider.
And wider.
Oh.
Oh no.
FUCKK!!! The wife also felt her world shatter but she was more controlled in her outburst which only echoed in her mind.
"Hey!" One of the maids was looking around with confusion, her voice rising above the chaos. "Will someone explain what's happening? And Sir you! Don't speak weird things in between. I know you like role playing but this is too much!!! You're breaking the whole rhythm!!"
The two men after hearing this were no longer participating in reality. They were both staring upward at the sky with the distant, peaceful expression of people who have decided that ascending to heaven is the most reasonable next step available to them.
Ah, WOW! thought the tired husband, his vision clearing. "My eyes feel so clear. Maybe it really is time."
"Father," thought Big Brother, his grip loosening on the armrest of his wheelchair. "Your son is on his way!!!"
.
"WAAH! Yum yum! Big Brother Zack, you're here!"
Every head turned with the sudden voice that came from nowhere.
From behind the row of seats where the maids were sitting, a figure rose slowly. Gloomy blinked sleepily, his hair slightly messed from rest, unfolding himself from a single chair in a way that suggested he had been deeply, completely asleep in it for quite some time. Nobody had noticed him there sitting in the shadows. Nobody could explain how he had gotten there in the first place. He yawned for a long time completely unashamed, then stretching his arms above his head. He then wandered around to Zack's side casually, draping himself over the back of the seating structure like a cute little animal claiming its territory.
"Big Brother Zack, tell them I'm your favorite brother," he said, touching the edge of Zack's blanket with familiar affection. His eyes were still half-closed but somehow shining with mischief. "And help those ladies. I promised them you would."
"Is that... your brother?" one of the maids asked slowly, her brain trying to process this new information.
The gazebo went completely silent.
For a full, unbroken minute, no one said anything at all. The silence stretched so long it became uncomfortable, then unbearable, then somehow looped back around to comfortable again then back to being uncomfortable...
The wife turned and looked at her young friend beside her.
"Who are you?" she asked quietly, her voice shaking from a weird feeling.
"Hm? Oh, you can call me Subordinate Woman. Or just Miss Subordinate is fine."
The wife stared at her with wide eyes. "Is your Boss..." She already knew the answer before she asked but she still asked it anyway because she needed to hear it from her mouth. "Is your Boss Master Zack?"
Subordinate Woman smiled sweetly and nodded, her expression bright with innocence.
The gazebo erupted into chaos.
"WE ARE SO SORRY, MASTER ZACK!" Everyone was on their feet at once, rising so fast chairs scraped against the ground. They bowed so deeply several of them were nearly parallel with the floor, their spines bending at impossible angles. The maids didn't stop there, they went straight to their knees with determination, foreheads almost touching the ground in complete submission.
"I AM DEAD!" one maid hissed at another through her bow, her voice strangled. "WHO TOLD YOU TO KEEP TALKING SO MUCH?!"
"ME?! You talked just as much, don't you dare..."
"Shhh..."
"Big Brother Zack please save me," Little Sister thought desperately, not daring to look up from her bow. Beside her, Big Brother had already completed his mental departure from the physical world and didn't react to his cute sister's pleading.
"My friends....." the office woman thought, her expression completely empty, her eyes fixed on a point slightly above the floor. "I'm so sorry. Your sacrifice was for nothing. I failed us.....He should have known that I was judging him....siighhhh....what a mess...I never thought this old looking man would be Master Zack!!!" Office woman moved her head a little up and saw Zack embarrassed face which made her subconsciously smiled. "This old man is quite.....weird..."
The pregnant wife turned to her husband with panic rising in her chest. "Dear," she whispered urgently. "Are we going to jail?"
Her husband did not respond. He was somewhere far away, already making peace with whatever came next.
"Everyone...." Zack's voice came out a little embarrassed, the sound cutting through the panic. He didn't expect such a strong reaction from them. "Please sit down. I'm not angry." He looked around at the bowed heads and the kneeling maids and the two men mentally ascending to the afterlife, and his expression shifted to embarrassment tinged with regret. "I should have introduced myself earlier. That's on me. I'm sorry." He waited until people started, while still hesitantly, to straighten up and meet his eyes. "Everything you shared, I'm grateful for it. Like I said, I'll find a real solution for each of your problems. You don't need to worry anymore." He met each set of eyes around the circle individually and spoke gently with sincerity. "Please, sit."
One by one, they sat down slowly, still looking uncertain.
The gazebo settled back into quietness.
.
After a few quiet minutes passed, Zack looked around at the residual awkwardness still clinging to every face in the circle and let out a small sigh.
He stood up while smiling warmly at them.
"There's still some time before the main meeting. Why don't you all eat while you talk? I'll send someone with food." He glanced at the two women beside him. Rugged Woman and Subordinate Woman were already looking at the pregnant wife's belly again with barely concealed fascination lighting up their faces. He caught their attention with a gentle cough. "You two stay here. Make sure everyone is taken care of properly."
"Boss, are you sure? But we have lot of work to do?" they both asked at the same time, turning to him with identical expressions of hopeful eyes.
He smiled and patted both their heads at once. Then he turned and walked away from the gazebo with steady steps.
Gloomy peeled himself off the seat back with another yawn, stretching lazily. He gave the maids a cheerful wave that carried no embarrassment or formality. They waved back on instinct, still slightly mortified by everything that had happened. Gloomy laughed at their expressions and jogged off after Zack, his footsteps light. He left the gazebo behind.
The sound of their footsteps faded into the distance.
Then slowly, collectively, from every person left in the gazebo at exactly the same moment...
"Pheeewwwwww."
Every single shoulder dropped at once. Every spine uncurled from its rigid position. Every held breath came out in one long, communal exhale that seemed to deflate everyone simultaneously.
"I am so tired," someone said, their voice carrying bone-deep exhaustion.
And everyone looked at each other and smiled slightly, sharing the relief of staying alive.
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END OF CHAPTER
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Author Blabbering
People sure are weird... they will complain of Heat!! but for the sake of keeping their street clean they will cut every natural thing from there .... I mean look at famous cities around the world, most of them a devoid of any nature , the concrete cities need shades!!!!
Some countries have some common sense and create a green cover outside but those are far in few between. We are trying to reach Mars but not know how to take care of our own planet!! hahahha.....
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