Chapter 20

  Bathed and changed, Jamie folded his worn uniform in his laundry bag and closed his locker. Checking his pockets, he picked up the bag and left the damp changing room for the male staff at Flourish’s Gentlemen Club.

  On his way, Jamie made sure to smile and greet everyone he passed. Sometimes he added a kind word or shared a chuckle, but he made sure that people saw and heard him with a fondness as he went.

  He was only being sensible to have good rapport with his fellow workers. You caught more flies with honey after all and Janie needed his honey sweetest to work his odds. He had learned early on how far simple kindness and courtesy could take someone.

  He navigated the back rooms of the club, an ant farm of narrow hallways with numerous doors and people scuttling about in a hurry. It was almost unimaginable that beyond the yellow painted walls were some of the richest and most influential members of the city being served and entertained. He reached the laundry and submitted his uniform for cleaning, He made sure to pass compliments amongst the working ladies, and share a harmless yet saucy innuendo to have his audience blushing.

  Finally, he escaped his place of employment by the servants’ gate and immediately his exuberance evaporated to be replaced by the tiredness of a hard day’s work.

  He took the well-trodden path home, his mind occupied. He would have liked to hail a rickshaw, but they charged extra in the upper-class districts and he couldn’t bring himself to pay the excess.

  A fifteen-minute journey took him twenty due to his slow stride that accompanied his distracted thoughts.

  For the past few days, all Jamie could think of about was his friend Hektor. Or should he say Count Hektor?

  The news had shaken him and Jamie hadn’t known what to think. At first, he simply didn’t believe the rumors, but the gossip had been confirmed as the real deal.

  Jamie had known that Hektor was keeping something from him, and now he knew what. Hektor had been right when he had said that Jamie would find out the secret on his own when he had visited him the last time.

  Jamie still had trouble imaging his friend becoming a count and getting engaged in a couple of months. It all seemed surreal. Jamie could only imagine the stress Hektor must be going through.

  He had tried to meet Hektor, but by that time he had moved to the castle. Another surprise. Hektor hated it there.

  Jamie was momentarily driven out of his thoughts as he approached a small bakery to purchase the cheapest loaves they had, paired with a vegetable stew. Jamie always managed to get plenty of meat in his ‘free’ meals at the club and saved up on the vegetarian options that were lighter both on his stomach and purse.

  With his packed dinner, he travelled to the street across and came upon his apartment building. He looked up at the three storey structure and a proud smile lit across his face. Two years ago, he never could have imagined having such a posh place for a home.

  His flat, the one with the lowest rent was at the top floor. He entered into the living room that led into the walled off kitchen on the farthest side from him. To his left was the door to the bedroom and to his left his own private bathroom. All with indoor plumbing, oh yes!

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  He placed the food on the table and went for a wash. He returned to his meal and spotted that it was getting to nine on the table clock.

  The clock was a luxury that had come with the flat along with the furniture. He couldn’t have afforded it otherwise, but had become greatly envious of those with pocket watches. They were so useful and he desperately desired one, but they were just so damned expensive.

  He ate, but the taste was all but forgotten as he reminisced with a faraway gaze beyond the window.

  It had begun so innocently, without any guile or selfishness.

  Four years ago, a scrawny kid had walked up to Jamie and his friends in the park one day and asked them whether he could play with them. The strange boy stuttered terribly and looked on the verge of tears. He was just about to run away when Jamie had taken pity on snotty nosed brat. Jamie had caught his arm and dragged him into their games. And that had been that.

  For months, none of the children had made the connection that their friend Hektor was ‘the’ Hektor, son of their Duchess. To them, he was the weird and silent boy who loitered around the park whenever they came to the play. Over the weeks, Hektor had become a regular in their group, the quiet one always following them along.

  All of Jamie’s friends suspected Hektor to be a dimwitted boy from a well to do family who was left to his nanny, Missus Hudson, who always accompanied him. But Jamie was old enough to recognize the signs. When he had confronted Hektor if he was being hurt, the boy had fumbled and revealed his identity.

  Jamie had immediately latched onto his coattails. Such were the bleak realities of a fifteen year old orphan looking out for himself. However, the friendship that ensued was unexpectedly genuine and rewarding for both of them. It had bloomed into something verging on brotherhood between the two boys who came from very different walks of life.

  Upon the discovery of Hektor’s lineage, the other children had tried to copy Jamie and get in Hektor’s good graces. Most of them failed to endear themselves to the shy boy, however. They either didn’t have the patience for it, nor the guile to get through to the introvert child. And maybe the paranoid Hektor had caught on to reason for their newfound camaraderie.

  Jamie didn’t blame either of them. He couldn’t blame the other kids for wanting to make friends with the Duchess’ son. Nor could he blame Hektor for avoiding them if he thought they were friendly only because of his status.

  Friends had come and gone since then, but Jamie and Hektor’s friendship had endured.

  Jamie looked around. Everything that was good in his life had stemmed from Hektor. From the orphanage getting larger funds, to his job and his apartment, everything was because of Hektor.

  For Hektor remembered kindness and returned it. Besides Jamie, any child, orphan or not, who had been kind to him or someone he liked, they all had good fortunes come their way. Those in the orphanage all found steady jobs and affordable homes readily upon reaching adulthood, and those with families were gifted boons by the Duchy.

  Jamie recalled little Bertha who always teased and chased after Hektor. When her father was ill a years ago, a physician had turned up at her home and treated her father in charity. When Tiff’s family needed money for his sister’s wedding, out of the blue he and his brothers had found work with good pay as ranch hands. They even ended up having the wedding on the farm, saving a lot of money.

  There were many more times where Hektor had helped others, never taking credit, choosing to remain anonymous. But Jamie knew that it was the Duchess who actually did everything at her son’s behest.

  Hektor and his mother were good people in Jamie’s book. The very best.

  Jamie finished his supper, cleaned the dishes and laid on his bed for an early night for he had the morning shift the next day.

  Sleep eluded him as his thoughts kept buzzing. He worried for his friend. Truly he did. But he also couldn’t stop a part of him for thinking about himself.

  Hektor was Jamie’s friend. He was also Jamie’s good luck charm. What would happen to him once his friend left? Will his luck dry up? Would his future turn bleak? Or would he always be where he is now, bowing and serving to the rich and famous at Flourish’s?

  It wasn’t a bad life by any means. But Jamie had always wanted more, wanted better things. And he had been relying on Hektor taking him there.

  Jamie hated thinking such thoughts, but he couldn’t help it. An orphan’s life is never an easy one and there was no one to take care of you but yourself.

  He spent much of the night tossing and turning, trying to think things through. One thing was clear, he had to talk with Hektor and see where he stood.