The private dining room looked exactly within Arwan’s expectations.
The moment they entered, Arwan already noticed signs of a scuffle between his third and fourth brother. Three had his top button missing - collar wide-open, while Four had one of his shoulders exposed, sleeves evidently pulled from the struggle. However, they—along with the rest of the family —sat as if nothing happened.
The area was simpler than those available to the restaurant’s wealthier patrons. At the center was a sturdy, marble table and seven chairs of similar design, the only decoration was the plotted aloe vera in a corner. Although it wasn’t as luxurious as the rest of the hotel interior, the room had a huge window overlooking the sea. If it wasn’t for the chandelier that cascaded like waterfalls on the ceiling, the room would’ve resembled a family dining room more than a hotel VIP dining quarters.
Their mother sat at the head of the table, an empty chair to her left and their father on her right. Two sat alongside their father. The reserved seat was for their youngest, no doubt, while Four won the right to sit next to him. Three could only resign to his fate and sit next to Four.
Arwan sat next to Two and wondered why Trey would even fight Iver at this point. He was the painter in the family, not the MMA fighter. In the eldest’s opinion, Three should’ve given up the moment Iver announced to the family that he would be fighting professionally. Sure, they all trained as kids, but Four was the only one making money off of it.
The eldest was praising Condes in his mind for not joining the fight when he noticed that Two’s hair was tousled, glasses slightly skewed. He almost couldn’t believe that the 36-year-old lawyer would still be joining in the childish fight of who gets to sit next to V, completely forgetting about his own action of taking his first day off in a year just to fetch their youngest at the train station.
This little feud between brothers had not happened since V left the dinner table shouting that he wouldn’t be eating with them anymore if they kept fighting for seats. Not that V cared much as his brothers pushed and pulled each other, even their parents didn’t stop them. He only threw a tantrum when one of them accidentally pushed V’s pudding off the table. Little Five was only allowed to eat that pudding once a month, so he felt greatly aggrieved and blamed the four of them regardless of who was actually the culprit.
Condes tried to plead and told him that collective punishment is a war crime1The Geneva Conventions of 1949, but how could a 6-year-old understand that?
V stomped his little foot and declared as resolutely as he could, I don’t care. You’re all meanies to me.
The next day, before dinnertime, Condes pulled their family (excluding the youngest) to the living room and brought out a screen projector from his room. With it connected to his laptop, Two started his PowerPoint presentation on how to appease their little prince and how to settle the dinner seating arrangement.
True to his nature, Arwan’s first thought was, Wow, my brother is such a nerd, but he made no comment otherwise. In fact, he even enthusiastically nodded when Condes proposed that they rotate by age, feeling no shame in taking advantage of his seniority.
To his surprise, it was their old man who objected to the proposal. When asked, he said it was because he was not included in the rotation. Even the father wants to compete with his sons, Arwan thought to himself, not yet realizing where the shamelessness in their bones came from.
They wrapped up their discussion after their Mom, who was smiling gently the entire time, ‘suggested’ that the boys who are punished should skip their rotation. The five Alphas, her husband included, were reminded of how silent her ruthlessness could be. That was the first night the family had dinner without a struggle since the youngest could eat solid food.
This arrangement was disbanded entirely after V moved out, the Earth could not revolve without the Sun, so Arwan couldn’t really blame his brothers for regressing to the days they were like crabs in a bucket.
Still, the brief rough and tumble and the subsequent peace reminded him that they were all together again. Where else could he find a family with a little Omega emperor, if not theirs?
The house is going to be noisy again, I bet. Old habits die hard, after all.
The dishes came in one by one shortly after Arwan and V arrived. The chef was informed in advance, astonished at being asked to cook so many off-menu dishes. When a staff discreetly informed him that the meal was for the Mu Hen family, he cooked with renewed vigor and anxiety. The meal tonight could’ve been the verdict that would decide if he would climb higher or fall down miserably.
If Arwan knew what the chef was thinking, he would’ve gotten a good laugh. They simply wanted to have a meal as a family, that’s all. It was no cooking competition and they were no judge.
Nonetheless, his efforts paid off. The family of seven was enjoying the meal that was catered to their tastes. Arwan had been helping their father cook for the family since he was old enough to hold a knife. He would’ve been a fool if he still didn’t know what they like or didn’t like.
Iver continuously served meat on V’s plate and the youngest ate as if being served was the most natural thing in the world. No one could fault V for this, he never had to put food on his own plate since he was given the Mu Hen family name. If he looked at a dish for a few seconds, one of his brothers would immediately put a piece of that dish on his plate. He was sometimes forced to eat things he wasn’t particularly fond of by their mother, but even then he ate without complaints. If anything, the most difficult thing he had to deal with was to get them to stop adding to his plate. Thankfully, they all learned that utensils down meant that he was done.
Arwan glanced over his family. Their dad, Gene, and Condes were talking about a new bill that was proposed by Congress, Trey and Iver were nudging each other under the table, and their Mom was gently patting V on the back, asking him if the travel was tiring.
“Mom, Little Five is staying here tonight. The drive back is long and he’s exhausted.” The Alpha saw that it was the right time to break this news to their mother.
As expected, the only other omega in their family exploded. “Nonsense! How could he stay out on his first night back? He is your baby brother! How could you treat him like this?!”
The table fell silent, they all turned to him. He could feel his brothers’ indignant stares, silently accusing him of being unfair.
“Mom, he’s not staying out. V has his own room here, I already asked them to prepare for it. Let’s not make him travel more. It’ll be hard for him.” Arwan softly coaxed his mother.
“It’s a room that everybody uses, how can it be more comfortable than our house?” Mrs. Via Mu Hen was not willing to let this go. Her attractive features were in a scowl identical to the one V often has.
“We don’t rent that room out, Mom. It’s just for V, like how this hotel was just for V too. When have I ever treated him unfairly? You know I won’t do that.”
When their mother didn’t speak, Arwan took the opportunity to say a few more words. “I’ll personally take him home tomorrow. Don’t worry, Mom. He’s safe here. He’s just sleeping for one night and then he’ll be back again.”
Their mother sharply turned her head away but didn’t protest. Seeing the tacit approval, V also spoke up. “Big Brother One is right, Mom. I’ll be back tomorrow, I just want to sleep to the sound of the sea tonight.” He even added a pleading look to sweeten the deal, topaz eyes wide and mouth in a small pout.
“Fine, fine. I know you love this castle.” She finally relented, giving a warm smile. “Do you think I didn’t know where you and your brothers snuck off to when you came home with wet clothes?”
Trey chipped in, “I guess coming home smelling like seawater didn’t really seem sensible at that time.”
“Hey, it was you who said we didn’t need to shower.” Iver nudged him, over the table this time.
“Please don’t speak about your poor hygiene, the food is starting to look less appetizing.” Condes quipped over a glass of water.
Peace returned as they laughed together. It was within Arwan’s expectations that the family would be harmonious as long as V was around. Even their parents were blatantly flirting with each other, not at all minding their adult children.
However, Arwan certainly didn’t expect their youngest to drop his spoon and cry in alarm in the middle of his dessert.
