“Benji!” Shouted Nathan excitedly. “Come on! Hurry up! We still need to go to the west wing. Let's go checking Kaien and Allen’s room!”
“Sigh... Do you think they are awake?” Asked Benji after a long sigh. “They did not show up during breakfast this morning, don’t you remember?”
“Uh-uh. Maybe they are already eating,” answered Nathan, thinking. “Maybe they walk around and got lost! Ha-ha! This mansion is too huge, right?”
“I doubt that,” Benji disagreed. “Dominique already said breakfast, lunch and dinner only at specific times. They couldn’t be early or late.”
“You are killing the fun,” said Nathan.
“I’m sorry,” apologized Benji when he saw Nathan suddenly looked upset. “Let’s go now.”
“Yey!” shouted Nathan happily. “Let’s go to the garden! Let’s go! Let’s go!”
“Wait! What? Garden?” asked Benji, surprised. He did not know there was a garden here. “I thought we were going to Kaien and Allen’s room? How do you know there’s a garden?”
“Hurry up, Benji!” Nathan ignored Benji’s question and ran away. Benji started to chase after him, not wanting to lose sight of him.
Suddenly Nathan stopped in front of a huge door that was situated in the middle that separates the west wing and the east wing, and a little bit to the north. “We are here~~~!” said Nathan out loud in a strange tune.
“We are here?” asked Benji. He looked dumbfounded, but made no move to stop Nathan. “Here? This room?”
“Yup! It really is a lovely room,” said Nathan and without warning, he opened the door.
Behind the door was not a room like anyone could imagine. It was a garden. A huge beautiful garden. Little daisies, roses, asters, and tiger lilies grew here in abundance. Fruit trees from mango to coconut to African plum also grew here. There was also a patch of vegetable that glimmered in the sun like diamonds. There was every vegetable anyone could imagine from bean to cucumber to carrot. In the middle of the garden, there was a beautiful pond.
“That was. . . Unexpected,” Benji said, amused. “A garden. . . Inside the house. This is ridiculous.”
“Why? Asked Nathan. “Have you heard of the greenhouse?”
“I know greenhouse, but this is. . . Not right,” protested Benji. He was confused. He did not know what he felt right now. Amused, excited, confused, scared, they all mix up inside him. The more he thinks, the more he finds that everything was not right. He had a bad feeling about it.
“Benji! Benji?!’ called Nathan when he saw Benji seem ‘lost’. “Are you alright?”
“I’m fine. . . I just think everything is not right,” mumbled Benji. He looked at Nathan in the eyes and gripped his shoulder, which made Nathan a little shocked. “Think about this. This mansion was left like a solitary card on a deck. There was just one of its owners alive who would rarely speak to anyone. And. . .”
“And what?” snapped a voice from behind them.
Benji and Nathan looked at the voice’s owner and slowly, he let go of Nathan.
“And what, Benji?” asked Dominique again, but a bit ‘forceful’ in his voice.
“No. . Nothing. . .” replied Benji. “It's just that this garden is too beautiful.”

“Do you like it?” asked Dominique and Benji nodded awkwardly.
“See. I know you would like it,” snapped Nathan with a cheerful voice. He grabbed Benji’s hand and dragged him to the pond. “Look, a duck.”
Benji took a peek inside the pond. There was a little duck and drake that Nathan was so happy looking at and some moss and lichen at the bottom of the pond. “It’s a fake duck. Just a toy.”
“Yah! Don’t kill the fun!”
“Dominique?” called Benji, trying to start a conversation to shake away the awkward feeling that he felt since Dominique came. “Are you the one who look after the garden?”
“Yes,” Dominique nodded.
“Oh, you don’t look like someone who took pleasure in gardening. Hahaha,” laughed Benji, followed by Nathan’s giggling.
“Yes, I don’t,” answered Dominique, firm. There was no attempt to argue or start a conversation with Benji in his tone.
Something in Dominique’s voice made Benji stop saying anything. Something . . . something that Benji could not explain and did not understand at all no matter how hard he tried. It felt as though as Benji had faced a giant wall that no way he could pass. They just stared at each other in silence.
“How’s Kaien and Allen?” asked Nathan, breaking the silence.
“They are still in their room, I believe. I’m about to check on them.”
“Let’s go together. Let’s go Benji,” said Nathan, looking at Dominique then at Benji. Benji just nodded without saying anything and with that, Dominique left, followed by Nathan.
Benji sighed. He went closer to the pond, took a peek inside again and ran away as fast as he could. Whatever he saw inside the pond, he would never forget for the rest of his life.