Shut Up and Surprise Me

02. Home Tour

"What do you think?" Ashton asks. His eyes are glued to the tall building in front of us, a wide grin plastered on his face.

Before us, a two-story family house stares back at me, painted in light grey which matches the shade of its roof. What amazes me is that the building has more windows than the number of my fingers and toes combined. Who was crazy enough to design the house in the first place? The main doors are almost as wide as my garage door, made of dark brown mahogany and adorned with contemporary yet elegant wood carving.

I gulp. "I think it's...huge."

"Don't you like it?" He turns around to scan our surroundings. The colorful cobblestone pavement connects the main gate to the entrance door, bringing out a festive atmosphere against the green foliage of oak trees in the front yard.

"Was this a palace in the past?" Chloe, who has been walking around to inspect the front yard, asks with interest.

"I don't believe so," her dad replies.

"It's a fancy house that looks like a palace," I say while still trying to digest the view before me. Ashton did say the house we were going to check was big, but this is enormous.

The real estate agent approaches us with a bunch of keys dangling from her grip. She introduced herself as Mrs. House; the last name that reflects her career choice indeed. "My apologies for keeping you waiting," she says, glancing at the house. "Now we can go inside and have a look at every room."

"Do people really live here?" Chloe asks with a lower voice as she jogs to keep up with our speed.

"Apparently," I reply.

"But it's so big! It's enough for all the people in our neighborhood to live in. Even grandma and grandpa can fit in too."

Mrs. House chuckles softly at Chloe's remark. "I'm afraid it's not large enough for that. It has only six bedrooms, two on the ground floor, and the rest are upstairs."

"Oo." My daughter nods, pursing her lips while looking up at the porch ceiling, her green eyes examining the crystal chandelier above our heads.

When Mrs. House opens the door, we are welcomed by a spacious entrance hall. Unlike the outer side, the wall is painted broken white, putting a balanced look to the brown tiles, the gold side table, and the oval gilt-wood mirror.

"This house has all the facilities you can imagine," she continues, staring at each of us like a museum guide explaining the rarest relics on earth. "It has a drawing room, a private library, an activity room, two living rooms —a small and a big one, a sports room, a mini theater but big enough to hold twenty people, and of course, a swimming pool with a jacuzzi and sauna."

"Why would we need to have a drawing room? None of us draws," Chloe says, looking genuinely confused.

Ashton clears his throat. "The room is not for drawing. It's more of a room to entertain guests. People used to call it a drawing room in the past."

"That's so weird. I'd just bring my friends to my room, and we'd find a bunch of stuff to entertain us."

"That's also true," I chip in, "but Ashton was talking about a different kind of guest; adult guests like people from his work." I lean into my daughter's ear, and whisper, "The boring kind."

"Gotcha."

"I heard that." Ashton glares at us, but he can't help laughing.

Chloe walks into the first room with a huge fireplace and a large arched window. The blinds are half-closed, creating a striped shadow on the wooden floor. She taps her feet on it, bouncing back and forth and watching the striped pattern on her legs. At least, she's enjoying herself now after the gloomy week past her cousin's departure.