The gleaming wooden floor stretches out, its polished surface catching the light in a way that makes the whole room glow.

The furniture was simple and unassuming, with a modern style that somehow felt trendy and timeless. It’s clear that every element in the kitchen has been chosen with care and attention to detail.

Inside, two individuals occupy its space. The first was an old man seated at the dining table with a skeletal appearance that speaks of a difficult journey. His frail form seems to blend into the surroundings, almost like a ghost haunting the room.

The second individual was a young man, his shirtless upper body revealing a lean, muscular physique. His fresh, molded hair suggests that he has just emerged from a rejuvenating bath, and he exudes an air of vitality and energy that starkly contrasts the other’s frailty.

“Brother, why are you looking at me like that?” the young man asked, his curiosity piqued by the intense stare of the old man.

As the old man looked around the room, he couldn’t help but feel disappointed. He had been hoping for something more - a breathtaking view, perhaps, or an intricate design that would capture his imagination.

Instead, he saw a simple, unassuming space that he had seen countless times before. There was nothing special about it, nothing that set it apart from the numerous other rooms he had occupied over the years.

It caused him to let out a deep sigh and cast his gaze away from the young man in disappointment. “Nothing,” he said, his voice heavy with resignation.

“I don’t know, but I had a thought that you were disappointed in me!” The young man’s unfriendly reply broke the silence between them.

“No!” The old man denied royally, his gaze locking onto the young man’s eyes. There was a certain intensity to his stare that made the young man feel uneasy.

“Then why do you look at me like that?” The young man demanded, his frustration starting to bubble to the surface.

The old man crossed his fingers and began to speak. “Well, it’s your body,” he said, his voice low and measured.

“What’s wrong with my body?” The young man responded, frantically scanning himself from head to toe. “There’s nothing wrong with it - even my smell is good!”

“Not that,” the old man replied, his gaze lingering on the young man’s chiseled physique. “What I mean is that your body - no matter how I look at it - never feels familiar to me.”

The young man’s body was a work of art, every muscle perfectly sculpted and defined. But there was a certain intensity to his physique that was almost frightening - an almost obsessive focus on perfection that left the old man feeling bewildered. It was as if the young man’s body was a testament to hyper-masculinity that even the Muscle Dysmorphia speechless.

The young man quickly grabbed his shirt and pulled it over his head, saying, “Brother, it’s not like this is the first time you saw my naked body aren’t you!”

With the shirt on, the muscles on his body were no longer visible, and he looked like an ordinary guy who didn’t work out.

“Sigh... now look at your appearance … Gaith, You look like a girl!” the old man exclaimed, disbelief in his voice.

Gaith rolled his eyes. “Just forget about it,” he said, his tone bland. He couldn’t be bothered to argue anymore. “So, what drink do you want, brother?” he asked, trying to change the subject.

The old man, Luis, smiled. “Give it the best shot you’ve got!” he said, his eyes twinkling with amusement.

Gaith couldn’t help but feel a twinge of disgust at the sight of Luis’s sparkling eyes. “Eew,” he muttered, barely above a whisper.

Luis coughed, clearing his throat. “Ahem,” noticing the disgusted expression on Gaith’s face.

Despite how calm Luis’ figure was, Gaith felt a shiver run down his spine at the sound of Luis’s cough. He quickly tried to shake it off, focusing on creating a masterpiece of drinks for the late night.

As Gaith mixed the various spirits and ingredients, Luis broke the silence. “By the way, Dion said he wants to train you again,” he said, his eyes fixed on Gaith’s back.

Gaith’s father had been the only man Luis had ever truly admired, and seeing his son brought back memories of their time together and also regretted failing to make the son of his sworn brother—Gaith live in peace and happiness.

While Luis seemed lost in thought, Gaith felt a shiver run down his spine at the mention of Dion’s name. He had endured grueling training sessions with the man in the past, including being electrocuted, frozen, and boiled alive. The memories were enough to make him want to die faster.

“No, sorry,” Gaith quickly said, trying to shake off the memories.

He approached Luis with a glass of drink in his hand. “Here you go,” he said, offering the glass to him.

Luis took the glass with a smile. “Just as I thought, there’s no way you would do it again,” he said, taking a sip. “Especially if that was that man program.”

“If you already know the answer, why bother to ask?” Gaith responded, feeling a hint of irritation. He sat in front of Luis and tried to shake off the annoyance.

Luis chuckled at Gaith’s response. “Fair enough,” he said, a mischievous glint in his eye. “But sometimes, it’s good to hear the answer straight from the horse’s mouth, so to speak.”

Gaith rolled his eyes but couldn’t help but smile in irritation at Luis’s wit. “So, what brings you here tonight, brother – no, the current world leader!” he continued, staring at the old man before him. Luis was known as “The Eyes See All,” a nickname that reflected his reputation for being well-informed and perceptive.

The questions made Luis pause, placing his drink on the table. He stared back at Gaith, his expression intense. “You want to know?” he asked, his voice low. “Or do you already know the answer?”

“So, it’s about the earlier encounter, huh?” Gaith thought, his mind still reeling from the fateful night he had just experienced. He had met a young woman with blond hair and green eyes who resembled the child he had spared from death two years ago, and the encounter had left him feeling shaken and unsettled.

Thinking about it, Gaith clinched his hands hard, his eyes locked on the looming figure before him. “Do your worst,” he spat, his resolve hardening. He was tired of living in fear, tired of the constant nightmares that plagued him each night. If death was his fate, then so be it.

“He is still thinking about that? Bebh!” Luis struggled to contain his amusement at Gaith’s clueless attitude. If he had been in his car, he would have laughed. It was clear to Luis that Gaith had misunderstood the situation, possibly thinking it was about his punishment.

With a dark, light-absorbing gaze, Luis fixed on Gaith; his tone became more intense as he spoke, “Are you sure?” he asked; his intense stare seemed to penetrate Gaith’s soul and cause him to feel frightened in terror.

“Eeeh, that’s scary,” Gaith murmured, turning his eyes away from Luis and staring at the floor. After a moment of hesitation, he looked back at Luis and asked, “Can you tell me what I’ll be facing?” he asked, then cleared his throat, “Then I’ll give my answer.” he continued.

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“Well... That’s fun!” Luis thought, amused by Gaith’s reaction. He decided to continue his act. “It’s going to be painful,” he said, his voice low and ominous. “You’ll feel like there’s a weight pulling and pushing you to the ground. Your hair will slowly thin, and your eyes will turn red.”

Although Luis’s words were about the consequences Gaith would face if he accepted the job offer, Gaith had misunderstood and thought that Luis was referring to the punishment he might face.

As Luis’s words sunk in, Gaith felt his mind fill with anxiety. Hand struggled to make the right decision. He leaned back in his seat, staring blankly at the ceiling and taking a deep breath to clear his head.

Gaith didn’t want to suffer a painful death, especially if it resulted from being forced to do things he didn’t want to do in the past.

After thinking carefully, he offered his hands to Luis and said, “Here...but if you can, please make it more painless.”

“There’s no way I can do that! You know that, right?” Luis replied with the same intensity as before.

“I mean, taking care of people is never gonna be painless!”

“Then, it’s fine,” Gaith replied resignedly, feeling a mix of anxiety and resignation. He extended his hands towards Luis, ready to face the punishment.

However, after waiting for a few moments, Luis did not take any action. Gaith shook his hands to show that he was ready, but still, there was no response from Luis. Frustrated, Gaith finally asked, “What are you doing?”

“That’s actually what I wanted to ask you.” Luis said, “What do you want from offering your hands to me?” His finger pointed at Gaith.

Gaith was taken aback. “Well, aren’t you going to bring me to the punishment side?” he asked, his voice tinged with anxiety.

“What punishment?”

“That …” Gaith widened, widened, “So what is your real reason for visiting me?”

Luis sipped his drink and said, “To invite you into the government!”

“Huh—”

“What?”

“I mean, aren’t you here because of those children?”

“Nope, why should I? Isn’t that your problem with those children?”

The two men stared at each other, one looking confused and the other calmly sipping his drink. Gaith stood up from his seat, pushing himself up with his hands, and tilted his head to the side with a frown. He fixed his gaze on Luis and asked, “Are you kidding?” in an irritated tone.

Despite Gaith’s obvious anger, Luis remained unfazed and continued to drink with indifference as if to say, “What I did not know anything.”

Gaith’s temper flared at Luis’s calm response, and he clenched his fists tightly, bringing them close to his head in frustration. Through gritted teeth, he asked, “Why did you answer like that? ‘You’ll feel like there’s a weight pulling and pushing you to the ground. Your hair will slowly start to thin, and your eyes will turn red.’ What do you mean by that?”

Luis took another sip of his drink before responding, “Well, you know how the stress of government work can make your hair fall out and cause you to lose sleep. That’s what I meant by those comments. It’s just a part of the job.” His tone remained flippant as if the topic of the conversation was of little importance.

Gaith’s dark pupils wriggled like scrambled worms as he struggled to find the right words. “What...just...holy...” he muttered incoherently, his frustration and disbelief apparent in his tone.

It didn’t take long for Gaith to burst into a scream of frustration, anger, and embarrassment all mixed together. He threw his hands above his head and flailed them around like clumsy puppeteers were controlling them.

Despite the chaos and noise, a voice that remained unaffected cut through, “So, do you want the job?”

Those words suddenly stopped the chaos, and Gaith’s gaze turned sharply toward Luis. “No!” he exclaimed, his tone filled with pent-up anger.

Luis didn’t back down and continued to plead, “Please?”

Gaith remained firm and replied, “Nope!”

Luis raised his voice and tried again, “Ahem...Please!”

Gaith’s anger intensified, “Never!” he refused to budge and maintained his intense stare.

Luis realized that force wouldn’t work, so he changed his approach. “How about I pay you–”

Before Luis could finish his sentence, Gaith interrupted, “I have more money than anyone else in the world!” It was true, as Gaith was the best investor in the world due to his skills and knowledge that had been honed by his mentor—Luis.

“Then how–”

“Nope, sorry, I’m no longer interested in that line of work!” Gaith interrupted again. He was tired, or rather, scared. Doing politics had killed all his relatives, and he didn’t want to drag any innocent lives to their graves.

“Brother.”

“Nope!”

“Please!”

“Just stop, please!”

“Please!”

“Stop!”

“...”

“...”

Neither Luis nor Gaith was willing to back down. Luis made several offers, but Gaith refused each one.

The tension between them increased with every word Luis spoke, and he even pushed his body forward with his hands.

The standoff continued until Luis made a grave mistake and said, “What if I don’t stop? Would you kill me like you did with the others?” This statement only intensified the already high tension between the two men.

Which caused Gaith’s right hand to dart forward like a striking snake, grabbing Luis’s neck hard and screaming loudly. “Huaaarrgh!” he was angry, he wanted to blame him, “Who the heck made me like this? Who made me do what I did? you!” but he would never speak those words aloud.

The intensity of Gaith’s anger was reflected in his eyes, which grew even darker and more foreboding. His irises seemed filled with writhing, red-blooded worms, slowly fading away as Luis’s face turned pale.

“I should have never said that,” Luis thought, realizing how much those words had hurt Gaith. Even though Gaith’s anger was palpable, his aura betrayed a sense of sadness, loneliness, guilt, and grief.

The atmosphere was thick with silence, and the only sound that could be heard was the heavy breathing of both men.

“Huaah … Huaaah.”

They looked at each other for a few seconds before averting their gaze, feeling deeply ashamed and regretful for their actions and words. Their emotions hung heavily, and neither knew how to break the silence.

Gaith released his hand from Luis’s neck, leaving traces of fingers on Luis’s neck.

“Sorry! My bad.” After a moment of silence, Luis was the first one to speak up.

Luis quickly reached down to grab the glass that had fallen to the floor. “I’m sorry!” he exclaimed before placing the glass back on the table. He then approached the long, old-fashioned coat hanging on a pole beside the door.

But before he could put it on, Gaith stopped him. “Just stay here tonight! I don’t want people to think that I’m a cold-blooded man who sent the current world leader out so late at night.”

“But–”

Even though Luis tried to speak up, Gaith reassured him that he didn’t need to blame himself for the past. Despite Gaith’s kind words, Luis felt a sharp pang of guilt.

He believed that he deserved to be hated instead of forgiven, as he was the one who had manipulated Gaith in the first place. Luis trained Gaith to be a substitute for Gaith’s father, but his actions only caused Gaith to suffer from trauma and guilt. Therefore, Luis found it easier to accept that he might be hated rather than forgiven.

With a clenched on his fist, Luis replied, “Alright!” He approached Gaith and then sat before him.

Despite the tense atmosphere just a few minutes earlier, Luis and Gaith were able to have a lovely conversation. They exchanged jokes and shared the news, and their conversation ended with Gaith asking Luis to pass on his regards to Jun, whose real name was Kevin Si, who was both Gaith’s sworn brother and mentor.

Gaith urged Luis to encourage Jun to slow down his scientific research, as he believed that if Jun continued at his current pace, humanity would soon have a pill to stay young.

Luis couldn’t help but feel guilty about the lie he had created, but he knew that revealing the truth would ruin the lovely conversation he had just shared with Gaith. So, he decided to go along with the lie he had created.

After that, Gaith went to bed, leaving Luis in the kitchen.

—To be continued–