Vincentius Regnz

Vincentius Regnz was busy carrying out the process of washing and printing his photos. The room was very dark, without any light. He wore special night-glasses that help him to see clearly in the dark.

On reaching the final stage, Vincent heard three knocks on the door.

"Wait a minute," declared Vincent to whoever knocked on the door.

Vincent rinsed the last photo with water until it was clean before taking it with tweezers and clamping it on the rope, which was tied parallel from the wall's left side to the right side.

After counting the photos lined up on the rope according to what he was doing, Vincent took the five basins filled with water and chemical liquid, dumping the contents into the sink.

Then he opened the door and came out of the room. As soon as Vincent closed the door to his studio room, he saw his older sister smile at her. He had goosebump as her smile was unusual.

"Why are you smiling like that? Are you preggy again?"

"Hush! What are you talking about? I'm already too old to get pregnant."

"Then?"

"Come on, follow me."

"No. Every time I follow you, I always ended up being bullied by you."

"Aiya, what are you? A little kid? You're grown up now. How could you be afraid of me?"

"Precisely. Why could I be afraid of you? Oh, isn't that because you let our mother trap me in the middle of snakes?"

"Snakes? What are you talking about? Ah, the blind-date with the Rolleys twins?" Vannesa, Vincent's elder sister, chuckled at her naughty brother that considered two young sweet girls as snakes. "Nah, you can't blame me on that. My hand tied with my sweet Abigail, and you know it. Now, hush, and follow me."

Vincent sighed in resignation and let her sister pull his hand toward the living room. He saw his mother sitting casually while drinking warm jasmine tea.

When his mother saw his presence, she put her teacup back down and smiled at him excitedly. There was something bizarre with the two women's behavior, causing him to want to run away this instant.

He did not know what the women were thinking, but he knew it was not good for him. None at all!

The closer he got to his mother, the more sweat wetting his head as he saw that there were many photos lined up on the long desk. His favorite hobby was catching something that caught his eye with his favorite analog camera.

Then he will wash and print his work to show it off. He even has his own gallery studio somewhere. Even though he was not big or famous, he was quite satisfied that his work could be enjoyed and made the visitors happy.

Therefore, every time he sees a photo, he will be attracted to the image emblazoned in the photo. If it were a scene, he would find out the place's location just to take the picture with his own two hands.

Only this time, his brows twitched at the photos. For the first time in his life with his analog camera, he was horrified to see a picture... ten to be precise, after he had counted them all.

How could he like it? Not a single photo depicts a landscape, a happy family, or a sunrise or sunset silhouette. There was not a single picture that shows his liking.

But they were photos of ten different girls. He almost recognized their faces for the most part, but his body shuddered at the ten pictures.

I knew it! It's not something good! Only Vincent, who could hear his own scream.

"So, take a look and tell us whichever you like." his mother dropped a bomb out of nowhere and killed his heart instantly.

"Mom, haven't we talked about this? I still don't want to get married."

"Nonsense! You're thirty-two now. How long do you want to let me live without grandchildren?"

"What about Abigail? Isn't she your dear sweet granddaughter?"

"What mom wanted to say is, she wants to see your kids." continued his sister.

"Then you give a new sister to Abi or a brother. She often complained about how lonely she is."

Vanessa hit her brother's shoulder hard enough, earning a yelp from the man.

"Ouch... it hurts."

Vanessa just rolled her eyes to see her brother's excessive behavior. Vanessa grabbed her brother's towering body at ease as Vincent loved his sister too much and let her pulled him hard. The woman forced him to sit beside her... to be precisely facing the ten photos on the table.

"How about this one? Isn't she beautiful? You've known her all your life." Vanessa said in a persuasive tone while taking the first photo.

"Precisely because I know her so well, I don't want to be with her."

"Why?" this time, it was his mother who asked.

"She's very fierce. I don't want to spend all my life with the tigress."

Her mother was annoyed at the nickname while Vanessa tried to hold back her laugh. How could their mother know that her son was calling his best friend a tigress?

She had often heard the nickname from her brother's lips whenever greeting his best girl friend. And it seems that the girl doesn't mind either as she called Vincent with similar nickname.

Because of that, Vanessa did not side by her mother because she knew that their relationship could not be more than friends.

"How about this one?" inquired his mother, showing the second photo.

"Her eyes are too narrow. I'll never be able to tell if she's asleep or awake."

The same reaction as before, his mother was trying to hold back her irritation, while his sister could barely contain her laughter.

Well, she also disliked having a sleepy-eyes sister-in-law. So she agreed with her brother's protest on the second photo.