A father

The man saw Viktor for the first time after 22 years and became too shocked. Because he was way taller and more handsome than he was. His eyes resembled shiny silver coins and his long hair looked like sharp spider silk. The exposed part of his body was filled with tattoos so he thought that his full body might be covered with them. He looked just like him except for those eyes.

After staring at him for some moments, he took a seat and said, "You received my letter this morning."

"It's been an hour since I woke up, so I finished reading it only 15 minutes ago." Viktor gave him a plate full of biscuits to eat and Adonis poured a cup of tea out of nowhere. The duke was shocked because he didn't feel his presence before he started to fill the cup.

"Don't worry. You don't have to get your guard up. He's my trusted companion and a butler."  Viktor looked at him and saw he already took out his knife to stab him.

"Dear guest. We don't allow any weapons inside the greenhouse. It might cause harm to the rarest plants." Adonis took his knife and disappeared right in front of him.

"I see. You love plants."

"Yes, they are really interesting."

"So, what are your thoughts about the deal?"

"You know I'm a busy man. So, I'll have to decline the offer." Viktor thought that he might mention his identity in the letter but it was a mere job offer from the duke to become his personal knight. So, he was disappointed. So he asked the reason why he declined his offer and Viktor became angry.

"Recruiting a branch leader of the United peace organization as your personal escort. Are you insulting me?" 

"Why would I insult the most powerful man who controls the military from secret?"

The air around both of them changed. The duke was glaring at him with murderous intent but Viktor's gaze was far more dangerous than his. The group of escorts who were waiting outside immediately felt the aura but they were unable to move. 

It was the first time the duke felt his life was in grave danger. But he was unable to move a muscle because he knew his head would fly away if he did something wrong. 

"Sorry, I'm a bit under the weather today. So please rest for the night. We will have a conversation tomorrow at 10 am."

Viktor stood up and left the greenhouse by leaving him behind. The duke was in shock that he forgot to blink his eyes.

   I thought he was going to tell me about our relationship. And he came here unannounced. Just what is he trying to do?

Viktor opened the record on his way back home and read some lines in his book.

Shy? You gotta be kidding me.

The bell from town hall started to ring as the sun was setting in the west. Viktor looked at the sky and saw some yellow beams of light slicing through the soft white cloud.

The sun was hiding behind the cloud.

It's been 8 years since I came to this world. But I still can't get used to those two huge moons orbiting around this planet.

But still, I miss my old apartment back on earth.

 I miss the taste of morning black coffee with a cigarette.

Adonis and Nor prepared the guest room for only one person because the others didn't want to get inside the house. The duke was also scared but he didn't hesitate to go inside because of his pride.

The only thing that was bothering him was the zero presence inside the house. He clearly heard that four people were living inside the house, but he couldn't even hear a single pin-drop sound. It was super quiet that he could hear his ear ringing in the silence.

He failed to fall asleep that night.

The next morning.

"Master, It's almost 10 am."

Adonis came inside the study room and saw Viktor was busy with some small machine. He was busy experimenting with his new invention.

"Oh, you're here. Did you eat your breakfast?"

"No, master."

"I see. Then let's go have some. I'm sure the duke is starving to death by now."

I internationally left some fruits inside his room because I like making people wait and making them do embarrassing things. I bet he already finished the whole basket by now.

Heheheh!!!!

Adonis saw the evil grin on his master's face and he understood the meaning behind it. So he smiled a little too.

The dinner table was filled with colourful dishes and unique fruit that he grew inside his greenhouse. They are so rare that people didn't even know its name. So Viktor has to name them by himself and write them down.

The duke came inside the dining room with Kathryn and saw Viktor was already on the chair.

"Good morning, duke. Did you enjoy your night?"

"I did. Thank you so much."

Viktor saw the stains of strawberry under his lips and smiled a little. 

   So he gobbled up those fruits inside the room at night.

"You don't maintain a timetable for daily life. It's going to be noon in 2 hours."

"I like enjoying my life rather than maintaining too many schedules. But it's optional sometimes."

"I see. You're a lazy man."

"I will take that as a compliment."

Viktor looked at the duke's plate and saw he only ate the eggs. The vegetables were left aside. So he assumed that it had something to do with his new sense of taste after changing bodies.

Back on earth, Viktor enjoyed vegetables as his side dish a lot. But after coming to his new body, he dislikes vegetables for some reason. And now he finally figured out where that habit of his came from. His father disliked vegetables.

"You're going to leave those healthy carrots?" Viktor asked.

"I don't like vegetables." 

"No wonder where I got that habit from." Viktor took a bite of a tasty carrot while looking into his eyes.

"What do you mean?", the duke became curious.

"I mean. You do exactly the same as I do. So I'm assuming something really wild here. You are my father, aren't you?"

The duke stopped eating his meal and put down his fork gently on the table. "I don't know. Maybe I am? Maybe not?"

"How is mother doing?"

"She's fine. She wanted to come but who will protect the household if she leaves?" 

Duke finally looked at Viktor with a smile and said, "Forgive me. I was being too rude. I didn't have the courage to speak the truth at first."

"I understand. You don't have to apologise."

The duke started shedding tears out of the blue, so Viktor had to embrace him in his arms to calm him down. He felt like cheating but the real Viktor died a long time ago. So, in order to fill the gap, Ivon took over his place and acted as Viktor to calm his father down. He was a helpless man who just wanted to save his son from danger.

"Your mother is waiting. Let's go and see her again, okay?"

"Yes, father."

But Viktor was feeling something else. He was uncomfortably comforted by his father's words so he thought about his stepfather after a long time. He never felt the warmth of his parents in his previous life. He was abused for not being a worthy son. But in this life, he was treated so warmly by an unknown man he just met. It made his heart flutter with unknown feelings.

The unconditional love of a parent for their children.

"Now, tell me Viktor. Why do you have so many tattoos on your body? Are you a back alley gangster?"

Viktor burst out of laughter and said, "What are you saying!! I'm not a gangster!"

His parenting mood turned on naturally after seeing Viktor's hands and chest full of tattoos. So he smacked him because it looked so ugly to his eyes.

After the duke had a reunion with his eldest son, he told Viktor to move into his household as the first son of the Harvort family. Fortunately, the Harvort family mansion wasn't too far away from his office in the capital city. So he decided to move in and stay there for a few decades.

The same day at 9 pm.

Viktor's father was really curious about the machine he was working on. So he sat right beside him to look closely and understand the magic behind it.

"Son, you took a degree in technology, right? So, why don't the students mass produce their inventions?"

"Because the world is not ready. And we aren't allowed to do that without certified permission from the director."

"So, why are you making one? The structure looks so advanced. What are you making?"

"We are allowed to do whatever we want. But we are not allowed to sell them. And I'm making a camera."

Heheh! I never searched how the cameras are made on Google, but after learning a lot of magical spells, I'm sure this will work.

The duke was confused to see the round glass on a thin light box.

"I will show you when it's done."

Nor and Kathryn came in with a super old wine from the cellar and poured it into two wine glasses to serve them. The wine was more than 700 years old.

"Let's toast to our reunion father. Cheers to the new life."

"Cheers to the new life, son."

The wine glasses clung to each other and only the duke became a drunken man. Adonis took him back to his bed but Viktor stayed awake for the whole night until dusk.

    It's been a great day. But I'm also sad because I will outlive everyone. Well, that's how a guardian lives. Every mortal dies and walks back to the path of reincarnation. Only the guardians are left behind.

No wonder why  guardians and humans don't live together. Because we, the guardians, are meant to be the protector and humans are born to be protected.

We are a whole different species born with different sets of jobs. We can never walk on the same path.