I’ll tell you… everything.

𝘏𝘶𝘩? 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴? 𝘋𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯…

"Ethan—"

"I know! I know that was shitty of me dragging you into my mess, but I promise I'll get you out of here. I — I won't let them lay a hand on you."

"Ethan, loo—"

"I was just desperate that time, Mr. Jack. Nathan, my twin was the only one I had. I—"

"LISTEN!" I finally cut him off. "I understand, okay? I understand it now, Ethan." 𝘕𝘰. 𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺. 𝘞𝘩𝘰 𝘢𝘮 𝘐 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦? 𝘛𝘳𝘶𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘴, 𝘐'𝘮 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦.

"What I wanted to know was…" 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘵? 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘦𝘹𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸? "Was…" 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵, 𝘚𝘦𝘢𝘯? 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸? "Were you just using me since the start?" 𝘐𝘥𝘪𝘰𝘵! 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵! 𝘞𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯'𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳? 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘴𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧.

"Mr. Jack, I — I didn't… I never wanted to! But I was desperate, you see."

𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴. 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘮. 𝘓𝘢𝘴𝘩 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦. 𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘭𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦. 𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘭. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵… 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸. 𝘐'𝘮 𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘯.

"Then… Why don't you tell me, Ethan? Why don't you tell me everything you know? Was that all? I don't think so. Surely. You're hiding more stuff from me and you're aware of that yourself, right? So why don't you tell me? Hmm? Who knows? I might still forgive you."

And exactly as soon as I said that I felt something inside me. Like a wave of madness or something. Trying to take over me. It swelled up — like a balloon threatening to explode. 𝘖𝘩 𝘯𝘰! 𝘗𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦, 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘸.

His lips were raw from too much biting. His hands were formed into a fist — blood dripping from them. But why ain't I doing anything? 𝘏𝘦𝘺! 𝘋𝘰 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨! I saw him open his mouth. I thought he was about to say something but decided against it at the last moment. Then he looked up. His eyes widen in terror. I followed where he was looking at. At the wall and on the ceiling were frogs wearing cowboy hats, looking at both of us. 𝘐𝘧 𝘐 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘭𝘺. 𝘞𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯'𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘨𝘴? 𝘞𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘔𝘳. 𝘝𝘭𝘢𝘥 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯? 𝘐 𝘴𝘦𝘦.

"Ethan," I called out to him. "Let's cool our heads off, shall we? Let's continue this conversation once we're in the right mindset. Hmm?"

"R — Right."

"Let's get back?"

"Sure."

𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘯𝘰𝘸, 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘪𝘧 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘮. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦'𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘐'𝘮 𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘧. 𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘔𝘳. 𝘝𝘭𝘢𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘳 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘐 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦. 𝘏𝘦'𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘱𝘩𝘺𝘵𝘰𝘯. 𝘏𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺. 𝘏𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘪𝘭 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘦𝘻𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯, 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦, 𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘦𝘻𝘦𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦. 𝘚𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺, 𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘶𝘧𝘧𝘰𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯.

𝘐'𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘦𝘻𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘨𝘦𝘵.

"You're done sorting things out with Ethan, Mr. Jack?" he asked when we entered.

"Y — Yes. Shall we continue? I'm sorry to keep you waiting."

"I — Is anything wrong, Mr. Vlad?" I asked because he was looking weirdly at me.

The corner of his lips twisted upwards. "Nothing. I was thinking maybe you should cool your heads off first, you two. Let's continue this tomorrow when you're in the right mindset. Hariric, please take them back."

My scalp went numb when he said that. 𝘚𝘰 𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘈𝘚 𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳? 𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘧 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨, '𝘕𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘳𝘺, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘸𝘪𝘵 𝘮𝘦.'

Hariric stood and went in our direction. "Ah! Right! Mr. Jack, I will wait for your answer tomorrow. I hope you'll make the right decision," Mr. Vlad added.

"Of course, Mr. Vlad. See you tomorrow. Excuse us."

And just when we were about to close the door, Mr. Alec called out to me.

"See you at the agency, Mr. Jack."

***

We're back at the apartment. No one was speaking, but we were making our presence known to each other. Ethan was looking out the window while I lay on the bed — seeking the fanciful sense of security my blanket was giving me.

"Mr. Jack," Ethan called out but he wasn't looking at me. "I'll tell you… everything."

[𝐄𝐍𝐃 𝐎𝐅 𝐕𝐎𝐋𝐔𝐌𝐄 𝟏]