I had already gone up to my room and was watching him by the time Variant finished preparing my honey milk and brought it. Just like I didn’t know he was clinging to his phone when I turned my back on him, he too had no idea I was watching him.
Eventually, Variant came out of the kitchen and handed me the milk he prepared in my room.
“I don’t understand why you’re standing over me until I finish it, Vari. Look, I’m drinking it,” I said as I took a small sip of the milk.
“I know you are... I just like watching you drink milk.”
At this strange sentence, I glared at him. He, on the other hand, merely shrugged at my reaction.
Come on, Vari, I thought. I know you called my uncle and put my pills in the milk...
As I gently swirled the milk in my hand, I sped it up a bit and let a little spill onto Variant’s right knee. He stood up furiously. He has never tolerated getting dirty since childhood.
He used to say, “A person must remain as clean as the moment they were born.”
“Do you like the result of playing with your milk, Angel? Now I have to change and wash up.”
“It’s just a small spill on your knee, don’t exaggerate, Vari,” I said, bringing the glass to my mouth and taking another sip, staring into his eyes. Even though I kept my expression steady, I had to admit, this was really fun.
Vari started rubbing the milk stain on his knee as if it would come off that way.
“It’s just a small stain for now, Angel... If you don’t intervene in time, the stain—and its source—will grow.”
“I’m sorry, Vari. Since I did it, I should clean it.” I took the milk in my left hand, got up from the bed, and went over to Variant.
I crouched and rubbed the milk stain a little myself. Since it was an unexpected mess, he couldn’t think clearly and didn’t notice that rubbing it was making the stain worse instead of cleaning it.
His attention had shifted from me drinking the milk to the stain on his clothes...
As I rubbed his right knee, the milk swirled again in the glass, but it wasn’t enough to spill. This time, I moved my hand even faster. The milk swirled more rapidly, but still wasn’t spilling. I rubbed the stain once more and stood up quickly. Because I got up so suddenly(!), my left hand tilted slightly, and the milk spilled onto Variant’s left knee as well.
Already barely standing still, Variant let out a shriek after losing his left knee too, and left the room in a rush without saying a word. His shriek reminded me of one of my uncle’s rules that I could never forget. Screaming, shouting, or any signs of fear were forbidden, because fear represented weakness within you. The more afraid you are, the easier you are to prey on... Variant probably ran to the bathroom to purify himself.
After watching him for a moment, my eyes turned to the milk he had prepared for me, now drugged.
Since I was little—even from the moment I first opened my eyes to this world—I was trained by my uncle for this revenge game. I was thrown into waters deeper than me so I could learn to swim when needed, woken up countless times by various noises so I wouldn’t be caught off guard during danger. I was even made to taste small doses of poison in case I ever got poisoned... Because of these and similar events, when my body and mind reached the point of collapse, the pills given by the doctor my uncle hired came to my aid.
At first, these pills helped restore my physical and mental health, but even after I recovered, I never stopped taking them. On the contrary, the number I took increased with each passing day.
What started as one or two pills at night turned into pills before and after training, at night, and before bed. Aside from the increase in number, I started to feel different effects—ones I couldn’t even describe.
When I realized these effects weren’t beneficial to me, I opposed my uncle and refused to take the pills. The result was the White Room…
My eyes closed on their own. The White Room was the harshest punishment we received for disobeying my uncle’s rules. A punishment that taught you your greatest enemy was yourself…
I shook it off. After that punishment, I realized I couldn’t stop taking those pills, so I pretended to take them. I experimented on my own and eventually succeeded by hiding the tiny pills behind my lower teeth like a wall.
Variant was also taking the same pills. Since he was going to help me in this revenge game, he was receiving a lighter version of my training. I guess his body couldn’t handle the process at some point either, so he too began treatment with the pills.
When his constant pill-taking began to bother me, one day I couldn’t hold it in anymore and told Variant my secret when we were heading to the showers after training.
As expected, Variant didn’t react dramatically and instead claimed that what I was doing was nothing more than playing with my health. We argued a bit, but he didn’t seem to change his mind at all.
I took a deep breath and returned to the present moment. My eyes moved away from the milk and found the flower on the table next to my bed. My body followed my gaze, and I went to the flower. I slowly poured the milk into the soil.
About two months before we were to come to Turkey, our house and daily routines were arranged by my uncle. Once everything was finalized, I contacted someone from Turkey from my office after training and asked them to place the plants I had chosen in specific spots in the house and install micro-cameras in them.
The guards would be placed once we arrived, and the alarms would be activated then. Since the media didn’t yet know about the partnership, the house wouldn’t be of interest to anyone. This would be the most convenient time for me to monitor the house. Whatever I had to do, I had to do it during this time window.
I placed the empty milk glass on the table and lay down on my bed, not forgetting to close the door. Apparently, he still thought it was necessary for my health to take those pills. Variant wouldn’t come out for another two hours.
Thanks to the self-control lessons we took because of my uncle, no one ever noticed his obsession with cleanliness when we were outside, but when we were alone, we would deactivate our defense mechanisms and drop the act. The way we behaved when we were alone was the real us.
&&&
I greeted the morning with the sunlight. I hated setting alarms or being woken up by someone else. I sat up and got out of bed. Today was a big day. Before the bloody war, the sides would meet. Or should I say, would the prey recognize its hunter? Damn it, I’ve never been good with proverbs.
As I headed to the bathroom to wash my face, my eyes fell on the table where I had placed the milk glass last night. The glass was still there, in the same spot.
I had closed the door before sleeping last night. The only ones in the house were me and Variant. If he had come to take it, I definitely would’ve woken up.
Without touching the glass, I went into the bathroom and handled my routine. When I went down to the kitchen, I found Variant eating breakfast.
“What’s this, pal? Did we split our breakfasts just because I spilled milk twice?” I said as I pulled out the chair across from him.
He shrugged. “When I got up, you were sleeping. And since you don’t like being woken up, I left you alone, that’s all.”
Since our training schedules differed, our sleeping hours did too. While I was on God-knows-what session of training, the gentleman would finally get out of bed and join us. That’s why, just as I was about to glance at the watch I always wore on my wrist to check the time, something popped into my mind and I turned my gaze back to Variant.
“I had closed my door after you left, and you didn’t come back to my room until I was asleep. In that case, if you didn’t go back in, how did you know I was asleep—or if you did go back in, how come I didn’t wake up?” I clasped my hands under my chin and carefully waited for Variant’s answer.