Ch.27: One More Time Please!

Albert and Valentino gazed blankly at Nicholas, dumbfounded by his plan.

Raising a finger in a way that said, "Hold on," Albert grabbed a chair from the corner and set it near the bed. He sat down, sighing heavily.

"You know what's funny?" Albert asked.

Nicholas shook his head, stretching lightly in his place on the bed. A strand of his black hair fell over his eye, and he blew it irritably out of the way.

"That it's not impossible. It could work," Albert said. "If it's based on looks alone, you could pass as Julian. But the problem is that you two act nothing like each other. You and Julian could look identical but I could still tell you apart from your behavior. I can tell you apart from the way you stand."

"Yeah," Nicholas said. That was exactly why he had been analyzing Julian's posture and behavior, noting the details. Just so he could imitate him well. "I'm gonna act like him too."

Albert narrowed his eyes the slightest bit, just enough for the skepticism to show. "...Can you pull that off?"

Nicholas shrugged. "Yeah."

A few seconds of silence. "Nicholas, you've spent more time with Julian than I have. You know what he's like."

"Yeah."

"You realize you're gonna have to smile and laugh and just… relax, right?"

"Yes, Albert," Nicholas said, exhaling as he sat up on the bed. "Of course I do."

"I'm having a hard time imagining you doing that."

"Don't worry, Albert." Valentino smiled reassuringly at Albert, then looked at Nicholas with those mischievous, playful eyes. "Nicholas can act. I'm sure he can pull it off."

Albert frowned. "Really?"

"Yeah!" Valentino nodded. "He's done it before! But I think Nicholas should still give us a little preview." He turned to Nicholas again. "Come on. Act like Julian a little."

Nicholas clenched his jaw. "You'll see it when I do it."

"I actually need to see you act like Julian just to make sure it's believable," Albert said. "We're surrounded by Sasha and Julian's men. If they figure out it's you, then we're all screwed." Throwing a glance at Milo, he lowered his voice even more. "Including Milo."

"They won't." Nicholas looked over his shoulder, squinting at the bottom of the door, scanning for the shadows of eavesdroppers, straining to pick upon any movement. Nothing, but he still maintained a hushed voice. "I'll need help knocking Julian out."

Albert nodded. "Don't worry about that. Just focus on your part. When are you planning to do it?"

"When it's time for Valentino's meeting. I'll take Valentino instead and then get out of here," Nicholas said. "Sasha said she'll send some of her guards with us. We'll have to find a way to deal with that, but right now we just need to get out of this house first."

"And I still need to tell Sasha I wanna take Albert and Milo with me too," Valentino mumbled absently to himself. "I'm not going anywhere without them."

Nicholas wasn't sure what Sasha would do about that. On one hand, she could keep Milo and Albert here to threaten Valentino with them and make sure he carried out the meeting properly. On the other hand, Valentino had already told her he was willing to destroy the organization if Albert and Milo were in danger. So perhaps she wouldn't risk this approach. Maybe she'd just let him take them along.

The room lapsed into silence. Wind howled outside, whistling eerily through the edges of the window. Milo shifted in his chair, pulling a knee up and tucking it under him. He scratched his nail against the armrest.

"Will this really work?" Milo asked. "Are we really gonna get out of here?"

Nicholas nodded, and his confidence infected Milo; his mouth curved into a small smile.

"So everything will be fine again?" Milo looked at Valentino, then Albert. "Everything will go back to normal, right?" There was something gut-wrenchingly desperate about his question, something that sought a comforting answer. "When we go back, I wanna move in with you, Albert. I don't wanna live with my mom anymore."

"No," Nicholas said before he could think.

Milo chuckled awkwardly. "You can move in with us too!"

"Wh—" Nicholas shook his head, startled by the offer. "No, that's not what I meant." He leaned forward, holding firm eye-contact with Milo. "Milo, I need you to understand that there's no way anything goes back to normal after this."

Milo's expression didn't budge. His smile didn't fade. The hope in his eyes didn't wither. It glowed stronger, if anything. And maybe that was the most horrifying part of the situation.

"Everything will be fine," Milo said with that familiar monotonous tone. "Everything will go back to normal."

Nicholas's chest tightened. At first he'd thought that Milo refusing to comprehend reality was a good thing. It protected him from this trauma. It kept him strong and composed. But now he was slipping too far down the spectrum; this denial was going to hurt him more than accepting the possibility of a bleak outcome would.

"Milo, listen," Nicholas said. "By the end of this, Valentino and Albert are probably gonna end up in prison. You realize what they've been doing is illegal, right?"

"Everything will be fine," Valentino repeated. He gave Nicholas a glance, his brows furrowed defensively like he'd been carrying his happiness in his hands and Nicholas had tried to steal it from him. Then Valentino focused on Milo again, and the same kind of faux, forced hope glistened in his eyes. "Don't listen to him, Milo. Everything will be back to normal. It's gonna be just you and me and Albert again."

Well.

Milo wasn't the only one in denial here, then.

"We'll see what happens," Albert said, but by his low voice, clearly he was about as optimistic as Nicholas.

Footsteps echoed right outside the door. Nicholas immediately scooted back and lay down on his side, his back facing the door as it creaked open.

"Oh," Julian said. He approached the bed then bent over its edge, peering curiously at Nicholas, who tried his best to bury his instincts and stay still. "Nicholas?" When Nicholas didn't respond, Julian shook his shoulder. Nicholas begrudgingly turned to face him. "...Are you sad?"

"Tired."

"Oh. Are you just gonna stay here?"

"Yeah."

"For how long?"

About three days, Nicholas thought.

He needed to convince Sasha that he'd actually given up, that he really wouldn't move from this spot. And on the day of Valentino's meeting, he'd knock Julian out and set him on the bed in the same position. Eventually, someone would figure it out. But by then, Valentino, Albert, Milo, and Nicholas would have already left this place.

"Heyyyyy," Julian drawled, snapping his fingers right in Nicholas's face. "I asked you a question."

Nicholas shrugged, jarred out of his thoughts. "Until I rot, according to Sasha," he said. The mattress dipped as Julian sat down beside Nicholas, and Nicholas finally flipped over to his other side so he could look at Julian properly. "Sorry."

The word burnt on his tongue.

"What for?" Julian asked.

"Yelling at you."

Julian blinked at Nicholas at first, then he smiled. "It's okay. Say sorry one more time."

Nicholas's expression fell flat.

Seriously?

"Sorry."

"One more time!"

Nicholas gritted his teeth, then relaxed his jaw again to make sure he sounded sincere, or else Julian would make him repeat the apology a hundred times. "Sorry, Lian."

"And one more time!" Valentino said.

Nicholas glared at Valentino. "Aren't you in a good mood today?"

"I didn't ask for your opinion, Valentino!" Julian said. "I forgive you, Nicholas." His shoulders slouched, and he watched his own hand as it twisted the sheets. "I'm sorry too. I didn't mean to make you angry! It's just that you've been really nice and kind to me so I just didn't think it's like you to tell your dad to kill himself! I thought maybe your mom was lying and you never said that. Dunno. My parents used to accuse me of stuff all the time too."

She wasn't lying, Nicholas thought. I really said that. I said it because I knew he would never actually go through with it.

He'd been trying to prove a point to his mom, to show her that his dad only threatened to kill himself to manipulate her into staying with him and enduring the abuse and violence. But the next thing Nicholas knew, his mom took his words out of context. The next thing he knew, he was a heartless monster who'd tell his father to hurt himself just out of spite.

The next thing he knew, his own parents were bonding over hating their own cruel kid.

"Can I ask you a question?" Nicholas asked.

Julian nodded.

"What's your goal now? What exactly do you want from us?"

Julian thought it over, humming to himself. "Well, I want one of you to do something really nice for me. You know, like when Albert saved Valentino, or when you threw yourself down the hill for Milo… I want someone to do something like that for me! I'm tired of being the one who sacrifices for others all the time!"

At the word sacrifice, Nicholas subconsciously stared at Julian's blind eye. Then his gaze slipped down towards Julian's leg, recalling the image of the scars covering the same area where Thomas had a limp. He shuddered again at the thought of how Julian had ended up with the same injuries as Thomas — a thought he'd been desperately trying to avoid.

Nicholas tapped Julian's arm. Julian shook his head.

"I need a new lens."

Julian's face brightened. "Sure! You like matching with me?"

Nicholas nodded. Twisting his torso, Julian reached towards a nightstand and pulled a drawer open. Then he retrieved the lens packet and prepared one as Nicholas took the old lens out and handed it to Albert to throw in a trashcan. Then, Nicholas very politely lay down on his back again, and he calmly allowed Julian to set the new grey lens in his eye. He gave him a small smile, too.

When Julian was done, he dropped the packet back in the drawer and closed it. Nicholas hadn't expected Julian to keep them somewhere so close, but it was a good thing. If he needed a new one when it was time to impersonate Julian, he knew where to find them.

• • •

I'm so excited for the scene where nicholas pretends to be julian (which is happening soon ofc)!! the pace will pick up again when we get to that part btw :) hope you're still enjoying the story ❤️

Thank you for reading/voting/commenting, you have no idea how much it means to me!! ❤️