Ch.9: Anger vs. Cynicism

Albert was smart enough to tell that Nicholas was about as stubborn as a mule, so he didn't insist, but he also didn't agree that they would skip the stitching part. He simply changed the topic. He asked Valentino to fetch some towels, alcohol, and bandages.

Valentino nodded and left the room. A minute or two later, he came back, his arms full of bandages and towels and alcohol. He set them down on the couch between Nicholas and Albert.

After taking his top off completely, Nicholas grabbed the towel and started dabbing his shoulder and arm, cleaning off the blood that had spilled around. Albert sat patiently beside him. The room was silent. The only time Albert spoke was to tell Nicholas that he missed a spot on the back of his arm.

Next Nicholas cleaned the wounds with the alcohol. It stung and burnt enough to make him tear up, and he had to take breaks and wipe the tears off.

And then he bandaged his shoulder, refusing help from anyone. Which was pretty stupid, because it took a ridiculous amount of time to do on his own, and he could've finished a lot faster had he let Albert assist. He also removed the bandages on his belly, then put on new ones.

He tried to get that part over as fast as possible. Looking at the burn made him queasy, horrid memories of being bound to a table while psychopaths burnt and scarred him resurfacing. The captors had branded him. And Milo, too. They would never be able to get rid of the scars.

Now the only problem left was the wound on his arm. Nicholas didn't know what to do about it. He was pressing a towel to it, but that wouldn't cut it.

Albert stood up, taking off his coat. Underneath, he wore a vest like Valentino's, except his was the type that buckled at the neck. He rolled his sleeves up to his elbows.

"Where are you going?" Nicholas asked.

"I'm gonna clean my hands, get a needle and thread, and stitch that thing."

"No! I said no!"

Albert left.

Valentino was looking into the mirror of a dresser, inspecting his cheek. He'd cleaned the cut there too. It wasn't all that big, so it only needed a bandaid. Why was Valentino so distracted with it? It wasn't as if it ruined his face.

Albert came back right then. He wore plastic gloves, and he carried an extra set, along with a needle and thread. He stood in front of Nicholas.

"Lie down."

Nicholas shook his head. "Make me if you can."

"No, I won't make you. I'm gonna try to convince you," Albert said. "Let's agree on something: this won't do." He pointed at the towel Nicholas was holding to his arm; it had already turned entirely red from the blood. "You can't leave a wound open like that, and you don't want me to stitch it. So how do we solve this?"

Nicholas didn't expect this question. He didn't know what to say. His fingers dug nervously into the couch.

"I'm serious. Tell me, what should we do?" Albert continued. There wasn't a hint of anger in his voice, not the tiniest bit of annoyance. Just a genuinely questioning tone, like he actually wanted an answer. "Do you want to try stitching it on your own?"

Nicholas's heart started beating rapidly, and he tensed, expecting Albert to get angry and smash the nearest thing he could get his hands on.

"Nicholas, relax. I'm not messing with you," Albert said. "If you don't want me to do it, then do it yourself. I'll guide you through it. Isn't that better?"

Nicholas could hear his own breath pick up.

Was Albert really giving him an option? Why wasn't he shouting? Why wasn't he angry? Why wasn't he calling Nicholas difficult yet?

Why was he approaching this so calmly?

Nicholas didn't understand. Not once in his life had he dealt with someone like Albert, and it was confusing the shit out of him. All he knew was violent conflict.

All throughout Nicholas's childhood, the tiniest inconveniences, the smallest disagreements, would always suddenly blow out of proportion. One second it was a meaningless argument, and the next plates were being shattered, chairs kicked, punches thrown, and Nicholas would try his best to calm things down, to talk the fight peacefully out before his dad could go too far and hurt his mom, only to end up getting hurt as well.

Thankfully, Nicholas realized pretty early on that peacefulness solved nothing. Ever since then, he'd changed his approach.

"Wear that." Albert put the glove in Nicholas's hand.

Nicholas's body responded to Albert's command on its own. He wore it. Albert sterilized the needle and put a thread through it, then handed it to Nicholas. Nicholas took it, looking up at Albert with part skeptical and part horrified eyes.

Albert sat down next to Nicholas again, but he kept enough space between them. Still, Nicholas flinched. He scooted away.

"Come on. Through one side, across the wound, and then out the other side. Try it. I'm watching. If you do something wrong, I'll tell you."

Nicholas stared at the needle in his hand, then neared it to the wound. He blinked. He felt like his brain had short-circuited. This wasn't right. Albert's patience was making him sick. He didn't know why. At this point he would rather have Albert try to force him. At least that was familiar. At least that would give him a reason to flip out.

His hands trembled.

"F-Fuck you," Nicholas said. "I can't."

Albert wasn't even offended. "Try."

"I can't."

Nicholas handed the needle back to Albert.

"Well, the offer is over! Should've agreed when you had the chance," Valentino said.

"No, it's alright." Now Albert was the confused one. He glanced at the needle, then back at Nicholas, wary. "Should I try?"

Nicholas nodded.

Albert patted the armrest. "Lie down, then." He got up. "I need a chair."

Nicholas moved, sprawling down on his back across the couch, his head against the armrest. He stared at the ceiling blankly.

Valentino grabbed a stool from the corner and placed it behind Albert. When Albert turned around, he noticed that Valentino had already brought him one.

"Thanks," Albert said, smiling.

Valentino nodded and backed up against the door again, looking very polite, very sweet and innocent. Very un-Valentino.

Albert sat down on the stool and put Nicholas's arm across his knees. He held the needle. "Valentino, come here," he said. "Let Nicholas squeeze your hand if it hurts."

Nicholas wrinkled his nose.

Now this was the real no, nah, nuh-uh.

"Ummmmmm," Valentino said. "Hard pass. I'd rather chop my hand off."

Nicholas frowned, the spell-like calmness that had overwhelmed him starting to fade. He tilted his head and shot Valentino a dirty look. "Why are you refusing? I'm refusing."

"Then come here and hold him down if he starts thrashing."

"No!" Nicholas said. "I won't thrash! Shut up!"

"And he's back to shouting," Valentino said.

Milo sat up on the bed, rubbing his eyes. Then he gasped and lowered his hands. "Albert!" he said, his voice full of worry. "Tell Valentino and Nicholas to stop fighting-Oh." His gaze swept over everyone, and then he looked around him. "Oh... Is it over? Where are we?"

Valentino settled down beside him. "It's over. We're at my boss's house. We're gonna go back to Albert's place when we get some rest, okay? How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine." Milo smiled tiredly at Valentino, then he glanced down at the hat he was hugging. "I saved your hat," he said, putting it on Valentino's head.

Valentino smiled back, but his eyes were sorrowful. "Thanks." He took the hat off again and set it aside.

Nicholas did not understand why Milo still wasn't asking any questions. Didn't he want an explanation? Didn't he want to know why in the world the people he grew up with, the ones he trusted so deeply, were part of this insanity? Didn't he want to know why Valentino was the Master of a cult?

Maybe the kid was too tired to think. He had gotten tortured, to be fair. Maybe he was just too relieved to question anything that had happened.

Milo leaned over the bed, glancing at Nicholas.

"Milo," Albert said. "Don't look. I just wanna stitch his arm real quick."

Nicholas made eye-contact with Milo for a moment, then quickly looked away.

"I'm gonna start," Albert said.

Nicholas let out a breath. The needle pierced his skin, and he squeezed his eyes shut. The sharp tip punctured through the other side, then back, pulling the wound together. And that feeling, that horrible, terrible, harrowing sensation of the thread gathering the split skin made Nicholas twitch and curve his knees, his toes curling.

"Easy," Albert said. "Don't move. So what do you do in your free time?"

Nicholas put his free arm over his face. "Teach myself coding."

The needle stung again.

"I thought you're a tattoo artist...?"

"Still an assistant."

"That's an... interesting combination. So you don't like being a tattoo artist? Is that why you're learning code?"

Nicholas's voice gradually grew more irritated, proportional with the pain. "I prefer coding."

"Nice. So-"

"Stop asking me these stupid questions!"

"Oh... Sorry. I was trying to distract you..."

"Don't apologize to him," Valentino said.

"Almost done, almost done..."

Nicholas nodded, his skin feeling too hot. He'd been nearly hypothermic about an hour ago, and now the heat was bothering him. And the sting of the needle bothered him too. And his neck started hurting from the armrest. And someone smacked his head and now he lost his shit.

"What the hell!" Nicholas ducked away from the hand and craned his neck to glance back.

"Albert's being too nice to you," Valentino said. "You don't deserve it."

Albert sighed as he continued his work. "Valentino, stop bullying Nicholas."

"You think this idiot can bully me?" Nicholas said.

Valentino's voice was taunting. "Then why are you getting so worked up?"

Nicholas set his jaw. He felt like he was going to explode. Did Valentino just enjoy getting on people's nerves? "I'm not getting worked up!"

"Valentino." Albert gave Valentino a warning look. "What did I just say?"

Valentino huffed quietly. "Fine. I'll try."

Albert finished up the stitches and tied the thread into a knot, after which he wrapped a clean bandage around it.

Nicholas observed the bandage as he sat up. Albert was cleaning up the place, gathering the supplies. When he got up, Nicholas said, "I don't owe you anything."

Albert nodded. "Of course you don't."

"You can't hold this against me. You wanted to stitch it. I didn't make you do anything."

Albert nodded again. "Wasn't planning on it."

"This is your fault anyway. If you helped me up the fence a little earlier I wouldn't have gotten shot at all. So if anything, you owe me."

"Yeah. You're right."

"No," Valentino said. "No, that's not right. It's not Albert's fault, Nicholas. Stop blaming him. I'm the one who wanted to keep you there. He wanted to save you from the beginning."

Nicholas frowned at Valentino. "And you're happy with yourself? You're happy that you don't have basic human decency? That you'd willingly let someone get tortured and killed?"

Valentino shrugged carelessly. "I'm not happy. And I'm not sad either. I just don't care."

But the thing was, he did care. He had the ability to care, but it was selective to an extreme.

Valentino hadn't even tried to hide the fact that he worried for Milo and Albert's safety. So what made his emotions function only around these two? Why did he have a personality for them, and a personality for the rest of the world?

"Do you realize how messed up that is?" Nicholas asked. "You're sick."

Valentino was silent for a few seconds. "If I was the one in your place, you wouldn't have saved me. So why should I bother?"

Whether intentional or not, a raw nerve in Nicholas had been struck.

"What the hell makes you think that?" Nicholas's shoulders tensed. "Huh? Tell me. Why would you assume I wouldn't help someone who needs help?"

"I just know," Valentino said.

"No, no, no. I want a real explanation. What makes you think I wouldn't help?" Nicholas's voice sharpened, but his insides trembled with old, rotten rage. "Do I look like a monster to you? Do I look so heartless? If someone needs help then I'd help!" A vein pulsed in his neck. "I never hurt anyone unless they hurt me first! I never even say a bad thing to anyone unless they deserve it. Stop making me out to be the villain! If you piss me off, I'm gonna get angry. What else do you expect?"

"Easier said than done." Valentino leaned a little forward, and the death and hatred in his eyes couldn't have been clearer. "The truth is, even if I was being tortured in the worst way possible, even if I was screaming and crying for help, even if I was dying right in front of you, you'd just sit back and watch."

"So you're telling me, you wouldn't help someone, because theoretically, that person wouldn't help you either?"

"It's not theoretical. They wouldn't help. No one would."

Nicholas didn't know what to say anymore. This was the highest level of cynicism he'd ever encountered. It wasn't like Nicholas had all that much faith in people generally, but God, he didn't go around assuming every single person out there was this cruel either.

What in the world led Valentino to this conclusion?

"Albert hesitated, but he ended up saving me," Nicholas said. "It happened right in front of you. Can't you believe that either?"

"No, I can believe that. That's the only thing I can believe. It's so typical of him to save people who don't deserve it," Valentino said. "But you're not Albert."

"Stop it." Albert's voice resonated with finality. "Nicholas, Valentino. I don't want you two to talk to each other anymore."

Milo had watched the argument silently. "Valentino, you don't know Nicholas yet. He might shout a lot but he's actually really nice."

Valentino didn't say anything. The most frustrating part was that despite all of this, he still looked relaxed. Unaffected. Like nothing on this planet could change his opinion.

Milo said he needed to pee and left for the bathroom connected to the room. Valentino watched him until he closed the door behind him, then stared thoughtfully at the wood.

"That was a crazy coincidence," Valentino said.

Albert turned to him. "What was?"

"That my clients kidnapped Milo of all people. That's a really crazy coincidence. So crazy I don't think it's a coincidence at all."

• • •

Nicholas and valentino were having some pretty intense emotional flashbacks during their argument lol

I'm trying to reveal backstories slowlyyy cz i dont wanna overwhelm anyone! In these coming chapters we'll learn a little more about everyone's pasts <3

Thank you so much for reading/voting/commenting! And thank you for 1k reads!! ❤️ it means so so much to me that there are people still interested in reading my stories ❤️