Rand once had a cat.
Of course, only once.
Rand wiped the mucus from his body vigorously in the white vapour wafting out of the bathroom, and the memory of the cat flashed back and forth in his mind.
When Rand first developed anorexia due to Vincent's strong desire for control, a psychiatrist suggested that he get a cat.
It was a smart and sly Russian blue cat with stunning emerald green eyes. Rand fell in love with it almost as soon as he saw it, and yet it didn't even stay with Rand for the full twenty-four hours.
It scratched Rand because of the nervousness of the animal nature as he approached, and a few minutes later, Vincent took a silver knife and directly nailed the gray-blue fur elf to the peach Heart on wooden dining table.
Vincent almost went mad (actually, according to the psychiatrist, he was mad), the knife stabbed in, then pulled out, and poked in again.
Blood flowed from the cat's body, splashing on his pure white face as marble.
"You shouldn't have hurt him, you should never have hurt my Rand..."
He did that horrible thing numbly like a robot, repeating that sentence like a nightmare possessed.
Rand can still recall the strong aura of fear that spread from him at the time. The hot water hit Rand's skin, but he still felt a bone-chilling cold that almost made his blood coagulate.
It took him a long time in the bathroom to wash the weird mucus from himself, using almost half a bottle of body wash, but when he finally had to come out of the bathroom dizzy, he could still vaguely It smells like that on my own body... Diluted by a lot of citrusy body wash, it has an indescribably animal-like scent.
Rand twitched the corners of his mouth, his expression distressed by the cat's memory. He wiped his hair worriedly and entered the living room.
Munster floated belly-up in the aquarium, stomping on the water with ease on his newly grown hind legs. After seeing Rand he happily sticks his head out of the aquarium with his paws on the edge of the tank - a way he is getting used to now, like a puppy shaking when he hears his owner coming home With their tails gathered at the door.
Apparently it was much smarter than any amphibian Rand had ever seen, Rand heard himself mutter. But now it seemed to have forgotten about Rand chasing it not long ago, and it looked up at Rand enthusiastically, eyes shining.
"chirp..."
It mumbled to Rand, trying to climb out of the aquarium. It has to be said that it is much more agile now than before.
Rand isn't even sure if the aquarium is right for the current Munster.
"No, don't come out."
Rand sighed deeply and said to it, then stretched out a finger and gently stroked Munster's finely scaly but smooth forehead. Under his gentle movements, Munster placed his chin on the palm of Rand's other hand, making a slight "chirp" sound, and the scales of those bright peacock blue snakes on the back of his neck froze slightly, making him feel comfortable and happy.
It seems to be a little more cute now (only in Rand's eyes, of course), but even if its breeders are slow, they clearly perceive Munster's abnormality at this time.
It's so weird in every way.
Rand thought of what Vincent said before about the raw materials leaked at Blue Moon Harbor, and he had other ideas in his mind.
Maybe water pollution caused Munster's mutation, he thought, trying to find a reason for Munster's weirdness.
In fact, his best bet at this point was to call Caroline directly and tell her that his pet fish had an odd change. According to past experience, Vincent will find a way to make sure anything that is uncertain around him. He can't wait to figure out the pedigree of every fly that appears around Rand. And, with Deep White Biotech having its own biological R&D department, Rand was sure someone would know what was going on with Munster—and then, he would never see it again.
Rand looked down at the tiny fangs that were sticking out between Munster's lips.
He put the tooth that Munster spat at him earlier in an empty chocolate box, which happened to be seen by this weird little monster. No one knew how it understood it, but Rand knew that every deciduous tooth it fell off was carefully and solemnly held into Rand's palm. At the same time, it hummed desperately, in its own way, urging Rand to put his teeth into the blue-tinted tin box with the cute pattern.
Sometimes Rand has that strange delusion that this naked little bastard is full of intelligence and affection, yet his fangs, his sharp claws, and his powerful tail fin, and most importantly The meat-eating habits prove that it will never be the kind of animal without danger.
And Vincent would never allow such an animal to appear around Rand.
Just imagining what this little monster might suffer once it was discovered and sent to the dark-white biological research room, Rand felt his skin tighten.
It might indeed be an annoying little bastard, but it shouldn't suffer from that.
At least it shouldn't be like that cat.
And now, just in retrospect, Vincent's nervous red eyes almost really appeared in front of Rand's eyes.
The black-haired, green-eyed man couldn't help screaming in the room and backing away, only to realize after a few seconds that he was just confused by the brighter red stripes behind Munster's eyes.
He endured the feeling of vomiting that spread like a rising tide, and then slapped himself hard to wake him up.
For the first time, he realized so clearly that Vincent must not know of Munster's existence.
And that's when the phone rang.
Rand, who was immersed in his own thoughts, was taken aback. He found the phone and looked at the number on it, and then connected the arc.
"Caroline? You never called me so late, what happened?"
As he said it again, he sat down on the sofa.
"… "
There was silence on the phone.
Rand even thought it was a mistaken call, but before he almost hung up the phone, the neurotic voice that had only existed in his memory before really echoed in his ears.
"Rand, it's me."
the voice said to him.
Rand opened his lips and felt all the cold hairs on his back stand up, and even his sitting posture involuntarily became correct. He felt a rush of nervousness, the same way he'd spoken to Vincent countless times before.
"Oh, hi, Vincent, how are you?"
Rand did everything he could to make his voice easier, but in fact the voice delivered to the microphone seemed to be dehydrated, dry, and his voice was hoarse because of the tension.
"I'm on the plane." Vincent's voice sounded a little weak (but Rand wasn't sure about that), "The plane will stop at SmOKY HILL in Salina for two hours and forty-five minutes in an hour. I'll send someone to pick you up... I think we can meet."
he said in a low voice.
At the same time, Rand clearly heard the clear roar of the helicopter coming from the roof...
Sixty minutes later Rand was sitting in an office at the SmOKY Hill military airfield.
There was still a faint scent of body wash on his body, and he was casually wearing a plaid shirt and soft knitted trousers - this kind of attire that is not formal in any way, let him in this office with a strong military imprint Feeling cramped inside.
A cup of medium-roasted Colombian coffee, a piece of fine chocolate wrapped in gold foil, and a glass of water were placed on the huge hardwood desk.
"Mr. Sivers asked us to prepare this for you."
When these came, the blond corporal said under Rand's puzzled eyes.
All right…
Rand's eyes swept over the carefully prepared things again, perhaps only Vincent in this world would notice these details, such as the water after the coffee and the chocolate.
But it was this meticulousness, as if even the strands of hair were taken care of, that made Rand, who was already an adult, feel a subtle sense of discomfort.
The door was opened while Rand stared at those things in a daze, and then Rand knew that Vincent had appeared. Don't ask him why he didn't need to look back to know this—the proof was that he felt the roots of his hair tighten and goosebumps stood up on his arms.
Rand turned around and saw Vincent wearing a pure black suit standing in the doorway, those bright red eyes staring at him motionless.
…
The two of them didn't speak during the time they looked at each other.
Rand noticed that Vincent was thinner than before, and his silver hair was neatly combed back to reveal his stone-like face.
He didn't show any expression, but the look in his eyes made Rand feel like some kind of beast trying to devour him.
Fortunately, Caroline finally came over from behind Vincent at this time. She was panting, her champagne-colored hair was messy, and she looked at the two silent people in the office with frustration, and complained.
"… God, Vincent, it's not a gentleman's job to leave your personal assistant directly behind your back," she said, looking at Rand as she caught her breath, "Hey, Rand, you look good. "
"You don't look bad, Caroline, with nice hair."
Rand forced a smile to comment on Caroline's newly dyed hair.
Caroline shrugged and said to Vincent and Rand, "Do you need me to remind you? Gentlemen, you only have a little over two hours to meet again, talk, hug and cry or something. …of course I know the last item won’t happen, but, all in all I don’t think you’d want to just sit around and watch each other go through this time.” Then she turned to Rand, “Vincent took a detour to Being here, two hours means he has seven meetings to reschedule, and as the person in charge of scheduling his meetings, I really sincerely hope you can be a little more kind to Vincent.”
After she finished speaking, she didn't give Rand any chance to speak, but blinked and quickly slipped out of the soundproof office.
Oh, by the way, she also closed the door by the way.
Vincent's eyebrows trembled, and with that expressionless state, he slowly opened his hand towards Rand - a hugging gesture.
"It's been a long time since I saw you. You look really good."
He said, with a hint of regret that people do not want to think deeply.
Rand screamed wildly in his heart, but in reality he had to resist the urge to run away... He walked over and hugged Vincent gently.
He felt like a working dog who was always on command, a state of command that forced him to cater to Vincent to keep him from going mad.
And Vincent seemed very happy.
His arms were so hard that Rand almost thought he was trying to press his body into his ribs.
After half a sound, Rand had to protest on Vincent's chest.
"No no no, Vincent, you're about to strangle me."
he said, struggling to break free.
He and Vincent sat on the only sofa in the office, Vincent grabbed Rand's hand.
He rubbed his fingers on Rand's arm and made a judgment.
"Your fat percentage went up."
"… ah, yes."
Rand said dryly.
"I'm glad to see you having such a good time. I've been very worried about you before this, Rand, you can't always take good care of yourself."
He continued.
Rand didn't know how to respond to Vincent. In fact, he felt that he knew how to take care of himself better than Vincent. After all, the kidnapping that he has no memory of is already in the past...
But he didn't dare say that at all.
He was very worried that some of his inadvertent responses would make Vincent change his mind and force him to move back to the "prison" built out of banknotes.
The jailer in that prison was Vincent, and Rand was the only prisoner—obviously Vincent would have liked that.
"Oh, I'm fine, really, everything is fine, the apartment is fine, life is great here, I even have great friends..."
Rand's brain almost freezes with fear.
He described his life quickly, inlaid with gold borders on the meager daily activities, trying to make Vincent understand that he was really living a good life.
And, he did have a good time.
He didn't notice the contorted facial muscles on Vincent's face when he talked about Rogers, and every time he repeated the name, Vincent's eyes darkened.
By the time Rand felt the unbearable pain of Vinson's grip on his arm, his narrative, the part about his friendship with Rogers, had made Vinson completely uncontrollable.
"I'll give you another place to stay."
He interrupted Rand decisively.
"what?"
Rand didn't react at all. He stared blankly at Vincent's red eyes, and then the muscles in his stomach tightened for a moment...
That crazy look was something he had seen many times before.
"I don't know."
He murmured softly with trembling lips, then instinctively wanted to stand up and stay away from Vincent.
But he couldn't.
Vincent's hand held Rand tightly.
He announced his decision to Rand word for word.
"I want you to stay away from that Rogers, he's not the kind of person to be around you - so I'll give you a different place to stay. I'm investing in a laboratory in Switzerland and I think you'll love the view of the Alps ."
Rand closed his eyes, breathing hard, trying to calm himself, but he thought it was too hard.
"Vincent, I've said many times, I don't need others to control my life."
It took all his self-control to force the word to "speak" rather than rant.
Vincent, like countless times before, didn't care about his words.
He just made the decision on his own.
"If you like this apartment, I can build you an as-is there and everything will be fine, Rand, and you'll have the best protection..."
"To shut up!"
Rand stood up suddenly, and Vincent grabbed a bright red mark on his arm.
He stood up and kicked the desk hard, the wooden desk made a dull sound, and Rand felt like he was about to explode.
"Vincent..." he roared at Vincent, trembling, "look at me, just look at me—I am a man, a free man, not your slave, not your property! No! Never! You can't control me so shamelessly because of the brotherhood I still have for you!"
"I never thought that, Rand, I just wanted to protect you... protect you..."
Vincent's eyes stayed on the bright red mark on Rand's hand that he had drawn by himself, his breath began to be sent, and his eyes became as chaotic and dull like glass beads.
If Rand can still remain a little sober at this time, he may be able to realize that something is wrong with Vincent, but at this time he has been completely angry by Vincent's infringement of his personal freedom again.
"I'm sick of it! Vincent, I'm fucking sick of you! I'd rather die at the hands of some fucking kidnapper..."
"Rand!"
Just this sentence, Vincent screamed and stood up like a provoked king cobra.
He rushed in front of Rand, and those cold hands like a dead man caught Rand's head.
He was close to Rand's face, and his red pupils were flickering with crazy light.
"How dare you say that, you shouldn't say that! Never, never! You'll never die, never get hurt, I'll protect you, always protect you, and you'll always..."
Rand's vision blurred for a while.
Vincent's hands were so tight he couldn't even breathe - or he really couldn't.
His body struggled instinctively, but he never thought that someone like Vincent would be so powerful - his body slapped like iron, hard and cold, and there would be no response. .
Rand felt like he was dying.
He was panting frantically with his mouth open, trying to get some air, and his vision was completely hazy with only Vincent's red eyes in sight.
Devilish red eyes.
Then all of a sudden—
"boom… "
With a muffled sound, the shackles around his neck were loosened.
Rand fell to his knees limply on the ground, clutching his throat and retching. It wasn't until a few seconds later that he raised his head and saw Vincent's body lying on the ground like a corpse.