Shape of the Sun

The other side of the coin

Content Warning: The provided excerpt contains scenes depicting violence, physical abuse, and morally corrupt behavior. Reader discretion is advised for those who may be sensitive to or affected by such content.

Unlike the lightheartedness that came with saving a life, the men over here could feel the sickly sensation of death in the air. There was a palpable tension in the room, and understandably so, because six others had their bones broken, beaten beyond recognition, and three were dragged out to be shot. Blood was spattered on the walls, and stained the white tile floor until it looked a dirty shade of red. Yet, the boss was still not satisfied.

And why should he be? Prithvi thought that nothing could quell the anger in his heart. It was a raging flame, that threatened to consume him and seize all rationality, like all the other times that things didn't go his way. It was a dangerous flaw to have, he knew, his father having told him that it was the basic stuff that separated him from Rajkumar. Both of them couldn't stand when things didn't go their way, but there was a distinction in how they handled the aftermath, he had heard so many times to count. The jealousy at his half-brother mixed with earlier grievances shot his rage to new heights.

"Incompetent trash!" he heavily slapped his right hand man who was standing nearby, sending him reeling to the floor. As Prithvi didn't spare any force when hitting him, the slap crushed a few teeth, filling his mouth with the iron taste of blood. But Gautam didn't dare to complain because he knew if he did, he'd die here. All his wanted to do was to save his life and get the hell out of here where he could freely piss his pants.

However, Prithvi wasn't quite done with him yet.

"You can't even do one thing right! How come I am just finding out that girl escaped?! Are you fucking stupid?!"

"B-boss..."

"Shut up, idiot!" he kicked him in the stomach, effectively proving abortive his efforts to return to a kneeling position, "If my father or the police finds out about this, you are dead! Do you hear me?! I will kill you with my own fucking hands, asshole!"

Prithvi ended his statement by kicking him again. With that final kick, it felt like some of his anger had been vented. He sat down in the tub chair and poured himself a glass of water. Funny how he'd been trying to begin some healthy dieting when he got such news which messed up his whole mood. To his understanding, either father or the police finding out first before he could smooth things out was terrible for him. He had some police stations near the port on his payroll, but he couldn't do too much right now because that might alert his father. While it was better that he found out first as that assured Prithvi of full protection from whatever consequences that may follow, he wanted to avoid that at all costs. Prithvi was aware that protection was in exchange for being totally abandoned. He would have to live a low-key existence, marry someone he didn't want, and depend totally on money sent to him. Of course, that money wasn't anything for an average person to scoff at.

But Prithvi didn't want to live that way. His palate was accustomed to better under this relative freedom that he had and anything lower would not be enough. In addition, he'd forever have to live in the shadow of Rajkumar till the day he died. He could not accept such an existence. A trace of unpleasantness crept up in his heart at the thought and the eyes with which he used to look at Gautam became more malicious, causing the latter to shiver where he was kneeling. Prithvi would have killed the man on the spot if not that he was still quite useful and had done better in the past. He wanted to give him one more chance. Again, the heavy stench of blood was getting quite nauseating, even for him.

"You," he began, eyeing Gautam, who was still on his knees, "did you kill all the idiots that let her escape?"

"Y-yes, boss."

"Good. Well there is one more thing that you have to do." he steadily tapped the glass cup, "Kill all those girls. I want them all dead by the end of today." It was a tough decision to make but Prithvi thought it was better to abandon this boat. There was still a whole ship on its way to Thailand.

This instruction was also to the other men left, who would assist in the operation.

But Gautam, who was to lead them, had difficulty interpreting this. Boss wanted to do away with all those girls? That was a lot of money lost!

"A-all of them?"

Rather uncharacteristically, Prithvi didn't take offense and instead, deigned to pick up a piece of lint from his sleeve. In the end, Gautam was still a low-life that couldn't think too far. Prithvi, with his position, didn't think he should let such a miserable existence irritate him for too long. He decided to kill him after this task was done, but not by his hands. Wasn't that runaway Saudi ex-convict requesting to prove his loyalty the other day? Well, Prithvi wanted to borrow him as a knife that he would use to end the fool in front of him. He thought he should pause on his personal killing count.

If one got too close to filth, he would become filth himself. No matter how Prithvi dabbled in these things, he wasn't going to lower himself to a mass murderer's level. He, who was destined for greatness? No way. If he wanted to do something, there were still many that were willing to risk all that they had to do it. Who knew? Money really was the answer to everything. These people had no status, loyalties, or any moral compass to abide by, which made it easy for Prithvi to do things he could never personally involve himself in.

Ah. He was suddenly feeling so familial for his old man who gave him such a high starting point in life. Look what a good father he had. Prithvi mentally noted to send him some quality wines as his expression of thanks.

Right now, however, he had to give his reply to Gautam. Prithvi looked up from his sleeve and at him, a pleasant expression on his face. But only Gautam could feel the chill in those eyes. It was like looking at a demon from hell.

"Yes, Gautam. I want all of them killed. There is no need to keep them, understood?" The chill in his eyes increased, causing Gautam to hurriedly lower his head so he didn't have to meet those eyes, and his reaction satisfied Prithvi. He was warning him not to try anything stupid due to greed. Prithvi knew how to make death the favorite choice for many others who had tried to double-cross him in the past. How much they began to beg for it. How much he laughed at their misery.

Haha.

"The girl?" He heard Gautam rush to ask, and he understood the importance of this question. But of course, he had already thought about it. That didn't mean that he ignored good work. He did. It was just that this bastard had pissed him too much for any clemency.

What a pity. Not.

Prithvi freely shared his thoughts. It was a dead man, anyways. In fact, everyone else in this room aside from him were already dead in his eyes.

"The girl?" he chuckled, "She is useless. I mean, she has no education and no money." he waved him off, "She would likely end up doing exactly what she ran away from anyways."

In the end, they were like mice who always came full circle. Truly a lowlife's existence.

Dregs of society. Scum of the earth. Taboo of the world. It was so, so far away from home.