Ink x Honey

Chapter Six

"You're home! Where's the girl?"

"What girl?"

There was a big pot sitting on our dining table and Elias was the only person there, sitting by himself as if he were waiting for my arrival this whole time.

"The girl you told Wilson about. Weren't you supposed to come home with a girl?"

"I didn't tell him anything. I don't even know any girls." I made my way into the dim-lit room. "Where is the devil anyway?"

"He's not here. You seem troubled, Liam. Have a seat."

"No, I... I have to talk to my butler about something."

Wilson never left our house without telling me. He swore to my father we'd always be together. He was a man of his word. He couldn't have possibly ran away without any explanation. He didn't even scold me when I told him about my crime. So, where the fuck is he?

"Well, he's not here right now, Liam. Let's eat. The soup will be cold."

I looked into the pot of soup he made. So appealing. Where did he get all the ingredients? Had I been out that long?

Though I had no appetite, my ass impatiently placed itself upon the chair. As if glued to it, I remained still.

"How long was I out for?"

"Oh, not that long." My company swayed his delicate fingers in the air. "Not that long."

"How long?" I repeated.

"Only three days. You were gone only for three days."

"Oh."

Strange. I don't remember being out that long. But strange things have happened lately. What is there to question about?

I served myself a bowl of the soup Elias had made. Faint smoke danced in the air from my bowl and I couldn't help but recall the night I spent with him in the forest, on the day we accidentally met.

He had made the exact same dish. Soup with vegetable cuts and some meat bits. I usually prefer crisply grilled meats, but Elias did an excellent job soft-boiling them. They left an impression on my tongue that my memory refused to forget.

"Come to think of it," I said, "where did you get the meat for the soup you made on that day?"

"Where did I get the meat?" My Elias was such a talented cook. I'd do anything to have him cook for me everyday. "Well, Liam, first of all, we were in a forest, weren't we?"

"Yeah, but no animals live there, you know? That's why people go there to have their final camp before killing themselves."

But at that moment, when I looked up to my Elias, I found him making an expression I could not consider human. My thoughts suddenly went deranged and I felt a sudden kick of dread pounding inside of me like a sinner banging their melting head against the iron rods of Inferno's gates.

I dropped my spoon.

"What are you trying to say?! What are you trying to tell me?!"

The devil sat still. I used to shit my pants when someone raised their voice at me as a child, but this devil did not even flinch.

"What did you do to Wilson?!"

"They have the same taste. Don't they, Liam?"

Oh.

My own heartbeat became audible to me.

Strange.

I wasn't like this when I committed my crime. How could someone else's crime do this to me?

Why can't I move my body?

"You can't blame me, Liam. I am not wrong," declared the devil. "I did it to protect myself from potential danger."

"What danger is there in the place I promised you safety in?"

"Have you forgotten what you told me about that disgusting pervert, Liam?"

What have I fucking done...

"You left me alone with that beast, Liam! After giving me such a warning! I was left alone with him! I am not wrong! Fuck! You can't blame me for this!"

Elias broke into tears. The room was loud with his wild sobs. Still, I could not do a single thing.

"It was self-defense, Liam," he said, "what I did was self-defense."

And in an instance, with those words entering my ears, my Elias did not look so devilish anymore. As a matter of fact, my dear friend looked more innocent than an angel.

He looked like a child.

"Why, of course," I muttered, after a long silence. My voice came out dry and thin. "Of course you are innocent... my darling... friend..."

I'm sorry.

I'm the one who's wrong.

It's all my fault.