Stacker's gaze was strange, as he studied me from head to toe with a gentle smile. For the first time, I felt embarrassed. Caster burst out laughing, as if he couldn't believe his eyes.
I ignored them and pretended not to notice, then approached the dog with a smile, "Hello... Come here."
The dog leaned into my arms after I bowed to it, and it began to play with my dress while I stroked its soft fur. Every time I turned back to the two brothers, their gazes remained the same.
Suddenly, Caster stood up, took the dog in his arms, and placed it on the couch, standing in front of me in amazement. His eyes studied me admiringly.
"Caster... please, not again," I said, knowing that with every new dress, he began to exaggerate his praises.
"You look like a princess..." He took my hand and spun me around in a circle, as he does with ladies at parties.
"Okay... thanks." I hate this embarrassment.
"Where are you going?" Stacker asked, puffing on his cigarette.
"Nowhere... I only wore this for my mom."
"Strange... all this preparation and you're not going anywhere?" Stacker said.
"Of course you are! God... you look amazing. If you weren't my sister, I'd be fawning over you day and night. Stacker, let's take her to the bar!"
Stacker laughed sarcastically, "You seem completely out of your mind... A pub? With Diana?... That's just a fantasy. The atmosphere isn't right for that, Caster. Stop babbling."
Caster began to stroke my hair, saying, "He's making fun of you."
I realized he was trying to provoke me into responding and stirring things up, so I didn't take it seriously, but I said to Stacker, "That's okay... I'll go... I've been to a pub once before."
"Have you ever had a glass of wine in your life?" Stacker asked sarcastically and coldly.
I guess my apparent innocence suggested I hadn't... I've never tasted alcohol or its derivatives in my life.
"No... but I used to drink Corona with my father..."
"Okay, then, let's go... and your job will be to protect Caster because he flirts a lot when he's sober... If he's over eighteen and drunk, he'll gather a crowd of men and women around him."
I couldn't hold back my laughter at his sarcasm... even Stacker's nose.
He burst out laughing for the first time, a loud laugh, and coughed from smoking so much.
Caster frowned and said childishly, "Really?!"
I put my hand to his cheek, teasing him, "Just kidding... what's wrong?"
I looked at Stacker, who was staring at me. "I'll go tell my mom and come back."
I rushed over to my mother, with whom I had spent more than ten minutes. She looked at me proudly, reminiscing about my past, and complimenting my taste in the dress. After asking permission to go out with Caster and Stacker, she immediately agreed.
I hurried back to find them waiting for me inside the luxurious limo. Caster was dressed in what looked like pajamas, while Stacker was his usual dapper self in a business suit.
I don't know why I agreed to go to the bar in the first place. Perhaps I was longing to see someone lose control like in the movies, so we could carry them on our shoulders back home after a heated argument. But they didn't seem like the type to lose control that easily.
-Wissam-
The name of the bar, "Wissan," was written in ornate script on a lighted sign, glowing a deep red in the sudden darkness, even though it was still daytime. All I could see were red lights dancing in the darkness and glasses shining like jewels.
We walked past crowds of dancers, their sweaty odor wafting from them. The girls wore tight, expensive dresses, dancing with glamour alongside equally elegant men. I noticed everyone in attendance was over twenty, which explained why I'd been brought to this luxurious place.
We sat at the counter near the barman, Kevin. I sat between the two brothers in silence.
Stacker ordered, "Kevin... as usual, give Caster the non-alcoholic cider, and give me the whiskey-gin mix. As for the young lady..."
He looked at me, his eyes darting between my ears and my neck with a mysterious smile. "Give her a glass of Moscato."
I knew nothing about alcohol, but I decided to drink anything to help me forget Detective Adam's worries.
As he served the drinks, I noticed how he handed Stacker the smallest glass, then refilled it steadily. He drank glass after glass like a lover saying goodbye to his beloved. I wanted to stop him, but I couldn't. He gulped down the drink with a clear lump on his face, unlike Caster, who drank as if he were tasting plain water.
As for me, at my first sip, I tasted a sweet, candy-like taste, with a fragrant hint of white flowers and summer fruits. For a moment, I drank the entire glass in one gulp.
"Oh! Take it easy, are you that excited to be eighteen?" Caster said playfully, looking at me in surprise.
The music was quiet. My eyes wandered to the bartender serving drinks to the customers. I glanced at Stacker, who seemed to have drunk a lot but was still sober. He gently got up onto the dance floor and started dancing with the first girl he saw. I watched him dance, his eyes flicking toward me from time to time.
I felt a twinge of jealousy toward the girl dancing with him, even though she was beautiful with her silky red hair and tight skirt.
"Remember that girl's face!" Caster exclaimed, laughing.
"What?" I asked, surprised.
"What happened to her will happen to everyone else before her."
He said in a tone that immediately reminded me of Detective Adam's words. Was this family repeating the same events with all their victims?
I looked at him, dancing, his eyes fixed on me as if to say, "Look at me." I couldn't ignore how the alcohol made his gaze more drowsy and deep, and how it added a mysteriousness I'd never seen before.
Suddenly, Stacker moved toward one of the leather couches in the corner of the bar and sat down, but the girl threw herself into his lap and began to feel his chest with her hand. I saw him irritated by her, trying to turn his face away and shoo her hand away.
Caster was laughing sarcastically. "You see... he dances with them and then immediately runs away from them."
Then he quickly got up and walked over to his brother, whispering something in the girl's ear. She got up from beside him and returned to the dance floor.
I followed Caster and sat on the couch next to them, still holding my glass—I think it was my third.
"Let's dance!"
Caster grabbed my hand, trying to pull me onto the dance floor, but I refused. He went off on his own, and as soon as he entered, the girls attacked him from all directions. Despite his young age, he seemed to be popular with them.
I just stared at Stacker, not knowing why my gaze was different from before. Why did I now feel a desire to examine his features and details, when I hadn't felt that way yesterday, or even a short while ago? Was this the effect of the wine I'd drunk?
He was lying in a relaxed state, sighing and looking at his brother, smiling. Then he turned to me, his eyes even more relaxed, and whispered in a voice I could hear over the blaring music:
"You know... I love your hair."
I smiled, tilting my head lightly and shyly. "Really?"
"She had silky hair like yours... but it was black. She always wore it in a bun, and I tried to convince her to leave it down because I loved touching it... It smelled like vanilla."
He delved into the conversation, looking at my hair and smiling like a lover who'd lost his mind. I just stared at him, knowing exactly what he was talking about. If it weren't for what the detective had told me, I would now be confused, wondering: Who are you?
It seemed she was his first love, the one who was taken from him.
"What was her name?"
"Maria..." he whispered, almost hypnotically.
Maria... a beautiful feminine name. I'm sure every girl who died in that palace or passed through it was one of the most beautiful and elegant in the world.
"But don't worry... I didn't give the prescription for the old man to anyone but you."
His smile faded, and his face took on a cloak of melancholy. He looked at me with heavy eyes that bore the weight of pain. "You won't be taken from me too, will you?"
I felt as if he had already lost me, even though our bonds were only the fragility of superficial relationships, and even though I'd sensed a tendency toward alienation in his previous actions. But his tone now... echoed the despairing.
We've always heard that drunkards speak what's in their hearts... I hope it's true.
I remained silent, content to stare at him with a sad, tender gaze, as if knowing his end was inevitable.
Death has never scared me, not even at this moment... but what truly terrified me was the road leading to it, which seemed rugged and full of obstacles.
"Will I still see your wide eyes? Your soft skin? Your silky hair? Our fleeting quarrels? Will I still witness your sculpted body swaying in your feminine garments? Tell me... Will I still see all of this?"
His words were halting, his deep voice laced with a painful ache... He spoke as if holding back a tear threatening to spill. Is this what they call love? Or is it just a pathological attachment because I've become his sister?
His words were broken, and his deep voice held a painful chokehold. He spoke as if holding back a tear threatening to spill. Is this what they call love? Or is it just a pathological attachment because I became his sister?
The mask fell. What I feared had come true. A silent tear fell.
"You must stay away from me... so I don't become even more attached to my sister. Isn't Caster enough for you? Leave me alone?... I told Maria the same thing, but she didn't listen. Do you know how it ended?"
He sounded like he was delirious. I no longer heard the music or the dancers' movements in the ring. All I could hear was his voice, his tear-filled eyes, and his swaying body on the couch.
"It ended with her death... and I lost her forever. Joseph deprived me of my first love."
Unable to hold back my tears, I snatched his glass in one gulp. I tasted something I'd never tasted before. I rushed to the waiter and ordered four more drinks.
The world began to spin around me...
I could see nothing but...
another world.
I sank into the heart of the dance floor, swaying slowly, feeling the air, letting the notes seep into my soul.
I looked at Caster... then at Stacker... there was nothing left in front of me.
Suddenly, I spotted a man sitting in a dark corner. I couldn't clearly make out his features, but his appearance suggested solidity. He held a glass in his hand, a cigarette next to him... in a dark corner, but I knew his eyes were watching only me.
I paused for a moment, and suddenly I saw his finger emerge from the darkness, making a slight gesture... as if to say, "Go on."