Submitting

Thirteen

He seemed unaffected. Until he broke out into the most ridiculously hysterical laughter I had ever heard. The humour in my answer was lost to me even though I knew the reason why it shouldn't have been my answer at all. 

"Boy, you truly should be a part of our family. You aren't even half sane as I thought you would be! My brother sure does have a great taste." With a grin still lingering on his face, he got up from the seat and walked towards one of the locked cupboards in the room and tried to jiggle the handles only to come up with nothing but disappointment.

"How many years are you-" I didn't need to finish the question as he cut me off and replied without any delay.

"Thirty minutes." Confusion clouded my mind as I frowned at the answer I received. Maybe he didn't get my answer after all and thought I was asking something else until it dawned on me. 

They were non-identical twins.

Things made a lot of sense now and more believable. They were by no means closely similar to each other and yet something always seemed to connect them in a way that I couldn't quite put my finger on which I can now. 

"Pizza crust or no pizza crust? His silly questions didn't make any sense, yet they seemed to indicate something which I was too naive to understand. These small things even if silly seemed too...informative. You observe these things, and notice them and get to learn a person more deeply. His intentions might seem harmless yet the underlying intent not completely invisible.

"Pizza crust." He smirked all too knowingly. If that was supposed to be a test then I think I might have passed. But then again why would I lie about such a small thing. 

"What...are you doing here?" There were much more pressing questions building up inside me. I wanted to ask them and the answers itself were the sole reason why I agreed to play this stupid game in the first place. I had to tread carefully though and make sure that the ground is clear and unsuspicious before I could walk the thin line and ask about Liza. A kind of warm-up of sorts.

He sighed dramatically with that still smirk on his face making me wonder if that's all the answer I was going to receive until he astonishingly opened up more than I expected him to.

"You see, I lost this bet to him. It was sad because I almost won! I almost had you, or I thought I did haha." His callous laugh reverberated in the room and seemed to last in the quiet echoes inside the room. 

I heard what he said loud and clear and yet understood nothing. My mind had gone blank, and I didn't want to rely on petty assumptions made by me because I didn't want incomplete answers, and before I could even comprehend what I was doing, I opened my mouth to ask him why only to get interrupted again by another one of his stupid questions.

"Ivan or Dimitri?" I was told the rules of the game already. Turns. Once mine, once his. He wouldn't have it any other way. 

But how could I possibly choose when both the options are wrong.

"None." I took my time to answer curtly, indicating that this was the absolute reply he was going to receive but of course...

"Tsk tsk. Wrong answer Rosie. You have to decide between the two otherwise we won't play this game." I didn't realize when he came around the desk and leaned against it, standing closer to me than I preferred. His smirk lost in the seriousness of the situation. His eyes searching for the response he hadn't received yet.

Silence loomed heavily as the hands of time ticked relentlessly. His intense stare burning a hole in my head, forcing me to say the words that resisted the urge to come out of me. I had to though, I had to give him what he wanted in order for me to get what I wanted. 

I parted my lips to let the devil escape, but before it could do, so the door to the office opened with a quiet click, loud enough to snap both of our eyes to the one that took a step inside the room and stood there with a stoic and equally inquisitive gaze. 

My racing heart panicked and froze at the same time. The currents of anxiety flowing strongly in my veins as a dew of cold sweat settled on my back in this awfully chilling weather. I couldn't decide whether I should flight or stay put. Like a deer in front of headlights, I felt caught as the nagging blade reminded its presence once again. 

In a way, I was quietly trying to get what I want and escape without him catching a whiff and there was nothing that I wanted more than that yet here I was feeling a strange sort of guilt. Afraid of punishment that might come if he knew my intentions which never seemed to be a mystery to him.

Nobody said anything for the longest amount of time as he kept looking at me until finally, his eyes focused on Ivan who quickly broke his turn with his usual and untimely humour. 

"Brother! I've been waiting for my ice cream for the longest amount of time! I hope you didn't mess up because this guy's allergies hate peach." He pushed himself off the desk and opened up his arms to almost hug him but turn him the other way instead as both of them left the room with me left there wondering how I ended up here.