Euforia

06. Hassel and Graiss

I still remember when his body was burned. The smell of roasting meat It was horrifying to see the people closest to me burned alive.

It was as if the people I had a close relationship with would end up in the heat of the fire. Blistered and burned, leaving only the ashes of memories. It was all horrible. In the past, I saw my father burn alive, and now I saw my best friend burn alive in front of my own eyes.

***

"Rain, stop messing around!" The young woman looked sharply at the person in front of her. In her hand was a pistol with the trigger ready to be pulled.

The person named Rain smiled wryly. He pointed at his head. "Just shoot. I don't mind even if you kill me." He didn't look scared at all.

The young woman growled. Seeing Rain's overly calm reaction made her uneasy. She suspected that Rain had prepared something behind her back.

Karen's hands shook violently, and she hesitated to kill her lover. She never thought that Rain, whom she had trusted, was a monster.

"You can't do it; let me end it." Rain took out his gun and shot Karen.

Karen was shot in the head. Her body was now covered in blood.

Rain didn't even hesitate to burn the poor woman's body. The smell of burning flesh was so strong that it stung the nostrils. Rain smiled slightly, admitting that her actions were wrong, but Karen wasn't right either. She deserved to be punished.

For a year, Rain pretended to be Karen's lover to trap her. She did that on purpose to steal information from Karen. There have been at least two people killed by rain. First Maroon was his close friend, and now Karen is his lover. Amazingly, the two people are related. Maroon is Karen's sister; both are siblings. The main reason Karen wants to kill Rain is because she is angry about the death of her sister. Where the perpetrator of her sister's murder was Rain himself.

***

"Hassel, don't drink my chocolate milk!" snapped Graiss, a little girl around 10 years old who looked angry.

Hassel stuck out her tongue. She didn't apologize but mocked her twin. "Who cares? It's your fault for putting it there."

An exasperated Grais almost punched his twin in the stomach. But a middle-aged man appeared to stop him.

"Graiss, it's not good to hurt your brother! Especially since he's your twin brother, you should tell him nicely if you're angry with him," reprimanded Mr. Lotto.

Graiss sneered as she looked away. "How could I possibly respect Hassel? He even acts childish at times. I'm not sure that she's my twin sister," Grais protested.

"Even if you say so, he was stillborn before you." "You should respect him as your eldest brother," Mr. Lotto advised patiently.

"It's not fair that you only comment on me," Graiss quipped, still angry.

Mr. Lotto sighed. He then turned his gaze towards Hassel. "Hassel, you should also act more mature than your sister. You should also give in and not take things that Graiss has without her permission. You should respect your sister too."

Hassel laughed wryly. She looked disobedient, but in truth, she was still listening to the advice. Hassel did not like to show her true feelings. That trait had not changed, even when she was a maroon.

"You should reflect on what you did today. Otherwise, I won't give you any treats!" threatened Mr. Lotto, trying to be strict with the twins.

"Cih. Threatening with treats doesn't work for me!" Hassel countered.

Mr. Lotto smiled wryly. "Are you sure you don't want my éclair? If you won't reflect on your actions today, then I'll give your share to Graiss."

Hassel puffed out her cheeks in a sign of displeasure. She looked like she wanted to protest, but instead, she got out of her chair, grabbed her twin sister's hand, and led her away.

"Don't do it just for the sake of a snack; you should think about it too!" exclaimed Mr. Lotto as soon as Hassel and Graiss looked further away.

After the twins left, Mr. Lotto quietly peeked through the window. He saw that the twins seemed to be talking to each other. It looked like the two were trying to negotiate. The middle-aged man observed the two seriously.

"Maroon, Karen... I'm sorry for making you two become like this," he muttered unconsciously. The man's tears fell. As he looked at the twins from behind the window, he recalled the events of several decades ago. He remembered taking samples from Maroon and Karen's bodies before they died.

Lotto Frank is just a pseudonym for him. After surviving an incident that killed many people. The man created a fake death for himself. He changed his face through plastic surgery and also changed his real name from Wilhelm Carl Grimm to Lotto Frank. He used to be a scientist who worked under the auspices of a large organization. But since a terrible incident occurred at his workplace, he was forced to create a fake death for himself. To be honest, Lotto himself had no intention of continuing his life. The man was even prepared for his death when the incident occurred, but the reason he had survived this far was because of the two precious people in his life. Maroon and Karen, who were his coworkers as well as people he considered his own family. When he found out that both of them were killed without justice. Making Lotto very angry. Lotto is even desperate to do crazy research by creating clones of the two people secretly without anyone else knowing. Including Maroon and Karen, who were used as research materials. When taking samples from their bodies, Lotto lied to them. Even Maroon and Karen did not know the truth at all until they were gone.  After the successful cloning of his creation. Hassel and Graiss were born, both of whom were born as a pair of twins. Hassel was born from a sample taken from Maroon, while Graiss was Karen. Uniquely, when the twins were born, the position of the oldest was reversed. Hassel became the oldest because she developed first. Her sister, Graiss, was born a little late.

Lotto is now trying to make the best of his life. Working in a small bakery and sometimes writing in her spare time is her new occupation. All of these new jobs are the opposite of what he used to do. The work in his current life felt more relaxed. Surprisingly, Lotto also felt much happier than at his old job. Although it might seem like he was wasting his intelligence and talent on trivial work, Instead, his new job made his life more peaceful. If he could turn back time, Lotto would rather open a bakery and invite Maroon and Karen to live with him. Then tell them to quit their jobs. If only that happened, there would never be any sadness in the future.

Too bad it was all a dream.