Euforia

10. Regen

"Just take it easy. No one will get hurt if you follow me quietly," the person said.

"What do you want from me?" Mr. Lotto was still trying to extricate himself.

The person smiled a little. "I'll tell you if you follow me," he said.

"Alright, I'll go with you."

The man then let go of Mr. Lotto. "Follow me, I will take you to a place."

Mr. Lotto followed the person with an uneasy feeling.

***

"Although I don't know you very well. But I know, you impressed me with your extraordinary way of giving a second life." The person looked out the window. He observed a bird feeding its young.

"What do you want to talk about? I didn't follow you here just to hear your pleasantries."

The man smiled a little, walked closer to Mr. Lotto, and then brought his face closer to Mr. Lotto. "Tell me what your biggest secret is to me. For example, just like those twins you created."

Mr. Lotto's eyes instantly rounded perfectly. "Stop this nonsense!" snapped Mr. Lotto in disgust.

The man laughed. "I can give you a guarantee to stay safe if you tell me the secret of the cloning creation."

"I will not tell anyone in this world until I die. The creation of cloning will only ever happen for the first and last time to Hassel and Graiss," Mr. Lotto refused.

"When you say that, you sound like you didn't mean it when you wanted to create them. Do you just want to use them as your experimental toys?" the man challenged.

"Shut your mouth, you know nothing about this matter!" Mr. Lotto gave that person a sharp look.

Being stared at did not deter the man. He was even more interested in bringing up everything he knew from Mr. Lotto. "Let's think about it. You escaped and changed your identity. Then you created a clone and chose to move to South Korea, living together with your creation and taking care of them like a nephew. In this country, you choose to take a simple job while taking care of your clone. It seems that you are very good at creating life narratives, amazing," quipped the man, "even though you have acted to this extent, I still don't know for sure, what is the reason why you created those cloned humans named Hassel and Graiss," he added.

"ENOUGH!" exclaimed Mr. Lotto angrily. "DO YOU ENJOY TORTURING PEOPLE WHO WANT TO TRY TO CHANGE THEIR LIVES? ARE YOU A GOD?"

"Oh... oh... gosh, forgive me if I've gone too far. I had no intention of making you angry. I'm just trying to express my thoughts," the man baited.

"I don't know who you are, but it's obvious that you don't deserve to know the secret of my clone's creation you or anyone else."

"Really?" The person grinned widely. Despite having a face that was pleasing to the eye the person had an ominous aura around him.

"Hassel and Graiss are not just my clones to me. To me, they are my family. They were born from the feelings of sorrow that I experienced. I just want them both to experience life in the world comfortably. I want them to experience happiness and the meaning of family for longer. They were born to two of my friends who were brutally murdered and did not receive justice," said Mr. Lotto.

Hearing Mr. Lotto's words made the man quickly change his facial expression to surprise.

"What are the names of those two people?"

Mr. Lotto frowned. "What are you asking me that for?"

"Just answer me!"

"Maroon and Karen. Those two people were brutally murdered by their acquaintances," Mr. Lotto replied, "now are you satisfied?"

The man didn't answer, instead, he was silent for quite a while until he finally laughed like crazy. "Hahaha... apparently... this is a very terrible coincidence."

Mr. Lotto did not understand why the person in front of him looked like a madman. "Did something happen to your head?"

The man stopped his laughter, he then took out the pistol that was always kept well to never be discovered by others.

"What a pity... I had intended to establish a cooperative relationship with you. But it looks like that cooperation will never materialize. Goodbye Mr. Wilhelm Carl Grimm," he said before finally firing a bullet into Mr. Lotto's head.

***

"Is it okay if I leave the house?" asked the little girl timidly.

The young man smiled, stopped his steps, and squatted in front of the little girl. "Starting today, you will be coming with me. Mr. Lotto himself asked me to take care of you in case something bad happens to him."

"Can I trust you?" The little girl still looked distrustful of the young man.

"It doesn't matter if you don't believe me. But Mr. Lotto gave this to me. You can read it later, ah, or right now as we walk." The young man took out a letter to the little girl.

The little girl took the letter from the young man's hand. She then took out the letter and checked the contents. Once she checked the contents of the letter, she found Mr. Lotto's distinctive handwriting as well as a photo. She took a long look at the photo. There in the photo was Mr. Lotto as well as a young man posing embracing each other with the Brandenburg Gate or the former city gate and one of the main symbols of Berlin, Germany in the background.

"Don't I look very handsome there?" said the young man.

"Yes. You're very handsome as well as beautiful," the little girl replied. She then kept the photo as well as the letter given by the young man.

"Thank you for the compliment. You are also very beautiful. I'm sure you'll grow up to be a very beautiful woman when you grow up," she said, "By the way we haven't met yet, my name is Regen Wetter, you can call me Regen." The young man extended his hand.

The girl welcomed the hand of the young man named Regen and said his name back.

"Your name is very pretty. Who gave you that name?" Regen looked at Graiss closely.

"Lord Lotto said that someone he trusted suggested a beautiful girl's name. He took that name and gave it to me," Graiss replied innocently.

Regen patted the little girl's head lightly. "Graiss I am the one who gave you that name. I gave you that name because I wanted to record the beautiful memories with Mr. Lotto. The time when Mr. Lotto and I went on a picnic together in a large meadow."

Graiss was surprised that she wanted to ask a question but that question had to be aborted as Regen put his index finger on his lips.

"There are many questions you must have asked me. I promise to explain everything slowly to you later but not now so promise to be patient. Promise?" Regen showed his pinky asking for a sign of promise from Graiss.

"Promise." Graiss linked her pinky to Regens.

"Alright. Then we should leave here immediately. It's not safe to linger, just entrust everything to me because in the future there will be many dangers that you can't handle alone." Regen took Graiss' hand and led her to run with him.