The Sweet Bitter Taste of Revenge

Chapter 6

As I set the dinner table and told Atel about the past events, I heard a knock on the door. I looked up at him in question. His eyes went blank for a few seconds and then to normal.

“Ioneos.”

“Let him in and give him a way to enter from now on.”

“Yes ma’am.”

He disappeared just as Ioneos walked through the door. He stayed at the entrance as I kept placing the food on the table. I poured us some drinks and sat down, serving myself. When he still had yet to move I looked up.

“What?”

Silence and more glaring. He sat down and grabbed some food. He stabbed at his plate and chewed profusely. I couldn’t help but roll my eyes.

“I see your temper has not improved in the short amount of time we’ve been apart.”

“You shot me and then threw a knife at my head, barely missing. Excuse me if my ‘temper’ isn’t what you want it to be!”

“Wow. Someone can’t take a joke.”

“A joke?! That’s what you call a joke?! Are you clinically insane?!”

“No. I just have a different sense of humor than most people.”

“Clearly.”

He grabbed his glass and washed it down like it was a shot. “What the hell is this?” he asked, disgusted.

“A drink?”

“This isn’t any drink I’ve ever tasted.”

“I would hope not. I make it myself.”

“And you honestly like it?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“So why drink it?”

“To speed up the healing process.”

“What?” He asked shocked.

I continued to eat. “Go ahead and look at the bullet wound.”

He stood up and went to the bathroom. He lifted up my shirt and removed the dressing to stare at what was supposed to be a bullet wound. He walked back to the table and sat down, staring at me.

“What?”

“There’s nothing there. Not even a scratch.”

“Precisely.”

“How?”

“It’s a concoction I learned from a Monk a while back.”

“A Monk? How do you even get the ingredients for it?”

“They are hard to come by. But I get what I need when I need it.”

He stayed quiet for quite some time but I could feel that he wanted to say more. As I was finishing my food, he decided to speak. “Are you drinking it?”

“Do I look injured?”

“No.”

“Then why would I be drinking it?”

“I don’t know.”

I continued and he spoke again. “What are you drinking-”

“Jesus! It’s freaking orange juice. What’s with all the questions?”

He didn’t speak. I sighed and left to wash dishes. A few minutes later he came in and helped.

“Look, I know we came off on the wrong foot and seeing as we’re roommates and you’re my mentor, I was hoping we could start off new and possibly make this work.”