“…Piping hot, aren’t they?” Saul commented. “We’re liable to burn our mouths if we eat them now.”
“Too bad we didn’t get them cold.”
“Come now, it’s not so bad as all that. We can let them cool while you and I have our little chat.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. I’ll eat it, okay? It’s always better to eat these things while they’re still warm, anyway.”
“Why don’t we start with you telling me about the gentleman you met with at the hotel just now? Hmm?”
Vincent stopped with the white porcelain spoon halfway to his mouth and stared at Saul in silence.
Saul’s eyes were as devoid of emotion as a fish’s. “That man is an adversary of mine. Or,” he amended, “strictly speaking, the adversary of my pupil.”
How much does he know? Vincent wondered.
Saul smiled threateningly. “How much do I know, you ask? That all depends on how much you know of the truth.”
“You mean, you know more about what’s going on than I do?”
“Once again, it all depends on how you look at it. If you think I am leveling accusations against you, fear not. I am a businessman, and I am no stranger to the capitalistic notion of give-and-take. However, I also equally pride myself in being your employer and—in some small way—your guardian.”
“You’re no such thing.”
“I must assure you, I am.”
“…So I get no say in it, huh?”
“Oh good, I’m glad you understand. With that said, I think it is only fair that I inform you of something.”
“Fair? Bit late for fairness, isn’t it?” Vincent’s smile was laced with sarcasm.
A powerful light kindled in Saul’s eyes, and Vincent flinched. Saul’s pupils looked like two black suns cresting the horizon.
“…What is it?” Vincent asked.
“He already knows everything.”
“What?”
“He knows you betrayed him to sell him out to his cousin.”
He.
Even if Saul didn’t say the name, Vincent could picture his face—the face of the exquisite jeweler. His ephemeral smile. That haze of golden eyelashes. The footsteps that Vincent could never quite seem to catch up to.
If he knew everything…then what?
Vincent’s face was frozen stiff. “He said what now?”
Saul shot a question right back. “That he knows what you’ve done and is giving you this information. Do you understand the significance of this?”
“…I don’t even know what you’re talking about.”
Saul ignored Vincent’s rhetorical response and hurled the answer at him. “It means, even after everything you’ve done, my idiot pupil wants to offer you an extra gift of cash.”
Vincent felt like he had been ejected into the vacuum of space. Which way was up? Down? Left, right? His senses were so scrambled he couldn’t tell.
Saul’s weighty stare eventually pulled Vincent back down to Earth. The older gentleman brought a spoonful of steaming pudding to his lips, blew on it once, twice, and popped it into his mouth.
“Scrumptious. A pure and simple sweetness.”
“…Why—why did he…”
“Why did he ever think the two of you could be friends?”
The fact that it was a joke, as Saul added moments later, turned Vincent’s face into a rictus of fury. The words of his housekeeper—You’re a cute guy, Vince, but that makes you look even more terrifying when you act tough—played in his head, so he immediately looked down, but not before he caught the faintest wisp of a smile on Saul’s face.
“Come, don’t be surprised. You should have been ready for this.”
“…I’m not surprised.”
“Oh? Well, a word to the wise: My idiot pupil did not sniff out this rat—you—by himself. Some heartless charlatan tattled on you. That poor man displays an alarming lack of self-preservation.”
“Who ‘tattled’?”
“It should go without saying that it was me. Furthermore, I do not regret it one bit.”
Now Vincent frowned hard. Saul laughed, but with the shop so busy, no one took any notice. “It takes one to know one, Mr. Rat. I learned that Mr. Claremont approached you because I, in multiple senses of this phrase, take care to ensure the safety of my surroundings. A foundation is only ever as firm as the bedrock on which it sits. You’d do well to keep this rule in mind when destroying foundations. No matter which side of the foundation you stand on, the bedrock is of critical importance.”
“I don’t know what all this bedrock talk’s about, but I don’t think it’s fair to call me part of the foundation for that rich prick. I don’t work for him like that.”
“For the sake of argument, I shall pretend that’s true. Yet can you say with 100 percent certainty that you do not support him at all?”
Vincent fell silent, which was Saul’s cue to sweep past him and carry on in a warm, amiable tone. “Vincent. I am just a jeweler. I am not Richard’s friend, nor am I his family. However, I know he considers me something of a benefactor, which in turn grants me some place in his heart. I speak from this perspective when I offer you this piece of advice.”
“I don’t want your advice.”
“It costs you nothing to listen to me, Vince.”
“I said, I don’t want it.”
“Nevertheless, I believe it would behoove you to start hating Richard as fast as humanly possible.”
Vincent was as baffled as if Saul had slapped him with no warning. No—it was like Saul had reached out and stroked his cheek. Vincent didn’t know what his next move should be. Ask what the hell Saul meant? No, that would just be falling for this wise old owl’s tricks once more. But staying silent was no better. Saul had already gotten him well and good.
Vincent tried to hide his conundrum behind a surly frown. He snorted in derision. “Fat load of good that does me. I never liked him to begin with.”
“You’re quite exceptional, then. Not many people are capable of harboring negative feelings for that man.”
“Everyone’s entitled to their own opinion. But what do feelings have to do with anything, anyway? Some help this advice is.”
“Yes, everyone certainly is entitled to their beliefs. You, however, are a different story. This advice comes from concern for the safety of you and your future. You don’t hate Richard at all, do you?”
“I can’t say I feel one way or the other about him.”
“That’s a lie. You admire the man. No, let me rephrase that. You used to revere him.”
“Ah, sorry. I’m not into 3D men, no matter how pretty they are.”
Saul’s voice dropped. “You know perfectly well I am not speaking about his appearance.”
Vincent responded with silence.
To Vincent Lai, Richard Ranasinghe was a beautiful object of worship. And, therefore, a slippery slope down into darkness.