Chapter 157 - 158: The Three Options

Chapter 157: Chapter 158: The Three Options

Daniel stopped his fist mid-swing with the kind of sudden, deliberate halt that made the man on the ground flinch and squeeze his eyes shut as if expecting the blow to land anyway, and then Daniel smiled a cold and dangerous smile that was somehow more terrifying than the punch would have been.

"Actually," he said with his voice calm and almost pleasant, "I have a better idea."

The man was still shaking with his body pressed against the cracked wall and his face pale and his eyes wide with the kind of fear that came from not knowing what was going to happen next, and he didn’t understand what Daniel was talking about because he was too scared and too confused and too drunk to process anything beyond the immediate terror of his situation.

Daniel shouted with his voice cutting through the silence of the ruined inn like a blade.

"Paul!"

The man flinched and looked around with confusion written across his bloody face.

Paul walked into the inn with his footsteps slow and deliberate and his voice muttering under his breath with the kind of annoyed resignation that came from being called away from something important.

"I’m not deaf," he said with his voice flat and irritated. "You don’t need to shout my name that loud."

Daniel shrugged with the kind of casual indifference that made Paul sigh. "Sorry."

"You’re not sorry."

"You’re right. I’m not."

Paul sighed again and looked at the man on the ground, at his shaking body and his pale face and his wide eyes. "What’s wrong with him?" he asked.

"Nothing," Daniel said. "He’s just drunk."

"I heard a sound of someone hitting something hard."

"It was just one punch."

"Just one punch?"

"Yes."

"One punch and he’s like this?"

"He’s weak."

Paul looked at the man with his shaking body and his pale face and his wide eyes and the blood dripping from his mouth. "He doesn’t look weak," Paul said. "He looks terrified."

"He’s drunk."

"Drunk people don’t shake like that."

"This one does."

Paul was about to say something else but Daniel interrupted him with a voice that was calm and firm.

"Go get the girl," he said.

Paul blinked with confusion. "What girl?"

"The girl who was being harassed. The waitress. Go get her."

Paul stared at him with a question in his eyes. "Why didn’t you shout for her instead?"

Daniel blinked with surprise. "What?"

"You shouted for me. Why didn’t you shout for her?"

Daniel thought about it for a moment. "What do you want me to shout? ’Girl who’s being harassed, please come’?"

Paul thought about it. "Yeah. Good point."

"I know."

"But you could have called Brick Head."

Daniel shook his head. "Nah. That would be way worse."

Paul thought about it and nodded. "Yeah. You’re right."

"I know."

The man was still on the ground and still shaking and still confused as he looked at Daniel and then at Paul and then at Daniel again with the kind of desperate confusion that came from being completely ignored by the people who had just beaten him.

They were talking casually like he wasn’t even there and like he wasn’t a threat and like he wasn’t anything at all, and he didn’t understand how they could be so calm when he was so terrified.

"What..." he stammered with his voice barely audible. "What are you doing?"

Daniel looked at him with his expression calm. "Nothing," he said. "We’re just talking."

"About what?"

"About you."

The man’s face went pale and his body began to tremble even harder. "About me?"

"Yes."

"What... what about me?"

Daniel smiled a cold and dangerous smile that made the man’s blood run cold. "You’ll see."

Paul walked out of the inn and looked around at the crowd gathered outside with their scared faces and their confused eyes and their waiting postures, and he saw the waitress standing near the back with her tears and her shaking and her arms wrapped around herself.

Paul walked toward her with his footsteps slow and deliberate and stopped in front of her with his expression soft. "Hey," he said.

She looked up with her red eyes and her wet face. "Yes?" she whispered.

"Daniel wants to see you."

She blinked with confusion. "Daniel?"

"The guy who stopped the drunk man. He wants to see you."

She hesitated and looked at the inn and the door and the darkness inside. "Is... is it safe?" she asked.

Paul nodded. "It’s safe. He won’t hurt you."

She was silent for a moment as she thought about it and processed it. "Okay," she whispered. "Okay."

She followed him.

They walked back into the inn and the man was still on the ground and still shaking and still confused, and Daniel was standing near him with his hands in his pockets and his expression calm.

He saw the waitress and smiled a warm and gentle smile. "Hello," he said.

She flinched. "Hello."

"Don’t be scared. I’m not going to hurt you."

She nodded slowly with her fear still visible but her courage trying to break through.

Daniel looked at Paul. "Can you stay?"

Paul shrugged. "Sure. Why not?"

He took a seat and watched.

Daniel looked at the waitress with his expression soft. "What’s your name?" he asked.

She hesitated. "Lily."

"Lily. That’s a nice name."

She smiled a small and fragile smile. "Thank you."

Daniel nodded and looked at the man on the ground with his shaking body and his pale face. "Lily," he said. "This man hurt you. He harassed you. He spanked you. He treated you like you were nothing."

Lily flinched and looked away.

"I’m going to give you three options," Daniel said.

She looked at him with wide eyes. "Three options?"

"Yes. Three options."

He held up a finger. "One. You can let the man leave without any consequences."

Paul spoke with his voice flat and bored. "Boring."

Daniel ignored him and held up a second finger. "Two. You can watch me castrate this guy."

Paul’s eyes widened with disbelief. "What the fuck? Who would do that? Or even watch that?"

Daniel ignored him and held up a third finger. "Three. He dies. Right here. Right now."

Paul stared at him with his mouth open. "No one deserves death," he said. "And all the options are shit. Especially the second one."

Daniel ignored him and looked at Lily with her wide eyes and her pale face and her trembling body. "So," he said. "What’s your answer?"

Lily stared at him with her mouth open and her eyes wide and her mind racing with the kind of impossible choice that no one should ever have to make.

She didn’t answer.