The distinct sound of a knuckle knocking twice against the wooden surface echoed.
Night had fallen, and the three of them were outside, completely at the mercy of the elements.
Iyas stood directly in front of the massive front door of Kirios's villa.
He knocked again, *knock knock*.
"Don't you dare come in! You're sleeping outside tonight!" Kirios barked, his voice muffled by the thick door from somewhere deep inside.
Alif's eyes widened slightly as he stood behind Iyas, "Well, I don't get that logic either," he said blankly.
Icam stepped up next to Iyas, casually patting his shoulder.
Iyas turned around, his emotions perfectly calm, waiting to hear what Icam had to say.
Icam flashed a warm, reassuring smile.
"It's late."
"Yeah, obviously, I know that!" Iyas snapped back instantly.
Alif suddenly gasped, his eyes wide, "Wait, what?! It's already night? I thought it was still dusk," he muttered, craning his neck to look up at the sky.
"Exactly. My grand plan for world domination is totally ruined if we have to do it in the dark," Icam added grimly.
Iyas promptly brushed Icam's hand off his shoulder and turned his entire body to face him.
Iyas demanded, "And why exactly is nighttime a problem?"
"Because I can't see a thing," Icam replied bluntly.
"Yeah, and besides, nighttime is for sleeping, not for taking over the world," Alif chimed in.
Iyas and Icam began moving away from the villa door, walking briskly while locked in a tense gaze.
Alif quickly scrambled to catch up when he realized he was being left behind by his friends.
They continued walking away from Kirios's villa, completely clueless as to where they were actually heading.
"So, what's the move now?" Iyas asked, looking at Icam for answers.
Instead of sighing like a normal person, Icam suddenly let out a bizarre, cat-like purr.
He cast his eyes downward, staring dead at Alif as if the question had originally come from him.
"What choice do we have? We'll just have to seize that old lady's house by force," Icam lamented, staring blankly at Alif's face like a solid brick wall.
Suddenly, Icam grabbed Iyas by the throat, choking him, "Absolutely not! Taking someone else's house is a criminal offense!" Icam scolded fiercely, completely oblivious to the fact that he was arguing with his own words.
Iyas immediately shoved Alif so hard that Alif lost his footing and fell.
*Thud!* Alif hit the ground, a look of utter shock plastered on his face.
Both of them were acting completely unhinged.
"Why on earth did you push Alif?!" Icam demanded.
"Well, you're the one strangling me for no reason, right after contradicting your own words!" Iyas shot back angrily.
"Then why didn't you remind me?! I forgot!" Icam asked dead seriously, releasing his grip on Iyas's neck with a feeble shove.
Iyas just stood there, jaw dropped, thoroughly confused.
Alif brushed himself off and stood back up, dusting his hands as he spoke, "Alright, enough, you two. You clearly want to blame each other, but you're both too confused to figure out how to blame someone."
"As far as I'm concerned, this is all Kirios's fault," Alif concluded flatly.
Icam stroked his chin, trying to recall the absolute nonsense he had spouted earlier.
Iyas immediately protested, "This is not Master Kirios's fault!"
"It's my fault for talking back to Master Kirios about his vegetables."
The three of them stared blankly ahead, suddenly realizing they had been walking and arguing without having any idea where they were going.
"Where are we even going?" Icam asked.
"Anywhere we want. We're filthy rich, remember?" Alif said.
Having no real place to shelter themselves from the biting wind and the fading light, they ended up wandering back toward Kirios's villa, which wasn't too far off.
Their footsteps dragged as they approached the front of the villa.
Suddenly, the front door swung wide open, instantly grabbing the Trio's attention.
There stood the man with the longish blonde hair and the flawlessly handsome face, running a hand through his locks with a dramatic smirk.
"Heh! Feast your eyes upon my boundless generosity!" he announced proudly.
Iyas leaned over and whispered to Icam, "Boundless generosity? His heart is cheap?" His tone was utterly baffled, completely literalizing emotional worth into actual fiscal value.
"I am simply not a heartless monster, so I shall graciously allow you to step back inside..." Kirios declared, a sly, wicked grin spreading across his face.
"So! Rejoice! Be grateful! For I am opening my gates for you..." he said pompously, throwing his arms wide as if he were a messiah granting a miracle to his loyal followers.
Kirios extended his right arm dramatically toward the Trio, his smile full of grandiosity.
"Praise me! Shower me with praise!"
"Master Kirios is the absolute greatest!" Iyas cheered enthusiastically, his beaming smile looking like a devoted voter whose chosen president had just won the election.
Icam crossed his arms, smirking with mock reverence.
"Master Kirios is truly a saint."
Alif kept clapping enthusiastically, a cheerful grin plastered across his face.
Kirios spun around dramatically, the fabric of his clothes fluttering elegantly under the brilliant moon—uh, actually, it was just the porch light of his own house.
"Enter," he commanded without turning back, posing like a dignified hero leaving a profound final lesson for his beloved disciples.
Iyas stared blankly to the left for no apparent reason. Absolute silence.
Icam stood frozen, staring at Kirios.
Alif was still clapping.
Kirios took his first heavy stride back into the villa.
"Well, come on! Line up and follow directly behind me!" he commanded.
Icam slapped Alif's hands down to make him stop clapping.
Alif instantly complied.
The two of them quickly scurried inside, falling directly into formation behind Kirios.
Iyas spaced out for a brief second before realizing he was being left behind, then quickly rushed to catch up.
Thanks to Kirios's "heartfelt generosity," the Trio finally found themselves getting ready for a comfortable night's sleep in a rather dusty, filthy storage room.
They weren't asleep yet, instead, they stood in a circle, facing one another.
"Wow, Kirios is incredibly kind-hearted, isn't he? He literally sold his own heart at a discount just for our sake," Iyas said gratefully, taking Kirios's words completely literally.
"I wonder what he's going to spend the profit on?" Alif followed up curiously.
Icam scratched his chin thoughtfully.
"Is that really what he meant by 'cheap heart' generosity?"
Suddenly, the storage room door creaked open, revealing Kirios holding a broom, a rag, and an empty bucket.
Kirios smiled warmly.
"Your praises are grand, but before you tuck yourselves into absolute comfort, it would be magnificent if you could clean this villa top to bottom," he declared with immense self-importance.
Kirios smirked, clasping his hands together and standing tall, looking exactly like a toxic boss delivering a heavy workload under the guise of "motivational support."
The Trio went dead silent.
They slowly shuffled forward, begrudgingly taking the cleaning supplies from his hands.
Their faces were a mixture of resignation and utter innocence—or more accurately, they looked like blindly submissive corporate employees working without a cause.
Kirios let out a wide yawn, turning his back to leave the storage room.
The Trio kept their eyes locked on their master.
"I'm exhausted. Make sure it's spotless, alright?" he muttered, promptly slamming the storage door shut as he headed off to his own luxury bedroom.
Silence fell. The Trio stood frozen like statues
The sound of Kirios's footsteps gradually faded, signaling that he was safely out of earshot.
Icam twirled the broom in his hands, inspecting it from every angle.
Alif turned to look at his friends, "You know... it looks like Master Kirios's heart is actually pretty expensive after all."
Iyas turned back, "Do we need to clean the plate again?"
END