of-illusions-and-lies – parker's blogs

VALE.

✮– Despite the poetic and inspirational atmosphere, Valentino wasn’t sure to be in the mood for inquiries like that. Death was a grim topic he was forced to face daily – his profession made passing a plausible danger – but he hated dwelling over it. He neither wanted or needed to keep himself busy with philosophical paradoxes and dilemmas on the ephemerality of life.

Avoiding the man’s gaze, he looked at the horizon in silence, as if it could yield an answer. It didn’t, of course, and he sighed, his eyes sliding closed. He had an answer, but that remained an unusual conversation.

❝Now, this is a question I wasn’t expecting. Money can make your life better, but what the point if you’re going to die so soon? A year may seem a lot, but it’ll be over before you realize it. I’m a bit too attached to my life to accept the cash and sleep peacefully; besides, no one is saying I won’t be able to find a better deal later…❞

Valentino offered a bitter smile, looking at Parker with the corner of an eye. He was curious to hear what else he had to add. That man could be surprising, sometimes.

_{———❝ A better deal, hmm? ❞
He hadn’t even thought of it that way. In his world of hypotheticals, the idea that he could find a third path seemed so impossible. Still, the world did not entirely work on principles and rules. Had he realized this all those years ago, he might have been a completely different person.}

❝ Humor me, then. ❞
He lifted his dusted glass of bedside water, eyes on the horizon still as twilight became darkness. The man had called Valentino to his room, unsure of what exactly they had in store for them the following morning. This job seemed slightly more than they could bite off, but the German had endured worse.

❝ If you were guaranteed the money and twenty more years, a small life time in our line of work, would you take it over a chance to live your full life? ❞
It was a question that depended on their combined idea of how long they had left.