Peak

The morning began quite normally. Today, all the clones were scheduled to go to Fyodor for another checkup. No one particularly liked the idea, but they had no choice. They quickly packed and headed out to see their creator.

The trip passed peacefully, but the same couldn't be said for the meeting itself. Fyodor greeted them with his usual cold gaze. He looked especially displeased when he saw Pik and Vara nearby. He disapproved of their relationship and never hid it.

At first, everything was tolerable. Kuromaku was discussing something with Fyodor, the others were sitting in the waiting room. At some point, Pik briefly went into the kitchen, leaving Vara with the others.

Not even a few minutes had passed before a loud argument echoed throughout the apartment.

"Who are you to tell me what to do?!" Varu shouted indignantly.

"Who raised you?!" Fyodor barked back.

Then there was a sharp bang.

Peak instantly jumped up and returned to the room.

— I stepped away for a minute. What the fuck happened here already?!

Varu stood clutching his cheek. A red spot was already appearing on his skin. Fyodor, however, looked as if he had no regrets whatsoever.

"Teach your husband some manners!" Fyodor snapped irritably. "He doesn't even know where the boundaries are!"

"You started all this!" Varu snapped, not intending to remain silent.

"Calm down," Kuromaku intervened, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Screaming won't solve the situation."

Pik gave Fyodor a hard look, then carefully took Vara's hand and led her out of the room. Arguing now was pointless.

They went into the bathroom. Pik took a bag of something cold from the freezer and gently pressed it to Varu's flushed cheek. The blow was hard—the creator's hand was heavy—and it was already clear that a bruise would almost certainly remain.

There was silence for a few seconds.

"Varu, how come?" Pik finally asked, examining his face closely. "What caused the argument?"