Milk

“Here is your milk, big brother.”
Cain was as usual busy in his study, dedicatedly going through his papers. Looking up for a moment, he said,”Thank you, Abel. Just leave it on the table. I will get it. Could have sent it through one of the maids; why did you have to take the trouble, kid?” he was back to his work even before he finished the sentence and he dint wait for a reply. Abel too knew that he dint want an answer; infact he knew his brother too well.
“Drink it before it goes cold, huh.” He said. 
He left as Cain took the cup to drink. The milk was sugar-less, just as Cain preferred it to be. But, he dint know that there was another special ingredient in it, that day.


Cain Redwood and Abel Redwood were twins. A few minutes’ impatience had made Cain the elder brother. Not only that, now it made him the King of the multi-billion empire left by their father. Abel was bored of always playing the second fiddle. His father had always been partial to the elder kid. The old man in his will left all his properties to his two sons; but the elder alone shall have complete authority over it and the younger son would inherit the property only on the demise of the elder son or on the event of him willfully leaving it to his younger brother. Abel knew the latter would never happen.

Abel decided to quicken the process just a little bit. So he had the best vial of slow poison flown in from the Amazons; and the venom had no known antidote. This was his special ingredient.
It would take almost 3-4 days for the poison to show the effect and make it look just natural. If his calculations were right, the next Monday would dawn with a new ruler to the Redwood Empire.

Sunday nights were strictly family-dinners in the Redwoods. It was a rule that the mother had brought in so that the family would not lose the bond. The sons followed the tradition sincerely to this day. Abel was there to have dinner with his dying brother; the last supper.
Abel and Cain were the only families to each other. Cain had been too busy expanding his father’s business that he never cared for a family of his own and Abel had no fixed family ie he never believed in settling down with just one woman and be burdened with children and responsibilities.

That night, Cain seemed so dull and worn. With the stubble and worried look on his face, he seemed to have aged almost double in these two days! Abel was nothing but elated to see the symptoms actually happening. It was a well planned dinner with all the food that the riches usually eat and culminated in blueberry cheesecake and cuajada for desserts.

As Abel was about to leave after bidding farewell to his brother, he thought one last small pleasantry would do no harm and said,” hey Cain, that was a wonderful dinner and the dessert was absolutely fantastic! You should have tasted it!”
“Thank you, Abel.” Cain replied with a weak smile and continued, “Its I who should thank you for the dessert.”
“What?” asked Abel absolutely confused.
“Its good milk that makes good cuajada. Thanks for the bloody milk you gave me the other night, dear brother.” Said Cain with gritted teeth.