One day, everything changed when it rained green instead of blue. That day, David’s twin brother, John, called him, asking if he could lend him some money. David agreed and promised to meet him near a café to hand over the money.
After the call ended, David went to his kitchen, made breakfast, and sat down to watch the news. What he saw nearly made his eyes pop out of his head. He was so shocked that he forgot he was eating. After recovering from the initial shock, he quickly changed channels, finished his breakfast, and got dressed to meet John and collect the money he desperately needed to pay off his weekly debt installment to Naekoliev.
Naekoliev was a skinny man—someone who looked like the exact opposite of a “tough guy.” At first, David couldn’t believe that Naekoliev ran “Podvaal,” the Russian poker club. But that disbelief vanished when David witnessed Naekoliev nearly beat a cheater to death. After that incident, no one dared to cheat in the club again.
As David walked toward the café, he thought bitterly, How did I get here? Just a year ago, he had been teaching at a prestigious university, lecturing on his favorite topic: contingency. He’d once been a poker addict, but he’d paid for therapy and fought hard to overcome his addiction.
When he started his teaching job, things seemed to change for the better. He managed to put his love for poker aside and focus on his work. Still, every morning he woke up with a nagging voice in his head screaming, Do you not want to play poker?! He fought the urge, pushing himself to concentrate even harder on his lectures and research.
But one rainy day, it all fell apart.
“I vaguely remember…” he muttered to himself. It had been a rainy day—but not just any rainy day. That day, it rained green. He thought he was hallucinating from lack of sleep, so he brushed it off.
At the university where he taught, the lesson started smoothly. To his surprise, the class was genuinely engaged in the topic, which made him happy. Just as he finished the lesson, a foul, indescribable smell filled the room. His head spun. Dizzy and disoriented, he collapsed, hitting his head on the table.
“Are you okay, sir?” someone asked as he struggled to stand, only to vomit into the garbage can. His face burned with humiliation. He knew it was over—his career, everything he’d worked for, shattered in an instant.
Two weeks later, he attempted to teach again, but as soon as he stepped into the classroom, dizziness and cold sweat engulfed him. Defeated, he lay in bed that evening, wondering what he would do with his life. Finish my PhD, he decided.
Each morning, he still woke up like an addict, the fiend in his mind screaming, DO YOU NOT WANT TO PLAY POKER? But he resisted, fueling his ambition to complete his doctorate.
One day, while writing his thesis, dizziness overcame him again. Darkness consumed his vision, and when he came to, blood smeared his hand. The computer in front of him was shattered. He lay on the ground, clutching a keycap in his hand.
He stared at the destruction in disbelief. His PhD was gone. His career was gone. What now? he thought bitterly.
Now here he was, in utter disbelief, staring at five missed calls from Naekoliev. Shaking his head, he put on his jacket and headed outside to meet John.
At the café, while talking with his twin brother, he smiled—truly smiled—for the first time in a year. Time seemed to slow as he looked at John and the suitcase. Suddenly, a searing heat wave hit his face, followed by indescribable pain. His life flashed before his eyes as everything faded to black.
When he woke up in the hospital, dizziness lingered, but something felt different. A profound sense of peace filled him. He smiled, knowing these were his final moments. Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and let go, surrendering to the inevitable.