Six months went by. It’s mid autumn. Looking at the fallen leaves, Kirill can’t help but be reminded of Kliment. Autumn was the season where they had separated when they were a child. In less than a month when he got to Krasniy, he had been in constant conflicts. But now, time seems to be moving slowly. There was no progress in anything. He had not found Kliment. He had not heard any new clues from the boys. They avoided the topic when he wanted to ask them. They simply told him to talk to Stepan about it. But Stepan was gone. He had been gone for six months. He had taken a leave from school to go abroad. He texted him daily but he also avoided the topic by saying that he’d rather talk about it face to face. But Stepan hadn’t told him when he would be back. He had not had the chance to speak to Stanley as well. Stanley had been avoiding him. He also kept his distance from his friends. He was always alone somewhere, not talking to anyone.

Only Alberto and Andre were still lingering around Kirill. Sometimes Kirill can feel like they are guard dogs or something. But he has no idea what they are guarding him from. The stalkers were also gone. No letters or threats or anything at all. It was as if they never existed in the first place.

It’s so strange…

Kirill’s phone suddenly vibrated. He looks and notices that it was a message sent by Stepan. When he reads the message, he really feels like he wanted to kill someone. Stepan; What is the colour of your underwear today?

Kirill replies in annoyance; The colour of your blood, asshole.

Stepan was quick to reply; Aww. Red is for passion.

Another reply came; That means I should prepare for you a passionate night.

And then another; With your aahhs and oohs. Hahaha.

Kirill decides to ignore the jerk and leaves him on ‘read’. He turns to look at Alberto who is sitting beside him while typing some codes on his laptop. “Have you guys been in contact with Stepan?” Kirill asked.

“Hmm? No. He hasn’t contacted us. He usually won’t do that when he’s abroad,” Alberto answers without looking at Kirill and keeps his eyes fixated on his coding. They are sitting at the extra tables and chairs in the back of their classroom. This used to be the space where the four boys would hang out during their free time but now Kirill also hangs out here with them. Minus the existence of Stanley and Stepan of course.

Kirill thinks that it was odd that Stepan didn’t even contact his own friends. Why would he text him instead everyday then? “Is it his family business thing going on?” Kirill asked again.

“Of course. It’s Stepan’s ‘coming of age’ this month,” This time, it was Andre who replied to his answer. Andre was playing on his phone. He appeared to be texting someone but Kirill didn’t pay any mind to what he was typing and to whom he was talking to.

“Coming of age?”

“Yeah. He will officially be the heir or something like that,” Andre explained. He looks at Kirill and starts to place one of his arms behind Kirill on the chair’s top rail.

Kirill understands that this means Stepan’s birthday should be within this month. “When will he be back?” He asked. It was more of a complaint rather than him being curious. His phone then vibrated again. He looks at the floating message of the text. Of course it was from Stepan; I miss you.

It was coincidentally at that moment that Andre started to ask Kirill something that caused him to be surprised at his own self. “Why? You’re missing him already?” Andre teased and quickly laughed over his own teasing. Kirill narrows his eyes at him, looking annoyed. But more so, he is annoyed at himself. Because that was the truth. It was too late for him to dodge when Andre suddenly leaned down near his sensitive ears and whispered. “You can try it with me while he’s not around,” he said as his eyes were lingering on Kirill’s body suggestively.

By this point, Kirill was already immune to Andre’s flirtations. “I’m really tempted to cut your dick off,” he simply said monotonously.

Andre immediately laughs when he hears the threat coming out of Kirill’s mouth. Alberto on the side also can’t help but laugh along. “Don’t bother with him, Kirill. He fucks anything that moves,” Alberto teased. They laugh together again. Kirill only shakes his head at them thinking that sometimes it’s hard to know if these guys are joking or being serious.

Suddenly, a chair is being pulled out next to them and Stanley takes a seat on it with his bitchy-resting face.

“Already done sulking?” Alberto asked out of concern but he was ruthlessly ignored by him. Stanley just sat there not speaking. Kirill wanted to ask him there and then about what he had found out from Kliment’s journal but he hesitated. All of them were quiet for a moment.

“Can I have a moment with Kirill?” Stanley suddenly asked.

Alberto and Andre looked at each other first. As if they had telepathically discussed the situation using their eyes, they both nodded and rose from their seats to leave the two alone. But before leaving, Alberto turns to Stanley with a stern face. “Be careful with what you say,” he warned. They both look into each other’s eyes and seem to understand the meaning behind it. It of course meant; ‘be careful not to offend Stepan with what you say to Kirill’. Stanley only nods at him in understanding. The two boys left them alone.

Stanley looks at Kirill right in the eye. There is resoluteness written on his face. He was not going to pay heed to Alberto’s warning. Before Kirill could say anything to him, he threw a solid warning at Kirill. “You stay away from Stepan,” he said. “You’re Kliment’s twin brother and as much as I don’t like your existence, I think Kliment would not want anything bad happening to you. So, you must stay away from Stepan.”

Kirill felt offended in an instance. “And why should I?”

“He’s dangerous and he is obsessed with you,” Stanley said as a-matter-of-factly.

Kirill chuckles sarcastically a little before he sneered; “As much as you’re obsessed with my brother?” Stanley was quiet for a moment. He also felt offended by such a statement but he couldn’t refute it. “You said Stepan is dangerous but between you and him, who was it that wanted to rape the person you were obsessed with?” Kirill asked, letting a heavy weight from his chest go.

Stanley appeared to be surprised for a moment before his expression changed back to his bitchy-resting face. “How did you know that? Another one of your psychic shit?” He asked indifferently.

Kirill was infuriated. Especially to the fact that he didn’t even show a slight indication of remorse on his face as he asked that. It was like it was nothing to him. Like it wasn’t that big of a deal for him. “How dare you try to do that to my brother. You have no idea how much I wanted to beat you to death right now.”

To the threat, Stanley curves an unfriendly smile as he asks; “Do you even know what kind of thoughts Kliment had for you?”

Kirill suddenly remembers the major content of Kliment’s journal. His stomach is churning. He feels like he wants to throw up but he holds it in as he perfunctorily says; “I know.”

Stanley looks at Kirill perplexedly at first but then he thinks of something and he smiles widely at the realisation. “Ah… You must’ve found his journal then,” he said and he chuckled slowly. “Must be quite traumatising, right?”

Kirill is still feeling a little uncomfortable. “Have you read it too?” He asked.

“I don’t need to read it to know the contents,” Stanley said. He then laughed aloud mockingly. “I can already predict what was written in there,” he insinuated.

To cover his discomfortness, he turns to rely on his anger. “Anyway, that was the day he went missing. Tell me now, do you have anything to do with it?!” Kirill spat.

Stanley only narrows his eyes at Kirill when he hears the question. He then smiles. But there is a hint of sadness and hurt in that smile. “You’re suspecting me?” He asked. He then sighs loudly. “Let me tell you something. I love him. Sometimes lust can get out of hand but I do love him. So, I will not hurt him to the extent of killing him. But,...” Stanley arched closer as he said his next words to Kirill. “Stepan doesn’t have such sentiments.” He then backed away to lean back on his chair. “It’s up to you whether you want to believe me or not. But I have warned you. Besides, the last person who was with Kliment was Stepan. Are you not suspicious? Or have you just been blinded by love?”

Kirill is dumbfounded by the last questions. He can’t say anything as Stanley gets up from his seat and leaves the room in anger. There are a lot of thoughts going on in his head. But he keeps remembering the time he had spent with Stepan. Stepan’s weaknesses were laid out in front of him and that showed his cute side. And then there were his kisses and touches… It’s impossible. It can’t be Stepan. It was warm when he was wrapped in his arms. It couldn’t be him. He took out his phone and opened the chat box between him and Stepan again. Was he blinded by love? He thought to himself. Love? Is he in love? ‘I miss you’ was the last message sent to him by Stepan. He keeps looking at the three words. And then he searches deep in his heart to find that it’s not that Stepan was not suspicious. It was just that he himself refused to be suspicious of Stepan. He was putting a bet. And he could only hope that it was worth it.

He replied to Stepan’s message; Come back home.

After some hesitation, with a blushed face, he also finally answered Stepan’s original question; It’s blue.

It is on days like these that he feels like running. When school ends that day, he goes out to run around the school’s field. He was physically running but in truth, he was running away from his own messed up mind and feelings. When he is finally exhausted, he lies down on the cold grass with heavy breathing, looking at the sky that is about to get dark. He closes his eyes. His thoughts are empty. He is trying to find peace.

But he is alerted to the sounds of footsteps heading towards him. When he opens his eyes, he sees that there are six to seven guys in front of him. His instinct told him that this is bad news and he started to realise that it had been so peaceful these past few months until he had forgotten that danger still lingers in Krasniy for him. He looks at them closely. Among the unfamiliar faces, he recognises one of them. There is a delicate-looking boy among them with dark hair, fair skin and light brown eyes. He has a smile on his face as he looks at Kirill. From where he was standing, he appears to be the leader of this gang of boys.

“Hello, Kirill,” he greeted him with a smile. But there was no sign of friendliness in his smile. “I’m Louis. I was quite close to your brother,” he introduced himself.

‘Louis?!!’ Kirill is reminded of Kliment’s journal and also his vision from Kliment’s memory at the doctor’s office. This guy is Louis whom Kliment had toyed with and discarded like trash!

“You see… Umm… Your brother owed me something and I need to get it from you,” Louis said. The smile on his face looks innocent, but there’s a hint of evil in it. He is supposed to hold a grudge against Kliment. That would make sense. But why does it feel like he was not here for a mere grudge? It’s strange that Kirill can sense that there’s more than meets the eyes with Louis. There is something sinister about that smile.

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Next update: 2022/08/15

*Author’s Note: Another long chapter, of course. Since I update every two weeks now. Hope you guys enjoy the story so far. It’s up to you guys as well whether to believe Stanley or place a bet on Stepan. -K