A month and a half later, Kirill began to suspect that Stepan might be hiding the truth from him. The news that casted on the TV perplexed him and made him become doubtful of Stepan’s words at first. Emanuel and Louis were declared by the news to be missing and they were then related to Kliment’s case. The people on the TV and also the public opinion seemed to conclude that the three missing teenagers were abducted by the same person who could be a serial killer or a sexual offender. Not only that, there were also cases of teenagers that were found in the outskirts of Krasniy with their fingers, toes, tongue, and parts of their ears missing. Even though they were alive, the kids were too traumatised to even help the police with the investigation. One of the kids also couldn’t stand the questioning that he committed suicide by jumping off from the hospital’s rooftop.

He questioned Stepan regarding this. But he was slowly coaxed by him. He also told him that he knew nothing about it. Deep within, Kirill doubted him but he refused to think much into it. But still… Later on, he found out that the kids who had those fingers and toes missing were those who were with Louis at the time. He didn’t notice it at first because he wasn’t the type to really pay attention to the details since he only cared about finding Kliment. He was also bad at remembering faces. Other than that, he was also distracted by Stepan at the time that he was ignorant of it. When he realised this fact alone, he became doubtful of Stepan’s words and deeds.

He suddenly remembered to contact his PI whom he had neglected for so long only to find that the number could no longer be reached. Therefore, he decided to try calling the agency where his PI was from. The phone was picked up by a woman who speaks in Russian. “Hello?”

“Hello. Is this Naiti Agency?” Kirill greeted and asked her in fluent Russian.

“Yes. May I know whom I am speaking to?”

“I’m Mr. M. I’m calling to find contact information of one of your P.I.; Mr. Fedorov. It’s Ivanov Federov. He helped me investigate a case for me 8 months ago but I lost his contact number.”

“Ivanov Federov? We don’t have that person as one of our staff, sir.”

“What? Are you sure?”

“Yes. We only have three private investigators and they are all women. Naiti Agency never had any male private investigator. Are you sure he was working with us?”

Kirill was dumbfounded that he could not utter a single word to that. He was lost in his own thoughts for a moment and could no longer comprehend what the woman on the phone was talking about.

“Hello? Sir? Hello?”

He finally heard her and realised that he had been silent for a while. “Aa! Nevermind. Thanks for your time,” Kirill quickly replied and hung up. His heartbeat was beating wildly in his chest. ‘No way…’ He slowly thought to himself. ‘Have I been scammed?’ He wondered. But he was unsure of what to do. He felt lost. He then began to randomly reminisce about the past in order to organise his own thoughts.

How did he get in touch with the Naiti Agency in the first place? To think back, the Agency sent a message to him around the time when Kliment had disappeared suggesting him to contact them since they are interested in the disappearance. They even went as far as to mention that they had an insider to provide them with solid information.

‘An insider?! Why didn’t I think of this before? Who could this insider be?’ Kirill thought. ‘This person should be someone who lives in Krasniy. Maybe someone who went to the same school as Kliment? Or maybe…’ He felt chills at a sudden realisation. ‘Maybe one of the four boys?’

He researched about the Agency before agreeing to hire them. But… he used the link given in the message to their website! It could be a fake website. He needed to check the link again. Kirill quickly looked through his phone to find the old message. After a long while, he finally found the link and clicked on it only to find that the website had been taken down!

‘Hold on… this kind of ability… Could it be Alberto?’ He thought. He could not think further as he saw the four boys heading towards him now as he left the stairways. He quickly placed his phone back into his pocket. Stepan naturally placed his hand around his shoulders and dragged him close to him. “What are you doing, wandering on your own, hmm?” He asked affectionately.

To think back again, these boys are always around wherever he goes. It was like they wanted him to always be in their sight. Kirill looked down to the ground before fixing his facial expression to pretend not to know anything. “I was talking on the phone,” he simply said. He stole a glance towards Stanley, who miraculously had joined the group naturally again after Stepan came back. He had not been talking to Kirill at all. It was like the time when he warned him about Stepan last time never happened. It was so confusing that Kirill wondered if he had just imagined the whole thing.

“With who?” Stepan asked him curiously. Kirill was brought back to reality and realised that Stepan was asking him of whom he had been talking to on the phone.

“Someone from New Japan,” he simply lied.

Stepan looked at Kirill curiously. He couldn’t help but notice the abnormality in him. “Not one of your exes, huh?” He asked.

Kirill was shocked by the question. ‘Who the fuck are you to even ask me that?’ “What’s wrong if it’s one of them?” Kirill snapped.

Stepan looked unhappy as he pouted his lips. He knew that with Kirill, if he was angry, he should use a gentler approach to deal with him. Kirill had such a temper. But he has a kind heart. His kindness can always be used against him. “You can’t do that to me. Aren’t you mine now?” Stepan said as he looked like a puppy who had been abandoned by its owner. Stepan also has his temper but that approach won’t work on Kirill. He needed to act as pitiful as possible to win over him.

“Huh?” Kirill was so surprised that he forgot how to react for a while.

Stepan looked even more sad now. “What do you mean ‘huh’? Are you not my boyfriend now?” He asked as if he was wronged by Kirill.

Kirill was confused for a moment. ‘Didn’t Stepan only sleep with someone once?’ He wondered. ‘When did we talk about being boyfriends?’ “What are you talking about?” He asked. He wondered if he had missed it or he had misled him or something like that. But he was sure that he never did anything of the sort.

Stepan suddenly pulled Kirill to face him with both of his hands on his shoulders. It was like him confronting someone who had done something wrong to him. It was like he felt betrayed and wronged and he didn’t know how to deal with it. “Wait. Kirill, are you telling me you’re not my boyfriend? What did you take me for? Your one night stand? I can’t believe that you’re doing this to me,” he said. He looked like someone who had been used and discarded. Kirill didn’t like looking at him like that. Because he was always honest about what he felt. He never used someone like that. If it was a one night stand, he would directly call it ‘one night stand’. But that time, when he had sex with Stepan, he didn’t name it like that. Because he didn’t know how to name it. It was an impulsive decision. It was never named.

After a moment of silence and looking at Stepan, Kirill couldn’t utter a word. The other boys were also looking at him like he had done something bad to their friends. Except Stanley that is. He was looking at the ground all the time. Kirill coughed twice to cover up the embarrassment before he finally responded; “I mean, you never asked me out or even confessed to me?”

“Oh? Do I need to do that? Is that how it was done in your previous relationship?” Stepan asked, pretending to be stupid. Kirill was dumbfounded that he didn’t know how to answer him. He could immediately sense how he was being pulled by the strings around Stepan’s fingers. He was under his control. “Then I apologise. I’m not used to it. Kirill, I’m in love with you. Go out with me, okay?” He simply confessed and asked Kirill out on the spot. Before Kirill could even answer him, he continued to speak; “Now, you’re mine, right?”

“I…-”

“-Oh yeah. We’re going to ‘Seven’ tonight. You’re coming, right?” Andre suddenly spoke, cutting Kirill off.

“Of course he’s coming. I need to show off my boyfriend to the world,” Stepan said proudly as he placed one of his hands over Kirill’s shoulders again and dragged Kirill with him without waiting for a response from him.

Kirill was angry but he decided not to argue at the moment. For now, he only has his suspicion. Clearly, he could find out more by studying them. When he can confirm his suspicion later on, he would definitely confront them with all that he got. For now, he decided to just play along with this game. It’s funny that he could feel that he was being pulled along by the strings. He knew that it was happening. But why didn’t he have the courage to cut off the strings?

That night, he realised what kind of club ‘Seven’ really is. He was never interested in group sex before but somehow, that night, he was literally dragged to be involved in one. He was never the type to believe that people could really become blind when they’re in love but that night, he was sure that he was really blinded by love.

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Next update: 2022/10/10

*Author’s Note: Give me two weeks to finish writing the next quite smutty chapter. Thank you. -K