That morning, Kirill woke up to the sensation of warmness that stuck to his back and coldness that pierced his skin on the front. His blanket was pulled down a bit unknowingly at some point in the night. The stickiness of someone’s skin stuck to his back belonged to none other than Stepanov Chenkov. “Fuck you!” Kirill cursed in a hoarse voice.

“What?” Stepan woke up groggily and noticed that some parts of the blanket had not covered Kirill’s body which was always covered in hickeys and bruises. He smiled to himself proudly thinking that those were his works of art. He pulled the blanket up for Kirill and continued to stick to him like a koala hugging a tree.

“Get the fuck off. You’re sweaty!” Kirill cursed again, trying to push him off. But Stepan caught both of his hands into his embrace and hugged him tighter. “Babe, don’t provoke me. My dick got hard when you struggle like this,” Stepan warned playfully. The warning caused Kirill to be dead silent and unmoving like a corpse.

Kirill couldn’t predict Stepan’s mood. If he didn’t try to get out of this situation as soon as possible, Stepan might really go ahead and have sex again. Ever since they got to the resort, Stepan was already like a dog in heat. “Let’s go see Marcus. You promise to take me to the carnival today,” Kirill reminded him. Kirill found out about the carnival only a few days ago. He only wanted to go so that he could have time off from sex. And he knew that if Marcus tagged along with them, he would feel at ease.

Marcus scared Kirill at first. But the more he got to know him, he found him to be the sanest among the others. He killed with a passion but when he was not killing someone, he was the most decent human being. And he was polite. And what’s best was that Marcus is an animal lover. That made Kirill grow fond of him even more. One day, Marcus came to him with a white kitten in his hand. This cat has complete heterochromia eyes. One was blue and the other was yellow. The kitten’s mother had died. Marcus told Kirill to keep the kitten so that he wouldn’t feel too lonely and won’t be too occupied with hating Stepan.

It actually worked.

Stepan named the kitten ‘Kliment’. He said that it’s white so this time, Kliment had become pure. Initially, Kirill wanted to curse at him and told him that he didn’t deserve to name the kitten or judge Kliment that way. But he couldn’t say anything at the time because the kitten came up to him and licked his toes as if agreeing to the statement. From then on, the kitten is called Kliment. Kliment was currently left behind at Stepan’s house in Krasniy. The maid was in charge of feeding him.

Stepan kissed Kirill on the cheek a few times before reluctantly got up from the bed. The carnival is held in Krasniy. It was not that far away from the resort. He knew that by now, Marcus probably had made a move on the guy that he had been in love for God knows how long. But he had to pretend to be dumb if he saw that man. Kirill doesn’t know anything about it anyway. It’s best to leave the scheming to the professionals. And that is the Chenkovs.

But even the schemers will have one of those times when they come across such an unpredictable situation. When Stepan and Kirill reached Marcus’ cabin, they were greeted by the sight of a beautiful man with brown-coloured skin, yellowish green eyes like a cat that seemed to glow under the sunlight, black curly locks of hair that looked sculptured from the perfect mould of a Greek Goddess. Kirill’s eyes appeared to sparkle when he saw the man. And the man also looked very interested in Kirill.

“Wow. Hi. I’m Kirill. What’s your name?”

“Call me William. I know you. From the newspaper. I didn’t expect you to be prettier than in the photos.”

“Oh my… I usually hated it when people noticed me from the news. But why does it sound so good to be famous when it comes from your mouth?”

William laughed heartily and began to flirt. “No way. You’re way prettier than me. In fact, you’re beautiful, Kirill.”

“I think you’re more beautiful. You are really my type.”

“Am I now? Your type? Whoa. I’m flattered.”

As they were having this conversation, their hands were still locked in a handshake. They didn’t appear to want to part at all. Both Marcus and Stepan looked at the two with sourness in their hearts and jealousy in their eyes. “Okay. That’s about enough,” Stepan stepped forward first to break the handshake between the two men with his hand. He pulled Kirill into his arms and turned to look at William with a warning.

But William paid no heed to the warning. He just smiled innocently at Stepan. At the same time, despite being pulled into a hug from behind by Stepan, Kirill continued to look at William, completely enthralled.

Marcus remained silent on the side, holding in his jealousy. William noticed Marcus’ silence so he turned to look at him. He looked dejected but restrained. Flirting was only second nature to William so he never thought much of it. But he really couldn’t bear to see Marcus disheartened by this flaw of his. So he went to Marcus and pulled him into a hug. “What’s wrong?” He asked. Marcus only smiled at him, not answering and kept holding his jealousy within him. William doesn’t need to know. It’ll scare him away. After all, William was not completely his yet. He doesn’t have the right to stop him from flirting with others. It hurts him but there was nothing he could do about it.

“Let’s just go to the carnival. We will stop by Stepan’s house after the carnival,” Marcus decided. He no longer wanted to sink deep into his own feelings. He turned around to start taking some things with him when William suddenly pulled him back and kissed him on the cheek. “Kirill is beautiful. But you’re the most beautiful to me, Marcus,” William said. He then immediately let go of Marcus and moved ahead of them. “Let’s go!” He laughed as he called out excitedly.

Marcus could only watch him go. He sighed to himself. He could never win against him. He would do whatever William wanted him to do and be whatever William wanted him to be. It doesn’t matter. As long as one day, William will definitely be his. By then, he hoped that William would be so deeply in love with him that even when he knew all the deep dark secrets, he could no longer let go and run off. That day will come. Marcus will ensure that that day will come.

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Next update: 2023.10.06

*Author’s Note: There won’t be love triangles. But there might be a foursome. Who knows when. Teehee. -K