(Our detective, P'Mark, I made him a bit older in this fiction but personally he's one of my fav characters here)

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I shouldn't have told Ohm about my suspicions about Boun. I didn't anticipate his reaction, I didn't believe that someone like him would be able to take revenge.

Mark was able to determine almost immediately that Boun and Prem were connected to Fluke's death.  Ohm wanted to know everything, so I told him.  I didn't consider him suspicious, so I didn't hide anything from him.  It ended up in my slightly belated pursuit of Ohm, who had caught up with Boun in his own house.  I didn't have time to tell him that the police had found evidence that Boun and Prem had nothing to do with Fluke's death, they had been framed, I guessed, by P'Sky and his men.

Whatever I did, it was too late.  It's too late to stop Ohm, blinded by his desire for revenge.  Ohm wanted to avenge his beloved.  That's why he'd been so calm before.  He didn't say a word about what he was going to do.  Before he was out of sight, I had time to register a strange black shape that looked disturbingly like a small pistol that he had hidden under his black waistcoat at the back, probably wedged in the waistband of his trousers.  I ran after him as fast as I could.  During the filming of our series, I had to go to the gym, so running a few hundred meters from a nearby hotel, where I parked my car, to the house where Boun lives, didn't tire me one bit.  I figured my body was used to the effort.

Unfortunately, I arrived too late.

I knew I would feel guilty for the rest of my life, I knew I would feel guilty about Boun's death because I was the one who told Ohm.  And I could keep quiet!  I could have waited for the police to get Boun!  Mark claimed the evidence was strong enough to convict him.  Perhaps it would also be an opportunity to press him on the P'Sky case.  I had a nagging gut feeling that P'Sky had a hand in this, or worse, was responsible for Fluke's death himself, only making it look like the work of a jealous Boun's privileges and honors.  By the time P'Mark sent me a message that confirmed my suspicions, it was too late to do anything, another innocent man lost his life.  The BL industry has become darker than ever before.  So far, our biggest problems have been: Bright's alcoholism, Singto's fears and panic attacks, or Gun's drug addiction, which no one except his closest friends and associates knew about, or an attempt to hide the real relationship between the actors, but never before have two people died in 36 hours... Two completely innocent actors.  There were some strange disappearances, for example, we didn't know where the hell went Poy Kristanapong, who appeared at our casting, went with us to Italy, but never came back.  Pond claimed that Poy had found some better prospects there, but no one had even spoken to him since!  Only Pond and Cooper could know what was really going on with Poy, but neither of them uttered a word about it.

Our series slowly began to be called "cursed", and we could only wonder and guess blindly who would be the next target.

—  Ohm!  What the fuck are you doing here? —  I screamed and immediately knocked the gun out of his hand.  On the floor in front of us, in a strange, unnatural position, lay the lifeless body of Thai, with his hair dyed light blonde, and still recognizable as Boun.  Ohm was shaking like he was shivering.  I didn't have time to comfort him now.  I just almost witnessed him shoot someone.  It didn't matter what his motives were.  My first impulse was to grab the gun, wipe the fingerprints off it with a colorful floral T-shirt picked up from the floor, then shoved Ohm out the door and started dragging him to the car.  He didn't resist.  He was in shock.  Adrenaline and pre-trained reflexes worked for me.  Mark was a great teacher, he never gave up and some habits got into my blood so much that my muscle memory kicked in.  I looked everywhere, luckily I didn't see the surveillance cameras anywhere.  I slowly made my way to lead Ohm to my car parked nearby.  I put my arm around him, forcing him to move forward.  In the meantime, I called Annie.  I opened the passenger door for him, sat him down, then took my seat and started the engine.

— Annie, we have a problem. Can you book a ticket for Ohm to your place?  — I said without any greeting as soon as I heard her voice.

— Sure, but what happened? — Was it just my imagination or did I hear fear on her voice for real?

— I'll tell you there, now just book the earliest flight available, okay?  Please, it's very important.

— Sure, consider it done.

—And I have another request: look for Saint, Zee, New, Yim and Tutor and wait for me at your place, okay?

— Yeah, I'll look for them now.  But...

— Don't ask, I'll tell you later. —  I cut the discussion short, fearing the phone might be tapped.  I wanted Ohm to be safe in the hideout.  I knew it would be some time before the police found the culprit.  Hiding our friend seemed the most logical to me.  I looked to the side and saw that both hands were clenched into fists in his lap.  He was all tense, nervous.  I didn't even try to talk to him.  Our luck was that despite the usual traffic jams on the crowded streets of the city at this time, we managed to reach our destination in just a few minutes.

Again I had to force myself to drag Ohm to Annie's room, where I immediately shoved him into the shower.

— You have to wash it all off yourself.  Put the clothes you wore today in this bag, we'll burn them later. —  I instructed, handing him the paper bag Annie had brought the groceries in a few hours earlier.  His clothes were all stained with blood, but only now did I notice one detail: the blood didn't look like it had been splattered from a gunshot, but rather like it had been accidentally rubbed into the fabric.  It occurred to me that it looked like Ohm leaned over Boun and hugged him, which made no sense at all.

★   ★   ★

— Perth, Saint, you've already finished your work on the series, right? — Mark asked. As almost all of us he looked very tired today, it wasn't good day for any of us, we were tired, I myself didn't eat anything for way too many hours and started to feel hunger, which made me feel even more sad. P'Mark came to us as soon as he could and already had plan in his head.

— Yeah, our parts are already fully recorded, we don't even need to make corrections —  I explained, and Saint just nodded. Since we came back with Ohm, Ohm himself didn't say a Word, didn't explain what he did and why, didn't defend himself. It must have been very painful to loose fiance and kill best friend... None of us ever imagined any other of our group to be able to kill anyone. We trusted each other... This trust was broken, but was it only me, who thought it was not Boun od Ohm's fault? But it didn't matter now, we needed to hide.

— All right.  Then you and Ohm and Annie will fly to Poland.  You'll hide there until the case dies down.  I'll call Lewis and set everything up.  No one should know that Ohm is responsible for this.  Annie, do you have your bags packed?

— Unfortunately not, I had to buy plane tickets, I just finished —  The Polish woman shook her head negatively, hiding the laptop in her bag.

—  It's nothing, take only the most necessary things, documents and money, the rest you can buy at home.  Perth, Saint I'm talking to you too.  Especially you, Saint, don't take anything.  And try not to be conspicuous.

— That's great, but we have to be at the airport in twenty minutes — Annie informed us.  — Hurry up.  Ohm, you're coming with us.

We walked over to Ohm and made him stand up.  He didn't resist, he followed where we led him, everything was completely indifferent to him.  I didn't even want to imagine what he was going through right now: yesterday his beloved had been killed, and today he himself had taken someone's life.  This allowed us to see that love can sometimes be a toxic, deadly poison, just like envy, jealousy and hatred.  It is difficult to avoid it, these are our everyday demons nowadays.  We don't need civil wars or between neighboring countries, our own thoughts, fears, desires and memories can hurt us enough to lead to the loss of the most precious gift, which is the gift of life.

According to Mark's instructions, I took only the most necessary things from my room.  New and Nat took care to burn any evidence that might indicate any involvement of us in this case.  We also destroyed the only footage from a security camera I overlooked right outside Boun's house.  In the end, Saint didn't wanted to fly with us.  He decided that he preferred to stay and report to us on the progress of the investigation.  He wasn't suspicious of anything, and apart from the current series, he had nothing to do with Boun and Prem.

  ★    ★    ★

Annie walked over to the grave, crouched down beside it, and set down the large blue candle.  I approached to light it.

— They're my grandparents, but I don't even remember them anymore — She said, looking at the board with their names on it.  — I come here when I'm having a hard time and I'm looking for peace.  It's always so quiet, peaceful, nostalgic here.  This place seems suspended in time, as if transferred from another space, I always feel very safe here and I have the impression that time flows differently here, slower.  This is the easiest way to clear your mind.

Hesitantly, I stretched my arms out in front of me and hugged her.

— I can't believe he's gone! —   She whispered, tears flowing from her pretty eyes.  — He was always so radiant and smiling!  He was so excited for his wedding with Ohm!  You know?  They asked me to help organize their wedding.  It was supposed to be a modest celebration only for family and closest friends.  We were in the stage of choosing a place... Fluke was so happy, he was waiting so much... I will never forget his eyes shining with happiness as we looked through the suggestions of different places...

— Anna...

— Yes?

— I need to tell you something... — I started and stopped.  My heart was beating like crazy, I was breathing fast and loud like I had just run a marathon, and she was staring at me like she expected me to hurt her too.  It seemed to me that I read one sentence in her posture and gaze: "If you want to hurt me, do it right now and without hesitation, don't hurt me any more, because I don't know if I can bear   look like this, because with that look you break my heart“.

— I'm sorry... — She whispered again, looking away.

It was indeed unusually quiet in the cemetery.  Apart from the light wind that moved the branches of the trees growing all around along the stone wall and the distant barking of the dog, there was an unusual silence here, full of some mysterious but tempting aura.

—  You have no reason for apologize. You did nothing wrong. Just promise me you'll never leave me like this, please.

— What?

— Please, promise me you won't leave me.  I love you and I dread the day that I might miss you.  I know this is not a good time for such confessions, but what happened made me realize how important it is to tell your loved one about your feelings, to show your loved ones your love and care before it's too late.

— I know, Perth, and I feel the same.  I promise.  Under different circumstances, I would probably kiss you right now, put on a playlist of the most beautiful songs and start dancing.  I've been waiting so long for someone to tell me this.  I stopped believing in love and that I deserve it.  I'm constantly afraid of scaring you or hurting you too.  I'm a freak, I make mistakes all the time, I always do something wrong.  I don't want you to ever regret choosing me.

— Annie... Don't think of yourself that way. You are a beautiful, smart and sensitive person.  You are someone who can always see the suffering of others and someone who would like to help everyone.  I'm glad I fell in love with someone like you, and I'm glad to be here with you.  The only thing that hurts me is the reason we're here.

—  Yes, me too.  Thank you.  Perth... I would like to stand in silence for a while, sometimes it helps me a lot.

— All right.

I hugged her tighter and let the salt droplets fall from my eyes as well, our souls' way of numbing the pain.  We stared straight ahead at the gray plaque, and I realized that in love, it's important not only to look into each other's eyes and see all the unspoken words and emotions, but also to look together in the same direction, to see the same and still  be able to interpret it in different ways.

Annie was something unexpected that happened to me just when I thought my life had settled down and would be quieter, maybe more boring.  I thought that after the few years I spent in the world of the entertainment industry, nothing would surprise me anymore, but this Polish woman made a real revolution in the lives of each of us. For me it was a bit like the deal with the devil.

Ohm had previously asked me if I didn't think that if the AlphaTauri hadn't filmed this show, Fluke might still be alive.

— I don't know, I can't predict the future.  But I suspect his fate would have been the same.  Who knows, maybe it would be even worse.  Look at Saint, Cooper and Kaownah, they were all victims of P'Sky, maybe if that offer hadn't come along and P'Mark's investigation hadn't started, then maybe more people would have died?

— I'd like to believe that... I'd like to believe that it wasn't because of me that he died, not because we wanted to get married.

— Don't blame yourself — I told him then, watching him drink another glass of red wine.  We were already at the hotel, which we managed to book quickly while waiting for check-in at the airport. I tried to understand him as best as I could but I was aware that I may never be able to understand it fully. His pain, his loss, his guilt, everything what he had to hold on his shoulders... Maybe it was too hard for me to process it in my mind.

Dark times have come and we figured out that we were never prepared for what was to come.