♛

"BEFORE YOU SPEND MORE time with Kawanishi Keigo, how about spending more time with me? What do you say, Leigh?" Gavriil asks. Max gulps and tries to look away from him, but for some reason, he couldn't.

     "I don't think I—" Max was supposed to decline the offer, but the urge to stay took over, so he sighs in defeat and answered instead, "Alright, I think I can sleep over. Let me just send a message to Étienne and tell him I'll be staying here so he won't be worried."

     Max immediately turns away from Gavriil because he was too embarrassed to face him. He then walks to a large window where the city lights welcomed him. Max pulls out his phone from his pocket and started typing a message for his butler, but as he was doing so, Gavriil appears behind him and suddenly hugs him from behind.

     "Why are you running away from me?" Gavriil asks with a low voice as he wraps his arms around Max's waist.

     "I'm not trying to run away," Max lies, his face completely red as he looks back at Gavriil through his reflection in the window. Max eventually finished typing as he sent the message to his butler. As soon as he hid his phone back in his pocket, Gavriil pulls him closer and kisses him on the neck, instantly sending chills down Max's spine.

     "Are you tired?" Gavriil whispers in his ear, and Max takes a deep breath and answers, "I'm fine."

     Gavriil smiles after hearing Max's answer, kissing his shoulder this time. But right after, he lets go of him and says, "I won't do anything you don't like, okay? You don't have to be so tense."

     Max's face was still completely red as he nodded his head in reply. Gavriil then pats his head and gently kisses Max's forehead so Max wouldn't feel too tense. "Have you already taken a bath?" He then asks him.

     "I have. I took one before I left earlier."

     "Then let me give you some change of clothes," Gavriil then says as he heads to another room. After a couple of minutes, Gavriil got back and handed Max some pajamas. "You can change in my bedroom. You can freely use the bed too so don't worry about anything. I'll just take a bath. I've been wearing our uniform all day after all," Gavriil says, and Max nods his head again as Gavriil finally went to the bathroom.

     As soon as he was gone, Max takes a deep breath and touched his neck. The kiss that Gavriil left on him burned that Max could still feel it. He couldn't believe that he'd be able to experience such a sensation. It felt strange, but at the same time, it felt good.

     "Alright, I gotta calm down," Max says to himself as he finally entered Gavriil's bedroom.

     "Excuse the intrusion," he says, hugging the clothes that the vice president gave him. Gavriil's room looked pretty normal, but it fit the aesthetic of his entire apartment. It was clean and neat, and it almost looked like it hasn't been touched for months. That's how organized it looked.

     Max looks around the room, hoping to find pictures of him or his family, but there weren't any of them. There was just a clean desk with a computer, and a shelf filled with educational books. It didn't even have magazines or comics.

     "Does Gavriil not have any hobbies?" Max asks as he closed the door so he could change. As soon as he was done changing, he took a hanger and hung his clothes to the side. He then walked closer to the bed and stared at it before shyly taking a seat.

     "Why am I acting like this? It's not like we're going to do anything weird. Gavriil already said it himself, he won't do anything that I won't like, and I trust him for that," Max says, convincing himself so he wouldn't be so nervous.

     While waiting, Max looks around the room again and noticed the only painting that was hanging on the wall. It was a black and white painting, but the boy in the middle was holding a balloon that was yellow. It was the only object that had a color in the entire painting.

     "My own room is bland too, but this is definitely a different level," Max says as his eyes continued to wander around the room. "I guess I just don't know much about him."

     Max sighs as a sad expression appears on his face after realizing it too. Max realized that he knows little about Gavriil, and the reason for this could be because he doesn't remember anything anymore. There was a point in his life when he knew almost everything about Gavriil, but now all of it was erased, and Max couldn't help but feel upset about it.

     "If I regretted ever wanting to forget anything about my past, this is probably it," Max says, grabbing a pillow and hugging it. The room looked like no one was living in it, but as soon as he hugged the pillow, Max could instantly smell a familiar scent that proved that this room was owned by him.

     The smell calmed him down and Max was moments away from closing his eyes when the door finally opened, revealing Gavriil who was wearing matching pajamas while drying his hair with a dry cloth.

     "You're not going to sleep yet?" Gavriil asks as he takes a small hair dryer from his cabinet. He then walks back to the bed and plugs the cord in the outlet near the headboard.

     "Let me," Max says as he snatches the dryer from Gavriil's hand so he wouldn't be able to say no, so Gavriil just chuckles and obediently sits on the floor as Max positions his legs between him.

     Max turns the dryer on and starts dryer Gavriil's long hair with it. "By the way, why does your apartment look like no one has touched it for weeks?" Max then asks.

     "It's probably because I cleaned the room like a maniac because I knew you were coming," Gavriil manages to joke.

     "Come on, I'm being serious."

     "Well, I rarely stay here so that's probably it. And besides, it's lonely living alone so I usually go out and just come back when I need to sleep," Gavriil explains, which was understandable. There are a lot of people staying at Max's house, but at times it can still feel lonely, so imagine if you're living alone.

     "If you're feeling lonely then you can just call me. I'll rush over here and keep you company. Hopefully, you can teach me how to cook first before Keigo," Max then says, making Gavriil laugh this time.

     "I'm going to teach him the dishes you hate the most so you'll reject him in an instant," Gavriil says, making Max hit his shoulder.

     As Max continued to dry Gavriil's hair, he suddenly remembered something important. "You mentioned before that your family are all in Russia, but aren't they visiting you? Or are they checking on you at least?" Max then asks, and Gavriil becomes quiet all of a sudden.

    Max realizes what he said so he quickly turns the dryer off and says, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to ask a sensitive question."

     "N-no, it's fine," Gavriil immediately says, leaning his head on Max's thighs. "I'm an only child, but my parents love our company more than they love me, so I would have to die first before they come to visit. I'm used to it anyway so there's no problem with that."

     "I don't really know what to say, but if it makes you feel better then know that I'm here, always," Max says as he starts playing with Gavriil's hair. Gavriil smiles and tilts his head upward to look at Max. "I know," he replies, and Max leans down and presses his lips on his.

     Max continues to dry Gavriil's hair, and when he was finished with it, Gavriil hid the dryer back as Max comfortably sat on the bed.

     Gavriil approaches Max and sits beside him. When the two were now sitting side by side, Max moves closer to him so he could rest his head on Gavriil's shoulder. "I want to relearn things about you Gav," Max tells him. "It feels like I know nothing about you and that angers me."

     "Relearn you say?" Gavriil asks with a chuckle, but then he grabs Max and makes him sit on his lap, wrapping his arms around his waist. When the two were now facing each other, Max reaches out to touch Gavriil's face, almost like he was trying to remember it.

     "What do you want to know?" Gavriil asks as he lets Max do whatever he wants.

     "Everything," Max answers, making him smile.

     "Well, like what Keigo said I'm a pretty boring person. I only like cooking, reading science books, oh, and listening to bands. I sometimes go to underground concerts too when I have the time. I'd bring you to one if you like," Gavriil shares as Max touches the mole near his right eye this time.

     "I also used to play the guitar but I stopped when I got older, and I guess thanks to my family's line of business, I know how to design weapons," Gavriil then reveals like designing weapons was a skill anyone could easily do.

     "That does not sound like a boring person at all! I don't know anyone else who can do something like that," Max says, trying to hype Gavriil up so he wouldn't feel too bad about himself.

     "Stop, you. And it's not a good skill anyway. To be honest, it feels more like a curse than a gift. If I can be able to unlearn it then I'd do it in a heartbeat," Gavriil says with a sad expression, suddenly remembering the bombing incident that killed the Stepanov Clan.

     Gavriil obviously didn't know anything about it since he was a child back then, but when he found out that the bombs used to kill Viktor's entire family were the bombs that the Alexeev family produced and sold, Gavriil was devastated. It's probably the only reason why he's bound to Viktor and is forced to follow him.

     "Hey..." Max calls out when he noticed the change in Gavriil's expression. "Don't think about anything that might upset you, okay?"

     "Okay," Gavriil softly answers, and Max leans close and drapes his arms around Gavriil's neck so he could give him a deep kiss. The two continued to press their lips together, but Max pulls away after a while so he could take a breath. Gavriil stares right into his eyes and kisses Max again before grabbing the necklace that he was wearing.

     It was the Lemieux necklace.

     "It's strange how you're wearing this now. The last time I saw this was when your mother was still wearing it," Gavriil says.

     "I didn't want to wear it before but I've been getting closer to my Lemieux side so I wanted to put this on and see if I really deserved it," Max says, but Gavriil ignores him as he starts kissing his neck this time. Max closes his eyes as he takes in the sensation of Gavriil's soft lips. He then feels Gavriil's hand travel inside his shirt.

     Max didn't stop him because he wanted to see if he'll be able to do it, but as soon as he felt Gavriil's warm hand touch his bare back, the contact immediately made Max open his eyes back. Max looks at Gavriil who was apparently staring at him, checking how he'll react. So when Max looked startled from getting touched, Gavriil immediately pulls his hand away.

     "Did I scare you?" Gavriil asks as he tucks Max's hair behind his ear.

     Max doesn't answer and rests his head on Gavriil's chest instead. "I'm sorry," he says, and Gavriil starts patting Max's head before gently kissing it.

     "Don't say that Leigh. I already told you didn't I? If it's enough for you then it's enough for me. We can take things slow, so I'll wait whenever you're ready," Gavriil reassures him, and Max hugs him even tighter.

    "Thank you for letting me kiss you today, Leigh. Now let's get some sleep. You still have a lot of things to do tomorrow," Gavriil says, and Max moves away from him and finally lies on the bed.

     Gavriil turns the lights off and lies beside Max, tucking both of them inside the blanket. "Good night." Gavriil then says, and Max moves closer to his boyfriend, resting his head on his chest as he closed his eyes to calm himself down so he could finally rest.

     The room was silent and the two of them slowly drifted to sleep. But as Max was sleeping comfortably, an image suddenly appears in front of Max.

     "Let's play hide and seek," a familiar child's voice suddenly asks in Max's dreams, which seemed more like a memory.

     "Hide and seek? But that's for kids! We should do something else." Another voice answered, and silhouettes of four people appeared in front of Max. They were wearing formal clothes, but for some reason, their faces were blurred out.

     "Come on, let's just play with Leigh. It wouldn't hurt if we did, and you wouldn't want to see him cry now would you?" someone says, and the five of them started running around in what seemed to be a large mansion. Happy laughter echoed in the corridor, but then, a loud sound was suddenly heard in a distance.

     "Wait, did you guys hear that? Wasn't that an explosion? I think it came from inside the event hall," another voice asks as the scene shifts to a different area in the mansion.

     "Oh no, we should go back. The others might be looking for us."

     "No, we have to stay out here. What if something bad happens? It's better if we stick together."

     "Are you crazy? My family's in there. I gotta go back!" The voice desperately shouts, but then a loud bang was suddenly heard, instantly making the five of them duck and cover.

     The dream changed again, and now fire could be seen everywhere. Max turns around and sees someone standing in front of him, covered in dust and debris, tightly holding onto his shoulder with his shaking hands.

     "Take my hand and don't let go..." the boy says, and Max wipes his tears away before answering, "And I'll walk with you forever."

     Soon after, the boy in front of him pushes him off the balcony, and before he could reach the floor, Max gasped and opens his eyes, instantly sitting up from the bed. Max was panting heavily as he looked around the room, realizing that he was still in Gavriil's bedroom.

     "Leigh? Are you okay," Gavriil asks, his eyes hazy. But instead of answering him, Max moves closer to him and hides his face in his chest, trying to calm his heart from beating fast. Gavriil noticed how uneasy Max was, but he doesn't ask him anything and just hugs him back.

     "It's okay baby. I'm here," Gavriil says, tightly wrapping his arms around Max.

     "Embrace me until I fall asleep, okay?" Max demands, and Gavriil did exactly that, watching over Max until he was sure that Max was finally resting easy in his arms.

...

Gavriil woke up after hearing his phone ringing. He looks at the person beside him and saw that Max was still sound asleep, so Gavriil carefully pushes Max off him so he could sit up. He looks at the clock and sees that it was still 4:50 AM, so Gavriil angrily takes his phone to check who was calling him this earlier in the morning. When he saw who it was, Gavriil's annoyed expression instantly turned into anger.

     Gavriil had no choice but to stand from the bed. He looked back at Max to check on him again before heading to the balcony. As soon as he closed to sliding door behind him, Gavriil answers the call.

     "You have a talent for pissing me off...Viktor."

     "Good morning to you too Mr. Alexeev. I'm sorry to disturb you, but I just wanted to let you know that I talked to my lawyer last night and I finally retrieved the will and testament. I'm working on a few more things so I can officially get all of the Stepanov Clan's riches and properties," Viktor explains, and even though Gavriil was mad that he called, this information was indeed a surprise.

     "So what now?"

     "I just need to fix a couple more things and I can finally get a hold of the company. It's been so long, I can't believe I'm finally close to my goal," Viktor says, obviously excited.

     Gavriil didn't want to admit it because of how rough his relationship is with Viktor, but for some reason, he felt relieved to hear him sounding hopeful again. Ever since things have fallen apart, Gavriil was one of the few people who was with Viktor, especially during his darkest state. It was almost like his childhood self was slowly coming back.

     "Anyway, we still need to prepare. I want you to be ready when the time comes. I don't want you getting distracted now," Viktor says.

     "You don't have to tell me. I know what I'm doing."

     "Is that why Sinclaire is sleeping in your bed right now?" Viktor suddenly asks, and Gavriil immediately looked down from the balcony. As expected, he saw a man in a black suit standing outside the building. This man has been guarding Gavriil for weeks now. Gavriil has already told Viktor to stop this nonsense, but it seems like Viktor wasn't the listening type.

     "You're a fucking stalker, do you know that?" Gavriil asks in irritation.

     "You don't give me enough credit Gav, I'm a bit hurt. I'm just overprotective since your family doesn't even give a fuck about you here. Have you already forgotten why they dumped your ass in this country in the first place? I'm the only one you've got. I'm the only one protecting you," Viktor says, and Gavriil doesn't even know if he's being serious or if he's just sarcastic.

     "You know who the next target is Gav, let's not be blind here, we've studied their pattern a hundred of times. You  keep getting closer to Sinclaire but do you think you can protect him if the time comes?" Viktor asks, and Gavriil clenched his fist in anger.

     "This isn't about me, so if you have nothing else to say then I'm hanging up," Gavriil says in complete annoyance. He was about to end the call so he wouldn't hear Viktor's voice anymore, but then Viktor says something that made him stop in an instance.

     "By the way, how's Sinclaire's new assistant? I picked him myself if that's what you're wondering," Viktor suddenly says, surprising Gavriil.

     "What are you talking about?"

     "I saw him confessing to that white uniform during the field trip and thought it would be fun to give him to Hee-joon. And since the kid likes him, maybe he'll do well and actually get Sinclaire to attend the banquet. Who knows?" Viktor says, and Gavriil couldn't believe that this was Viktor's doing all along.

     He should have expected that from the very beginning.

     "Anyway, I should go. You can go back to bed and comfort your sweet innocent lover again," Viktor teases as he finally ends the call.

     Gavriil takes a deep breath and angrily clenches his phone. He was about to throw his phone away because of complete anger, but the door behind him suddenly opens. Gavriil quickly looks behind him and saw that it was actually Max.

     Max scratches his eyes and yawns before walking close to the vice president. "Gav? Is everything okay?

     Gavriil stares at Max for a while before grabbing him for a tight embrace. "I love you," he suddenly says, surprising Max.

     Max didn't know why Gavriil would say that out of the blue, but he smiles and hugs Gavriil back anyway. "I love you too," he answers.

     Gavriil gives Max a kiss before pushing him away from him. "Are you hungry? I'll make you breakfast."

     "Okay," Max answers, and the two of them went back inside, not knowing that the king himself, Viktor Alekovich Stepanov, was inside a car that was parked outside Gavriil's apartment building, watching in complete fascination.

- END -