Chapter 220: In The Storms, Maybe We’d Be Different

[FROLO]

The past three days had been oddly mundane.

Katya had gone to work despite protests from his friends and even his boyfriend. They wanted him to take some time off to process everything. But Katya’s answer had been the same.

That he was fine.

That he didn’t need to keep holding onto it all.

That he had grieved for so long, he had to try to see how to be happy in the present.

They didn’t believe him, and he didn’t blame them. As a compromise, they agreed that Katya would stay with the senator until the court proceedings were over.

And of course, Katya tried to fight it.

But they insisted.

"Either you stay with Alek, or we will walk around you, guarding you every step you take. We’ll be there like your shadows," Andre had simply stated.

Now, to a normal person, perhaps that would just mean care and adoration. But where Svetlana and Andre were involved, there was nothing sane about their ways.

Katya won because he had watched people disappear just because his friends thought they looked at Katya differently. He knew they were unhinged, and with the situation in the city, he didn’t want his friends’ hands covered in blood for him.

Maybe that was naive reasoning, since at the end of the day, they would always fight for him. But it was enough for them that he eventually agreed to stay with the senator.

And so, the new cycle began.

Katya going to work and coming home to Alek.

Katya still going to lunches with Sergei because he believed it was a harmless routine, regardless of how the city was evolving.

"I love you, Alek. And no amount of lunches I have with Vladimir will ever change that," Katya had said, and Alek trusted him.

Because he had noticed how Sergei respected Katya’s decisions. How Sergei stepped aside when it came to Katya.

It was insane trust to give, especially where the barbarian was involved.

But if he didn’t trust Katya Romanov, the purest piece in the war they were all fighting, then who the fuck was he even supposed to trust?

Today, just like every other day, Sergei and Katya were at their usual restaurant having lunch.

"I’ve been meaning to ask something, Vladimir... And you’re not allowed to lie," Katya said, and Sergei let out a soft laugh. The entire lunch, they had been bickering about the shapes of burgers and how they made no sense.

So, even this, he figured, was just going to be another wild subject for both of them.

Light.

Harmless.

"I’ll flip the coin first," Sergei said, and Katya groaned while the alpha just laughed.

Around them, the people in the restaurant were still in shock. They knew what had happened in the city the entire week. The revelations that had been made by the doctors.

The upcoming court cases.

They knew, and most of them looked at Katya pitifully because this was an omega who had lost everything. They expected Katya to be sad; to be grieving, yet he was here acting as if nothing had happened.

But then again, they all had seen Katya over the years and how much he had grieved. Still, it didn’t make it any easier to watch him try so hard to be happy. It didn’t help that he was at lunch with the one man who burned the city and was still burning it for him.

And they were acting like normal people.

Having conversations like their very presence in this restaurant wasn’t a recipe for disaster.

The lack of Moskowsky guards following them around or pretending to be eating lunch in the restaurant was also insane because, after everything, the least that many expected was increased security.

Yet it was just the two of them out here.

But perhaps Sergei was all the security Katya needed at the moment, right?

"Heads again!" Katya cheered a little too loudly before apologizing to the tables beside them repeatedly.

And Sergei...

His eyes were on Katya the whole time.

He wasn’t even hiding it.

The only saving grace for this moment was the fact that Katya wasn’t looking at Sergei like Sergei was looking at him. Anyone could see that this was just friendship for the omega.

But damn, was it the friendship that became legend?

"This game is rigged," Sergei whined lowly, and Katya just laughed at him heartily, a sight so new to everyone.

Gods, they looked so domestic with each other.

"Alright, here’s the question," Katya said, and Sergei paid attention.

"How many custom Britten superbikes are there in the country at the moment?" Katya asked, a sheepish smile on his face, and Sergei didn’t think anything of it.

"That’s easy... One."

"One?"

"Yeah. I have the only one in the country."

"I could swear I saw a delivery guy with one a few months back," Katya laughed.

But Sergei...

He froze.

Like a deer in headlights.

He hadn’t used his brain.

All the secrecy only for him to be the one to out himself.

"Wh—" Sergei began only for Katya’s phone to ring.

"Hold on, this is from the penthouse. I’ll answer this and come back. If you run, you’ll make Svet breakfast for a week and wake her up for it," Katya said casually, and Sergei realized there was no way out.

Svetlana Vasilieva was never a morning person. That woman was always grumpy in the mornings. Sergei had witnessed it twice when he went to the senator’s house just to check on Katya, and she opened the door at ten o’clock and looked ready to hack Sergei’s head off his shoulders.

To wake that woman up was like convincing Anya that Sergei was a saint.

Now he was trapped with either serving the demon spawn of a woman breakfast or sitting through and waiting for Katya’s next question.

Gods, he was screwed in all the ways to hell.

Meanwhile, Katya’s phone call continued.

"What do you mean by three days?" Katya asked worriedly.

"He’s been in his car for three days. He just parked outside the gates. Hasn’t asked to come in. Won’t accept any food we offer him. At first, we thought he would leave or make any demand or even call you, but he didn’t.

"So, we had to call," the person on the other end said, and Katya sighed.

Instinctively, he turned to look at Sergei, who stared at him like he was contemplating running from Katya.

Yet even if Sergei made a run for it, all Katya needed to do to get him back was fake an injury or a tear, and the barbarian would’ve been back to him in an instant.

"Did you call his father?" Katya asked.

"No. We were going to see if you didn’t pick. He is Mr. Moskowsky’s son. And if he doesn’t eat and stays locked up in his car, he might die. The city is already in enough chaos because of the Devil of Frolo.

"If his son dies on our watch, we’d be toast before we even said hello," the guard on the other end said, and Katya sighed.

Now that he thought about it, Yaroslav had disappeared a little too easily for someone who always lived in the limelight. It was like he had finally made peace with everything, but Katya knew Yaroslav more than anyone.

If there was anyone who would hunt or kidnap those medics from the transport or court, then Yaroslav would definitely be part of the crew. That was just the man he had got married to and loved.

Yaroslav never forgave.

Not when it came to Katya.

Katya knew it too.

"Alright, keep an eye on him. I’m on my way," Katya said before ending the call.

"That sounded pretty serious. Is everything okay?" Sergei asked, forgetting for a moment that he was panicking over being caught in a lie. He could deal with that later.

"Yeah. I can handle this. But I have to go now," Katya said before he emptied the contents on his plate into Sergei’s plate.

"Finish your food first before you leave, I’ll know if you don’t," Katya said before getting up.

"I’ll see you at the office later, or if this drags, I’ll see you at court tomorrow, yeah?" Katya added, and Sergei just smiled at him.

"Great. Overfeed me and leave me at the table alone," the alpha grumbled.

"Next dinner is on me," Katya said simply, and Sergei almost tripped off his seat.

"But only if you eat your lunch," Katya said before he walked away, like he didn’t just leave a malfunctioning alpha who could only think of two words.

Next dinner.