Chapter 239: Coming Like A Hurricane, I Take It In Real Slow

[KATYA]

Staring at the emptiness inside the alpha’s house, Katya slowly realized how things had been between him and Alek.

He had tried to make things work, and instead of leaning toward Alek, he had managed to push his alpha away. It wasn’t fair, not because Alek had been by his side, but because he loved him.

He really did.

It just wasn’t working anymore.

And Katya...

He knew he should have stayed and tried to mend things, tried to make it work, but what was the point when all he could say was the same things he’d been saying for the past three months and that bore no fruit?

Their lives had been changed by that courtroom, and he couldn’t even deny it at this point.

Sighing, Katya chose to leave.

Maybe if he stayed at his penthouse, he would have a clear mind. Maybe he would know how to make the alpha feel better because, at this point, it was a bit exhausting.

Alek was a perfect alpha, and they loved each other, so why was it easy for everyone to think they were not working or even that he needed to choose?

As if that wasn’t bad enough, his phone rang again right before he could even go back inside the house to pack his things.

And this time...

"Solnyshka," he heard when he picked up.

"Rahim said you took the day off... Are you alright?" Sergei asked, worry in his voice, as if it was the most normal of things for them.

Maybe that was why hearing Sergei’s voice no longer felt unusual. They barely saw each other in the office anymore, yet somehow, they’d ended up speaking over the phone more often than not.

Katya breathed in, then out, like he was trying his very best not to think about everything that was happening at once. He wanted to stay steady, to stay in control, but hearing Sergei’s voice came with a kind of comfort that he couldn’t explain.

Not rationally anyway.

"Yeah. I just... Alek and I fought. It was bad. He won’t talk to me, and I think it’s my fault this time," Katya groaned as he sat on the patio, trying to gather his thoughts.

It was easier talking to Sergei than it was with Alek, something he had painfully begun to notice about himself. But maybe this time, the barbaric alpha could help him know what to do in his relationship, right?

"Okay... Uhh... Well, I’m not exactly great at relationship advice, but if you wanna talk, I’ll listen," Sergei offered casually, and Katya let out a soft chuckle.

"You? Giving relationship advice?" he laughed as the tension slowly faded. But had it even been there after the courtroom?

"Don’t tell Anya this, but I’ve learned quite a lot from the years of her smacking me in the head. I think I could help a little," Sergei whispered like it was a secret.

"Alright... But if you judge me, I’ll ghost you for a month," Katya teased, like that was the only threat he could manage at the moment, one that didn’t carry any weight.

But would Sergei think the same?

"Ghost? Are you dying?"

"Oh, my god, I almost forgot I was talking to a fossil."

"I’m not that old yet..."

"Ghost just means you won’t see me or hear from me."

"Ahh, like my boy is doing to me, that little brat."

"Are you sure you know how to give relationship advice?"

"Have some faith in me, Solnyshka," Sergei defended.

"I always have faith in you. Never stopped," Katya said, and he heard Sergei’s breath hitch on the other side. So, he continued, thinking he had made the conversation awkward.

"But if your advice dooms my relationship, you’re gonna be stuck with me in that office forever," Katya threatened jokingly.

"Don’t tempt me with a good time, moy lyubim," Sergei whispered...

But Katya didn’t hear him.

"Great, my relationship advisor went mute. Come on. You said you’d help and you’re fading before I can even startttt," Katya complained.

"I was kicking Volkov out of my penthouse... but you have my attention now. So, tell me, Solnyshka, what happened?" Sergei lied smoothly.

And Katya...

He gave Sergei a rundown of everything. From the day that Sergei dropped him off to Alek leaving him and going to work today.

When he was done, the alpha had long gone silent again.

Katya had to check his phone to see if they were still connected. It was crazy, really.

"Vladimir? Don’t tell me you’re ghosting me after I just poured my failures out to you, man," Katya said, but still, there was nothing.

Then...

"I... Seventeenth... That day sounds important to your boyfriend," Sergei breathed, like a man who was starving.

He had just heard Katya prioritize him in his relationship like it was nothing, and now the omega wanted him to say something sensible?

How about "I can take care of you better, Solnyshka..."

Or maybe, "I love you, Solnyshka, and I think you don’t hate me..."

"Yes... But you’ll be alone that day. You just said it, you don’t know where Yaro is. What if he doesn’t show up that day, too? You’ll be alone on the worst day of the year for you, that’s not fair," Katya sighed like he was reasoning from a friendship angle.

But even Sergei knew things were changing.

Anyone with eyes could see.

Anyone with ears could hear it all.

"Solnyshka..."

"You know it’s true, Vladimir," Katya said, not mincing his words, and Sergei’s breath hitched again.

The omega was certainly walking on dangerous waters.

"I... But he needs you. You want my advice? I think you should save your relationship. Unless he doesn’t make you happy," Sergei said. The words were foreign to him, but then this was a need, right?

They were just two friends in that moment.

"Svet said I should save both Alek and me the heartache and decide. But what am I to decide against when he’s the man I chose?" Katya sighed on the phone.

"I think she’s right."

"That I should choose? That’s mean."

"Solnyshka..."

"They think I lean towards you more than I lean toward Alek," Katya sighed exaggeratedly, like it was the most absurd thing he’d ever heard.

Sergei didn’t say a word.

Didn’t even breathe.

"Alek is my boyfriend, and you’re my friend. It’s not that hard to see the difference, is it?" Katya defended.

"Moy Solnyshka," Sergei breathed after a long silence.

"You see the difference too, don’t you?" Katya ranted in frustration.

"Wh... What if I come to your event on the seventeenth?" Sergei asked, and this time it was Katya who stopped. If anything, the omega, who had been seated, suddenly got up like this was the most insane thing he’d ever heard.

"I’m sorry, WHAT?" Katya asked, clearly not expecting that change.

"What if I come? You once told me that I don’t have to spend my life mourning... Do you still believe that?" Sergei asked.

"Of course. If you spend your entire life mourning someone, you’ll be burdening them with the pain of watching you never move on. You can love someone you lost and still move on.

"Still loving another person who lives doesn’t mean you’re replacing the one you lost, really. It’s just... living in the present," Katya said softly and carefully.

"Then I’ll live for you, Solnyshka," Sergei whispered.

"What?"

"You’re my friend too," Sergei forced out.

"But..."

"I’ll visit Vitya later today and tell him I’ll start living like he wanted me to. And on the Memorial Day, I’ll visit him again before coming to the event. I know there’ll be many high-ranking people there, so I’ll fit in easily.

"That way, you don’t break Aleksandr’s heart and yours. And everyone gets a happy day," Sergei said, like he wasn’t making the greatest compromise of his life for the first time in thirty years.

Like he wasn’t about to step out of the life he had made for himself, his routine for the last three decades.

"Are you sure about that? I mean... You love him. Ditching him for a social event isn’t exactly th—"

"I tell him about you every chance I get... He’ll understand."

"Bu—"

"Then it’s settled, moy Solnyshka... as for today, I think you should go after the senator. Fix your relationship, too."

"See you then, I suppose."

"Until next time," Sergei said before whispering the last bit, "moy lyubim."

Then he hung up.

And this time...

Katya heard him.

Moy lyubim.

Sergei had just called him his love.