Chapter 241: Just Between Us… Hearts Learn Eventually, Right?

[FROLO]

Sergei Moskowsky was avoiding Katya.

It was the first time in forever that this was happening. The alpha whose eyes always brightened at the idea of Katya’s breathing was suddenly cutting corners in his own building.

He attended meetings and left them earlier than possible, just not to cross the omega.

The lunches he used to send suddenly stopped two weeks before the Seventeenth of December.

The alpha no longer hovered like a possessed ghost where Katya existed. If anything, he made it his mission to stay away.

The staff noticed.

It was subtle at first.

How Sergei never stayed in the same room as Katya for more than three minutes.

How everything seemed to change between the two.

And Katya...

He figured it was for the best.

A little distance between two people who loved each other in the wrong way was good for them both.

Maybe that was why he kept the distance, too. Didn’t send lunch, because if Sergei didn’t send him lunch, the alpha most certainly wanted nothing to do with him.

Katya wasn’t going to beg for his attention.

He wasn’t going to suddenly want to stay close to Sergei just because the man had confessed, and he had realized that he loved the barbarian, too. He was determined to live his life.

He clocked in to work ten minutes before the day started. Not two hours earlier like he always used to. And he clocked out at exactly five o’clock, which was weird because Katya Romanov had made work his mistress.

Still, people watched carefully.

The alpha and the omega rarely interacted unless they had to, and they were coming to the realization that, beyond the boardroom meetings, they never needed to be that close, and gods, it was suffocating for the people around them.

"Little rose... did you and Mr. Moskowsky have a fight?" Alek asked barely a week before the Seventeenth date.

He had attended three board meetings so far in a span of two weeks in Moskowsky. It was actually expected because the year was ending, and there was a lot to be finalized by the board of directors.

The alpha and the omega had stayed in their usual seats, but even the directors could smell the indifference between the chairman and his boss.

Which was weird because for the nearly three years that Katya had been the chairman, those two had always looked to each other, leaned on their suggestions, and made the meetings better.

But lately, it was like they were two sides of a coin that didn’t even want to interact with each other.

"No... Why do you say that? Is that what he’s saying?" Katya asked passively as he rested his head on Alek’s shoulder.

They were currently inside a movie theatre watching a movie that Katya had booked, one that the chairman had rented out the entire theatre for.

He had said he wanted Alek to have the best experience and that this was part of how he was becoming a better partner.

And honestly, Katya had changed these past weeks.

"You two seem distant," Alek trailed off carefully.

He wasn’t complaining really.

Katya had been paying him more attention. Loving him publicly, showering him with the kind of affection Alek never got through their two years of dating.

The omega was calmer, more considerate. Never carried work home and never sprinted out of bed to work anymore. If anything, he was the partner Alek had always wanted.

Alek went to sleep with Katya in his arms, and he woke up with Katya in his arms, snuggled into him like this was their normal. It was finally feeling like they had a relationship that was worth it.

"We’re coworkers, Alek..." the omega said before they focused on the movie again.

Alek smiled again. Maybe because his boyfriend was finally choosing him.

Or maybe because he was glad, he didn’t have to compete with the barbarian for his boyfriend’s affection.

It was that simple... Right?

They watched three more movies after the first one. Katya had chosen the first one, and Alek chose the other three.

Katya cried in the last two, with Alek comforting him, holding him close while emotions ran high. The alpha couldn’t help but laugh at how adorable his charismatic boyfriend was, and frankly, it was a beautiful sight.

Not Katya in tears, no.

But Katya letting his guard down with him like he did when they began dating and for the better part of their relationship. He was letting himself feel and be cared for.

Slowly, Alek was learning the newest distinction.

Out there in the world, they were a senator and the most powerful chairman omega in the realm.

But in their spaces, they were just Katya and Alek.

Two people who lived in love with each other.

"I love you, my little rose," Alek whispered later that night when they’d made love, leaning into the new familiarity.

It was safe.

It felt like home.

And Katya just breathed Alek in, before he kissed the alpha, not once saying the words back.

He never did...

At least not after that fight that ended with Alek going to work, leaving Katya at home.

Katya had resorted to showing Alek. Maybe that was why the alpha wasn’t surprised that tonight, too, even after their heavy session, his omega didn’t say the words back.

And if Alek had any complaints about it, he didn’t show them.

"I... I need you, please," Katya begged, and Alek wasn’t about to deny his omega what he needed.

The rest of the days went by fast in rhythm, and soon enough, it was the Seventeenth of December.

"Five more minutes," Katya whined, clinging to his alpha, who just stared at him like the omega was the most adorable thing in the world.

They never talked about Sergei anymore, not even when anyone with eyes could see the two avoiding each other with a kind of dedication that was insane.

"Little rose, you said that half an hour ago," Alek laughed lightly, kissing Katya’s forehead.

"It’s not my fault that you smell good," Katya whined, breathing the alpha in so desperately.

"How about a compromise, my little rose?" Alek said when Katya still didn’t let go.

"The event only has to log us for an hour or two. After that, we can come home early, and you can do whatever you want with me," Alek said, like he was offering heaven and earth for his omega.

Of course, Katya’s pupils dilated at the idea, as if it were the best thing that had happened.

"You promise?" the omega asked, batting his lashes at the alpha who was clearly weak for him.

"I’d never lie to you, Moy lyubim," Alek said.

Katya stiffened suddenly.

Moy lyubim.

Gods... those two words again.

"You alright?" Alek asked when Katya fisted his shirt subconsciously.

"I love you too," Katya breathed slowly, not once looking at Alek or even into Alek’s face. And the alpha figured his omega was shy again. It was normal for both of them over the years they’d dated anyway.

"You can get five more minutes, my little rose," Alek said, and Katya breathed him in hungrily, like a man desperate to drown in his alpha’s scent.

Or maybe...

Just maybe...

Maybe that last confession wasn’t meant for THIS alpha’s ears.

Maybe it had, once upon a time.

But not anymore.