Chapter 308: How It Feels Being By Yourself In The Rain

[FROLO]

The penthouse was finally empty again.

There had been movement in the damn residence that Katya felt like he was going to go nuts.

The nurses had long been dismissed. Irina, Volkov, and Anya had also gone home for the day.

And now...

It was just the two of them again.

Sergei and Katya.

"You can go back to work, you know? If you’re bored in here," Sergei said quietly as they both lay on the couch.

Katya was resting his head on Sergei’s chest while a program played on the new TV. It was almost a stark difference from the rage and disappointment, not to mention the danger that had loomed over the penthouse hours ago.

When Alek had called, Katya had declined the call without even thinking twice about it.

"Maybe he has an explanation for it, Solnyshka," Sergei had tried to reason.

He knew it wasn’t right for him to advocate for his rival in love, but then, if Katya ever chose to go back to Aleksandr, Sergei wouldn’t stop him.

He would be sad and devastated, sure.

But he’d respect Katya’s choice, even if there was a high chance the senator would accidentally die in a road accident six months later.

"Can I please wear your shirt?" Katya had asked instead, like that wasn’t the greatest deviation from the truth.

"Y... You’ll smell like... me..." Sergei reminded, as if Katya hadn’t spent four days under the man’s covers while he brought Pelmeni and read the man storybooks.

"Yes," Katya said without even thinking about it.

And Sergei almost fell on his way to his closet.

"There’s a large set here. You can... You can pick whichever. Uhh... They’re all clean," Sergei said, and Katya walked over to where he was, staring at the closet before his eyes fell on the laundry basket beside the huge closet.

"Those are used, little wolf," Sergei reasoned.

"I know... I’ll wear one from here," Katya said, not even giving Sergei a chance to say something else. Instead, he took off the shirt he was in at the moment and put on the one he grabbed from Sergei’s laundry.

It was an action so simple, yet one that had Sergei’s throat suddenly dry.

It was the first time he was seeing his—

Yeah, Sergei needed to focus.

"I’ll... I’ll make us coffee," the alpha said before disappearing through the door before Katya could breathe another word.

The moment the door had closed behind Sergei, the alpha had to reach the wall to breathe again because his chest constricted and he felt like he was about to die of excitement.

Katya had changed in front of him.

A shirt, sure.

But still, he’d changed into his shirt in front of him.

That was the kind of shit that Sergei was never going to forget.

Even now that they were on the couch, lying on each other while they watched the Discovery Channel like it was the only reasonable thing for them both.

Well, to be fair, Sergei had let Katya choose.

And he’d chosen this.

"I love this channel," Katya had said so simply, not even understanding the magnitude of his simple statement. He didn’t even know he’d given the man something more to feed to his delusions.

But it wasn’t like Sergei was THAT obsessed, right?

Right?

"Won’t that be a compromise of ethics?" Katya wondered.

He wanted to go back to work, but with the scandals that had been erupting lately, he probably would never step into a research lab again, let alone chair a shareholder meeting within Moskowsky Holdings without raising questions.

"The investigation is almost done. We’ll get the results tomorrow, and the public will get a different result," Sergei said calmly, like he didn’t already have the answer since after lunch hour when his surveillance staff had emailed that shit to him.

"How bad is it?" Katya asked, and Sergei ran a hand through Katya’s hair before gently kissing the omega’s forehead.

"Let me worry about the hardships, my Solnyshka. The research team has shifted to the fifty-second floor. All the recovered data and prototypes are there.

"You can go back to work anytime you want to, and no one will fault you for it," Sergei said, changing the subject.

He knew Katya had had a long day already, and he didn’t want to add to the mysteries of the chaos ahead. He wanted Katya to sleep peacefully, not a night haunted by the facts that would absolutely break his little beautiful heart.

If Sergei could postpone that shit for even a month, he would.

But then again, Katya was too intelligent to be played along with.

So that was just not going to work the right way.

"My life won’t go back to being normal, Vladimir," Katya said quietly.

"I’ll clear your name, and you can go back to doing what you love the most, Solnyshka. Research," Sergei said softly, like that was no big deal. Like everything else was just noise to him as long as Katya was happy.

It was crazy how his priorities had shifted over the last decade, or maybe they had just been readjusted to make sure that the omega was not stressed out at the end of the day, no?

"But people will think you’re compromised?" Katya reasoned, twisting Sergei’s shirt like he was trying to keep himself steady.

"Doesn’t matter. Everything else can wait, moy lyubim. You’re all that matters at the moment. And I’ll keep my promise. You’ll soon be free to do whatever you want to," Sergei reassured.

"I think my relationship with Alek is dead," Katya said, his head still resting on Sergei’s chest, and it took every ounce of willpower for Sergei to steady himself and not let his excitement be known.

This was not even hope he was getting.

This was the impossible, sitting in his arms and speaking aloud, not that he was complaining about it.

"The senator is just jealous. Maybe once he understands that you love him and chose him, he will stop running his mouth and making me want to kill him," Sergei said, rubbing Katya’s arm gently.

And Katya listened because he knew what that meant.

Sergei wasn’t trying to keep him for himself.

He wasn’t trying to be possessive of him.

He wasn’t even controlling with Katya, and, for some reason, that pissed Katya off.

"Your scent changed, Solnyshka... Did I say something wrong?" Sergei asked in earnest.

"I love you," Katya said, like it was a reminder for the barbarian he was resting his head on.

"I know. But he’s your boyfriend. I’m not going to interfere with that, Solnyshka. I’d never cost you your relationship," Sergei said, and Katya huffed under his breath.

"Stupid perfect alpha."

Sergei heard him but didn’t say a word. He didn’t trust himself to be rational enough to say anything sensible to Katya right now.

"What if... What if I choose you?" Katya asked, his tone overly quiet that Sergei almost thought he’d been delusional for a moment there.

"Solnyshka..."

"Would you choose me too?" Katya asked as he sat up, like suddenly this was the one answer he needed.

"You’re asking me a dangerous question, lyubim."

"Vlad—"

"You’re angry with Aleksandr right now. Don’t make decisions while angry, yeah?" Sergei said as he pulled Katya back into his arms.

The omega didn’t resist.

"I hate you."

"I love you too, always... Now let’s watch animals, yeah?" Sergei said like he wasn’t already short-circuiting inside.

Katya wanted him.

Him.

This date was definitely getting marked on his calendar.