Chapter 108: And Every Window... Your Reflection In The Glass
[KATYA]
Katya returned to the office an hour later, right before his ten o’clock meeting.
He had been so tired of everything that was happening, and honestly, he needed some sort of a break. Yet what need was that even for when he didn’t have Sergei breathing down his neck?
The alpha had never acknowledged him, and while that bothered Katya to an extent, he was starting to make peace with it. After all, if Sergei wanted them to be just colleagues, then that was what Katya would be.
Even so, had the Alpha ever told Katya that he wanted more?
"Sir, they are waiting for you," Rahim said, the moment Kata stepped into the office.
And thus, his business day began.
A day without Sergei.
A day without remembering that he had been stood up for both breakfast and dinner.
The meetings went by fast, and Katya, for all he believed in, went back to rest in his office. He was feeling pretty down and needed a distraction.
When he got there, he found the white lilies from yesterday still in the little vase he had put there. He had been too busy to even pay attention to that shit, but now, with his meetings down and the end of business day closing in, Katya took a good look at them.
They were natural lilies.
Flowers that smelled so light and pretty.
They almost contrasted how Katya was feeling at the moment.
However, the longer Katya stared, the more he realized there was more to the flowers.
Inside the bouquet he had paid attention to from yesterday was a water bottle. It looked nothing special. Just a simple water bottle. Perhaps the person who had sent it had added it there for aesthetics or something.
Maybe it was Senator Aleksandr trying to get him to go on coffee dates with him. And honestly, he didn’t even feel like anything right now.
"Excuse me, sir," Rahim said suddenly, and Katya’s attention shifted to his secretary.
She was holding a bouquet of flowers.
But this time they were not lilies.
They were red roses.
Classic romantic interest, and Katya found himself sighing tiredly. His day was already exhausting with all the confusion, and he didn’t need to see another cardless bureau right now.
"Who are they from this time?"
Rahim looked inside and found a card.
"I think you have to read it yourself, fair," Rahim said, holding the tiny envelope to the omega.
Then she settled the flowers on the table and excused herself.
"For you, the prettiest flower in the garden. I know you haven’t agreed to the coffee date, and I’m not designing this to pressure you. I just saw these flowers, and they reminded me of you. Have a good evening, little rose. ~ Aleksandr."
Katya stared at the red roses, his mind wandering to the lilies he had gotten.
The water bottle still piqued his curiosity even as he focused on the lilies. There was something about that bottle that nudged at him. But then at the end of the day, it was just a bottle, wasn’t it?
Even the engravings were normal, no?
And Katya, desperate to shut his mind up from the endless questions he was having, dove right into work.
Only for him to hear a knock on his door a moment later.
This time, it was a familiar lavender scent.
The one that had once screamed home for him.
The one that had ripped his heart to pieces.
The one that was so audacious even now.
Gods, Katya needed a break.
"What do you want?" Katya asked, not even bothering to lift his head.
He knew him even without hearing his voice.
"I see you have suitors now," Yaroslav said as he walked in, sitting on the chair right in front of Katya’s desk. Then he picked the red roses, looking at them like they held the reminder of something that he could never have.
Yaroslav read the note out loud, his voice dripping with sarcasm and something close to possessiveness, and jealousy.
Katay just ignored him.
He was in the mood to fight with Yaroslav.
They were supposed to be a team once upon a time, but now, all this man represented was just the man who had ruined his life. His marriage. The man who had made a fool out of him.
Not just in front of society, but in front of his family.
Oh, Katya despised Yaroslav.
And he hated that even now, with that stupid lavender scent, his heart still hammered in his chest for him.
For the man who had left him in bed for the first time ever.
Oh, Katya.
"We are not divorced yet, remember that," Yaroslav said as he threw the flower in the bin, his jealousy something that had Katya stare the man like he was stupid.
"Why? Isn’t Milan not giving you enough pleasure that you decided to seek some?" Katya asked, the sarcasm dripping from his lips.
He hated how something she’d gotten with Yaroslav.
He was supposed to be happy with Yaroslav, not this.
They were supposed to be forever, not whatever arrangement Katya was in right now.
"You’re my husband. Milan is my mistress. Don’t you forget that. Your place is beside me," Yaroslav said, like it was okay.
Like the whole weekend hadn’t happened.
Hell, like the past month hadn’t happened, and Katya wasn’t trapped in some contact with the head of the Moskowsky family.
Oh, how this man was an insensitive nutjob.
"I told you before. You chose Milan, I chose Aleksandr. If you think you have a right to get jealous, then you have no idea what is going on for you," Katya said exhaustedly.
He looked right into Yaroslav’s fierce right eyes, as if they had not had love before for him.
Katya saw a stranger before him.
Not the man he had sworn to love forever.
Not the man who had sworn to love him always.
This was not that man.
This was someone else, and it hurt to the core.
"You cannot see Aleksandr," Yaroslav said casually.
Katya stared like this was not another tantrum.
What was it with the Moskowsky men?
"Why can’t I? Dear husband?" Katya mocked.
"Because you are mine. If you don’t get rid of him, I will. And it won’t be pretty," Yaroslav said, as he got up from his seat, the chair scraped the floor.
Then he leaned over Katya’s desk, their faces barely inches from each other.
"You need to get out," Katya said, determined to keep his breathing steady.
But having Yaroslav so close...
Having to breathe him so close was messing with his mind.
Hell, with his body.
He loved this man even when he hated himself for it.
"Is that really what you want, honey?" Yaroslav asked, their breaths mingling a little too close.
Katya froze.
"I can smell you, you know," Yaroslav teased, his hand tracing Katya’s cheek, before his thumb grazed Katya’s lips.
Katya instinctively leaned in.
Like his body was thinking on its own.
"You’re my husband," Yaroslav breathed hoarsely, pecking Katya’s lips, while his thumb still found its way into Katya’s mouth, the warmth of Katya’s tongue a familiar feeling for both of them.
"Do not see the senator, honey. If you don’t want a murder in your name," Yaroslav said, before he grabbed Katya’s head roughly and slammed their lips together, not giving Katya the chance to fight back or resist.
And Katya...
He slipped.
Gave in.
Even if for a moment.
