Chapter Text
Pavel
I never liked these gatherings. People dressed to the nines in expensive suits and dresses, smiling broadly, pouring empty conversation into their glasses like fine wine — easily and without restraint. But I wasn’t here for fun.
In fact, I wasn’t supposed to be here at all, but he insisted that I be there.
I am a shadow. The one who is always by his side. The one who is respected, feared, who knows how to smile in a way that makes people’s blood run cold.
Christofer.
“Are you keeping track of time, Pavel?” He asked in a low voice while I was still standing next to him.
“As always,” I replied briefly.
That evening, he wasn’t supposed to stand out. Officially, he was the son of the respected Ludmila, the owner of a consulting firm. Not someone who could, in a word, make a person disappear.
I remember well how he stood in the corner of the hall, with that impenetrable look of his. As if everything around him was just a backdrop.
But as soon as she appeared, I knew the evening would be different.
She was different from the rest. Real. A simple dress, a slightly awkward smile. She looked at everyone honestly, directly, as if she could read each person. But her eyes...
You rarely see eyes like that. Calm, like people who have been through a lot and learned not to show weakness.
I noticed his reaction. That rare, almost imperceptible shift in his face when his gaze caught on her.
I knew him too well. It wasn’t interest. It was recognition. As if he had seen her before. Or recognised himself in her.
I smiled slightly. A new interest? I thought to myself.
He didn’t approach her right away. No. But I saw his shoulders tense slightly.
I knew that if he looked like that, it meant the flame was already inside him. He hadn’t shown it yet, but it was there.
Later, when she happened to be nearby, I saw him smile for the first time in a long time. Sincerely? A little tiredly, but yes, sincerely.
Not for the sake of a deal. Not for the sake of profit.
And then I realised — this wasn’t just a game.
I watched their conversation from a distance. They met again, but this time at the book lot, where old editions were gathering dust. She said something first, I could tell by her slight smile. Christofer rarely smiled in response. Almost never. But here he was smiling at this woman again.
To make him smile, the couple had to work themselves to the bone, but she... she managed to get several smiles out of him in one evening without doing anything special.
It was another sign. I knew that something serious would begin that evening.
And I was sure of one thing — nothing would ever be the same again.