Shutter

Chapter 22 - Make Sure

Mikhail closed the door behind him and once he looked at the man sitting quietly on the bed, he crossed his arms and leaned on the door.

"Why was the Prince of England here?" Soren directly asked.

"He came to give me something."

"You have a prince personally delivering you things now?" His tone was full of accusations. Soren was clearly distraught and mad with what he saw earlier.

"Yes. Do you have any problems with that?" Mikhail countered as he raised an eyebrow challenging Soren's glaring eyes.

"You..." But he couldn't even put up a proper argument between them.

Even though it was his own home, his territory, his place, he couldn't utter a single rebuttal to Mikhail. How could he even when he knew his rights were walking on thin ice?

"But... this is my place..."

"And? It's not like we slept with each other here-"

"Kael!" He interrupted as his eyes widened. "Please... You're hurting me..." Who would've thought that someone like Soren would be weeping in front of another person like this?

"I'm hurting you? How?"

"By bringing other men in here!"

"Aren't you doing the same thing? You brought a journalist here. A journalist. Do you even know what you're doing?!" This time, Mikhail's frustration with Soren skyrocketed. He, too, had his own concerns with what Soren was doing but he never bothered intervening with it because, at the very least, he trusted Soren.

"Do you even know it, Soren?! I know you have him wrapped around your finger but one wrong move! One wrong move and if the correct person finds out what you're doing it's gonna be a disaster!" Mikhail yelled in frustration.

"That's not the point, Kael!" Soren argued and this time, he stood up. He walked closer to Mikhail and he slammed his fist down just right beside the man's head. Even Mikhail was surprised by the action that Soren did.

"That's not the point..." he repeated as his face contorted into hurt.

Soren wanted to tell Mikhail everything he was feeling but his mind was also telling him not to make any move that would drive the man away from him. He was afraid that once he allowed himself to conform to his own afflictions, it might take Mikhail away from him again.

"I don't like it when you bring other men in here. The pain. It's different." Soren then rested his head on Mikhail's forehead as he sobbed quietly. His mind was in disarray and the only thing that he knew would help him right now was for it to be told.

"Please, Mikhail. You know what I mean..." He begged like a liar who was telling the truth in front of everybody.

"Of course, I know what you mean. You used to do the same thing when we were together."

And it finally snapped. The waterworks were turned on and tears started flowing down Soren's eyes. He poured all the emotions residing inside him and it wasn't just the anger that he held earlier.

There was sadness, anxiousness, and guilt.

After all these years, he was still clinging on to these emotions that only reminded him of how horrible he was. Soren couldn't even bring himself to speak about what happened between them in the past because it only broke his resolve to convince Mikhail that he was a changed man.

But now that Mikhail was the one talking about it, it felt like daggers directly pierced through his heart. But what more could it feel towards Mikhail who suffered what he had done? Soren can't complain. He shouldn't.