Rule of Three (boyxboy) [ON HOLD]

Prologue - Curiosity

Prologue

брат - brother

grekh - sin

nyanya - nanny

~

'Curiousity killed the cat.'

It was a quote I never really understood when I was a child. My nyanya often read me stories of travellers who poked their noses on things they shouldn't, but by doing so these people slayed monsters, rescued people, married princesses, gained riches and were honoured as heroes. They didn't die, so I thought that the saying was pretty silly. I used to think that grown-ups were just tossing around words and mixing them to form incomprehensible sentences to act like they're more superior than children.

My big brother Sergei more than often told me this aphorism, but he would only do this whenever I asked him if I could join him in his big boy sleepovers, or when I get caught trying to sneak into his room whenever his friends visited. Sergei only invited one or two other boys his age for his sleepovers, and my mama told me I wasn't old enough for one yet.

But I was eager to experience the excitement and fun of it. To hang out with my close friends, to sleep past bed time, to watch movies and do silly things all night, and talk about stuff that only grown ups should know. All of it hidden behind the closed door of my room, a world just for us where adults can't interfere.

A phrase I do understand is 'The more the merrier', my nyanya once said it when she allowed me to sit down and have lunch with her friends. I thought that perhaps Sergei would want more company since he only brought over a few friends. But when I voiced my thoughts, he just laughed and patted my head, saying that perplexing thing again, ''Curiousity killed the cat, Ivan.''

I decided to leave it at that. My turn will come soon and I'll have way more fun than him.

~

Years passed and I was an old eleven when he became seventeen years old.

Since then, there were only two people that my big brother brought home: his best friend and his girlfriend, the latter constantly changed so I preferred to lump all of the names together into one term - 'woman'. I was young but I wasn't stupid, I knew that they did those gross romantic stuff like locking lips and looking into each other's eyes - things that I've often seen in nyanya's favourite movies but she would cover my eyes before I saw too much.

I found myself missing the lively days when Sergei and his friends used to mess around the house and then laugh as they retreated back to his room. Now there was no noise and the thundering of footsteps upstairs was replaced by screams and loud banging, like something being repeatedly hammered on to the wall. Nyanya told me to never go upstairs when woman was over.

Sergei's best friend is his classmate Adair, and he was beautiful. Prettier than any of the girls my brother brought home. Adair Garrot had eyes the colour of willow trees, red roses for lips, sunflower hair, and white gladiolus for skin. He was no brawny football player, but he was beautiful - beautiful in the resonance of his voice, his supple movements, and his elegant and sharp accent.

Over time woman's appearance decreased and Adair spent many weekends at our house. He would often play with me and the dogs, and he would smile. If I did something good, he'd reward me with a praise or a kiss on the forehead. He felt like a close by family member who would sometimes come and visit. I became fond of him, but nyanya seemed to dislike Adair. She would often mutter in Russian stuff about 'grekh' whenever he visited. Once again, adults confused me. Why did nyanya think of Adair as 'sinful'?

I couldn't fathom it. Adair was young, and he was handsome, and he was kind. He had a face that I thought nyanya would like, but she would just shake her head whenever I mentioned him.