He didn’t think of things thoroughly when he was rushed with emotions. But now that his emotion is sorted out, he begins to feel uncomfortable surrounded by the likes of Stepan, Andre, Stanley, and Alberto. Thus, it’s better to just get down straight to business. “These,” Kirill spoke as he pointed to the papers in Stepan’s hand. “…are given by the stalkers, correct?” He asked. 

The four other boys nodded in unison. Kirill then walks over towards where Stepan is standing and gently takes the papers away from his hand, ignoring how much the warmth of his fingers seem to cause his heart to beat a little faster. He already knew this. He was attracted to Stepan. But at the same time, he is aware that that boy is bad for him. He knows that he shouldn’t. 

“Please let me handle this myself. If you guys can keep this matter a secret from the principal or whoever, I’d appreciate it very much,” Kirill then spoke, without looking at the boys, as he folded the note from the stalker and stuff it together with the origami into his pocket calmly. 

“What do you mean you’ll handle it yourself?” Stepan asked. His tone sounded serious and alarming. 

“Kirill, are you aware of how dangerous the stalkers are?” Andre then introjected, similarly portraying seriousness and concern. 

“Kliment went through such a hard time dealing with them, you know?” Stepan spoke again. 

“They sent pictures of him to his email taken at different angles, different locations, through various untraceable emails… and you want to handle them yourself? You’re not kidding, are you?” Alberto started to speak now. He, too, seems worried. 

These concerns that the boys had shown almost made Kirill doubt whether they were really involved in Kliment’s disappearance. They had just met. Why the hell are they so concerned about his well-being? Is it because they really care about Kliment? And as his twin brother, their concerns had been transferred to him? “I know. And no. I’m not kidding,” Kirill simply answered, as calm as ever. Their concerns caused him to feel very uncomfortable. 

After a moment of dead silence, Stanley suddenly started to speak. Stanley had always been the quiet one. So, when he speaks, it’s impossible for Kirill not to listen. “I still have pictures of some of the letters they sent to Kliment. Do you wanna see?” He asked, fishing out his phone from his pocket. 

“Yeah,” Alberto supported. “Back then, Stanley took photos of them. They have all been taken away by the police as evidence since Kliment went missing,” he added. 

Kirill gets instantly curious over this new piece of information. In fact, he never got to actually see all of them before. His PI only shown him what was made public. He wanted to see if Stanley has those who had not been shown to public before. “Can you show me?” He asked. 

Stanley scrolls through his phone as Kirill moves closer to him. He can see that Stanley had saved the photos in a folder with the title ‘Kliment’. In his heart, he can’t help but wonder that after years, why would Stanley still keep these photos and why would this boy have a specific folder with his twin brother’s name? Isn’t that odd? “Here,” Stanley said and hands his phone over to Kirill. About this specific folder matter, he will think about it for another time. 

There are a lot of photos taken of notes and origamis. Most of the notes are of the same nature as the one sent to Kirill himself this morning. Acrostic notes, love confession, and some photos of Kliment doing random daily activities. However, among them, one really stood out from the rest. It was sexual and violent in nature. But it was worded romantically. Reading it causes Kirill to feel sick as he realizes that this is different. This stalker is of a different kind. 

֍֍֍ 

*Author’s Note: Happy Valentine’s day, guys. Single or not, let’s love and not hate. -K