For the rest of the trip, Lucas kept his word. He no longer approached Adrian, didn't try to catch his eye, and didn't initiate any conversations. But his silence was deceptive. In reality, he never stopped watching. And what he saw was slowly eating away at him from the inside.

As soon as Adrian was left without the constant presence of his colleagues, Noah would immediately materialize beside him, as if out of thin air.

All these mind-numbing situations unfolded right before Lucas's eyes, even when he didn't want to see them.

Here Noah "accidentally" found himself in a secluded corner with Adrian in the hotel's quiet library, while everyone else was busy drafting a report around the corner. Lucas sat directly across from a mirror that reflected everything happening in the hidden corner. Noah handed Adrian a folder with supplementary materials and, with frightening slowness, deliberately let his fingers linger on Adrian's wrist. Yet Adrian showed no negative reaction. The man merely put on his professional smile and asked for help with something else.

Bullshit.

There he was, wearing a polite yet brazen smile as he asked Adrian to explain a complex nuance in his course's syllabus and sat so close that their knees were almost touching beneath the narrow table. Adrian answered in monosyllables, looking only at his papers, but Noah didn't look away, savoring every second of their forced closeness. But when Noah grasped the point and interrupted Adrian to finish the explanation for him, a genuine smile spread across Adrian's face.

And one day, as the whole group was gathering in the lobby before heading out, Lucas saw Noah laugh loudly at Adrian's joke and casually rest his hand on the man's arm.

"Professor Wayne, do you go to the gym? You're so strong!" Noah giggled, shamelessly feeling Adrian's arms.

Lucas's jaw clenched.

Every time Lucas caught these moments, a heavy, sticky rage would boil up inside him. He saw Adrian's shoulders tense and watched him subtly pull away. Yet his face was always lit up with smiles. Noah, even if he sensed the pretense meant for those around them, didn't back down. He methodically pressed on, testing the limits. And Lucas was powerless to change anything, bound fast by his own foolish promise not to interfere.

Over the past two days, Lucas had smoked two packs of cigarettes, turning his lungs into an ashtray. He wandered through the city at night like a ghost, nervously clicking his lighter and exhaling smoke into the cold air, trying to burn from his mind the image of someone else's hands touching what he once considered his own.

He didn't understand when he had become so obedient. But his patience was wearing thin with every passing minute, ready to snap at the slightest giggle from Noah.

Two whores. Nothing else.

However, the whole situation began to unravel in the airport terminal upon their return.

The group had just picked up their luggage. Kate and the teachers were loudly discussing plans for a taxi; Lucas stood by the coffee machine with a plastic cup clenched between his teeth, typing on his phone and making plans for the evening, yet he saw only one thing. Once again, like rats hiding in a quiet corner of the hall near a column, Adrian found himself pinned between the wall and Noah.

Lucas froze, feeling the coffee burn his lips through the thin paper.

How could they behave like this in public?

Lucas couldn't hear what they were saying from where he stood.

Could it really be that this huge man had allowed himself to be cornered by this greenhorn?
Adrian looked utterly exhausted. His shoulders slumped, and his eyes betrayed the hopeless weariness of a man at the end of his rope. He simply stood there, clenching his jaw, listening in silence, apparently weighing the cost of his silence.

Suddenly, Noah grabbed Adrian's hands and pressed them against his heart, desperately trying to prove something. Then a different expression appeared on Adrian's face: surprise mixed with confusion.

Lucas couldn't see their expressions. However, it was enough for him that Adrian wasn't pulling his hands away from the boy's chest.

Lucas's heart skipped a beat, then began pounding somewhere in his throat, cutting off his oxygen supply. Panic struck his head like a hammer.

Could he really give in? The thought flashed through his mind with terrifying clarity. Could he actually decide to go out with Noah just to shut him up and save his damn career? He didn't want a relationship with anyone, did he? Or was the prospect of quitting his job and becoming a nepo baby boyfriend living off Noah's parents even more appealing?

Lucas clenched his jaw so hard he bit through the plastic cup.

Maybe that was enough.

Thinking back on his behavior over the last few days, the gifts, the kisses, the chasing, Lucas realized that he really had not been himself. He didn't like the prospect of his life changing. If Professor Day had not come into the room back then and Lucas and Adrian had ended up having sex and then started dating, Lucas probably would have regretted it.

And that was the only reason he reached that conclusion. Turning slowly, suitcase in hand, he headed for the terminal exit. For the first time, he desperately wanted to go home.

It was probably a good thing he didn't turn back. After all, Adrian and Noah had left the airport together.