Yuri

by Marian Tee

  “You still haven’t drawn anything for your next bento?” Hallie asked as she placed Kalli’s dinner tray on the table while the other girl set her pad and pencils aside. “Maybe I can help,” she suggested.

  This time, she was surprised when Kalli answered her. “Maybe.” Her voice was rusty.

  Hallie fought back tears as hope sprang inside her, tiny but fierce. Please God. Please let this be what I’m waiting for.

  As Kalli ate, she kept a steady, soothing stream of conversation, and once in a while the other girl would answer. With every answer, hope blossomed. As she started clearing the plates, Hallie said carefully, “Do you know Yuri has started fasting?”

  Silence.

  “Is that why…he has become thin?”

  Hallie swallowed. “He’s punishing himself. He told me that food for you is love, and since he withheld his trust and love from you, he’s withholding food from himself as punishment.”

  A slow blink.

  “I don’t understand.”

  Hallie’s smile was teary. “I don’t either. Men are weird.” She placed the tray on the console behind her then went back to the table. “Kalli?”

  “Yes?”

  Hallie went down on her knees and, holding the other girl’s hands, she asked shakily, “Are you never going to forgive my brother?”

  “I…don’t…know.”

  She tried to think of a way to make Kalli understand. “What if…your grandmother lied to you?”

  “She did.” Kalli’s voice was sad. “When she told me Yuri loved me.”

  “Do you think she’s bad because of that?”

  Kalli stared at her, and then she whispered, “No.”

  “But she lied.”

  “Yes.” Kalli was trembling hard.

  “I think…” Hallie squeezed Kalli’s hands tightly. “I think your grandmother lied because she loved you. It wasn’t the right thing to do, but you see, she wasn’t perfect. None of us are. It’s love that’s perfect. It’s perfect in its ability to give us hope even when there’s darkness all around. It’s perfect in its ability to forgive even when evil never goes away.” Hallie breathed hard. “Do you understand, Kalli?”

  Painfully, Kalli said, “Yes.”

  “I b-bet you did stuff that hurt your grandmother, too, but she forgave you, didn’t she? Because she loved you?”

  Kalli slowly nodded.

  “It’s the same with my brother,” Hallie said fiercely. “He’s afraid to love, and that’s why…” Fighting back tears, she said unevenly, “Once, there was a man he loved very much—”

  “Yuri is gay?”

  Hallie laughed and cried at the same time. “No, Kalli. I’m talking about his father.”

  “Your father, too?”

  She shook her head. “No, but it’s a secret.” Shame engulfed her, but she forced herself to move past it. “Yuri, my brother, he loved his father a lot and he looked up to him, trusted him. But then one day his little sister started telling him things. Bad things about his father. And he told her she was lying. Until the day he saw his father about to enter…” Hallie looked away. “He was about to a bad thing.”

  Hallie closed her eyes.

  “He changed after that day. He doesn’t trust himself to love because he thinks it makes him blind and weak.”

  She looked up at Kalli.

  “Until you.”

  Releasing the other girl’s hands, she rose to her feet and, wiping her eyes, she said, “You probably terrified him. He met you only once and then the next time you met, four years had passed. But you made him feel. You made him fall for you, and that’s not how things happen with most people. It takes months – years – for people to fall in love but Yuri – I think he took one look at you and he fell. He loved you so much that he thought for your sake he was doing the right thing by sending you away.” Hallie bit her lip to stop it from trembling. “He was wrong, but he did it because he loved you.”

  Her voice became fierce. “If you really love him, Kalli, you must forgive him. Because if you don’t, then I don’t think you ever loved him at all. If you can’t forgive him, then Madame has won by making you like her. You want other people to break, too.”

  ****

  When Yuri woke up, he saw her immediately.

  She was like a ghost in the corner, with her hair completely down, almost covering her entire face. She was completely dressed in white, and the silk of her dress, combined with her pale skin, glowed in the darkness.

  “What the hell, Kalli?” His heart was beating hard against his chest. “Don’t scare me—” His heart lurched when she suddenly crawled to him, quickly and quietly like a damn ghost.

  “Goddamn it—”

  Then she was kneeling at the side of his bed, her hands behind her back.

  “I have something for you,” she whispered gravely.

  Yuri stilled.

  Slowly, her hands moved forward and she placed a bento on the bed.

  He opened it.

  It was a two-partitioned box, and in one side there was tuna spread with heart-shaped onions, star-shaped cheese, and clover-shaped smoked ham on top. On the larger partition, atop a background made of slices of ham, cheese, and crackers, were two slices of bread. One slice was cut in the shape of a boy. Another slice was cut in the shape of a girl.

  And their hands were touching.

  Ah.

  But it felt too surreal that for one moment he seriously considered if he was dreaming. Sleep had become his only refuge in recent days, the only thing that saved him from the emptiness of his life and the sharp agonizing pain of his hunger.

  Another moment passed.

  And yet she was still there.

  Beautiful, sweet, honest, different Kalli.

  “You’ve forgiven me?” Yuri asked unevenly.

  A slow nod.

  “Why?”

  “Because I love you.” Tears choked her voice, and his chest constricted.

  “Even if I lied?”

  Kalli nodded.

  “Even if I hurt you?”

  She nodded again.

  “Even if I might end up hurting you again because I’m too goddamn bad at this?”

  “A wise person,” she said seriously, “told me that if I love, I shouldn’t want people around me to break.” Violet eyes captured blue. “And I don’t want you to break, Yuri.”

  God.

  He so badly wanted to pull her into his arms so he could feel she was real, but he couldn’t. He still didn’t feel like he had the right to touch her or even look at her.

  Trying to distract himself, he thought about all the Greek philosophers and frowned because none of them seemed to fit with what Kalli said. “Which wise person is that, sweetheart?”

  “Hallie Athanas.”

  Ah, God.

  Only Kalli.

  And he would be the luckiest person alive if he could have her with him.

  He said brokenly, “I don’t think I’ll ever deserve someone like you.”

  “I know,” she answered, and he almost smiled. “But I don’t think I’ll ever deserve someone like you either.”

  “I love you,” Yuri said hoarsely. “It’s the truth. I love you, Kalliope.” He didn’t have to hear her say it because her love had never been in question. “I love you.”

  A trembling hand touched his face. “I see it in your eyes, Yuri.”

  “You’ll always see it. Always.”

  Epilogue

  One week later

  “Are you ready?” Kalli asked her audience seriously.

  “Yeah!” The entire Afxisi was in the common room and arranged in a circle in front of her. After the impressive series of bento boxes Kalli had fed them with, they were all waiting with bated breath at what she had prepared now. They were convinced that this would blow their minds, considering that Kellion had challenged Kalli to create a bento inspired by her first night with Yuri Athanas.

  She took a deep breath. “I call it Infinite.” She lifted th
e cover.

  Silence.

  It was a vastly pretty bento, but the theme completely escaped them.

  What was infinite about carrot flowers, cucumber trees, cheese-yellow skies, and a fried egg as the sun?

  But then a moment later and they realized all of it was just garnish.

  The star of the bento was the foot-long sandwich right in the middle.

  Everyone started to laugh at the same time Yuri groaned.

  “But what are those?” MJ pointed at the two additional inches of hotdog slices at the top. “Are those horns?”

  Helios grinned. “No, baby. I think those are additional inches because Kalli wasn’t able to find a hotdog that was fourteen inches long.”

  Everyone laughed harder.

  “But it’s the truth.” Kalli was bemused. “It is truly—”

  Groaning, Yuri kissed his fiancée to shut her up. “I think it’s time to go,” he told her when he lifted his head. “We need to have another talk about secrets.”

  As the two walked towards the door, the rest of the Afxisi heard Kalli ask innocently, “Is how long your manly part supposed to be a secret?”

  Yuri winced as his brothers roared in laughter, the sound stalking them even when they had already closed the front door.

  He offered Kalli his hand. “Shall we?”

  She took it.

  They started walking, hand in hand, just as Kalli wanted it because the Internet said so.

  For long minutes, they walked in silence, accompanied only by the watchful glow of street lamps and the occasional chatter of nocturnal birds.

  Almost every evening, they had taken to strolling through the university’s garden. And even if they did this every day for the rest of their lives, it would never get boring.

  “How do I know which is a secret?” Kalli suddenly asked.

  Yuri started to answer her when an idea occurred to him. He looked around them and thought, Fuck it.

  Tightening his hold on her hand, he drew her behind one of the larger trees. “This is a secret.” He bent her down, flipped her dress up to her waist, and pushed her panties down. He unzipped himself and rubbed his dick behind her.

  “Oooooooooooh.” Kalli twisted her head around to look at him over her shoulders, gasping, “We can actually make love like this?”

  “Uh huh.” Finding her wet, he slid all fourteen inches of length inside of her. “Bend lower, sweetheart,” he rasped, and she sought to obey. The new position allowed him to shove his dick deeper into her.

  His eyes closed. Bliss.

  And then he heard Kalli murmur in wonder, “We’re like dogs.”

  “Sssh, sweetheart,” he tried to silence her even as he fought a smile at the way she marveled at the littlest things. But then she never ceased to marvel him either.

  Holding her by the hips, Yuri fucked his beautiful bundle of honesty hard, his hips pumping against her furiously, and then she was murmuring, “If we are doing it like dogs, is it right if we howl while doing it?”

  He howled with laughter.

  She picked up her cue from that and howled when she came.

  Ah, Kalli.

  Just for the hell of it, Yuri, too, howled as he came.

  Only Kalli.

  Different, special, beautiful Kalli.

  The girl he was proud to love.

  The girl who also, the next day, was the subject of the university’s official paper, which reported about the possibility of wild wolves having found its way into the university’s woods.

  The End

  Dear Reader,

  I hope you’ve enjoyed reading YURI!

  If you’re new to the series, I’d like to invite you to check out the other stories in this series. If you’ve been with me from the start – thank you! I’m sincerely thankful you’ve stuck with me, and I hope you continue reading my books. :)

  Now, if any of you are wondering what’s happened to Dr. Silas Korba, Lily, and Clare, you’ll find out more about them in another Heart Racer romance, which is Hallie and Andreus’ story. And yes, for those asking, we also have upcoming releases for Sabastian and Christos.

  Again, thank you so much for taking the time to read my book. Please don’t forget to leave a review if you have the time. I’d love to know your thoughts about it. You can, however, also contact me either by Facebook, my website, email, Twitter, or even Instagram.

  Until our next journey!

  Marian Tee

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