The sweltering summer was passing by. Elliot went out frequently. It seemed he was going on dates with Rubens. Even so, he didn’t forget his regular hospital checkups, where the doctor told him to be careful about stress. Since his heart was originally weak, he was urged to be cautious about everything.
“How about cutting back on drinking a bit?”
“But you can’t have a party without alcohol.”
“Then should I come pick you up?”
“……No? There’s no need for that.”
Bernard was ruminating over the conversation he’d had with Elliot the night before. Just as he reached the thought that Elliot’s expression at the end had seemed a bit subtle, his phone alarm went off. It was the new phone Rubens had bought him. After leaving his phone in Rubens’s car before, he’d never found it again. The new phone had all the contacts wiped clean, but at least the number remained the same.
“This is Bernard Weil.”
– Why didn’t you come again this time?
“…I’m not sure what you mean.”
The caller was Rubens. At the blunt opening straight to the point, Bernard set aside what he was doing with a cowed expression and repositioned his phone.
– I told Elliot to have you accompany him.
“Where to?”
– Didn’t you hear there was a party for the TV series production of author Georges Orland’s <Visitor in the Dark>? It was the talk of the town when the agency sold it for a seven-figure deal.
“……Ah, that. I was busy with work.”
– You didn’t come to an occasion like this because you were busy with work?
Rubens’s tone became curt. The forceful tone laid bare his uncomfortable feelings. Rubens seemed determined to help Liam’s publishing business in earnest. He’d actually had Elliot attend various parties, and as if intending to show off his entire network, he’d introduced Liam to several authors. The fact that Liam’s Weil House, which had been nothing more than a small-scale publisher, had recently made great strides was largely thanks to Rubens.
“But still, with Elliot going…… that should be enough.”
– I heard you handle all the actual work.
“Elliot has always been the one connecting us with authors.”
– Let’s stop this tedious argument. You think I don’t know you’re avoiding these events?
“……I really have been very busy with work.”
– What could possibly keep you so busy alone at a publishing company where barely ten people work?
“Anyway, it’s true.”
– Next time, you must attend without fail. Even Mr. Gusto, whom Liam has been courting so diligently, will be there.
“Ah, yes. I’ll think about it.”
The call ended quickly. Clearly his answer hadn’t been satisfactory. Bernard looked at his computer screen where he’d been working with an awkward expression. He hadn’t heard anything about the party at all. But he couldn’t speak honestly. If Elliot hadn’t told him, he thought there must have been a good reason for it.
Lately, the times when Elliot scrutinized Bernard closely had increased. He seemed to have something to say, but whenever Bernard spoke to him, he’d say he was busy and leave more often than not. Judging from the call just now, this wasn’t the first time Rubens had asked to bring Bernard along. But Elliot had never once conveyed such a thing to Bernard.
“……Does it bother him?”
An anxious expression spread across Bernard’s face. Recently, Rubens had been showing a peculiar interest in Bernard. Clearly he’d gone shopping with Elliot, yet Elliot had handed Bernard a shopping bag meant for him.
“Rubens told me to give this to you.”
“Me? Why?”
“I don’t know. He said to dress properly. When did you two become so close?”
“Uh…… we’re not at all.”
“And how does he know your size?”
“Well, since we’re twins, he probably matched it to your size.”
Bernard and Rubens’s meetings weren’t very frequent, but they still occurred somewhat regularly. The excuse was simple. For business. Not a single line of the interview about Rubens had been properly conducted, but everything else proceeded quite faithfully.
“Lower your hips and… squeeze tight, that’s right.”
“Ah…… I can’t do it.”
“You agreed to learn how to squeeze properly.”
When Bernard didn’t respond to Rubens’s summons, he became violent, but on other days he treated Bernard reasonably docilely. Bernard, who’d never had anything to do with sex, learned under him just how agonizing a pleasure it was to intertwine bodies.
When he lay face down, lowered his hips, and clung seamlessly beneath the man while shaking his hips, his member swelled a bit more. Now he’d learned that when receiving the member, he had to drain all his strength and breathe shallowly through his chest. Because that spot he felt was crushed directly each time the member thrust in as if grinding his inner walls, he couldn’t hold back the urge to ejaculate, and when Rubens was in a good mood, he’d praise Bernard’s lewdness.
But when he was in a bad mood, slaps would inevitably fly, or Bernard had to receive the member with his face shoved into the pillow. Each time, he had to try not to suffocate from being crushed. Even so, whenever the member stirred inside him, Bernard would invariably make a mess of himself, so Rubens’s mocking criticisms would pour out.
[Rubens]: Saturday evening 7 PM.
A text notification appeared on his face-down phone. The location and attendance precautions followed. While he was staring at his phone with an awkward expression, one more text arrived.
[Rubens]: Stop avoiding me.
The excuse that he hadn’t been avoiding him on purpose wouldn’t work. Elliot might be displeased if he asked to go to the party together, but if he didn’t attend this time either, Rubens wouldn’t tolerate it. As he worried about how to explain it to Elliot, he saw Rhino’s previous messages below Rubens’s text history.
[Rhino]: How’s your body doing?
[Bernard]: Nothing wrong.
[Rhino]: Contact me anytime you feel like speaking honestly.
The messages had broken off after that. Because he couldn’t bring himself to reply to Rhino’s last message. What would he say? If he said he’d accepted a sex partner out of concern for Elliot, Rhino might fly into a rage and immediately go to Elliot and Rubens to settle things once and for all. While he was lost in such worries, a new text arrived from Rhino.
[Rhino]: How long are you going to not contact me? Is this because I put pressure on you?
[Rhino]: Forget what I said before. I’m fine with just being your friend… you’re not saying even that’s not okay, are you?
[Rhino]: Oh, Bernard, and did you know there’s a birthday party for Horden on Saturday?
[Rhino]: I heard Mr. Gusto is coming too. You liked this person’s writing.
[Rhino]: I got invited too, want to go together? It says we can bring 1 partner.
Seeing the location Rhino mentioned in the succession of texts, Bernard groaned. That party was the same one Rubens had first suggested attending together.
***
“There’s no attendance record?”
– Yes, there was no attendance record for Bernard Weil at the graduation party.
“Are you certain?”
– We cross-checked with the graduates, but no one said they saw Mr. Weil. Elliot’s attendance was confirmed.
“……Really?”
Receiving Dale’s call, Rubens fell into thought. Since they didn’t do roll call at graduation parties, it was difficult to confirm actual records. There was a method of checking CCTV, but unfortunately the quality wasn’t very good.
After someone presumed to be Elliot entered the party hall, made the rounds to various groups, and left, there were no remaining records. According to Elliot’s account, he’d gotten completely drunk that day and was lying in a hotel room, so the record wasn’t wrong.
“Who gave testimony?”
– Emma Allen, Ben Foster, and Leo Fitz. They said Elliot drank a lot at the time.
“I see…… Understood.”
– Do you need further confirmation?
There weren’t as many people who properly remembered the graduation party as he’d thought. The interior was dark and noisy, and since most people enjoyed high-proof alcohol with the goal of getting completely drunk, he mainly heard reviews about suffering from hangovers.
He’d only heard a few testimonies that Elliot had definitely attended the party and left the venue without staying long, but either they too had been drunk, as the testimonies weren’t consistent. Rather, they suspected why he was asking such things, which made confirmation difficult, as Dale had told him.
“This is unsettling.”
The call ended, but Rubens remained lost in thought while holding his phone. There was nothing inconsistent in Elliot’s story. He’d gotten drunk, met Rubens, and simply forgot the entire memory—there was nothing particularly suspicious. The content Dale had investigated was no different.
However, Rubens couldn’t shake off the uncomfortable feeling. He didn’t deny that Elliot was a suitable partner, but when he looked at Bernard, he felt an inexplicable displeasure. Impulsive emotions of wanting to possess him completely, yet also wanting to destroy him completely, stirred inside him.
[Elliot]: Bernard is going too. I just confirmed. So stop talking about Bernard now. I’m getting jealous.
It was a text from Elliot. Rubens laughed briefly at the cute content. Only then, as he put down his phone, did he erase the unpleasant thoughts.
Everyone unanimously said that it was Elliot Weil who had attended the graduation party that night. When he’d asked about the beautiful person with the surname Weil he’d met at the party, hadn’t everyone around him said exactly that?
Elliot Weil was perfect. He blended in smoothly at any party without standing out awkwardly, and didn’t seem particularly burdened by the provocative title of being Rubens Hurt’s male lover. He was honest in dealing with others, and though he had somewhat childish aspects, people thought such aspects suited him well too.
He was sufficient as a suitable romantic partner, and it wouldn’t be bad to marry him either. Rubens suddenly thought about the future… if he married him. The assumption that Bernard might despair. And the image of him sitting restlessly at his sibling’s wedding wearing a ring of similar design. Thinking of how even after marriage, he’d climb into the married couple’s bed and spread his legs for his own sibling’s sake…….
“Oh my.”
Just from imagining it, his lower half had swollen thickly.
