Chapter 4

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Nikita was fidgeting all the way back. Tai held Nikita's hand all the way through until they reached her villa trying to comfort him. "You'll be okay. They will figure it out." She told him with certainty.

"I'm still worried." Nikita had an anxious smile, but the burden in his chest was slowly drifting away.

"Did you see how cool they were? They will for sure find the blackmailer." Tai smiled. "And then I will pay to have them beat up whoever is putting you through this stress."

Nikita pushed his wavy bangs back and laughed. "Right, right. It will all be over in a few days."

Tai could feel the warmth spreading through her chest. "Exactly that" Tai encouraged him. "So just go to bed and don't think about it. I will talk to them tomorrow and see if there is any progress. You can count on me."

"Thank you, Tai."

"Thank you for walking me to my villa. I'll talk to you tomorrow. Make sure no one sees you on your way back."

She waved and rushed inside. Tomorrow was the day she was going to wake up and find that damn blackmailer too. She'll help the sinners any way she could. No one messes with her friends and gets away with it.


***

"Good morning." Zakhar smiled at both Lev and Aleksei who entered the kitchen looking like zombies.

Zakhar continued pouring the coffee into his thermos. "Trouble sleeping?"

"I was working all night going over the school's video log to find something on the blackmailer." Lev dragged his feet to the sink to get some water.

"I was sleeping just fine." Aleksei rubbed his eyes which were swollen and dark from lack of sleep.

"Yeah yeah." Zakhar took the other thermos pouring coffee for his girlfriend.

"Can I skip school today?" Aleksei pulled out a chair to sit down. "I don't feel so good."

Zakhar wanted to laugh. Has he ever seen Aleksei act like a wimp before?

"Not if you want to get paid. Go over the video logs with Lev today one more time and see if he missed anything. You can do that much." Zakhar ordered, putting a serious face on.

"You slave-driver." Aleksei whined and dropped his head on the table.

This was going to be a tough day, especially mourning his love life. As of today, it was finally over.

Classes were normal as usual. During the first two classes, Aleksei sat in the back watching the video logs that Lev had sent to him. There was nothing to see. Whoever did this, knew how to avoid the camera at a specific part of the school. Lucky for them, there weren't that many. Around recess, he headed towards his usual spot. Well, it wasn't like he was going to see Tai today. Even if he did, wasn't it about time he gave up?

He got to his usual spot outside sitting down on the grass and looked around, but she was nowhere to be found. Oh well. He didn't expect to get lucky today. He leaned back on his elbows breathing in the air. It was another nice day and the breeze felt nice on his face.

"Hello."

"Mm?" He opened one eye to see a pair of light brown eyes staring back at him.

It took him a few blinks to make out her face, but her curly hair was enough for him to recognize her.

It.was.Tai.

He instantly sat straight and turned around. She was a bit tense, maybe even excited if not frightened, but there was a determined look on her face.

Tai squatted down to his side. "Psst. You remember me right?" She pointed at herself. "From yesterday."

Shit.Shit.Shit.Shit.

"I. remember." He barely uttered.

Just what the fuck was she doing here? Why was she talking to him? How did she find him? And why the hell was he so happy? It didn't show on his face right? He immediately tried to look more serious.

"Do you have any leads?" She whispered and looked around to see if anyone was listening in.

Damn it, he thought. If he says they don't have any, she would just leave, and here she was standing so close initiating conversation. He was conflicted but he didn't want to miss out on this opportunity.

"We have a few." He used his deep voice to sound more seductive. It was so spontaneous that he cringed at his reaction.

"Want to see what we have?"

She nodded and sat down on the grass, straightening her pants and leaning closer to him confidently.

Aleksei took out his phone and for a second he paused, thinking about what other tabs were open on his phone. Did he close down all porn tabs yesterday?

"Give me a second." He pulled away for a moment, swiping over his phone repeatedly until everything was closed. Just in case.

"Here.. we've been watching video logs to see if we can catch anyone delivering that threat message to your friend." He pointed at the screen.

"You got the school's video footage?" She gasped. That was more than impressive. They could do anything.

"This must have taken all night to check."

Aleksei bit his tongue, annoyed with himself. It was Lev's work, the freaking tech prodigy. He did nothing to contribute so he couldn't exactly honestly brag about it.

"This is just part of what we do." He explained pointing at the screen again and noticed her eyes were no longer on the screen, but on his hand.

Her eyes moved up and down in the direction his hand went.

"Are you staring at this?" He spread out his fingers showing her his hand.

Tai felt a spark of nervousness at the same moment. She was caught staring. But she couldn't help herself. She wanted to get a better look at that tattoo. She took his hand, going with her fingers over it. The detail on the snake was amazing.

Alexei blanked out. Her hands were on his. She was touching his hand so gently. They were touching.

"I'm sorry." She let go of his hand and leaned over still whispering. "I'm just fascinated by your tattoo."

"I can see that."He brought his hand back over his thigh. That was a direct touch. Normally he would take that as a sign someone was interested but he was compromised now. He was biased. There was a small pause that for some reason gave him the courage to ask her a general question.

"Do you like tattoos?"

"I do on some people." She smiled. "There are some tattoos that seem like they fit the person perfectly. Like yours. Did you come up with the idea yourself?"

"My tattoo artist came up with the design. I just roughly gave her an idea of what I wanted." He answered, feeling his heart calm down. She was easy to talk to. There wasn't that much guard on her side even though she knew he was part of the sinners.

"My mom says tattoos used to be a sign of rebellious nature back in her time. But they always had meaning too. These days everyone gets one. I guess that's why I only like tattoos on some people."

"How can you tell I didn't do it on a whim and just because it looks cool?" Aleksei looked at his tattoo.

Tai smirked. "Was it on a whim then?"

Aleksei smirked back. "No."

"Yo.." Lev showed up taking a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and sitting next to Tai. "We have a guest I see."

Alexei narrowed his eyes, glaring at Lev. He swore to god- If he even attempt to say something stupid.

"I was just getting an update on the..request," Tai answered, whispering the last part.

She was way too into this, Alexei thought.

"Is your friend fine?" Lev asked.

"We haven't spoken since yesterday."

Before Lev said something unnecessary Aleksei decided to change the topic.

"We'll tell you when we have something more on the topic so don't worry about it for now.." He glanced at Lev. "Where is Zakhar?"

"The blonde guy?" Tai asked.

Lev took a hit from his cigarette. "He's eating out his girlfriend in the empty biology classroom."

The pause was deliberate.

Out of all the things he could have said he decided to go with that one.

"I don't want to bother you anymore." She got up trying to ignore what she heard. "Later." She ran back inside as fast as her feet carried her.

"You need a filter sometimes," Alexei said. He knew Lev didn't watch what he said but really man...

"So you talked to her?" Lev smirked.

"I did." Aleksei sank back to the grass. This meeting was super intense, but for the first time, they talked.

"You're blushing." Lev lit up his cigarette.

"I don't blush. I glee." I smiled.

"Pfft." Lev shook his head amused by the whole thing. "Maybe I shouldn't have interrupted. I was worried you'd mess it up by doing your usual thing."

"I didn't. Maybe I can control myself after all. It might not be over for me just yet." He smirked.



***

Two days later.

The room smelled like aromatic candles that Tai's mom custom-made for her, the desk was covered with different textbooks and her laptop was playing a study with me ASMR video, but Tai was having a lot more difficulties writing her homework, than ever.

Her head just wasn't in it.

It is impossible to study when your friend is getting blackmailed and you have the school's secret group go and hunt them down. It was too movie-like to be part of her reality. Not to mention she skipped going shopping with the girls this afternoon when she could have been looking at cute dresses right now and drinking a milkshake or two. It was almost 8p.m and the girls were still not back. Well, curfew was until 11:30 p.m. so she figured they'd be late as always.

She leaned her head over the textbooks staring into a blank spot. It was intriguing to go and talk to the sinners.

She thought they'd be a lot more difficult to handle. Maybe even be rude for sticking her nose in their business instead of waiting to be contacted as they told her. But they were quite nice and easy to talk to. She only met them once that day, but she could tell they were capable of finding the blackmailer. Not to mention they were very handsome to look at. Especially that tattoo guy. She had to find out his name.

Her lower back started hurting so she got up to stretch and walk around the villa a bit.

She made it to the door, but her phone started ringing. She contemplated leaving it to ring, but if it was the girls they probably needed something. She dragged her feet back, unplugged her phone from the charger, and answered the call.

The screen flashed Nikita's name.

"Hello?" She answered chirpily as always.

"Can you talk?"

"Yes."

"I think my roommates know something. They've been looking at me strangely all afternoon. Can you please come over? If they see a girl in my room they might stop acting like this." He sounded worried.

Tai looked at the time. This could get her in trouble considering it was late and she was not allowed around the boys' villas after six p.m. But this was an emergency.

"Okay. I'll be there soon. And don't worry. I'm sure it's nothing."

Nikita paused on the phone. "I hope so."

She hung up and then headed for the door. She was sure he was only panicking because of the whole situation, but she might as well check.

Nikita hung up the phone and stayed put in his room. He didn't want to admit it to himself, especially because his roommates were mostly nice people but something felt off ever since he came back from classes. There was no usual noise, they were avoiding his eyes and no one spoke to him directly unless he talked to them first. It was definitely a weird situation, unlike other times.

Could the blackmailer have decided to pressure him and told his roommates something? His roommates were mostly from conservative countries but they were also his friends. They would surely at least try to understand him.

The door to his room suddenly opened and two of them walked in with an awkward look on their face.

"What's going on?" Nikita got up and smiled politely.

"We're going to the cafeteria for dinner. We were going to ask you if you want to come but...there is something we want to ask you first." One of them awkwardly placed his hands into his pockets.

"Go ahead." Nikita already knew where this was going. There was a slight tremble over his whole body that he tried to conceal. You can't show them weakness. Not over this. You did nothing wrong, he kept telling himself.

"We were told um... That..you're gay." The other one said awkwardly.

Nikita got up placing his hands into his pockets. "Can I know who you heard this from?"

"Wait, is it true?" The first guy asked.

Nikita was faced with a decision. Lie or tell the truth. He decided to risk it. "It's true."

Intense silence filled the room. The boys were hoping they wouldn't hear this. They were hoping he would deny it. It was clear to Nikita how they would react to this news beforehand. which is why he never let them find out. But he hoped... He really hoped.

"If you guys are uncomfortable, I will ask to be transferred to another villa tomorrow morning. And I won't be going to the cafeteria with you either." Nikita said with a sad smile.

There was no answer from them. The silence meant they wanted him gone.

"I'm going for a walk." He cut past them and headed downstairs. He felt like yelling out, but he couldn't do it here.

The moment he was in the living room he was grabbed and pushed down to the ground.


Ahhh...I want to post one more chapter today.. but that one also ends in a cliffhanger. Damn it. which cliffhanger do you wanna end-on until the next upload? This one or the next?


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