“Physical comfort doesn’t necessarily mean happiness.”

Debbie looked very grumpy. He was cutting his meat with forceful, aggressive stabs of his knife. Jack, sitting next to him, patted his shoulder a few times without even looking.

“Did someone yell at you again?”

Walden raised an eyebrow, taking a bite of his fries as he spoke. Instead of the grimacing Debbie, Jack, who was in the same morning shift with him, replied indifferently: “CEO Axton told him to move some potted plants in the lobby.”

“That’s…… pretty normal.”

“He’s overreacting again,” – Walden muttered, chewing on his fries. If something did happen, Walden would be the first to jump in, but his definition of ‘something’ was very narrow.

“Anyway, this mission is pretty relaxed. Nothing to worry about.”

“Just think of it as a pleasant trip abroad. I like these kinds of missions. Not dangerous, you get paid, and you get to fly.”

“So the competition is quite fierce, isn’t it?” – Jack grinned. He had been chosen as the assistant captain without any competition.

Most people had received preliminary information regarding potential risk factors, and the information was highly reliable. Just think of it as a vacation; most people came with such a relaxed mindset.

“Indeed. Just work comfortably. Though there is one exception.”

“……”

Everyone was silent for a moment, then simultaneously turned their gazes towards the person quietly eating in the corner of the table. Christoph frowned slightly as if he didn’t understand why they were looking at him, then continued eating.

The one who had been warned beforehand about the possibility of trouble wasn’t the important figure, Al-Faisal, but Christoph Tarten, a man who carried deep-seated resentment from his past, but didn’t seem to care himself. And in fact, the surrounding colleagues, except for the Captain, didn’t seem too concerned either. They just whispered amongst themselves, as if wondering if Christoph even needed to worry.

“Yes, the job is quite relaxed. Besides, I only have to protect my client, not everyone else. Live or die, that’s their business. But!”

The grumpy Debbie stabbed his fork forcefully into his meat. His already large eyes widened further, taking up almost half his face.

“Even if it’s relaxed, there are still annoying people! Is moving potted plants my job?! Fine, for humanitarian reasons, I could help. But after I painstakingly moved them, he said: ‘Sweep up the spilled dirt, too.’ Damn it! Bodyguards aren’t maids, and I’m not that CEO’s bodyguard anyway.”

“It’s because you look too gentle. Look at Walden or Christoph. No one would dare ask them to do such things.”

“……Walden is 2 meters tall and weighs 100 kg, so that’s understandable, but why bring me into this?”

Christoph frowned and glared at Jack. But Jack just waved his hand dismissively.

“Ah——it’s a compliment, a compliment. You look like someone who gives orders, not someone who takes them. You can tell just by looking, right? As if, if anyone dared to order you around, you’d beat them up. Like: ‘You don’t need these hands anymore’, and chop, you’d cut their wrists off. I bet no one would dare ask you to do trivial things. They wouldn’t dare, they couldn’t.”

“That doesn’t sound like a compliment.”

“It is, it is. Sometimes he just doesn’t understand human language.”

Jack rolled his eyes and nonchalantly emphasized: “It’s a compliment”, then continued eating. Perhaps only God knew Jack’s true intentions, as he often received comments like: “I can’t tell if Jack is complimenting or mocking me.”

Christoph coldly glared at Jack for a long moment, making the atmosphere at the table stiffen. Debbie, who seemed to have calmed down, let out a sigh.

“Those high-and-mighty types really know how to irritate people. Sigh, it’s not like I can punch them.”

“If that happened, the bodyguards over there would either start a brawl with their colleagues on this side, or they’d be receiving a lawyer’s business card,” – Everyone murmured. Just then, Walden suddenly thought of something, so he turned to Christoph and blurted out,

“Hey, your cousin’s actually turned into a decent person. Treats everyone well, not harsh on his subordinates either.”

“Huh…… Tell that to Hans. He’d probably foam at the mouth.”

“Who’s Hans?”

“His assistant. Yesterday, he was also called in to work until midnight.”

Of course, after Hans left, Richard continued working alone with his computer and documents, but Christoph didn’t mention that. Anyway, it was true that Hans was being overworked.

“Really? That’s strange. It seems like no one working at Tarten hates your cousin.”

“He’s always had a good reputation. With those who don’t really know him.”

Jack narrowed his eyes at Christoph, who had smirked and spoken sarcastically with an impassive expression. He scratched the back of his neck, looking slightly uncomfortable, then said,

“You seem to really hate him…… Why?”

Jack tilted his head in wonder; it was strange for someone who was usually indifferent and cold to everyone to show such clear animosity. Christoph stopped eating. He thought silently for a moment. But in the end,

“Who knows. He hated me first. Since we were little, I don’t even remember clearly anymore.”

That’s right. Ever since they were very young. They were always clashing. He didn’t know when it had started. And so, little by little, bit by bit, the resentment piled up.
Yet now.

He kept directing his gaze, his actions, towards Christoph. Desire. Longing. The way he looked at Christoph was burning hot. An intense gaze that Christoph wanted to avoid, no longer restrained or concealed, but directed straight at him. So blatant it was impossible to miss.

Why. Since when. For what reason.

Christoph didn’t understand at all.

“……”

Seeing Christoph put down his fork when his plate was still more than half full, Walden asked in surprise: “Not eating anymore?”

“Yeah. I feel a little sick.”

His stomach felt heavy, so he had no appetite. His heart was tight. It felt like little gnomes were restlessly stomping around inside.

“Can I have it then?”

Walden. a 2-meter-tall, 100-kg man with a hearty appetite. quickly pulled Christoph’s plate towards himself. Christoph leaned back in his chair and refilled his water glass.

Richard was staring at Christoph so intently that he couldn’t help but notice. Every time Christoph snapped back to reality and looked in his direction, their eyes would meet. An intense gaze that made Christoph flinch, as if it were constricting him. Even when their eyes met, Richard would only raise an eyebrow slightly, never looking away. As if he didn’t care whether Christoph noticed his gaze or not. No, perhaps it was more accurate to say that he wanted Christoph to notice.

Christoph felt like he was always being watched. Always being observed. Even in his dreams.

Last night, too.

Last night, he had a terrible headache. Perhaps because of the turbulent thoughts in his head, the dull ache that had started in the early evening quickly intensified, to the point that when he went to bed early, his head felt like it was going to explode.

Damn it. His head was pounding. His heart was heavy, too. It felt like the inside of his body was covered in moss.

Even lying in bed, he continued to take one or two pills, trying to sleep. But Christoph still couldn’t fall asleep.

Lately, these dull headaches had been tormenting him. The tinnitus, sometimes loud, sometimes soft, kept repeating: ‘Don’t think anymore. Don’t believe anymore. Don’t let your guard down. Just stay like this. At least it won’t get any more painful.’

Christoph didn’t know when he drifted off. He didn’t even realize he had fallen asleep. Because the tinnitus kept ringing in his ears. The noisy, whispering sound, neither dream nor reality, just kept echoing.

The tinnitus had started when Christoph was a child. He didn’t remember exactly when. Some days it was so loud he couldn’t sleep, other days it was so quiet it was almost inaudible, just a faint whisper in his ears.

Those voices always told him he was empty. That there was a void somewhere inside him, in his head or in his body. That he was flawed. That he was incomplete. Sometimes they cried, sometimes they laughed.

But at some point, the tinnitus started to mix with other voices. They told him not to trust. Not to let his guard down. Not to forgive. To remember how much he was hated and loathed by him—or by them. The ghostly voices kept chattering, whispering incessantly within him.

Those voices were getting louder. Especially lately, they had been growing louder. Since when—ah, it was two months ago. Since that man had left Riyadh.

From that time, too. His heart started to malfunction, beating erratically, sometimes pounding with anxiety, sometimes tightening painfully. The incessant tinnitus made his head buzz.

On particularly bad days, his head hurt so much it felt like it would explode. The pain was so intense he just wanted to smash his head with a hammer; who could understand that feeling? When he was a child, he had repeatedly hit his head, rupturing his eardrums, then waking up in the hospital.

Yesterday was the same.

He woke up in the middle of the night. He didn’t know what time it was. He was drenched in sweat, soaking even his bedding.

“……”

The pill bottle was empty. Christoph fumbled around on the bedside table in the dark, accidentally knocking the bottle to the floor, where it rolled away with a clatter. He stared at the empty bottle, then staggered to his feet.

His head hurt. The noise in his ears was driving him crazy.

Anything would do. Tranquilizers, sleeping pills, even poison. If not, then a gun to blow his damn head off would be fine, too.

Christoph groggily looked around the unfamiliar room; he didn’t know where the medicine was kept, then walked towards the faint light spilling from the gap under the door. He opened the door and stepped out. Richard was sitting in the living room. He was looking over some documents with a serious expression, then looked up in slight surprise at Christoph. But immediately after, as if realizing his condition, he frowned slightly.

“A headache again?”

“……It’s noisy. My head is buzzing. Give me some medicine.”

Even though he had opened his eyes, the tinnitus persisted. He no longer understood what they were saying. All he could hear was a whispering, whispering, whispering, echoing faintly in his ears.

Richard didn’t move. He just silently watched Christoph, his eyebrows slightly furrowed. Christoph stared back at him for a long moment, a feeling of discomfort and frustration building inside him. The tinnitus grew louder.

“Damn it. Poison is fine too, just give me something. Make that noisy bunch shut up.”

“Christoph, no one is talking right now. There’s no noise. Listen closely.”

Richard said softly. Christoph clicked his tongue. “Fine,” – He said irritably, turning to leave. Where did he put that damn gun? He seemed to have taken it out of its case and put it in a drawer.

Christoph rubbed his temples and went into his room. He opened a drawer in the dresser and took out the gun case nestled inside. Then he checked the pistol. It was loaded with live ammunition.

He didn’t intend to shoot himself in the head. As much as the buzzing in his skull was driving him to the edge, he wasn’t that far gone. There were moments when he wanted to just blow his brains out and be done with it, but right now, that wasn’t one of them.

Right, his palm would do. A shot through his hand would be easier to deal with than having the bullet lodged in his flesh, and besides, the excruciating pain would quickly make him lose consciousness. There would be no room for the tinnitus then. He’d done this a few times before. He had used a knife then, but he didn’t have a knife now.

“CHRISTOPH, ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?!”

But just as Christoph took out the gun and loaded it, a cold, tense voice rang out from behind him. Before Christoph could turn around, Richard was right next to him, grabbing his wrist and twisting it forcefully. Before he could react or defend himself, the gun was ripped from Christoph’s hand and into Richard’s.

Christoph glared and reached out.

“Give it back.”

“Get a grip. Don’t go pulling some crazy stunt in the middle of the night.”

Richard said coldly, then removed the magazine from the gun and walked straight into the bathroom. Soon, the sound of running water could be heard. Christoph stood there dumbfounded for a moment, then hurriedly followed him. “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING, GIVE IT BACK!” – Christoph yelled at Richard, who was coming out of the bathroom. Richard threw the gun back at Christoph with a cold expression. The gun flew past Christoph, hitting the wall before falling to the floor. It was empty.

“What the hell——.”

“Don’t use this to threaten me. You can do whatever you want. You can say whatever you want to me, you can curse me or ignore me. But don’t use this to threaten me!”

Before Christoph could angrily ask:’What the hell did you do?’, Richard spoke in a cold voice. His face was frighteningly stiff, making Christoph momentarily speechless. Richard looked truly furious——or perhaps terrified, to the point that his face was pale and rigid, as if frozen.

“――Who’s threatening whom? It’s not you, it’s me who’s the target of that gun.”

“Did you really think I would point a gun at you?”–  Christoph muttered, his anger still present, but somewhat subsided. But at that moment, Richard’s eyes flashed with fury.

“THAT’S EVEN MORE TERRIFYING, YOU IDIOT!”

The yell that erupted from deep within him shattered the stillness of the night. Christoph flinched at the sudden outburst, the ringing in his ears momentarily silenced. He unconsciously recoiled.

This was the first time Christoph had seen him this enraged. Richard’s pale and rigid face looked more frightening than ever.

“……, …….Why are you so angry?”

“I’m the one who lost the bullets; I’m the one who’ll get yelled at by the Captain tomorrow.” – Christoph grumbled irritably, looking slightly sullen, like a scolded child. But the moment he realized he was being sullen, he felt annoyed.

“——Fine. Tell someone to bring some medicine. I’m not kidding. My ears are ringing, my head is pounding. I want to smash it to pieces.”

Though the tinnitus had subsided somewhat, his head still ached dully. At least the lessened ringing made him feel a little better.

Christoph walked over to the sofa in the living room and plopped down. He frowned, gently rubbing his temples with his fingers. On the opposite side, Richard was making a phone call. It seemed he was asking someone to bring medicine. As soon as he hung up, Richard closed the laptop that was still open on the table. He also gathered the scattered documents and neatly arranged them in order.

“Don’t you still have a lot of work to do?”

Christoph glanced at the clock; it was past one in the morning, then asked suspiciously. He knew Richard had a habit of staying up past two. But Richard just muttered: “Thanks to you, I’m done with work for today,” as he tidied up the documents.

“Thanks to me? You should continue working then,” – Christoph said, but Richard ignored him and turned to go into the bathroom. The sound of running water came for a while, then stopped.

It seemed he was angry…… But what was he angry about?

Christoph clicked his tongue in annoyance. His temples throbbed so painfully that he just wanted to shoot them.

But then, something cold and damp touched his temple, where he had been closing his eyes and massaging with a frown. Christoph opened his eyes and looked up to see Richard silently pressing a wet towel against his forehead. The towel quickly covered his eyes as well.

“What is this? Don’t touch me.”

“I’m not touching you. Just stay still, I won’t do anything to you.”

On the contrary, Richard sounded irritated as he pressed the towel firmly against Christoph’s forehead. Christoph frowned slightly for a moment, but as the cold towel covered the upper half of his face, the concentrated coolness seemed to ease his headache a little. So he decided to lie still and not resist.

Richard’s hand rested heavily on the towel. His fingers gently pressed against Christoph’s forehead and eyelids, then slowly moved around. The cool sensation of the towel came and went with the movement of his fingers.

“……”

The throbbing pain in his head seemed to lessen slightly. The sharp ache was still there, but the tempo had slowed. His shoulders gradually relaxed.

“What do you hear?”

Richard’s quiet voice came from above, right behind the towel covering his eyes. Christoph raised an eyebrow, and Richard, as if sensing it through the movement of the towel, added: “You said your ears were ringing.”

“Ah, that,” – Christoph started to say, but then stopped.

‘Don’t listen to what he says. You’ll only suffer again. Don’t believe him. You’ll only despair again. Just stay like this. For you, someone with nothing good waiting ahead, nothing worse can happen either.’

Those whispers, sometimes clear, sometimes vague. They kept whispering, their volume fluctuating. They urged him to hold on.

After Christoph abruptly fell silent mid-sentence, Richard was quiet for a moment, then asked again in a lower voice,

“Do they still say you’re flawed, that there’s something empty inside?”

Only then did Christoph recall the words that had haunted him since he was very young, to the point that he had almost forgotten them. The whispers that told him he was flawed and empty somewhere had become faint at some point. They still surfaced clearly sometimes, but very rarely. Perhaps because the newer whispers had overwhelmed them, leaving no room for them.

……Christoph had forgotten about them a long time ago. When he left Dresden, left Tarten, he tried not to think about the things that bound him there. If he hadn’t persistently sought him out like that, he probably would have forgotten even this man, but he didn’t let that happen.

“……, umm……”

Christoph was about to ask about someone who suddenly came to mind, but then stopped. He couldn’t bring himself to finish the sentence.

Richard quietly watched the hesitant Christoph, then calmly said,

“Bianca is still in the North Wing, she hasn’t left.”

Christoph was silent. Sometimes, this man seemed to read his mind.

“……Have you seen her?”

“Why would I see her?”

Richard let out a short humorless laugh, as if he couldn’t believe what he had just heard. A cold glint shone in his eyes. Perhaps that light would never warm, not even until he died.

“I have no intention of seeing her, nor do I intend to let you see her. She doesn’t deserve it.”

His voice was calm but resolute. Christoph was momentarily speechless. He always felt a strange tightness in his chest when talking about her, but this time, it was because of Richard’s unwavering resolve.

“What? Do you want to see her?”

A faint, mocking smile tinged Richard’s cold voice.

“You still want to see her? With her, mere desire isn’t enough to make her want to see you.”

“——I don’t know.”

Christoph replied curtly.

Even now, he had never thought about whether or not he wanted to see her. Now, too, he had just suddenly remembered her, not that he had any such thoughts. Perhaps it would be the same in the future. And perhaps this feeling, the feeling he always felt whenever he thought of her, would never change. The empty and cold feeling in his chest……Like the whispers he had almost forgotten, but which still occasionally surfaced in his mind: ‘You are flawed, and empty somewhere.’

The large hand resting on the wet towel covering his eyes suddenly trembled. The breath from above, falling on Christoph’s head, seemed to quicken for a moment, then returned to normal.

“She abandoned you. She never comforted or encouraged you. In fact…… —when I dragged you down into the mud…… she stepped on you just to walk away.”

“……”

Richard’s voice grew lower. It gradually faded to the point that if it weren’t for the quietness of the room, Christoph probably wouldn’t have heard it.

“I……, ……I……,——”

Richard kept hesitating, and it struck Christoph as odd. This wasn’t like the man he knew. Someone hesitating to the point of being unable to say what he wanted to say, that wasn’t the Richard Tarten that Christoph knew.

This man was a Richard that Christoph didn’t know at all.

“……Let me have you. ——Give yourself to me.”

Finally, he whispered as if pleading. The wet towel on Christoph’s eyes had grown lukewarm. It was even slightly warm from the heat of his hand still resting on it, reluctant to leave.

“Give yourself to me, Chris.”

That pleading voice, it sounded so soft it seemed to tremble, though it actually wasn’t. Perhaps because his voice was as low as a whisper. “Give yourself to me,” – A voice so small and fragile, it seemed barely brave enough to whisper the words aloud.

“I’ve always been watching you. Only looking at you. From even before I knew why I was looking, or what I wanted……, ……From before you even loved yourself. From the time you thought no one in this world wanted you—and even before then.”

From that time. Always. Always wanting him.

The last sentence was almost inaudible. And then, silence filled the space.

Richard silently looked down at Christoph. Christoph remained still. Only the large hand covering Christoph’s eyes, through the wet towel, occasionally twitched slightly. As if stealthily tracing the faint lines of Christoph’s eyelids and nose.

Just then, there was a knock on the door. The hand lingering on Christoph’s eyes finally moved away, and Richard started walking towards the door.

It seemed Hans had brought the medicine as requested; his voice could be heard from the doorway. A few brief exchanges, then the door closed. Steady footsteps approached.

Christoph removed the towel and sat up. He swallowed the pill Richard offered with some water, then silently watched him. Richard stood about two steps away, looking down at him. His usual impassive, calm expression made it hard to believe he was the same person who had uttered those soft, earnest whispers just moments ago.

“Is your headache any better?”

“I think so. Probably.”

“Well, that’s good,” – Richard said, picking up the wet towel from the table. Christoph followed his back as he tossed the towel into the laundry bag. That broad, solid back he was so used to seeing suddenly looked unfamiliar. That back, with its slightly slumped shoulders, as if carrying the burden of someone who had no choice but to beg for what he wanted.

With power, with wealth, with everything he had in abundance—he still couldn’t obtain what he yearned for. Unless Christoph willingly offered it. All he could do was keep pleading. With that pathetic figure etched on his back.

A pathetic Richard Tarten.

A pleading Richard Tarten.

Who had ever seen such a Richard Tarten? No one could imagine it. Not even his parents.

It truly didn’t suit him. Truly unfamiliar. It was a person Christoph didn’t know at all. Someone who looked at him with longing eyes, whispered with an earnest voice, yet whose hesitant hands didn’t dare to touch, only fumbled and wavered. A person who poured his whole being into reaching out to him like that…… Christoph had never known such a person. And the feelings rushing towards him were equally unfamiliar. His heart tightened slightly, cold and suffocating.

“……”

Christoph silently rubbed his chest. He felt breathless, as though something was stuck in his throat. It often felt like this. Whenever he thought of Richard, his mind would become a chaotic mess, and breathing would become difficult.

Could others understand this feeling? This strange, unsettling feeling, was he the only one who didn’t understand? While those who were casually eating, chatting, complaining about all sorts of things…… they all understood perfectly well, and he was the only one who didn’t……?

“Why are you looking at everyone like that? Like a visitor from another place.”

It seemed he had been observing each person one by one without realizing it. Debbie, noticing the gaze that Christoph himself wasn’t even aware of, asked curiously. Christoph stared blankly at him for a moment, then replied curtly: “Nothing.” Walden, next to him, who was finishing off the rest of Christoph’s food, also looked at him quizzically.

Christoph looked at them indifferently for a moment, then blurted out what he was thinking.

“I was thinking, a bunch of people wearing the same kind of ring—though I’m not even sure if you can call it a ring—looks pretty tacky.”

“As if there’s a name and phone number engraved inside,” – Christoph added listlessly. Everyone fell silent. They glanced at the tracking rings that were distributed every morning and collected every evening, which they were all currently wearing. Even Christoph, who had just said that, was wearing one on the index finger of his right hand. The ring that the Captain had someone deliver to each room every morning, which Richard handed to Christoph.

‘……So, maybe the strange one isn’t Richard, but me,’ – Christoph thought. It wasn’t Richard who was strange, but himself who felt estranged from himself.

It wasn’t a ring. It was a tracking device. With a design that, if it weren’t for that reason, he would have thrown out the 23rd-floor hotel window without a second thought.

Yet, every morning, when Richard picked up the ring, looked at it for a moment, and then handed it to him, he felt a strange sensation. As if something was gently scratching at his heart. And in the end, that side of himself made him feel uncomfortable.

“Did the Captain choose this design?”

“I was also wondering what this was. Can we change the design next time?”

“No, wait a minute—a ring? What’s with the ring? What if, by chance, I meet a beautiful woman in the hall and have a fateful encounter, wouldn’t it be misunderstood?”

“……If I’m not wearing a ring, that won’t happen, right……? No……”

While the others were actively discussing the ring, Christoph remained silent with a darkened expression. He gestured to Jack – who, it was later revealed, had chosen this ring from among several samples the Captain had presented – and Jack, sitting opposite him, leaned forward: “Hmm?”

“You said that after the forum ends, we’ll decide about contract extensions, right?”

“Hmm? Yeah, that’s right. That’s the schedule.”

Jack, the assistant captain, replied while mentally reviewing the schedule. Not just the schedule, but also the list of those who would be offered contract extensions, the terms, the salary, everything had already been determined. All they had to do was sign the extension papers—or the termination papers.

“Tell the Captain for me. I’ll extend my contract.”

“What? Aren’t you going to look at the comparison chart?”

Normally, everyone would review the new or removed terms in the renewal contract, the adjusted salary, compare it with outside offers, and then make a decision, even though the salary usually didn’t differ much from the previous year.

“It’s fine.”

“……If you’ve already decided, the Captain will be happy. But why so suddenly……”

“I’m fine with the current situation.”

At Christoph’s reply, Jack was surprised: “Huh?”

“You should look at the comparison chart. Even if the current conditions are good, the conditions will change with the contract renewal,” – Jack gently advised again. But Christoph shook his head.

Fine with the current situation. With the current situation.

He didn’t want to go back.

Didn’t want to return to that place. That time.

“……Is there a reason?”

Jack carefully scrutinized Christoph’s expression, then asked. Christoph blinked once, then twice, his lips touching his water glass to soothe his dry lips. And then, he spoke softly,

“Because I’m afraid.”

Jack looked at him strangely. He tilted his head and rolled his eyes as if he didn’t understand what he had just heard.

“……You have something to be afraid of?”

“I’m afraid of things that influence me.”

“What things?”

Christoph remained silent. After a moment, he whispered as if to himself,

“My heart is making noise.”

Every time his eyes met Richard’s, every time he whispered something to him, every time a story about the past was brought up and his face was momentarily clouded with heartache, his heart would pound restlessly. It beat rapidly, erratically, filled with anxiety and unease. That sound was both too loud and too unfamiliar, making him unconsciously uneasy.

Things he didn’t understand frightened him.

The day before yesterday, yesterday, today, the fear had gradually grown.

Therefore—he needed to do something to calm his restless heart. So, he decided to stay in Riyadh a little longer. At least it was a temporary measure.

“Alright, then…… I’ll tell the Captain anyway.”

“The Captain will be happy,” – Jack nodded. His expression was still doubtful. “But if you’ve decided to extend and then later complain about the conditions not being good, I’m not taking responsibility,” – He added as a precaution.

Christoph nodded.

Stay in Riyadh for the time being. After making that decision, his turbulent heart seemed to calm down a little.

Right. He would stay in Riyadh a while longer. If he said so, perhaps Richard would—fall silent. His face expressionless, but the gaze beneath would probably darken. ‘Come back.’ – He might say so, with a sorrowful look, as if all hope was lost.

“……”

It happened again. The tightness in his chest.

Christoph took a deep breath.