Solo For Two

When the clerk began to tremble with an inexplicable fear, Karel ordered the course meal. Soon, an uninteresting array of expensive dishes and bird-feed-like food started to be set. It was absurd to be alone, eating this without Sasha in front of him.‘Sasha must not have eaten yet.’Karel glanced at Sasha through the window. It was an obvious surveillance, but not amusing. Sasha had ordered a hot coffee and hadn’t taken a single sip until now. Though angered at the thought of Sasha meeting someone else, Karel still hoped Sasha wouldn’t skip a meal. He felt despondent.Sasha sat alone for a while, looking at his watch. His slim figure seemed somewhat pitiful, buried in an overcoat slightly too big for him.A moment later, a middle-aged man with a gray beard entered the restaurant. Karel initially thought he couldn’t be Sasha’s date, but changed his mind when the man sat down in front of Sasha. They appeared to be going over a few documents together. In less than fifteen minutes, the middle-aged man left while Karel was lighting a cigarette.‘Whatever it is, it doesn’t seem important.’Sasha drank a bit of his now-cold coffee only after the man left. Even then, he soon put it down, seemingly displeased with the taste.‘I gave him so much money, yet that’s all he eats?’Despite giving Sasha enough money to buy an entire floor of a department store, all he had was a single cup of coffee. Just as Karel debated whether to interfere with Sasha’s meal, someone familiar passed by his eyes.The young man with messy blond hair walked briskly past the window of the restaurant where Karel was sitting, heading straight to the outdoor restaurant where Sasha was seated.‘Gudin…’A tall Russian ballet dancer with a doll-like appearance, Gudin had a clear infatuation with Sasha.‘He actually came to New York.’To Karel’s dismay, Gudin soon spotted Sasha and hurried over, embracing him and giving a French-style cheek kiss while standing. The normal greeting was deeply displeasing to Karel, as Gudin’s arm wrapped around Sasha’s back and his lips pressed against Sasha’s cheek.Gudin sat down in front of Sasha. Briefly thinking it would be a short meeting like with the middle-aged man, Karel watched as they entered the building together.Karel stood up abruptly, causing the table to shake and the cutlery to clatter slightly.“Sir?”Karel quickly paid for the uneaten meal and left the restaurant, crossing the street.The building Sasha and Gudin entered was four stories high with narrow, vertically long windows in a regular pattern. Except for the restaurant on the ground floor, the purpose of the upper floors was unclear. Karel wandered anxiously in front of the building, smoking constantly and circling it a few times. He asked an old man with a cane if there were residences inside, but the man, hard of hearing, simply walked away after straining to listen.When Karel finally decided to search the building himself, he heard footsteps descending the stairs just as he stepped inside. Two pairs of footsteps.“Sasha, think it over again. This deal isn’t bad for you.”Karel pressed himself against the wall, quietly stepping down to the basement level. He hid in the darkness.“I’ll think about it. I can’t decide alone…”“Decisions about your body should be made by you alone. Who else’s opinion matters?”The footsteps stopped. It seemed Gudin had stopped Sasha.“Is that terrifying pervert still watching you?”Karel’s face hardened at the word “pervert.” Gudin kept talking.“You don’t need to pay attention to him anymore. He’s not even your sponsor. Didn’t his true identity get exposed once he came to America? He was revealed as a scam artist pretending to be a nobleman and a double agent. They confiscated all his property in Europe. What business could you still have with such a pauper?”“Stop it, Gudin.”“I was fooled too, thinking he was a nobleman, but he was just a butcher. He doesn’t match someone as elegant as you.”“I said stop.”Sasha’s voice was unusually cold.“He ended up like that because of me.”“What do you mean? How is it your fault? Your only fault is being too beautiful, attracting those perverts… Including me, of course.”Karel saw the four legs above him suddenly tangle. He heard a wet, sticky sound. Karel clenched his fist so tightly his palm bled, the veins on the back of his hand bulging fiercely.Gudin pushed Sasha against the wall, briefly licking his lips before making a deliberate smacking sound.“Let go, Gudin.”Sasha, neither loudly angry nor shaken, calmly pushed Gudin away. Karel was more shocked by Sasha’s composed tone than by him allowing Gudin to kiss him so carelessly.“I don’t want to be involved like this. Not yet… Not without my consent.”“We’ve already gone too far for that.”“Stop talking like that.”Sasha descended the stairs first. Gudin quickly followed, clinging to Sasha’s back.“Sorry for the crude words. I can’t live without you, Sasha.”Gudin hugged Sasha tenderly, like a dancer, the pose picturesque. Karel’s heart turned cold, feeling like he was watching an intimate affair.As Gudin kissed his ear, Sasha gently pushed him away and said,“I’ll contact you.”Sasha then exited into the sunlight. Gudin waved after him and hummed a tune as he climbed the stairs.Karel lingered alone, leaning against the wall, lost in thought.＊＊＊Karel waited patiently, hoping Sasha would speak first.In the meantime, Sasha’s outings became more frequent, and as Karel did not interfere, Sasha seemed to believe without a doubt that there was nothing suspicious. Gradually, Sasha’s excuses became more flimsy. When Sasha returned from his outings, his skin was slightly sweaty and then dried, while the hair on the back of his neck was still damp.Karel pondered what could make Sasha sweat. He might have been stretching or practicing ballet variations alone where no one could see. However, there was already a practice room for Sasha in part of their spacious townhouse.Then why?Suddenly, the image of Sasha entwined with another man, lost in pleasure, popped into Karel’s mind. The spreading fantasies knew no bounds.Sasha only interacted with Karel and lived knowing only Karel’s body. Karel knew that no matter how many ways he pleased Sasha, there was a thrill and excitement in an affair that he couldn’t provide. The thought of Sasha’s body, which he had so innocently tamed, learning new pleasures made it hard for Karel to keep his sanity.‘Fine, have your fun. Just don’t get caught by me.’Karel’s patience stemmed from the belief that Sasha would eventually return to him, even if he enjoyed brief affairs.However, when Karel noticed that Sasha had taken some bills from the safe without telling him, he decided he couldn’t let it slide. He couldn’t understand why Sasha would sneak around like a thief if he needed money.‘Is he spending money somewhere he shouldn’t tell me about?’The thought that Sasha might be maintaining a double life caused Karel’s anxiety to spiral out of control. What if the outings grew longer and one day he didn’t return? What if he said he was happier spending time with someone else?Sasha’s return was particularly late one night.Levin, having put Charles to bed and getting ready to leave, expressed concern about Sasha’s absence. To be precise, she was worried about Karel, who was quietly simmering with anger because of it.“Should I stay a bit longer?”“Go on home. Sasha will be back soon.”Karel said this despite not being certain.Then, late at night, as Karel stood at the door, he saw Sasha walking down the street lined with swaying trees. Soon, he heard the sound of Sasha climbing the stairs, and then the door opened.As Sasha opened the door and saw Karel waiting, his face lit up with joy and happiness.Karel immediately embraced Sasha deeply. The familiar way Sasha’s body fit against him was comforting.“Karel.”Sasha spoke in a voice filled with joy, his mouth opening to reveal a soft, wet tongue. Karel rubbed his lips against Sasha’s and then gently kissed him. Almost touching lips, Karel whispered,“Why are you so late today? The department store closed a long time ago.”“Oh… um, I was watching the sheep.”In Central Park, opposite Bergdorf Goodman, there was Sheep Meadow, where sheep used to graze. Karel thought, how nice it would be if you were truly just watching the sheep.“Really? Were you lying on the grass? Is that why your hair is so messy?”“My hair?”Karel prodded Sasha’s temple with his nose, then grazed his nose down Sasha’s ear and delicate neck. There was a lingering scent of sweat.“I don’t smell any grass.”“Really? I guess.”“Were you really rolling in the grass?”“Uh…”As soon as Sasha opened his mouth to reply, Karel’s lips moved in again, invading Sasha’s mouth, licking his palate, and teasing his plump tongue. Though puzzled by Karel’s sudden outpouring of affection, Sasha compliantly leaned against him. Karel slipped his arms inside Sasha’s coat, caressing his waist, and then slipped his hand under Sasha’s shirt. Sasha’s back was slightly damp, either from intense exercise or from sweating in his clothes.“Mmm…”Sasha’s hips twitched as Karel’s hand moved along his spine.“Not rolling in some other guy’s bed, were you?”Karel’s tone was gentle, so it took Sasha a moment to grasp his meaning.As Sasha’s eyes widened in belated realization and he tried to explain, Karel’s fingers had already slipped inside his pants, pushing into his backside.“Been playing around behind my back?”“Uh, ah… Karel…”Sasha’s insides were as soft and wet as his lips. Karel pushed his middle finger deep inside, probing. Sasha clung to Karel, wrapping his arms around his neck. Karel added a third finger, but there was no trace of semen inside. Still, Karel wasn’t convinced. It could have been spilled outside. And if Gudin’s equipment was pitifully small, there would be no trace at all.“Karel… mmm, it hurts, ugh… don’t scratch inside.”“Then what did you allow?”“…What?”Sasha hadn’t grasped Karel’s intent. He merely thought, as he sometimes did, that Karel was spicing things up with crude words during their intimacy, and he panted while clinging to him.“Why are you sneaking out to meet Gudin every day, hiding it from me?”But the moment Karel said that, Sasha’s body stiffened.Karel withdrew his fingers. He rubbed his wet fingers on Sasha’s perineum through his pants, making Sasha shiver with tension.Karel felt a sense of emptiness.“Did you really think you could deceive me completely all this time?”Seeing Sasha unable to respond, it seemed he truly did.Karel stood there, his head throbbing with confusion. He couldn’t tell if he was more astounded by Sasha’s naivety in thinking Karel hadn’t noticed or by the shock of discovering Sasha had truly tried to deceive him.“Why would you lie to me?”“Well…”“I’ve thought about it countless times. I’m the one who listens to your worries first and understands you, right? What reason could you possibly have not to tell me? Watching you leave the house every day to meet another man, I wondered how long I could endure it. Do you know what conclusion I finally came to?”“What… what conclusion…”“The reason you can’t tell me.”Karel lifted Sasha’s chin. Sasha looked at him with eyes filled with fear, unsure of how much Karel knew. The sight of Sasha’s fear made Karel’s heart ache.“Don’t you trust me?”“No.”“Do you not love me anymore?”“No, Karel…”“Because of me, because I saved you, I was disgraced and put on trial, and now I can’t even return to my homeland… Is that why you pity me and can’t leave me?”At Karel’s quiet question, Sasha hung his head and sobbed. Karel felt like he was going insane because Sasha didn’t deny it.“Look at me!”Sasha shuddered, lifting his tear-streaked face.“Why are you crying? I should be the one crying.”“Karel, really, I…”Karel held his breath, waiting for Sasha’s confession. Sasha rolled his eyes, wiped away his tears, and answered.“Maybe it’s better if I leave you.”“What?”Karel felt his vision go dark for a moment.It wasn’t just a feeling. His vision literally blacked out, and his ears were muffled, a physical reaction from the intense shock, a faint dizziness just shy of passing out. Having never experienced dizziness in his daily life, Karel didn’t even recognize it.And he stupidly repeated,“What?”“If you find out everything, you’ll get tired of me… ah!”Karel shoved Sasha against the wall. Pinned flat against it, Sasha began to beg for forgiveness.“You’re leaving me?”“I’m sorry. Ugh, sob… I’m sorry.”“I… what did you say?”“I’ll explain, I’ll explain…”Sasha, claiming he would explain, couldn’t bring himself to speak, trembling in fear. Karel hated himself for making Sasha so scared, but he was also desperately curious about the truth Sasha was so terrified to confess.What could be so fearsome to admit?But Karel feared that once he heard this explanation, there would be no turning back.Even if Sasha had cheated with another man, once Karel heard the selfish reason Sasha spoke of, he might have no choice but to let Sasha go.That was all Karel could do from the start.“Sasha, I thought we were partners. No need for a wedding or paperwork to prove it… solid partners.”“You’re right… ah…”Without removing Sasha’s coat, Karel pulled down his pants. Sasha leaned against the entrance wall, exposing only his white buttocks. Karel roughly pushed into Sasha’s backside again. Sasha leaned against the wall, knees shaking.“I’m your husband, and you’re mine. But Sasha, it seems you aren’t.”“No, Karel. I… ah.”“Weren’t we supposed to share all our worries?”Even if your heart had left me, wasn’t I supposed to be the first to know?Karel roughly pulled Sasha’s shirt, exposing his shoulders. Biting into the skin while simultaneously thrusting into him, Karel paused to catch his breath, feeling the tight heat around him. Sasha trembled, pierced by the hot shaft up to his upper back.“Ah, ugh…”“You know how to open up for me now, don’t you?”“Ugh.”Sasha tried to relax his body and open up, as Karel instructed. Still, the entrance was tight. Karel pulled out and then thrust back in, making Sasha nearly collapse.“Don’t do that…”When the head of his penis caught at an angle and then slid in, the delicate lining stretched to its limit. Pulling out deliberately, Karel thrust back in, feeling a perverse satisfaction despite knowing he was taking his frustrations out on Sasha.“Sasha, are you crying?”“Hm, hic…”Karel held Sasha’s chin and licked away his tears.Sasha’s eyes had long since become sore from crying. Karel wiped Sasha’s thin eyelids with his large fingers, making Sasha blink several times as the irritation stung. Meanwhile, tears kept falling, splashing to the floor.“Do you hate me?”“No, never once…”“Why not? I always want to act like this because I like it when you cry.”“Sob…”“Do you still not hate me for this?”Karel spread Sasha’s buttocks as wide as they could go. Sasha trembled as his already stretched entrance was widened further. The thick shaft thrusting between the soft white cheeks made a shamelessly wet sound as it moved in and out, slick with pre-cum and Sasha’s inner moisture.Instead of welcoming Sasha into a warm home and letting him rest, Karel was treating him like a thug raping someone on the street.When Karel gripped Sasha’s waist tightly, Sasha, feeling the overwhelming pressure inside, tried to move his hips, which seemed like a seductive gesture. Unable to move his waist due to Karel’s hold, Sasha pounded his fists against the wall and scratched at the wallpaper. If Karel forcibly pulled Sasha’s hands away, Sasha, having no support while standing, would cling to the wall in fear.Karel grabbed Sasha’s wrists and held them behind his back as he roughly penetrated him. Sasha, whose legs had already given out, tried to stay upright, fearing that if he collapsed, the shaft inside him would cause injury. The struggle made Sasha’s tight muscles clench even more.“Does that guy treat you gently?”“I don’t know… who?”Sasha’s cheeks were soaked with tears as if he had washed his face with them. Karel, wanting to ejaculate on Sasha’s face, thrust vigorously until Sasha, unable to stand any longer, collapsed within five thrusts.As Sasha fell, Karel pulled him up and turned him around, extracting his shaft. Sasha, leaning back against the wall, slid down it exhausted. With Karel’s erection in front of him, Sasha panted heavily. When Karel rubbed the head of his penis against Sasha’s eyelids, Sasha asked fearfully,“…Should I do it with my mouth?”Sasha’s voice was slightly hoarse. Wanting to make Karel climax, Sasha took Karel’s heavy penis in both hands.Feeling a bit sorry, Karel rubbed his penis against Sasha’s face instead of thrusting into his narrow throat. Sasha, realizing Karel just wanted to rub against his face, held his mouth open, waiting. Sasha’s delicate face, framed by fine eyebrows, a slender nose, soft and slightly flushed cheeks, and moist lips, contrasted sharply with the dark red penis against it. Karel thought he was worse than a dog.Sasha, however, felt no shame, just familiarity with the prominent veins on the penis touching his bare cheek. They were the same veins he felt inside him during penetration, which felt somewhat comforting. When the taut scrotum touched his lips, Sasha instinctively licked one side into his mouth and looked up at Karel.“Damn, ugh… I’m going crazy.”In the end, Karel ejaculated while rubbing his penis against Sasha’s face and neck. The tip of the penis rubbed against the thin skin below Sasha’s ear, and semen flowed into Sasha’s shirt, some dripping down his back and some down his chest.Sasha wondered why Karel hadn’t ejaculated on his face. Just then, Karel grabbed Sasha’s neck and forced him to stand. He held Sasha’s small chin with both hands and kissed him fiercely, almost as if devouring him.“Ha, ha…”During that kiss, Sasha climaxed without realizing it. When he inhaled Karel’s breath, a deep spot inside him trembled.“Did you climax from the kiss?”“Mm… ah, yes…”Karel asked in amazement. Sasha, still trembling, clung to Karel. It was the first time Sasha had climaxed from kissing rather than penetration or fellatio. Resting his forehead on Karel’s shoulder, Sasha felt more languid from the aftershocks of his climax.Today, Karel was different from usual. Unlike his usual persistence in making sure Sasha felt pleasure, Karel was reckless and didn’t properly loosen him up. Despite being furious about the secret Sasha kept, he still felt guilty for his actions. It was a rare glimpse of the younger Karel, a side he had managed to suppress as he matured.It wasn’t just the kiss but the desperate way Karel clung to him, as if he might lose Sasha, that had made Sasha climax.“How could you make me climax without touching either the front or the back…”“Karel.”Sasha opened his lips slightly.“It’s because I love you that much…”And with that, Sasha fainted.＊ ＊ ＊When he opened his eyes again, his body had been washed clean, his hair still slightly damp. Karel, who had draped a robe over him, was looking down at Sasha. Sasha realized Karel had cleaned him.“You know it didn’t end because it was time to, right?”“Yes…”“You know it only stopped because you passed out, right?”“Yes.”Karel then spoke heavily.“You also know there’s still more you need to explain to me, right?”“Karel.”Sasha slowly sat up. Karel, despite his stern voice, helped Sasha lie back down. Even though Sasha wasn’t tired after his nap, he did as Karel directed. Karel covered Sasha with the blanket up to his chest and questioned him again.“Do you love me that much? Hah, you’ve found the one thing I can’t argue with. Whether that’s true or not, I still want to hear your explanation.”What should I do? Karel is truly a kind and gentle lover.Hating himself for disappointing Karel, Sasha sighed deeply. As he began to stammer, Karel closed his mouth and focused intensely.“Even if I’m no longer useful and you get tired of me…”When tears of sorrow began to gather in Sasha’s eyes again, Karel coldly said,“I’ve heard enough of that kind of talk. Stop trying to gain sympathy. You know what you really need to say now.”As he spoke, Karel kissed away the tears that had gathered at the corners of Sasha’s eyes, as if not wanting to waste them.Feeling reassured that Karel’s affection remained unchanged, Sasha confessed the truth.“Karel, I have a debt.”“What?”Karel asked incredulously.“A very… large one. I poured all my personal savings into it, but I couldn’t cover it…”“What?”Karel repeated like a broken machine. Seeing Karel’s expression, Sasha began to cry sorrowfully, knowing this would happen.“That’s why I said you would get tired of me…”Sasha’s wealth wasn’t insignificant. The money he had saved as the principal dancer at Ballet Russe and the proceeds from selling his mansion in Paris were substantial. Yet, even such a significant sum couldn’t cover the debt, making Karel’s expression turn peculiar.“What kind of debt could you possibly have? Have you been gambling behind my back?”“No, it’s not that.”Sasha shook his head, crying, then buried his face in the pillow. It was the same sorrowful face Karel had seen countless times over the past week.Realizing that Sasha wasn’t making up excuses to avoid the situation, Karel demanded a detailed explanation.“I had to mortgage the house. It’s no longer in my name.”“Mortgage? In your name?”“You bought this house for us, and it’s our home now. I didn’t want to lose it, so I tried to get the money somehow. We have to move out by the week after next. I tried to prevent it, but…”“What are you talking about?”Thinking Karel hadn’t understood, Sasha explained earnestly. Karel kept asking questions. How did the property change hands? Who demanded the mortgage? How did it become a debt?However, the more Sasha explained, the more trapped he felt. Karel’s probing questions made it increasingly difficult to answer. Initially thinking Karel was tormenting him by asking difficult questions to belittle him, Sasha gradually realized that might not be the case.‘Why do I know so little about what happened to me?’Then, it dawned on Sasha that the debtor might have intentionally concealed key details, exploiting these gaps.“Didn’t you ask that debtor the questions I’m asking you now?”Sasha looked at Karel with a blank expression.“Did you just take his word for it?”Karel gently tucked Sasha’s hair behind his ear. His eyes looked at Sasha with the affection of someone gazing at their beloved yet troublesome partner.“You’ve been scammed.”“Me?”“Yes.”When Karel bought this house, he directly drafted the contract with the previous owner, thoroughly reviewing and confirming there were no disputes. After transferring the title to Sasha, he knew all related documents and issues were in Sasha’s name.However, he hadn’t considered the possibility of a scammer approaching Sasha directly. Nor that Sasha might completely fall for it.Karel sighed silently and asked,“Then what about Gudin?”Sasha, having no reason to hide anything about Gudin, answered honestly.“The Ballet Russe members decided to settle in the U.S. They want to establish a ballet school and company there.”“They want to include you in that.”“They offered a lot of money…”Karel silently caressed Sasha’s cheek. Sasha had been trying to earn money despite the stress of being scammed. It was both pitiable and endearing.Karel asked softly,“Is it about the money, or is it what you want to do?”Sasha pondered for a moment.“There are things I don’t want to do. But I do want to perform more on stage.”“You’ll suffer from stress fractures again.”“But dancers have a limited time to perform… until then…”Karel nodded. He knew how deeply Sasha was attached to his profession. He couldn’t and wouldn’t stop Sasha from pursuing it. His role was to help Sasha anticipate and navigate the risks of his chosen path.Suddenly, Karel asked,“Nothing happened with Gudin, right?”“What?”Realizing Karel’s question, Sasha was taken aback.“Nothing happened!”“Gudin tried to meet you several times in the U.S. Are you going to keep letting him covet you?”“It’s fine. Gudin can’t do anything weird to me.”“How can you be so sure?”“There was a time when Gudin tried to force a kiss on me…”That must have been the time I witnessed. Karel listened as if he knew nothing about it.“I got so angry that he was probably shocked. He looked scared when I glared at him.”