3

Viktor Redwood, age 25. His parents' house was on the west side of the island in Miami, where he worked as a security guard at the local airport. This job paid him less than minimum wage and required much physical effort. His home was small and cramped, with one bathroom and barely enough room for his own bed.

When Viktor woke up this morning after working all night at the airport, his head hurt. Not so much from the alcohol that he had consumed last night before retiring to bed, but from the fact that he still didn't have anything more than three dollars in savings. He hadn't even gotten out of his bed yet when there came a knock on the front door.

He threw himself into a pair of jeans, pulled his feet into some shoes (a pair of work boots), shoved his hands in the pockets of his hoody, and trudged over to open the front door. The first thing he noticed was how dark it was outside. When Viktor opened his eyes and looked around, he saw two police officers standing in front of his door, a woman wearing a dark blue uniform with a white stripe down her sleeves, and another woman in a dark red shirt.

"Hello, Sir," said the woman. She held a hand out. "I'm Officer O'Malley, and this is Lieutenant Peralta."

Viktor shook their hands.

O'Malley said, "Good evening, sir. We'd like to ask you a few questions if that's alright?"

Viktor frowned. "About?" he asked. He tried to keep his voice level.

"Just routine questions," said Peralta. "We know that you're the owner of this home. Is your name Mr. Vitya Viktor Redwood?"

"Yes," Viktor answered hesitantly. "That's me. But I have no idea what this has to do with you guys. It's pretty late already, why couldn't we wait until morning?"

"Sir," said O'Malley, "we're just going to take a short walk through this residence, please follow us."

"Alright," Viktor conceded. He let them step inside and lead the way back toward his bedroom. They walked past his living area, past the kitchenette and down the hall.

Viktor followed them to his bedroom door. He could feel the anxiety rising in his chest. The officers stood beside the doorway, facing him. One of them stepped forward, extending a hand toward Viktor's body. Viktor tensed instinctively. A moment later, however, his muscles relaxed and Viktor lowered his arm. With each step Viktor took away from them, he felt himself becoming less fearful of these policemen.

The officer moved closer to him. Viktor stared intently at him, trying to remember who it was. Then suddenly it clicked; it was Lieutenant Peralta from the precinct earlier that week.

"Vitya," she said slowly. "We were just wondering when you thought you might be ready to move forward with divorce proceedings. If you think now would be a good time to talk to us about moving forward."

"Divorce procedures… Oh, you mean about divorcing my wife," Viktor replied calmly. He was surprised by his calm demeanor, and he felt a twinge of anger. He realized that he was probably taking too long to process his thoughts; he must look really strange to the police officers right now.

As if reading his mind, one of the officers interrupted.

"Sir, we understand why you wouldn't want to discuss this with your wife yet, and maybe in the future it will be easier. I apologize if this seems sudden."

"It's okay," Viktor responded softly. He wasn't sure whether he meant that he was okay with discussing it or if he wanted them to leave.

"If you need any help getting through this, though, please call our number," said the other officer.

After a brief conversation in which everyone promised to let them know if anything came up, the officers left.

Once again Viktor walked into his living room and sat back down on the sofa. He reached for his phone and looked at the notifications. Most of the calls were from his family, but there were also three unread messages. He quickly read the first message.

(8:56 p.m.) My mom: Viktor, can I get off early today? You and I are supposed to meet for dinner tonight, and it's starting to get late. Do you want to eat somewhere else? Call me later? - Mom.

[8:57 p.m.] Yuri: Hey, you're always welcome at mine. If your flight doesn't come in tonight, you can sleep over here. Call me when you get in - Yura

Viktor scrolled through the texts from Yuri. The most recent text from Yura was sent at 5:05 p.m. Viktor had been in the middle of preparing his food when Yura sent the message, meaning that he was likely at practice. Viktor was glad that Yura was willing to accommodate him; he needed all the friends he could find.

Yuri's next text was sent at 4:00 p.m. Viktor glanced at his calendar on his desk. In one day, he had only gone to work for an hour and returned home half an hour late. Yuri texted him a few minutes later to let him know that he and Chris had finished rehearsal, and that Yura could meet Viktor at the rink once he got off work. Yuri had made arrangements to spend the night at Victor's apartment.

[4:02 p.m.] Yuuri: Hey Viktor, sorry it's taken me so long to reply, we've been busy! I'm at the gym, training with my boyfriend. I just wanted to tell you that I love you, and to see you tomorrow at noon, and thank you for letting me stay the night at your place, I'm glad that you let me sleep on your couch :)

Viktor felt his heart beating wildly. For weeks, Yuuri had been telling him that they should stop seeing each other, but this time Yuuri actually said those words to him in person. Yuuri had agreed to end their relationship without making Viktor feel worse than ever. He smiled to himself, his heart feeling warm and full at what Yuuri had done. Viktor knew that he should stop texting Yuuri while he was training. That wasn't fair to Yuuri, especially since he could easily hear Viktor's thoughts. Besides, Yuuri probably needed the rest after such a grueling workout. However, Viktor couldn' seem to stop texting Yuuri.

His heart fluttered again when he received the third text.

Yuri: How's your day going? Have you eaten yet? I heard you were staying late today, is everything okay?

Yuuri's texts were almost identical to the first two, except that he started off with asking about Viktor's day. Yuri was always concerned about Viktor.

For a moment, Viktor forgot that he was on his cellphone and wondered aloud what his favorite song was playing on his phone.

Yuuri: Your song?

Viktor: Yeah. Sorry, it's just I heard a song called "I'm Always Loving You" a few days ago and... yeah... anyway, I haven't had breakfast yet. Would you mind if I ordered pizza or Chinese food? What kind do you like?

Yuuri: Are you kidding me?! Why would I mind? As long as I get to taste your delicious cooking. And please let me know what kind of pizzas and dishes are on offer because I am starving.

Yuuri was talking nonstop now, and it reminded Viktor of how much he liked hearing Yuuri's voice. Whenever Viktor listened to Yuuri talk, his entire body seemed to relax. He loved listening to Yuuri speak, loved hearing his beautiful accent.

Suddenly, the sound of Yuuri' s voice died away, and Viktor realized that his screen was dead. He looked up. His neighbor was looking at him in disbelief.

"What?!" said Viktor defensively.

"I don't even know what to say," said his neighbor. "I mean..." He trailed off as if he didn't know what to say.

"You don't have to say anything," said Viktor quietly.

He closed his phone and put it aside. He turned to O'Malley and Peralta.

"So, um," Viktor started. "What exactly do you need to ask me about?"

Peralta and O'Malley exchanged looks before returning their attention back to Viktor.

"Is there anyone that you want us to contact regarding your divorce?" asked Peralta.

"No." Viktor shook his head. "My lawyer should be able to handle the whole divorce."

"Do you need anything in particular at the moment? I mean, do you not have any personal belongings or things that belonged to your late wife? Or did you decide to go through with your plans with your husband?"

"No," said Viktor firmly. "Everything in my house belongs to both of my wives."

"Okay," said O'Malley with a slight nod. "And is there anything else you want us to do, or--?"

"Nope," Viktor said. "All the legal documents I need for this are in my office at the law firm, so I won't have to worry about them."

"Good, good," said O'Malley nodding his head. "Do you have any questions before we leave? We'll make sure you're taken care of, and then we'll be out of your hair."

"I'd love that," said Viktor. "Thank you so much for coming all this way. I owe all of you."

"Don't mention it."

The officers thanked Viktor once more and said they were going to check in with his neighbors again to ensure that nothing was happening to harm Viktor's health.

"Thank you for being here," Viktor muttered as they began walking towards the front entrance.

O'Malley and Peralta glanced back at Viktor, giving him a smile before exiting the apartment. Viktor watched them go, hoping that everything was going to be alright. When he was certain that the officers were safely outside, Viktor locked the apartment door behind them and sighed.

Viktor made his way over to where he had left his suitcase. After gathering all of the things he wanted to take with him, he carefully packed it. He noticed his phone still lying on the cushion next to him. It rang, and Viktor hesitated as he picked it up. He debated whether or not he should pick up. He decided to pick it up and answer.

Chapter 2

The voice that answered on the phone belonged to an attractive woman who sounded vaguely familiar. He hadn't met her directly, but he recognized her as the woman whose name tag identified her as Katsuki-San. Although Viktor had been expecting the voice to sound friendly, his heart skipped a beat upon hearing that voice. He thought she might be angry or upset with him, considering the situation. She sounded almost cheerful on the phone, which surprised Viktor slightly, given what she sounded like earlier.

"Hello, Viktor!" she greeted enthusiastically. "How are you doing? Did you have a nice day? Is everything fine?"

"Hi Mrs. Katsuki," Viktor replied. He wasn't quite sure how to proceed. He didn't know whether the woman would be mad at him if she found out why he had called. Viktor took another moment to formulate the question in his head. Then, he finally spoke.

"Well, I did have a nice day. I guess you could say that everything went smoothly. But, uh…" Viktor paused momentarily, unsure of how to phrase his next statement. "I'm afraid I'll have to call you back. I have a lot of work to finish packing. I'll talk to you later."

After he hung up with Katsuki Yuuko, Viktor continued packing his luggage. He tried to clear his mind and think of something pleasant to distract him until he finished. Viktor tried to focus on the last few articles of clothing that he owned and not thinking about the call that he just had with Katsuki. Viktor sighed. Why couldn't he simply forget about her and move on? He had already moved on; he had forgotten all about her by the end of high school. Yet, somehow, deep inside, Viktor knew that he couldn't move on that easy.

Viktor had been married to Yuuri Katsuki since their senior year of high school. They had gotten engaged during their freshman year. Their love hadn't been particularly intense, but Viktor adored Yuuri as soon as they became official. Even though Viktor hadn't realized it, he had fallen in love with him at first sight. Yuuri had been a very sweet man, and Viktor had always found him adorable. After their engagement was finalized, Yuuri had stayed in Detroit for about two months. During that period, he had become a great help in managing the store while Viktor worked hard to earn enough money to buy his own house. Viktor had never expected that Yuuri would fall in love with someone else. But he knew that he shouldn't be complaining – because, despite the fact that he had no right to expect a thing from Yuuri, the fact that Yuuri was happy with someone else brought happiness to him.

But now that they were separated, it suddenly became harder for Viktor to bear. The loneliness had become unbearable. He wished Yuuri was there, to hold him close and kiss him and tell him that everything was going to be alright. He wished that Yuuri was there to wipe away his tears when he cried because he missed him. He wished he was there to kiss him goodbye and say 'Goodbye' before leaving. Viktor missed Yuuri terribly.

As the days passed by, Viktor found himself spending less and less time sleeping and working on his manuscript. There were times when he would wake up at five a.m., go to bed at midnight, and spend the whole day watching television, typing, drinking coffee and reading his manuscript. It didn't help that he had been working so hard, either, that his eyes began to hurt. Viktor knew that he really ought to give up on writing, and he hated himself for allowing the fear of losing Yuuri to prevent him from finding happiness again.

One morning after working at the shop for about four hours straight, Viktor was exhausted and couldn't stop yawning. After taking a break from his work, Viktor took his laptop and headed down to the bathroom. After getting cleaned up, Viktor decided to go take some pills, knowing that his stomach felt upset. Viktor took two painkillers and washed them down with water. Once he was done, he headed back into the living room and grabbed his laptop from the coffee table. He was about to turn it on when his cell phone pinged. It read, 'Call from Phichit.' Viktor unlocked his cellphone and checked the text message. A small frown appeared on his face when he saw how drunk Phichit was texting him. He clicked on the message icon and held his breath as his finger hovered over the keypad of his phone. Should I call him back? Probably not! No one wants to hear from you anymore. Viktor frowned again. Why does everything keep changing? He hit the call button.

"Hey," said Phichit drunkenly. "Yurio told me what happened."

There was an awkward silence after Viktor heard Phichit's words, which made Viktor wonder how bad he must've looked to Phichit. Was his voice shaky? Did he look tired or sad?

"Oh...hey," Viktor responded softly.

"