No Longer Mine

Ethan 

I had been tapping my foot against the floor of the limousine throughout the whole drive. My palms were sweating that I had to constantly wipe them against my trousers just to dry them. My heart was racing and I had no idea why the thought of people taking pictures of me was so intimidating. 

The ball held in my honour was going to take place at one of Uncle Ed's seven star hotels. It was incredibly fancy. I had stayed a night there once just as a treat and I would be lying if I said I even knew where to sit. 

It was drenched in marble, golden chandeliers, diamonds and extremely snobby staff. I knew that meant the people attending this ball would be just the same. No one even looked at me when I attended things with Uncle Ed and Uncle Yavok. 

In fact despite my position as a director recently they still saw me to be an assistant, now they would probably want to rub shoulders with me because I would be having a multi-billion salary each year. It was baffling that people could change so much simply because of your salary. 

Stewart and Luca seemed extremely excited to attend the event because to them rich snobby girls were much more fun. Plus with me being their brother, they could definitely name drop to get their attention. They were such idiots but I was glad they were going to enjoy the event more than I ever would. 

The limousine eventually stopped in front of the entrance where a large red carpet was laid out. Multiple media outlets and paparazzi were lined up as their flashing cameras almost made me blind. I was surprised the people who were being taken pictures of could even see where they were going. 

Uncle Ed, Uncle Vasili with EJ, Oksana and Vasilisa had seemed to arrive just before us as they were already walking down the red carpet. I knew I was instructed to come at a later time so everyone could arrive before I could so that we would not have to wait for everyone to arrive. 

I was however surprised Demyan was not with them, but if he was attending with his girlfriend it explained why they were late. Eventually we all climbed out the limousine and I had to blink a few times to let my eyes adjust to the cameras. 

I knew I was not meant to do any interviews because I first needed a PR team so at least that took out most of my anxiety. Pa was kind enough to walk with me as Stewart and Lucas posed for pictures whilst Dad urged them to move on. 

We stood in front of a Coleman Enterprise poster where pictures were conducted. I took pictures with the Chernyshevsky-Coleman family, directors and well known celebrities. I had no modelling or posing capability in me nor did I think I was extremely photogenic so I just hoped I did not look extremely frigid. 

"I don't think I can smile anymore," I chuckled as I had a quick chat with Uncle Vas, "My cheeks are starting to hurt."

"Then be like me," he winked, "Can't give these bitches a smile for free when people pay me for it." We both burst out laughing because truly Uncle Vas never purposefully smiled for anything in public. That was one of the reasons he was still so extremely feared. 

Our chat was quickly interrupted when a loud cheer came from the drop off zone. What I thought was bad when it came to the paparazzi got even worse as we could barely see who had just arrived. 

Uncle Ed strolled over to us with a grin, "Demy just arrived." 

"That explains the chaos," Uncle Vas chuckled, "That used to be us."

"The good old days," he grinned as wrapped his arms around his husband. 

I did not want to peek but I could not help myself as out of all that light Demyan walked out like the runway model he was. His long blonde curly hair that reached his waist made him look like an angel as the wind caressed each strand as it perfectly flowed behind him. 

His light caramel freckled skin looked much paler than what I was used to but I figured the Russian weather was to blame for that. His blue crystal eyes lazily looked around as he searched for his family. 

He looked different. Extremely different. I had not seen him in over two years and the billboards did not do justice to how much he had transformed. 

He was taller and much stronger as the navy blue suit he wore hugged his frame perfectly. He wore a white blouse under it which added a soft touch to the look that was complimented with black combat boots. 

His cheek bones were higher than I remembered which made him look stronger yet also surprisingly feminine at the same time. I always used to think he looked like Uncle Ed when he was growing up but now that I saw him, he looked more like Uncle Vas. 

I had not noticed I had been staring until he was right in front of me and our eyes met. Even though he had grown a lot I was still taller than by just a few centimetres which made him tilt his head slightly so he could look at me. 

All the chaos around us seemed to have completely faded as all I could hear was my frantic heartbeat. I had convinced myself for all these years that maybe I had finally learned to let him go. That maybe I had finally gotten over him. 

But now, as he stood in front of me I found it so hard to not reach out for him like I always used to do. That I could kiss him without a second thought and hug him like I would never lose him. 

Yet as the clicking of the cameras faded back into my ears and everyone's voices flooded back in. I realized I had in fact lost him and he was no longer mine.