- If I say husband, will you shut up and let me work in peace? - Lien growled, glaring at Tien, who looked pleased with himself.

- Lum'd sooner get married than you'd say something like that, like I don't know you! - sneered the lieutenant, glancing at Keane.

- Husband! Happy? The husband called! - Raed raised his voice and heard the sound of a scalpel falling to the floor.

- Can I work in silence now? Thank you! - Lien scolded as the four men in the morgue stood in shock.

There was silence in the abode now, only the sound of the camera shutter as Lum took pictures and the quiet rustle of two scalpels working. After an hour, Lien donned a blanket and began a detailed examination. After determining the gender, approximate age, and cause of death - carbon monoxide poisoning - Raed moved on to the mother, because Keene had gotten the father.

"Good thing you died before your body was consumed by fire...a painless death...sleep well, little one..." thought Lien, but his thoughts were interrupted.

Trun trun trun trun trun

Tin's phone rang and he flinched, quickly answering the call, -Yes, Captain... Got it... thank you....

- The fire captain said the cause of the fire was a short circuit in the wiring. So... I hope it was an accident," Tin explained, and just at that moment the detective sent the results of the neighborhood survey to his phone.

A family of three bought this house six months ago. The boy was 9, the mother was a hairdresser, the father a manager in a construction firm. The house was mortgaged, they had no debts. No arguments with neighbors, no drinking.

- Don't you find that suspicious, Tin? - Lien asked and the man looked at the bloodhound, who seemed to understand what the handsome man was talking about.

- Thinking about how the builder didn't notice the poor state of the wiring? - Gan asked in response and Raed nodded.

- Lien, there is not malice in everything. You can't take away the human element. Maybe he just came home from work tired and didn't have time to replace the wiring. Maybe he knew, but put it off for later, for his vacation," Tin explained, and Lien nodded.

After examining the woman's body and determining the same cause of death as the boy's, Lien wrote out the death certificates. Looking at his watch, he saw that it was almost 11 pm and most importantly, no text or call from Nan....

- He really didn't call..." Lien muttered and walked out of the morgue with his phone in his hands.

After taking off his robe, Lien raised his hand and smelled the sleeve of his shirt and realized that he smelled of burning, but he didn't go to shower, but went straight to the condo. Raed was greeted by a security guard with a smile as he entered the elevator. Turning on the hallway light, the man noticed a pair of shoes on a shelf and smiled.

"What a pet...and where are you?"- thought the man, stepping into his slippers and heading first to the bathroom to throw in the clothes to wash.

The light from the hallway just hit the open door of the room where the man slept on the bed. Quietly making his way to the bathroom, Lien undressed and, checking the wash mode on the labels, threw the clothes into the machine, carefully placing the clamp on the shelf.

After taking a shower and immediately drying his hair in the tub, Raed lay down in bed, facing the man sleeping on his stomach. Nan felt the bed rock slightly and reached out and pulled the man to him with a smile.

- Tired? - The husky, sleepy voice seemed so soothing to Lien that there was no desire to scold this impertinent man who had signed himself up as his husband on his phone.

- Uh-huh...

- Sleep, Rabbit..." A light kiss on his forehead and a warm embrace made Raed blush.

Lien settled comfortably on the man's shoulder and fell asleep almost immediately. Lien woke up early in the morning and turned to the source of warmth behind him, looking at the sleeping man's face. Running his finger along the bridge of his nose, Raed saw Nan wrinkle his nose and decided to let him sleep a little longer, so he went into the shower. After showering, the handsome man threw on only a robe and went to the kitchen to make breakfast.

Nanfha woke up, feeling the coolness under his arm, and sleepily walked out of the room to the refrigerator to get water in his boxers. Seeing Lien purring some kind of song in the kitchen he smiled, quietly approaching the handsome man.

- Good morning, Raed," the man whispered in his ear as strong arms encircled his waist and Nan's head rested on Lien's shoulder.

- I thought you were going to sleep in. I'm on the night shift today. I was planning to finish my breakfast and go for a run..." Lien said, continuing to slice tomatoes.

- Nan... Ugh... You haven't brushed your teeth yet... - the handsome man grumbled as he felt the kisses on his neck, but tilted his head for better access to those greedy lips.

Nan's hands were already loosening the rope on Lien's robe, traveling down his slender belly as his lips continued to kiss the back of his neck, moving slowly down to his shoulders.

-Ah..." Lien couldn't withstand the onslaught and moaned softly.

Satisfied Nan pulled away and kissed his cheek teasingly, -I'm going to go brush my teeth like my wife asked me to....

- Beast! - Shouted an excited Lien to the man coming out of the kitchen.

Ding Dong

Nan had already passed the front door, but when he heard the bell ring, he took a couple steps back with a shout, -I'll get it, probably Kin.

- Okay!

When they opened the door they both froze. Nan saw a guy in jeans and a tank top with wide straps holding a bag. The guy was looking at the man in front of him in his underwear, whose chest and neck were marked with maroon markings.

- Did you want something, Khun? - Nan asked in a polite tone with a smile.

- Excuse me, isn't this P'lien's apartment? - The boy asked back.

- Lien, it's for you! - Nan shouted, turning his head towards the kitchen.

- Wait in the living room! I'll be right back, just to finish frying the eggs! - Lien replied without a backward glance, still thinking that only Keun could have come before 9 a.m.

- Come in, Khun," the man continued to smile, knowing full well how he looked right now.

- Would you like some water, Khun... ? - inviting the man to sit on the couch asked Nan.

- Banner. I live across the street, no thanks," said a guy about 25 years old.

- Keane, what are you doing here? Ban, you're back already? - Lien was surprised by the unexpected guest, who kept his gaze on Nan.

- Damn it, Beast! Go get dressed! You should have opened the door naked! - Lien shouted irritably.

Nan was instantly angry, but he didn't show it, only went silently into his room, which surprised Lien. The door was ajar and Nan could hear their dialog while he was getting dressed.

- P'Lien! This is for you! Thanks for looking after my flowers! It's a scarf, French perfume and candy. I know you like to wear scarves better than ties, so when I saw this one I thought of you! - The boy babbled on, and Nan grew more and more seething with every word he said.

-Thank you, Ban. You didn't have to go to such expense, I was just watering the flowers and that's all," Lien replied calmly, but inwardly worried why Nan still hadn't returned, after all, he could have just thrown on a robe.

- It's not hard for me. These flowers were given to me by my mom when I first moved in, they are very precious to me. P... Can I ask you a question? - The kid suddenly asked a question and Lien already knew what he wanted to know.

Ban was a little younger than Lien, and he was showing that he liked him. Small gifts, help, affectionate words, all kinds of flirting.

- You mean him? - Lien asked, nodding toward the bedroom, and Nan, who was about to leave the room, stopped.

- Yes.

- Oh, just a friend," Raed said quietly and casually, certain that Nan wouldn't hear him.

Lien's words stabbed at Nanfha's heart like a red-hot knife. He had never been so hurt, not even when his father called to tell him of his brother's death. Everything he's done is for nothing. For Lien, it's just entertainment and sex. Nan took Lien's phone from the nightstand and deleted his number, just like yesterday's call. Gathering his will in his fist, Nan made a nonchalant face and walked out of the bedroom.

- I'm sorry for coming to see you so unexpectedly yesterday, it won't happen again. I have to go. I won't disturb you," a calm velvet voice said goodbye to the landlord as Ban stared at him in surprise.

The man's aura was now so dark and heavy that the boy could hardly breathe. Nan put on his shoes and walked out the door while Lien pondered the man's words and behavior.

- Hey! How about some breakfast? - Lien shouted, but a second later he heard the sound of the door closing instead of an answer.

*Meanwhile, Nan

Nan went down to the parking lot and got into the car and drove to the bar of his own hotel instead of the office, calling Dio to cancel all his appointments for the day. The words "just a friend" still echoed in his head, and then he remembered Keane.

- Hi, Nan. Is something wrong? - Kean realized right away that it wasn't a simple phone call.

- Let's not do it over the phone. I'm at the Hotel Luxe, do you know where it is? - asked Nanfha, and having heard a positive answer, invited Keane to "breakfast".

While he was waiting for Keane, he had already drunk three glasses of whiskey. That's what Keane found him doing in the restaurant, taking the glass from his hands.

- What'd he do that you're throwing down at 9:00 in the morning? Have you even had breakfast? - asked a man who came up, seeing the drunken man.

- He had nothing to do with it. It was me, the idiot, who made up something that doesn't exist and can't exist," Nan said in a slurred voice, ordering coffee and breakfast for the drunkard.

- I ask you again, what did he do? If you don't tell me, I can't help you! - Kin insisted.

- In the morning, some Ban came with gifts. Raed, when asked who I was, said... "just a friend. I left, "as a friend" not to interfere with their nice conversation," the mafioso said ironically.

- And he didn't call after you left? - Keane wondered, because he remembered how yesterday Lien had called Nan his husband, even under pressure.

- I deleted my number from his phone before I left," Nan continued and Keane only shook his head.

- Listen to me, Nan. I wish it wasn't me telling you this, but Lien. At uni, Lien dated a guy called Fox. It was love at first sight for him. I know it probably hurts you to hear that right now, but it's very important... - Keane looked at the man, who in turn clutched his mug of coffee.

- Lien smiled with him, being cheerful and happy. Fox loved him too. They March 10, they were going to go meet Fox's parents after he finished his couples. Lien offered to meet him after class, but Fox refused, saying he still wanted to go home to change first. He never made it home. At a crosswalk, Fox was hit by a drunk driver going over 80km/h. Since then, Lien does not drive over 60 himself and has panic attacks when he rides as a passenger with someone who drives over 60. In truth, the driver should have hit a schoolgirl who was crossing the road, but Fox saved her, killing himself... What happened to Lien after that is hard to describe in words and without tears. Fox's parents were not allowed to attend his beloved's funeral. Shouting that it was his fault their son had been punished by Heaven for sodomy. He was like the living dead. For the first 2 weeks I could hardly get him to eat at least half an apple once a day. He was exhausted from studying, but he couldn't sleep well because he had nightmares every night. People whispered about him, saying he was making himself miserable to be pitied. In two weeks, the handsome boy was gone: sunken cheeks, skin and bones, black circles under his eyes. He fainted in class when the professor called him in to defend his work. I insisted on a psychologist and he had no choice. A few years of hard work managed to ease the pain of loss. Lien graduated from the university with honors. All this time he lived not for himself, but for Fox: best student, best friend, master of capoeira, job where Fox wanted to work... Every anniversary he breaks down. It's been eight years since the tragedy, but he hasn't had a relationship with anyone. One-night stands in hotels. Last year, when I picked him up drunk from a bar on March 10, he sobbed on my shoulder for almost an hour. Screaming about how he was so scared. Scared to love because he knows he won't survive the death of the person he loves a second time..." listening to Keane's story, Nan cried.

- I don't have a chance, do I? - sighed the mobster, looking down at the coffee in his hands.

- Oh, my friend... I think you're the only one who has one! - Kin exclaimed and patted the man on the back, looking at him with great surprise.

- I realized it the night Raed brought you to the apartment. He left his car in the club parking lot and asked me to bring it over. I saw you get into the elevator in the parking lot. Lien never brought anyone home. In five years, I was the only one in that apartment. He wouldn't even let the neighbors in. At first I thought you were one of the tenants, so I didn't pay attention. Lien didn't even deny this morning that you slept in his apartment. And when I saw you in the apartment, I freaked out. Lien usually asked someone worthy of his ass for a phone number and threw it in the cup, if anyone on that list managed to meet him a second time. Bypassing the cup and everything else, how many times have you spent the night with him? - Keane asked the man who was a little more enthusiastic.

- "Since the first night in his apartment - every night... Speaking of the cup... During the 'cleaning' I took all the napkins out of there, replacing them with 100 napkins with my number on them. I guess he hasn't checked them out yet," Nanfha replied.

- Still think you're just a friend? Ha! And yesterday at work, he agreed he was a husband. Give him time, Nan. I think he likes you, he's just afraid to admit it to himself. I'll tell you a secret, after Fox, you're the first man he's ever let kiss him on the lips. To him, love is death. And death is a pain he doesn't want to go through again. By the way... what did you say when you left? - Keane explained, trying to support his new friend.

- Well... - Nan started to say, as Kin's phone rang.

- Ha, mark the devil, here come the horns... - Keane laughed, looking at the caller's name.

- I'm listening to you, my friend," the man answered, putting his finger to his lips to keep Nanfha quiet.

- Oh...don't gibber, I thought you were with Nan.... How'd he leave? .... Did you say or do something to him, Lien...? Okay, okay, I'll be right there," Kin could barely contain his laughter, trying to sound as normal as possible and passed out.

-Phahahahahahaha... ooooh... I can't... 'just a friend' you say? How long has it been since you left? - Kin laughed harshly, looking at the uncomprehending man.

- About an hour, I guess..." Nan muttered, looking at his watch.

- Tell me, Nan, how do you feel about my friend? - Kin asked seriously.

- I... want him all to myself," the mobster answered honestly, looking at the mug of cooled coffee in his hands.

- You don't just like him, do you? I saw the way you were looking at him in the car yesterday. I told you I'd help you with that cranky ass..." The question was rhetorical, for Keane already knew the answer, but Nan nodded anyway.

- Two more double whiskeys for this gentleman," Keane asked, and Nan staggered, for he had recently taken the glass from his hands and replaced it with coffee.

- Oh, don't look at me like that. This is the plan..." Kin.... began to explain.