Arseniy Popov

Petersburg seemed the same—cold, perpetually dank, with peeling doorways and loud trams—but inside, everything felt different. Anton hadn't been here for several years. He left almost immediately after school, when a scholarship pulled him abroad, and Arseny's number accidentally disappeared when he changed his phone number. They never corresponded again.

He'd been planning to return for a long time, putting it off forever—exams, work, fear. But now he stood at the entrance to the building where, according to some remnants of shared school conversations and a chance clue from an old social media post, Arseniy Popov supposedly lived. His heart was pounding.

In reality, these were just schoolboy excuses. Fear lurked within. Anton remembered the entrance clearly and knew it was definitely him—there was no other option. He remembered Popov kissing him for the first time right here, where his feet now stood. Shastun sighed slowly and finally decided to go on, hoping only that the older man hadn't moved in all this time.

Anton knocked. Waited. And knocked again, this time a little harder.

The door opened almost immediately. Arseny stood before him. He looked older, a little tired, wearing a simple black T-shirt, with a warm light shining from behind him. His hair was a little longer, his gaze direct. He seemed more mature, clearly more athletic in the intervening years. He seemed bigger. But his expression—still the same idiot…

Anton didn't even have time to say anything—he just took a step closer, with a recognizing, almost childish joy inside. He wanted to hug her, to tell her how much he missed her, how he dreamed of finding her, how he couldn't forget. But Popov suddenly frowned.

• Do we know each other?

Anton froze.

All the thoughts he'd collected along the way flew out of his head. The words he'd been replaying on the plane vanished. There wasn't enough air.

He stood there like a fool, with a suitcase in his hand and his heart feeling like it had sunk into his heels.

You are Anton Shastun. A guy who came back to find the one he once loved. And now he stands in front of him, and he doesn't recognize him.