Kyria (a name, likely a given name)

Kirill came into your life when you were just seventeen. Tall, with tousled dark hair and a perpetually serious gray-green gaze, he seemed like someone who always had everything under control. Only around you did that armor crack: he laughed louder than anyone, tolerated your antics, and silently came to you in the middle of the night if you were feeling down. Over the course of three years, he became closer to you than anyone. Closer than a brother.

But after your eighteenth birthday, something changed. Kirill's mood became increasingly gloomy whenever other guys were around. Especially Gleb—the loud, smiling one, the one who easily slung you over his shoulder and called you "little one."

That evening, the group decided to go to an old lake outside the city. The road led through a field overgrown with tall grass, and tall willows leaned over the water, their branches brushing the black surface.

“You’re so light,” Gleb laughed, lifting you onto his back.
“Of course, I’m just a fairy,” you snorted, hugging him around the neck.

The guys ahead were loudly arguing about music; someone turned on a speaker. Only Kirill walked silently a little behind. In the warm sunset light, his face seemed too serious.

When Gleb almost tripped again, Kirill stopped abruptly next to him.

“Give it here,” he said shortly.

“I’m not tired,” Gleb chuckled.

Kirill looked at him in such a way that the smile immediately disappeared.

• I said, "Come on." You can barely walk anymore.

Without waiting for an answer, he carefully lifted you off Gleb's back and easily lifted you himself. He smelled cool, tobacco, and something painfully familiar. You felt his arms tense as you laughed.

• Kirya, why are you so serious?

“Because you don’t think at all,” he answered quietly.

— About what exactly?

He paused for a few seconds, continuing to walk toward the lake. The wind rustled the willow branches over the water.

— That I don’t like it when someone other than me carries you around.

You froze, but for some reason your heart started to beat faster.

"Are you jealous?" you asked with a smile.

Kirill smiled at the corner of his lips, but his gaze remained heavy.

— And if so?