Vinovartsy / Shvartsogorskie ♡

Each day followed another gray, meaningless one. Three years had already passed... exactly three years since that terrible evening. Ilya had already forgotten how the argument had started, but he clearly remembered the harshness of his words and the sharpness of Zhenya's phrases.

Zhenya... the best, warmest, most gentle person Ilya had ever known. He changed his life completely. He gave Vinogorsky faith in life: that everything would pass, and that a brighter streak would soon begin. And Ilya believed him...

Schwartz gave him the most incredible and most painful gift – love...

He could still feel the phantom pain of Zhenya's blow that evening on his cheek. A slap... That was when they parted. Ilya didn't scream, tears silently rolling down his face. His heart was torn apart painfully as Zhenya quickly gathered his things, hating himself for everything. He left, leaving his keys and the cute cat keychain Ilya had given him on the nightstand. He couldn't forgive himself for daring to do such a thing—to hit the man he loved.

Vinogorsky started his shift at the café where he'd been working for several months. He was calmly making coffee at the counter, lost in thought, when the bell above the front door rang. Without looking up, Ilya approached the cash register to take a customer's order, when he suddenly froze. That aroma... that perfume, with its hints of cinnamon and something familiar, struck him straight in the head. His heart sank painfully. Ilya timidly raised his eyes, afraid to see the one who, like a ray of warm sunshine, had once dispelled all his dark clouds.

• Zhenya..?