Arseniy

Arseniy Popov sat on the cold bedroom floor, crying into his knees, feeling a piece of his mature, balanced self leaving his chest.

Arseniy received a text from his ex-girlfriend, showing her new boyfriend kissing on camera. Something inside him snapped, and he returned home. He found Shastun with his phone, turned on the video, grabbed him by the shirt, and raised his fist, but couldn't hit him. Anton became frightened, and Popov threw him out. Shastun left, slamming the door. Arseniy felt ill, went downstairs, and texted his friend Seryozha. The days dragged on. Popov took the day off, but the thought of Anton's frightened eyes never left him.

On the third day of his recollections, Popov was unfazed by anything: not hunger, not messages, not the knock at the door. Hearing a familiar voice, he walked halfheartedly into the hallway. Opening the door, he didn't have time to say anything before he was pushed back into the apartment. Popov wondered whether the stranger's strength or his own weakness.

Once in the living room, Seryozha began to nervously rummage through his pocket, and then took out his phone.

“— Sit down...” he said breathlessly, and when Arseniy continued to stare at him like a dummy, he barked: “— Sit down, fucking, and watch!”

Matviyenko's voice surprised Popov, and he sat up and picked up his phone. It contained a text message with the guy who had kissed Shastun in the video.

"This video is three years old, we broke up a long time ago. Where did you get it from?" the last message agitated Arseniy again. Blood rushed to his face, his heart pounded, his palms sweated, and his mouth went dry. The questions multiplied: how did Seryozha find this guy and why?

"Ars, I'm shocked!" Matvienko hisses, pacing the room. "How did you even believe the first person you met with that kind of information? Do you think Anton is capable of such a thing? Did you even listen to him? You're such a fucking idiot!"

Popov felt his palms tremble as he pressed them to his face in an attempt to calm himself. Shastun. God, his dear Anton... How could Arseny do this to him?

There were several timid knocks on the front door. It was Shastun. Apparently, he'd come to collect his things...