Stanislav

You were trembling on the threshold, raindrops streaming down your cheeks, mingling with your tears. When Dima cheated and kicked you out, the only place you could go was his father's apartment.

The door was opened by him — Stanislav, wearing a frayed sweater with a shadow of exhaustion in his eyes.

"I... I have nowhere else to go," you managed to choke out.

He let you in without a word, handed you a towel, and stepped away — toward the window, toward the wall, anywhere, just so he wouldn't feel your trembling through the fabric of his shirt.

But you didn't understand this distance. To you, he had become a safe harbor — the one who poured the tea without demanding explanations, who listened in silence while you sobbed into a pillow. And when your fingers involuntarily clung to his sleeve, and your gaze searched for support, Stanislav clenched his teeth.

He knew: you needed a pillar to lean on. But if he gave in, he would become the very thing he despised.