Chapter 39 Disturbance

Chapter 39 Disturbance

Omniscient Narrative

As noon approached one stormy Monday, Kai found himself at the grocery store, his fingers gripping the shopping list with white knuckles.

He ruffled through the aisles, hoping to snag a few essentials without being snared by the darkness lurking nearby.

Just as he turned down the last aisle, the sight of something familiar struck him cold. Aries stood casually, pretending to inspect a can of beans, his dark eyes twinkling with mischief.

"Oh, hey, you!" Aries exclaimed, eyes lighting up in a disconcerting manner. "Fancy seeing you here." He gave Kai a large smile.

Kai bristled, shifting instinctively away. "What do you want now?" The shorter man spoke, irritation obvious in his words.

"I was just shopping for food items and I wanted to check on you," Aries said, stepping forward, invading Kai's space-a habit Kai had come to hate and like- with an easy confidence. "You've been awfully distant. Shouldn't we be hanging out more? After all, we have a lot to discuss."

"What do you think you're doing?" Kai retorted, anger rising like bile in the back of his throat. "Can't you just leave me alone?."

Aries shrugged, the action deceptively nonchalant. "Come on, Kai, I thought we've gotten past this whole back and forth nonsense going on between us, stop acting like you're dense my beautiful Kai"

With a quick twist of his wrist, Aries pulled out his phone, flipping through images with a flourish that made Kai's blood run cold.

It was the same picture he had been using to haunt the older man.

"Remember this?" he teased, pointing at a shot of them entwined on the bed. "Sweet, sultry little moments we had together. Don't pretend like you've forgotten so quick Kai."

"I want you to stop all this!" Kai shouted, voice barely containing the tidal wave of fear that cascaded through him. "You're sick! A sick bastard! You can't keep using that against me. It's manipulative, and it's wrong!"

"Wrong?" Aries laughed, flicking through the virtual gallery. "This isn't just wrong, this is delicious, quite tasty if you ask me, one of my favorites moments of us." The casual cruelty in his demeanor filled Kai with an icy dread.

Fingers trembling, Kai fidgeted with the edges of his shopping list, the faint crackle of the plastic beneath his grip elongated in the silence as he fought against the panic swelling inside him. "Just leave me alone, Aries. I won't report you. I promise." He pleaded, making Aries kiss his teeth in annoyance.

"Promises are just words, beautiful," Aries replied smoothly, turning his phone off with an exaggerated flourish. "I've got all the leverage. Your silence, your compliance... you'll play along, or these little treasures slip right out into the world."

Kai's heart sank further, each moment condensing his breath into a shallow rhythm. "You think threatening me will win you anything? You are scaring me, I won't give you what you're chasing after, I won't... and I won't bow down to your demands!"

"Perhaps not today, but it's only a matter of time." A predatory grin stretched across Aries's face, the air crackling with an unspeakable tension. "Someone so vibrant should learn to embrace the darkness rather than resist it. After all, the thrill is intoxicating, I don't mind chasing after you for a little while, getting you at the end would be rewarding."

...

As the sun dipped low in the early evening sky, Kai prepared for a night he hoped would return to normalcy. Yet Aries's image danced at the corners of his consciousness. the insistent whisper of a shadow he hadn't escaped.

Vincent had taken him out for a night together, coming up with the excuse of Kai being too distant and wanting to rekindle the love he had with the shorter man.

Arriving at a small dinner with his husband, it finally felt like a chance to breathe. For a moment, laughter flooded his senses, and he almost believed he could forget the turmoil.

Everything felt light, floating on waves of relief until a familiar face invaded the periphery of his mind.

His heart slammed against his chest when he saw Aries leaning against the bar-top, drink in hand, that unmistakable charm wrapped around him tightly—arrogant confidence cloaked in an alluring darkness.

'What is he doing here?' He thought to himself.

Kai tried so hard to not let the other man ruin his mood, he was happy his husband wanted to spend the night with him, so he wasn't going to let that man ruin his day/night.

"Making a quick getaway? Didn't think you'd notice me here," Aries smirked, his eyes gleaming with reckless delight.

Aries had just accidentally caught him leaving the bathroom.

"Aries, please can't you take a hint?" Kai retorted, frustration bubbling to the surface. "I'm here with my freaking Husband."

"And that's supposed to mean something?" Aries echoed, the challenge simmering in his tone. "Why are you acting like the marriage actually means something, the both of you act like the marriage is an agreement. I've known you for what two almost three months now and not once have I seen you guys act like a married couple, so please what excuses tonight"

With a breath caught in his throat, dread clawed at Kai's mind, but he found anger rippling through him, an unpredictable wave threatening to spill over. "Please, just let me enjoy this. I will not let you ruin the little bit of happiness I have"

"Me? Ruin this? I can't ruin something that isn't even there now can I Kai, both of you are doing a good job at that." Aries winked, all smugness, and Kai felt his stomach drop.

The night grew long and increasingly uncomfortable as Kai struggled to keep his distance from Aries—avoiding eye contact, drowning himself in casual conversation with his husband, catching up on their daily lives since they barely had time for each other these past few months.

But with each attempt to forge an appearance of normalcy, Aries' presence haunted the man, taunting him with the weight of the past.

Kai found himself suffocating so he excused himself and slipped out onto the balcony for a breath of fresh air, the cool night breeze stinging against the heat pulsing in his veins.

But Aries wasn't far behind. He stepped out moments later, leaning against the railing as if he always meant to be there. "What's the matter, Kai? You look pale. Afraid I might spill your secrets so soon?"

"Stop it," Kai hissed, voice low but bursting with urgency. "This needs to end! I can't keep doing this dance with you. You're making my life hell."

"Your life is hell? Really? I thought I was the source of your ecstasy." Aries's voice dripped with sarcasm, taunting Kai with each syllable as he leaned closer.

"Just leave me alone!" Kai cried out, desperation spilling over. "You're sick! You can't keep doing this to me!"

Aries whispered, stepping even closer, invading Kai's space until he could no longer breathe soundly. "You keep saying that. But the more you resist, the more delicious it becomes."

"Stop!" Kai hissed, his own voice laced with discomfort and fear. "This isn't about desire anymore! This is manipulation, and I won't be part of it!"

"Manipulation?" Aries's expression warped with mock contemplation. "Tell me, what would you call this? A love so pure it terrifies you?"

Each time Kai attempted to close each conversation, the darkness wrapped itself around him, tightening the noose inch by inch, forcing him to confront the pain he tried to conceal. "It's not love. You're confused! You use threats like they mean something, but they only mean you're scared."

"Scared?" Aries's smile morphed into something fierce. "What a lovely contradiction. You're the one who fears the truth of what we are—the connection we share. You say you wish I could leave you alone, yet you crave every moment I'm near. Denial is a powerful poison, Kai."

Panic surged through Kai, both anger and fear battling to define him. "You have no idea what you're talking about. I want you to stop!"

"Ah, but stop implies an end, and I'm not finished yet." Aries's voice lowered, the deadly promise weaving its way through the shadows. "Let's see how much you can endure. How long can you pretend to resist? It should be... enlightening."

With that said Aries pulled Kai in and closed the gap between them, hungrily kissing the shorter older man, his hand moved to Kai's waist while the other one held the man's neck pulling him closer.

Kai also, with his hands moved to Aries's neck, pulling him more into the kiss, his lips moving sinfully with that of the younger man.

Both men began making out hungrily, like they had been starved for days, both not wanting to let the other one go or else the other could slip away from their fingers like sand during an airy day.

Kai's mind swirled with conflicting emotions—fear that clung viciously to his heart, an irresistible frisson of anger that ignited the darkness of Aries's intentions, but that didn't stop either one of them.

As the stars twinkled indifferently overhead, he felt himself teetering on the edge of a decision. Would he let this consume him completely?

The corner of Aries's lips lifted as the two continued to kiss passionately, an echo of triumph painted across the landscape of chaos he'd crafted between them.

"You keep denying it but I know you want me just as much as I want you." He heard Aries say the second they pulled away.

"You know you're sick, right? So sick" Kai said as he tried to catch his breath

"And you're Medicine Kai" Aries said again before he pulled him for another kiss.

After a moment of kissing, Kai forcefully pulled away

"No!" Kai shouted, pushing Aries away as anger surged through him anew. "I refuse to let you control me! You can't have me!"

"But I already do," Aries said, as silkily as a whispered promise. "And the sad thing is, you know it"

"Stop feeding me lies" he yelled at the younger man, "just fucking leave me alone" he added before walking away and to his husband.

"I will have you Kai, and I don't care if you want it or not.....You will be mine" he yelled after the angry man.

'All Mine'