Cerberus was never one to show his emotions on his face. He was as silent and steady as always. The people working in the casino liked this kind of reliable security captain. Who wouldn’t like someone who would always rush to work, someone who also held no scheming thoughts against his colleagues?
Unlike his colleagues, who would leave the casino and go home after getting off work, this was Cerberus’ home. This was where his master was, this was where he belonged.
He also rarely drank at the bar at the end of his shift. Usually, he would go back to his room, take a shower, and lie on his bed, staring at the ceiling, thinking.
…Missing his master.
Outside the window, the night might have deepened, or the faint light of the morning might have broken through the horizon. Only then, he would slip into dreams.
But this kind of obsession could never be relieved.
Hughes was the first person to discover Cerberus. He had been a close friend of Mr. Mo and had been working there since the casino came into existence. That day, the noon shift had just ended. It was ten o’clock in the evening. Cerberus was changing his clothes and preparing to find something to eat. The supervisor came over and patted him on the shoulder, saying, “Wanna go for a drink?”
If someone invited him, Cerberus wouldn’t deliberately refuse. After all, he knew that working here required establishing good interpersonal relationships.
Cerberus and the supervisor went to the bar, and sitting among the laughing guests, they each ordered a glass of alcohol.
After some idle chatter, the supervisor asked, “Do you have something on your mind lately?”
Cerberus was silent. He held the glass that contained ice and strong spirits for a long time, then he smiled and said, “It’s nothing.”
He raised his head and drank the alcohol. The acrimonious flavor overwhelmed his lips and tongue. It fell into this stomach in a burning trail. An ice cube rolled in his mouth and was bitten into pieces.
Cerberus discovered that the refreshing sensation of alcohol entering his throat and the numbness that followed seemed to make him temporarily forget the obsession entangling his heart. So he ordered another glass.
Glass after glass.
That night, Cerberus was drunk for the first time. The supervisor asked someone to help him back to his dormitory. It was said that he was drunk, but he didn’t make a single sound. He just sat there in silence, as if everything that was happening around him had nothing to do with him. He was like a person who had been lonely for a long time, so much so that he had become accustomed to it.
—-
Victor didn’t know how much he had drunk.
The alcohol made him feel hot. His esophagus and stomach seemed to be burning, and the inside of his mouth was over-soaked in alcohol, so that the lining of his mucus membrane could no longer protect his skin, making his mouth hot and painful.
Everything in front of him spun slowly, twisting and turning. The long table was a mess. Almost all of the food was bitten into and left on the side at random. At this moment, Victor was holding onto the table to prevent himself from falling over. His throat issued burps tinged with the taste of alcohol, and he uncorked another bottle.
When the long winter arrived, the climate would plunge into -20°C, turning high-grade liquor into a magic weapon that Russians could use to warm themselves. Similarly, alcohol could also allow people who were often cold and depressed attain happiness.
“Додна!” (Cheers!)
Victor swayed as he lifted the bottle of alcohol and once again brought the opening to his mouth.
—–
[By the sake of my noble Creator.]
Day after day passed by.
Cerberus was promoted again into the lead manager and left the security team.
In this way, he had more opportunities to see his master.
A year had already passed since he was brought back.
Step by step, Cerberus relied on his own efforts to approach the young man who he could only look up to. He believed that one day, he would become the head manager.
It was just that life always liked to joke with mortals. It was like a wicked child, the more complacent people were, the more it liked to tease them.
Cerberus thought he was hiding his love very well, but as the object he was always silently looking at, how could Mr. Mo not notice his regards?
From the very beginning, he didn’t take it seriously. He had received too much admiration and awe, and people had looked at him with all kinds of gaze. He also knew that this kind of like wouldn’t last long, especially when there was no response.
It was like a fish falling on the beach. If it wasn’t continuously moisturized by the waves, it would soon dry up and rot away.
But Cerberus was different.
As time went on, the man’s eyes became deeper and deeper, and the painful admiration entangled within it would often make Mr. Mo speechless.
It seemed that he could no longer sit back and watch.
The weekly reports were still very consistent and interesting, and they were the only people in the room, just Cerberus and Mr. Mo.
Cerberus knelt on one knee. He had just finished saying a sentence. For a long time, he didn’t hear the lazy reply come as expected.
He raised his head cautiously, only to find that the young man sitting on the chair and listening to his report had closed his eyes. His forehead was leaning against the back of his chair, as if he had fallen asleep.
Under the soft light, his eyelashes cast small shadows under his eyes and covered the tear moles. He was so quiet, like Sleeping Beauty from the fairy tale, waiting to be kissed so he could wake up.
Cerberus looked at him in a daze. His posture straightened, and he leaned closer, so close that he could see that tiny hair on the young man’s cheek.
He swallowed audibly and quietly stretched out his hand, wanting to lightly touch this person in front of him.
At this moment, Mr. Mo quietly opened his eyes.
“What do you want to do?” The sounds of his voice were as usual, but it was laced with a certain coldness. Cerberus had no time to pull back and was instantly caught.
“I brought you back, but not to let you do this.” Mr. Mo sneered, and he lifted his leg and kicked hard.
Although Cerberus was kicked, to him, the strength of this youth was almost the same as a child, so he only rocked back lightly.
“Is it too comfortable for you here that you forgot that you are just a slave?”
This was the second time the master touched him. When he was in the arena, the master had raised his chin with the tip of his shoe, but now, it was his bare feet that was stepping directly on his face.
The bitter and repressed feelings in his heart surged at this moment, as if he had finally found an outlet for venting. The touch of this person that he so admired instantly made Cerberus lose his reason. He made a second mistake that night. He didn’t hurry to kneel down and admit his mistake. Instead, he looked at the youth and called, “Master–”
The moment the words left his mouth, Cerberus realized that his voice was hoarse with passion and desire, and he knew that Mr. Mo knew. Mr. Mo narrowed his eyes, and his foot slipped down Cerberus’ face, ran across his chest, and finally stepped on that bulge.
Cerberus groaned, his body trembling violently. His muscles tightened once, reflexively, before suddenly relaxing.
The room became deathly quiet.
After a long time, Mr. Mo stood up. His voice reached Cerberus, and it was unreasonably cold:
“Get out.”
—–
Xia Qiongyun sat next to Lin Hangzhi, completely unconcerned no matter what happened.
Later, she even walked away from him and sat further away, her face full of disgust. It was as if Lin Hangzhi’s sweat and trembling was full of dirt.
She was so arrogant, so high above him. Every look, every word to him was like a charity.
These ignorant ordinary people that were incomparable to her were breathing the same air as she was.
—–
[I am the crystallization of divine power, supreme wisdom, and love.]
Since that day, nearly a month went by before Cerberus finally saw Mr. Mo again.
After awkwardly leaving the top floor, Cerberus waited fearfully for a long time. He had expected punishment, but Mr. Mo didn’t give any instructions at all, as if he just couldn’t be bothered to care.
In other words, he seemed to have forgotten about him.
Cerberus’ life in the casino continued like this. He worked day after day, and although the people he saw changed, he didn’t care at all. His eyes were still full of that distant figure.
He’d messed everything up. Cerberus thought so, but he didn’t regret it.
Until one day, Hughes, the supervisor who had often drank with him, suddenly disappeared.
No one knew where he went. The head manager said during a meeting that he had resigned and went home. Although no one understood why Hughes wouldn’t even say a word and provide them with any notice, they didn’t show any sign of it.
This supervisor was like a passerby in his life, and since then, Cerberus never saw him again.
On the seventh day after the supervisor disappeared, Cerberus was checking the accounts when he unexpectedly received a notice—the boss told him to visit.
Cerberus asked for the reason, but the messenger didn’t know. Full of anxiety, he finally boarded the elevator once again, and as he walked through the elevator door, he suddenly felt very timid.
He did such a disrespectful thing to his master. Why would the master want to see him again?
He was afraid that when he faced the master again, he would hear cruel words and be given his belated punishment, perhaps even orders to expel him.
Cerberus couldn’t help overthinking. He stood at the door and waited for a while. Finally, he took a deep breath and gently knocked on the door.
“Come in.” A familiar voice came from inside the room. The voice wasn’t very clear, but it was enough to make the heart in Cerberus’ chest suddenly beat faster. He pushed the door open and easily slid through the gap.
The door wasn’t locked.
Cerberus walked into Mr. Mo’s bedroom, which was full of fruity smoke. The windows were unopened, and almost the entire suite was flooded. Angela wasn’t there, and the figure that he had been thinking about was sitting by the bed. The milky white smoke blurred his face, and for a moment, Cerberus unexpectedly felt that the youth was exuding an unspeakably deep affection.
Did he misread it?
Cerberus didn’t dare come forward. He looked at the young man and called in a low voice, “Master?”
“Come here.” Mr. Mo raised his eyes. He rarely dressed unless he was going out, but now he was wearing a dark coat and a waistcoat of the same color. His pants were slightly pulled upward by his crossed legs, revealing a small circle of skin around his ankles.
The master just came back from outside? Cerberus didn’t know.
As Cerberus wondered this, he walked obediently forward. Just as he was about to kneel in front of Mr. Mo, his wrist was suddenly caught.
The young man’s palm was slightly sweaty with a cold dampness, as if it was still trembling uncontrollably. Cerberus was forced to lean forward, so close that he was nearly embracing Mr. Mo.
He subconsciously wanted to hide, but in the next moment, the young man touched his cheek, and Cerberus’ forgot how to breathe. He wasn’t at all mentally prepared for that sudden intimate contact.
“Cerberus.” Mr. Mo gazed into his deep honey eyes, and asked in a low voice, “Will you help me?”
His voice was incomprehensibly weak, and his brows were furrowed, as if suffering from some kind of unspeakable pain. The two moles really looked like tears now, and they were so piteously lovely.