Page 89 of Back Room Host

Fuck! Yes, of course! My guard!

Then it dawned on me. How could I have been so blind? Juri had crept into my mind, making it impossible to concentrate on even the smallest things. He was everywhere, clinging to me like a tick—except he vanished on his own, too quickly for me to understand what was happening.

He consumed me!

Why doesn’t he give me a chance to explain?

Fuck! Yes! I miss him!

And for that thought, I got knocked out.

***

I sat at home in front of the computer in the evening, with a cold pack wrapped in a towel, watching the last recording I had made of Juri as he described his experiences of being beaten.

“There were kicks, punches … Sometimes he used the belt … Almost every day. Except … he locked me up.”

“He locked you up?”

“Yeah, for up to three days. And when he found out I was hoarding food in my room, he kicked me until I threw up.”

I took a deep breath. But Juri’s words went straight through me, and I flinched at the pain in my broken rib. He had definitely gotten too close to me.

If only I hadn’t taken Hector’s advice to heart, then I would have never gotten to know Juri so well. His departure wouldn’t have hurt as much as my pounding headache.

There was one thing I still didn’t understand. Assuming Juri was telling the truth, how could he develop feelings for me? It’s not like I had revealed anything about myself to him. Maybe I mentioned once that I had been bullied for years, but certainly not how severe the abuse had been.

It’s impossible for him to have fallen in love with me. He doesn’t even know me.

Hearing Juri’s beautiful voice calmed me. When he spoke, his soft voice sounded like he was telling you a secret. In a way, he was. Everything he had revealed about himself during our conversations, I didn’t take for granted. He had opened up to me—more than I could have ever wished for.

Fuck.

I’ve completely fallen for the guy and didn’t even realize it. And now it’s too late. How am I supposed to fix this?

I heard the front door, and for a brief moment, hope flickered within me that Juri had returned. But there was no way. The door was locked, and Juri didn’t even have a key.

“Hello!” Hector announced.

I struggled to get up from the desk and stepped out. Hector was in the kitchen, grabbing a beer from the fridge. He took the first sip from the bottle as he turned to me and almost choked.

“Holy shit! What happened to you?”

I removed the cold pack, my mouth twitching, which was all I could manage. I slinked between the sofa and the kitchen to the dining table and sat down on a chair.

“Did you have the competition today?” Hector asked, sitting down next to me.

“Yeah. I lost.”

“That’s how you look like.”

“How was Barcelona?”

“Pretty good. We had wonderful weather, excellent food … Everything was great.”

Hector crossed one leg over the other and leaned back. As usual, he appeared polished with his hair combed back and his face freshly shaved. However, he had the top button of his shirt open and wore his jacket somehow casually. He didn’t seem as strict as usual.

“Where’s your patient?” he asked, glancing around the apartment.

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