Rin sipped again.
The cabin air was warm now — a haze of cigar smoke lingering like a slow ghost above them. The half-empty bottle of Medovukha glinted gold in the soft amber light, and the glass in Rin's hand was already slick with condensation. Kai swirled his own drink slowly, watching the liquid lap at the rim, his eyes dancing with a dangerous sort of amusement.
"I wondered if you swung that way," Kai said, voice smooth and casual like he was commenting on the weather.
Rin, who had just taken another long drag of the cigar, exhaled the smoke through his nose with perfect control — like a dragon carved from marble. His brows raised only slightly.
"What do you mean?" he asked, monotone, without breaking eye contact.
Kai tilted his head, still smirking. "You didn't look all that aroused to have a naked woman practically draped over you. I mean—most guys in your position would've had to cross their legs and pray to the moon goddess to keep from embarrassing themselves."
Rin's lips curved up slightly, barely enough to call it a smile — more like a flex of disdain. He took another sip, letting the taste of smoke and honey sit heavy on his tongue.
"Well, you're horribly mistaken," he said at last. "I love women. Like I said before — if some godawful apocalypse wiped out all the women and left only men behind, I'd go monk mode before I ever stuck my dick in some dude's ass."
He smirked then — a rare, mocking expression. "So, no. I don't swing that way."
Kai chuckled under his breath, leaning back in his chair, one leg crossing over the other with lazy elegance. "Mm. Harsh imagery. So binary of you."
Rin didn't reply. He just took another hit from the cigar, his eyes narrowed.
Kai exhaled dramatically. "The problem is…" He paused, eyes glinting with mischief. "...you make people hard."
Rin blinked, face unreadable. "Uhhh… What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
Kai waved a hand, brushing it off. "Nevermind. Let's not unpack that bag."
Rin raised a brow. "You're gonna drop something like that and then not explain it?"
Kai grinned. "Some things are more fun when they stew. Anyway…" He leaned forward slightly. "What's your type, then?"
"What? You planning to hook me up?" Rin replied, deadpan.
Kai rested his chin on his hand. "Let's just say... it helps to know. Wouldn't want any 'accidents' in the future. Say I happened to seduce the kind of woman you're into. I imagine that'd be… messy."
Rin actually snorted, shaking his head slightly as he downed the rest of his drink in one gulp.
"Messy?" he repeated. "You? As if you'd give a single damn. You're the kind of guy who'd screw someone's girlfriend just to see if he could out of boredom."
Kai gave a little bow from his seat, as if accepting a compliment. "Guilty. Come on tell me your type".
Rin sighed and leaned back in his chair, cigar between his fingers. The alcohol was beginning to thrum quietly in his bloodstream, loosening the tightness in his shoulders but not dulling his mind. If anything, it made him more watchful — like the second calm before a storm.
Why is he pressing this so hard?
"Fine," Rin said finally. "Since you're so damn curious."
He looked forward, his voice calm and unfiltered.
"I like alpha women. Strong, decisive types — the kind who can handle themselves. Nice boobs, big ass — don't want her looking like some twelve-year-old beside me. Tall, almost my height. I'm 181cm, so maybe 178 or 180 is good."
Kai raised a brow, looking impressed. "Specific."
Rin ignored him and kept going. "Skin tone? Doesn't matter. But I've got a preference for tan and dark-skinned women. They've got this warmth, this power. Real beauty, not the plastic kind you see in ads."
He shrugged, voice flat. "That answer your question?"
Kai tilted his glass, eyes twinkling with a strange, amused admiration. "Yeah. That's… honestly kind of hot."
Rin shot him a side-eye. "Don't get weird on me."
Kai let out a low whistle. "You've got taste. I'll give you that."
"Glad I have your approval," Rin said flatly, lighting another cigar and watching Kai from behind the flame.
"You know," Kai added, "the way you describe them… almost sounds like you're describing a challenge. Like you want to be dominated."
Rin narrowed his eyes. "I said alpha. Not a handler."
Kai's grin widened. "Oh, I heard. But it makes me wonder…"
Rin sat back, arms folded. The cigar was almost gone now — only a stub of ash between his fingers.
Kai, still watching him like a cat circling prey, leaned back and chuckled to himself again.
"You know," he said, swirling the liquid in his glass lazily, "you're more fun than I expected. Like an unsolved puzzle with knives sticking out of it."
"Keep poking, you'll bleed," Rin said without missing a beat.
Kai raised his glass. "Now that's the Rin I like."
Kai took another sip of the Medovukha, letting it roll over his tongue before swallowing — slow, theatrical, like he knew Rin was watching.
"I hate clingy people," Kai said casually, tapping ash off his cigar with a flick. "I get bored the second someone thinks they own me. Especially after I've already slept with them once."
Rin didn't flinch, but his gaze narrowed slightly.
No surprise there.
The guy changes partners more often than he changes shirts. Like clockwork.
He gets off on control, then ditches them before anyone can get too close. Textbook narcissist.
"So," Rin said evenly, tilting his glass in Kai's direction, "have you ever actually dated anyone?"
Kai snorted, loud and unbothered. "Dated? Never."
Then, he leaned in — just slightly — lips curling into that smirk that meant nothing and everything.
"But who knows?" he added, voice dropping an octave. "Maybe… if it's someone feisty. Defiant. The kind who bites back instead of begging."
His eyes dragged lazily over Rin, gaze unapologetically suggestive. "Even better if they don't break — no matter how rough I get."
Rin didn't blink. Didn't react. But the silence between them buzzed like tension before a lightning strike.
There it is again. That tone.
He always talks like sex is a battlefield, and he's the general watching people crumble beneath him.
Disgusting.
…
Why does it make my ears hot?
"Let me guess," Rin said, his voice clipped. "You prefer Alphas, Betas, even Enigmas. But not Omegas."
Kai shrugged, swirling the drink in his glass. "Exactly. Omegas are too easy to break. Too pliable. No challenge." He smiled to himself. "Like this one time, I was having—"
"—Nope. Stop. Right there," Rin cut in, lifting a hand like a traffic cop. "Do not finish that sentence, Kai."
Kai's laugh was low and dangerous, like a purr from a jungle cat. "Fine, fine. Your purity, your rules."
Rin snorted into his drink.
Yeah right. I've killed six people and smuggled weapons through three borders.
But sure. Let's preserve my purity.
"So…" Rin began, leaning back in his chair, "you said you get bored after sleeping with someone once. How many people have you actually slept with?"
Kai grinned like the question was a compliment.
"I don't know. Almost a hundred? I stopped counting around seventy-something."
Rin choked slightly. "Damn. You are a hoe."
Kai just raised his glass in mock salute. "At least I'm an honest one."
Rin muttered under his breath while sipping again, "Well, at least mine's better…"
Kai's ears perked. "Oh? And what's your number, Mr. High-and-Mighty?"
Rin set the glass down, a crooked smile cracking through his usual stoicism. "Ten."
For a beat, Kai just blinked. Then:
"Ten? Oh my god— you're a hoe too!"
Both of them burst into laughter, the kind that came from a place between absurdity and mutual disbelief. The cabin echoed with their voices, the smoke from the cigar curling upward like an exclamation mark to their ridiculous conversation.
"At least it's not a hundred," Rin said through a grin, shaking his head.
Kai leaned back, watching Rin with an expression softer than usual — amused, but thoughtful. "Touché."
Why am I even laughing with this guy?
This is the same asshole who could probably gut me in my sleep without blinking.
But here I am, half drunk, half high, talking about sex counts like we're roommates in college.
Get your shit together, Rin.
Focus.
Still, despite everything — the suspicion, the guarded thoughts, the constant mental red alerts — Rin didn't look away. Neither did Kai.
Rin took another slow drag from his cigarette, exhaling through his nose like a dragon letting off steam. The taste of smoke lingered on his tongue — warm, bitter, grounding. His eyes, slightly hooded, drifted toward Kai, who sat on the other side of the room like some damn statue from a Renaissance painting — all long limbs, snowy skin, and effortless arrogance.
"Waste of face and height…" Rin muttered, just loud enough to be heard.
Kai turned his head lazily, his pale lashes fluttering in mock confusion. "What was that?"
Rin didn't look at him directly. Instead, he rested his chin on his hand, eyes fixed on some spot beyond the glass window. Snowy terrain blurred past the train at high speed. But his words came clear.
"I said… you're a waste of a face. And a waste of height."
Kai blinked, amused.
"You are—" Rin paused, tone turning reluctantly honest, "—so goddamn beautiful. Like offensively beautiful. Skin pale and smooth like you were carved out of marble, not a single hair out of place. Your body's so clean, so well-kept it's like you've never had a single blemish in your whole life. And that face..." Rin scoffed, shaking his head. "You could've been on every billboard in Moscow. Or Milan. Or wherever the hell models go to be worshipped."
His voice lowered, almost to a whisper. "And to top it off, you've got the height. Like a runway predator. You're tall without being awkward. Elegant but dangerous."
He finally looked at Kai — straight-on, no filter. "Russian men are disgustingly gorgeous. You're living proof."
Kai didn't say anything immediately. He just stared — not smirking now, but watching Rin with a kind of intense stillness that was hard to read.
Rin looked away, eyes darkening, brows twitching downward. His voice, when he spoke again, was barely audible.
"I wish I had that kind of beauty," he muttered. "Would've made everything easier. People listen to beautiful men. They give them free passes. They worship them, even when they're rotten."
Someone like Kai — he walks into a room, and the world adjusts for him.
Doors open, people soften, excuses are made. Even when he's cruel, they thank him for the bruises.
And me? I had to fight for every scrap of space I stood on.
No amount of strength erases the way people treat you when you're not pretty enough, not perfect enough. Especially not when you're... me.
There was a long pause.
Kai leaned forward, elbows resting on his knees, his fingers drumming idly against his glass. That unreadable expression was still painted on his face — half intrigued, half smug, with a flicker of something else hidden behind the eyes. Something colder. Something calculating.
"Are you fishing for compliments now?" Kai asked, voice low and velvet-smooth. "Because if so, that was a pathetic attempt."
Rin scoffed, annoyed at himself more than Kai. "Shut up. I'm just saying facts."
Kai tilted his head. "You want what I have, huh?"
"No. I just don't understand how someone like you got handed everything — the face, the body, the attention — and still chose to waste it being a manipulative bastard."
Kai laughed — not mocking, but genuine this time. "You really think I got it easy because of this face?"
He stood up slowly, gliding across the room like a shadow wrapped in silk. He leaned down, close to Rin's ear, voice like honey laced with venom.
"Let me tell you something, sweetheart. Beauty only gives you power if you know how to use it. I just chose to make it a weapon."
Rin didn't flinch, but he felt something crawl down his spine. Kai pulled back, that smirk returning like a signature.
"And clearly," Kai added, turning away, "you've been too busy trying to earn things the hard way to notice just how easy it can be to take what you want… when you're already what people desire."
He says that like it's the answer to everything.
Like desire alone makes you untouchable.
But he doesn't get it. He never had to be invisible. He never had to survive on nothing but grit and silence.
Still… it must be nice. That kind of power. Even if it's rotten inside.
"Whatever," Rin muttered, picking up his glass again. "Still a waste."
Kai chuckled under his breath, walking back to his seat. "Careful. Say one more pretty thing about me, and I might think you're falling in love."
Rin gave him the finger without looking up.
Kai swirled the amber liquid in his glass lazily, eyes flicking toward Rin with that usual calm curiosity — the kind that peeled skin rather than asked questions. He tilted his head, one brow arched.
"I heard most Asians tend to stay with their parents even after they become adults. Is that true?" he asked casually, as if he were inquiring about weather patterns. "I mean, you call your mother and report in regularly, don't you?"
Rin let out a heavy sigh, exasperated. He rolled his eyes so hard he might've seen his ancestors whispering "not again."
"Oh, geez. Why are you so curious about that, huh?" Rin said, tone dry.
Kai grinned. "Hey, I'll stop probing if you just admit you're a mama's boy already."
Rin snorted, pouring himself another drink, letting the bottle clink against the glass for a second too long.
"My mother just worries a lot, alright? That's all."
He paused, swirling his drink, eyes sinking into the liquid like it held a whole other world. He didn't plan to talk — not like this — but the alcohol was working its way past his defenses, peeling him open slowly. Kai's questions, sharp as razors, didn't help.
"…My dad's side — all soldiers. Captains. Navy officers. Real tough types. My mom, she was just a baker — simple, sweet. Then she met my dad. Fell hard. They got married, had my big sister, then me. It was the perfect picture, y'know? Family, warmth… stability."
He paused, leaning back against the wall.
"But life doesn't give a damn about perfect pictures."
Rin's voice dropped, his tone suddenly flat.
"My father — the captain — never came back. Ship exploded during a mission. Not a body left to bury. We had to grieve an empty casket. My sister… followed in his footsteps. Joined the military too. Then one day, just disappeared. No messages, no medals, nothing. Just... gone."
His jaw clenched for a moment.
"And then, like something out of a bad drama, my mom remarried my dad's best friend. I knew the guy — he'd been around since I was a kid. Didn't think anything of it. She was lonely. She needed something, someone. Yuta was born not long after — my half-brother."
It was okay... at first. Familiar. Bearable.
Until everything started changing.
Until I stopped being a child and started being something else in his eyes.
Rin's voice tightened. He didn't look at Kai. He couldn't.
"Then he touched me. Kept touching me. Until one day, I ended up in the hospital for a week. Broken ribs. Internal bleeding."
He paused, breath unsteady — but not from sadness. From rage.
"Lucky for him, the cops got to him before I could. He's behind bars now. For life. If I had it my way, I'd have sent him straight to hell."
No hesitation. No regret. I'd have done it with a smile.
He took another drink like it was water, stretching his arms behind his head, as if he hadn't just casually dropped hell-level trauma into the room like it was small talk.
"…Now it's just me, my mom, and Yuta. She only has us. That's it. I can't… I won't let her lose another child. She'd break. Completely. I don't think she'd survive it."
Silence followed like an avalanche.
The air in the train cabin felt heavier than before, even with the gentle hum of the engine beneath them. Rin stared at his drink, waiting — maybe a little — for Kai to say something human.
Instead, Kai took a small sip of his drink, licked his lips, then said quietly:
"One way or another… everyone dies someday."
Rin snapped his head toward him so fast he almost pulled something.
What the fuck—?!
Is that seriously how this guy comforts people?
Who the hell hears something like that and just throws out a nihilistic fortune cookie line like they're reciting poetry?
His eyes narrowed.
"…You got issues, man."
Kai didn't flinch. He just shrugged, casually, like death was just a topic of polite conversation. "Just being honest."
Rin clenched his jaw, staring at him like he was something radioactive. Kai tilted his head, studying him with unsettling focus.
He's not trying to comfort me.
He just wanted to see how I'd react. How much I'd reveal.
He listens to people the way you watch a lab rat in a maze. Not because you care about the rat — but because you're testing it.
"Right…" Rin muttered, scoffing. "Just… forget I said anything."
Kai smirked. "Can't promise that."
Yeah, I should've known better.
Of course he'd tuck it away like ammunition. Everything with him is a slow game. A setup. A fucking chessboard.
And I just gave him a whole playbook.
Rin downed the rest of his drink in one gulp, feeling the burn in his throat and the twist in his gut.
"Next time I trauma dump," he muttered, "I'm picking someone with at least one functioning emotional receptor."
Kai just raised his glass.
"Cheers to poor life choices."