Still recovering from what had just happened between them, the green-eyed boy buttoned his shirt as he watched Trey collecting his clothes, scattered across the floor, and covered his naked body with them. Clothes back in place, Jem approached Trey and kissed him softly on the lips. He felt Trey’s body tremble.

The young man opened the cubicle door and the two left the restroom, wide smiles drawn on both their faces. Trey tied his fingers to Jem’s, who stroked the back of his hand with his thumb as they headed back to the sofa. There was no trace of the drinks they had left there abandoned.

“Well, Trey,” Jem said, “I had a great time, but it’s time to leave now.”

“Can’t you stay a little bit longer?”

“No, sorry, I have to leave,” Jem said, kissing Trey’s cheek. He couldn’t help smiling seeing Trey’s blushed cheeks.

“I’ll give you my number,” Trey said, “you can message me, if you want.”

“Okay.” Trey recited his phone number. Jem saved it in his contacts list, placed his phone back his pocket and, with a last kiss on his lips, he said goodbye to Trey, who remained there, drooping on the sofa. He watched Jem as he walked among the mass of dancing bodies to search for his friends and let them know that he was going home. His friends, of course, were too busy moving as if some kind of spirit had possessed their bodies, so Jem left the club by himself.

In the distance, Jem thought he heard some hurried steps resonating in the empty streets. The young man picked up his pace. Those steps had a strange urgency to them and, at four in the morning, that could not mean anything good. The sooner he got home, the better. Lucky for him, the apartment he had recently rented with his brother was not far from there.

Jem and his twin brother would start university next Monday and, despite living in Yova since they were young, they’d decided that was the time to leave their parents’ home. They had already been living in that apartment for three weeks. It had two tiny bedrooms and it was located on the sixth floor—no elevator—of a building that stood on the street behind the university.

In an almost absolute darkness—the light refused to light up beyond the first floor—Jem climbed the steep, narrow stairs with his usual light step. He reached the sixth floor almost out of breath, panting and sweating. He sank his hand into his pocket and, after rummaging for a few moments, he removed a large keyring, a single yellow key attached to it. He introduced it into the lock of the bland apartment door and crossed the threshold accompanied by the pitiful squeak of the rusty door hinges.

The first door on the left led to his bedroom. Deciding that it would be a good idea not to turn on the lights, Jem walked the three steps that stood between the hall and his bedroom door. Convinced as he was that, before he’d left the house, his bedroom door had remained open, the young man tried to cross it with a firm step. The result was the spectacular impact of his forehead against the closed door, which turned out to be closed. Without even thinking about stopping himself, he let out a howl while rubbing his forehead.

Just moments later, the second door opened wide, revealing on the other side a man identical to Jem down to the smallest detail. Perhaps, if one really tried to look for a difference, his twin brother’s eyes were slightly darker than his. However, for anyone else, one was the exact reflection of the other.

“What are you doing?” Nadhir said with a pasty voice, eyes shut, cell phone in his hand so as to light up the corridor.

“I thought the door was open.”

“What time is it?”

“Nearly ten past four.”

“Just great. Awesome,” the young man mumbled, heading to the kitchen, bare feet dragging lazily on the floor. Jem followed his brother who, in silence, was pouring himself a glass of milk. “Do you want some?”

“No.”

“How’d the night go?” Nadhir asked, between sip and sip.

“It went well, actually,” Jem said, unable to hide the smile that was lurking behind his lips. Nadhir arched his eyebrows and smiled as well.

“So, it went ‘very well, actually,’ huh? “Anything you wanna tell me?”

Jem’s heart gave a lurch. He opened his mouth, but he didn’t manage to get a single word out. He closed it and, after a brief pause, reopened it:

“You know what? Yes. I’m gonna tell you. Nadhir, there’s something I never told anyone.”

Nadhir drank up his milk, placed the empty glass in the sink and leaned against the kitchen counter. Crossing both legs and arms, his emerald gaze was nailed into his brother’s tumbling face, who sought the best words to reveal that which was so important to him.

“Tonight, I… Well, I’ve been with someone tonight.”

“Awesome,” Nadhir replied. “So, what happened?”

“Name was Trey.”

“What a weird name. Is she foreign?”

“No, no…” Jem said, a drop of icy sweat gliding down his back. “I don’t think so, anyway. The thing is… Trey is a guy’ name, Nadhir.”

Silence. Nadhir blinked several times, his eyebrows almost blending in with his hair. Jem, who had begun to feel a slight dizziness, grabbed the nearest chair and dropped onto it. Nadhir sat on the chair beside him.

“So, you’re gay?” he asked.

“Yes,” Jem said at last.

“Oh, okay then,” Nadhir replied. “I mean, so what? It’s normal. It’s okay,” he said. “So, that Trey guy, what’s he like?”

Jem smiled, but before he could respond, Nadhir took a look at his mobile phone, which had just buzzed, begging for attention. At four in the morning? Nadhir frowned as his eyes analysed the lit-up screen.

“So, what’s up?”

“I got a message, but I don't know who sent it…”

“Maybe they got the wrong number?” Jem suggested.

“No, look, it says: ‘Nadhir, we would like you to meet us at Sword and Book Café this Sunday morning.’ They say my name, so they know who I am.”

“That’s weird.”

At that moment, Jem felt a tremor in his pocket. His cell phone had received a message. The young man unlocked it and read the message. It was from a number he did not have in his contacts:

Jem, we would like you to meet us at Sword and Book Café this Sunday morning.