Contains references to death & past abuse

Chapter 40: Turbulent Summer

Part 1 - A Mysterious letter

In the glistening early evening sun, Florian and Finn walked up the stairs to their door. Gabriella had already sped away to the trampoline, which she had missed after all those hours on buses and planes. While they heard her childish jeering in the distance, Florian hesitated at their front door.

“Is there something?” Finn asked his Flo when they seemed to be lost in thought.

"Not necessarily … I just feel awkward. Maybe because of the emotion. Everything seems so finished now. There is nothing big left to happen.” Finn raised an eyebrow. "Okay, except for the kitten adopt for Gabi's birthday. And just togetherness. Hopefully our bedroom is not too dusty in the meantime.”

…"But first, let's check the mail and see in which state our home is." In a graceful swing, Florian had taken the keys, put them in the door and walked in, closely followed by their husband.

Some advertising, another congratulations card… Nowadays, almost everything was sent digitally, so it was surprising when there was a real letter. “There’s something Chinese on it. Must be for you. Something from traveling wouldn't be here yet.” Finn was surprised and gestured to Florian to open the letter, but they gestured back that it really had to be for him.

Sweating from anxiety Finn opened the envelope. He hesitated for a moment, but then he thought he recognized the handwriting. "It's my father's." “Nothing serious I hope?” Florian hid behind Finn's shoulder, waiting in tension until Finn said something, while they also tried to read the letter.

Fortunately, his state of mind quickly changed. Finn started smiling. "Everything is going well with them… They hung up our pictures… Wait, wait… wait… I… I… I… - I can't believe it. This is not possible." "What is it? Is it something like “My mother wants to invest in LGBT organizations?” Finn shook his head, still smiling.

"Do you remember when I said I talked to my father at the wedding?" "Yes…?" "I told him something about… You know..." Finn swallowed when he thought back to that awkward conversation, "and then he had to call as soon as possible." Finn pointed out where his father started writing about the phone call, hoping that Florian's Mandarin would be enough.

His heart raced as he continued reading more about what his father told regarding the phonecall back then. He knew his father had been angry - but when he read the descriptions of what he had managed to arrange, he couldn't believe it. "He is dead!" Finn suddenly exclaimed, tears of joy rolled over his cheek. "Sergei is … Dead.”

"What? How, even?” "My dad… Hired someone…" "Woah … But that's brilliant. Why are you crying?” "Sergei is dead. Sergei can never hurt anyone again. I… Me.. He can never hurt me again. All chance of that is gone. It's totally gone."

“I can really start living now, nothing can go wrong, my parents support me, he’s gone, you’re ok and...” Florian's lips touched his and he stopped talking.

With only a cm distance between their lips, Florian whispered to him, while they slid their fingers over Finn's gold-colored cheek to dry his tears of joy. "Indeed, nothing or no one is going to stop us… The two of us in a world that does not hinder us from whatever we want."