Cane23

I think the idea of being “led by primitive instincts” fits Brad more than Lyn. Brad often acts on immediate desire, ego, or self-interest, without much reflection - his mistakes are reactive and impulsive. Lyn, on the other hand, is misled not by instinct but by overthinking, emotional blind spots, and years of complicated feelings. His misjudgments come from complexity and self-deception, not from simple impulses.

I don’t believe Alexander would see Lyn’s intimacy as revenge. It’s partly self-punishment, yes - a way for Lyn to confront lingering feelings and confusion tied to Brad but it’s also a necessary act of exorcism. Brad’s shadow is still there, and that’s exactly why this step matters. Being with Alexander allows Lyn to process the past and reclaim his emotional agency. Alexander, as always, can read Lyn perfectly. He wouldn’t stop him completely, because he knows Lyn needs this release, but he’d guide things carefully. The heavier acts, like anal sex, will only happen when Lyn can approach them without the burden of old ghosts. Alexander balances letting Lyn confront the past with preserving the intimacy they’re building together.

As others, I can’t say I’m surprised...the signs were there all along - but even so, seeing it unfold was still a shock. Some betrayals always manage to sting, no matter how predictable they are. Mirroring between the two blowjobs - the scene is contrasting two forms of disconnection and projection, each exposing the emotional architecture of the characters. In the Alexander/Lyn scene, the act becomes an attempt at presence - Lyn is desperate to anchor himself in something real, to feel here, now, to turn mental chaos into bodily truth. In the Brad/Luke scene, the act is an exercise in absence - Brad’s body is present, but his mind is elsewhere, split between the physical and the performative... calling his fiancée while receiving pleasure from Luke. When Alexander asks Lyn whether he was thinking of Brad, Lyn’s honesty is radical - he was not thinking of Brad. This line is crucial because it redefines Lyn’s position in the triangle. For once, he’s not living through someone else’s shadow. His intimacy with Alexander isn’t contaminated by nostalgia or projection. Brad’s blowjob, on the other hand, is almost the grotesque mirror of Lyn’s. He’s physically involved with Luke - a man who adores him, who likely mistakes Brad’s attention for emotional reciprocity... yet Brad is on the phone with Belle, talking about marriage! Alexander's words from ch.15 sounds prophetic now: Also, if anyone is going to rain on his parade, it will be him.” ...Alexander shrugged. “Bradley has a bad habit of putting his foot in his mouth. Also, he doesn’t realize that it will always come around to bite him in the ass. Not that I’m surprised. After all, he’s not exactly bright.” Brad always ends up being his own downfall. He doesn’t need enemies; his own impulsiveness does the job perfectly. Brad's “messiness” is human, painfully so. It shows that his desire for Lyn didn’t disappear; it metastasized. He’s reliving Lyn’s absence in every act of duplicity, reenacting that triangle subconsciously. He’s the one who can’t stop reproducing the triangle - now with Belle and Luke, because he never metabolized what happened with Lyn. His life becomes a choreography of repression. This is interesting - Luke meant to humiliate Lyn but ended up liberating him. That’s one of the most psychologically elegant turns in the chapter - an act of cruelty that becomes an accidental mercy. What makes this scene powerful is the moral inversion. Luke sets a trap to embarrass Lyn - but Lyn walks away wiser. He leaves not as a loser, but as someone who finally sees Brad as a man of flesh and weakness - not as a golden idol or a lost love. The humiliation becomes an antidote to obsession. Lyn's no longer competing for Brad’s love; he’s mourning what never existed. There’s also rich irony in Luke’s position. He imagines himself the winner... the one who “has” Brad now, but in truth, he’s the most disposable person in the room. Brad isn’t thinking of him, not really. He’s performing his duplicity while fantasizing about someone else. “But the signs had been there all along, hadn’t they? What signs? Was he blind?” The passage isn’t only about Brad, it’s about Lyn’s pattern - his blindness is self-protective, the same blindness that let him idealize Brad, misunderstand Alexander, and suppress his own instincts. This moment is where that long-standing psychological scaffolding collapses. Lyn has a sharp intuition - his instincts are almost flawless, and that’s exactly what makes him such a good lawyer. We saw it before, when he caught that fleeting moment between Brad and another man in previous chapter; at the time, it seemed like jealousy, but now it’s clear he sensed something real. That’s what he learned growing up with his mother - to observe, to notice. The tragedy is that his own mind keeps betraying him. His defenses, his self-protection mechanisms, make him doubt what his instincts already know. So, the rule seems to be - always trust Lyn’s inner voice before his brain starts rationalizing it away. I honestly don’t know what to think about Brad anymore. Yes, he’s selfish, manipulative, and reckless - all that is true, but some things are still left open. Alexander hinted that Brad knew about Lyn’s crush back in college, and given everything we’ve seen, it’s hard to deny it. The question is - what were his thoughts and feelings back then? If he simply used Lyn’s affection to get help with studies, then why invite him now, years later, to the wedding? Why insist on reuniting their trio if Lyn was just convenient? The explanation doesn’t quite fit. The other possibility is that he didn’t reciprocate because he was straight - but after what we’ve just witnessed with Luke, that argument falls apart. So maybe Brad did have feelings for Lyn but didn’t know how to respond to them. Maybe his arrogance and recklessness are masks for insecurity - perhaps, in his own confused way, he idolized Lyn just as Lyn once idolized him. And that’s what makes him such a fascinating mess of a character - he keeps circling around Lyn emotionally, too cowardly or too self-deluded to admit what he really feels.

He was too busy getting blown by his future brother-in-law.

Learning Elisha was keeping a pet behind his back, and that he had obviously discovered masturbation, had been upsetting. Not just because of the disobedience and disrespect, but because it meant the thing Hosea was most proud of in his life, his near perfect son, was largely a fantasy. How was he going to face his wife or their pastor? His son’s sins ultimately reflected on him as Elisha's father. O tempora, o mores!

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices-mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law-justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel” (Mathew 23:23-24)

And please, remove the “anal” tag - don’t mislead the poor horny souls! The only “anal” thing in your story was Veronica’s mouth! 😄

@vanalas has a distinctive style, but with his previous story, and especially this one, he’s added something fresh to the soap-opera genre he excels in. The chapters where River meets Zayn’s family are witty, charming, and thoroughly entertaining. Pure rom-com gold - those are scenes I could read over and over again. The final confrontation with Veronica & Co. is written in true Mexican telenovela fashion - a real treat for @vanalas's readers. What I did miss, though, was the moment when Zayn finds out that River never took the money. That single act speaks volumes, perhaps even more than prodigy son Adrian’s confessions (who, despite his redemption arc, didn’t quite win my sympathy). I like to imagine that Adrian eventually found love too - maybe even with Xavier, resurrected from hiatus! All in all, a great story and an absolutely enjoyable read.

You totally did that on purpose, @vanalas - don’t even try to deny it! 🤣😂🤣

Leonardo, maybe not...but River - especially after this: "Son,” he said softly, “we might not have had much. Maybe we never will. But we’ve always been honest people. That’s what kept us standing when everything else fell apart. It’s what makes me proud of you — that heart of yours.” Two years sounds a bit cruel to me...

Oh no, don’t misunderstand me - I wasn’t defending religion or trying to justify it. I just found it interesting to observe the differences between American Christianity and the more traditional European churches. Reading stories on GA from U.S. authors, I sometimes get the impression that it’s almost not the same Christianity at all, as if it didn’t grow from the same roots. It’s probably due to the many different denominations that exist in the U.S.

Oh yes, I once heard a priest say that St. Prophet Elijah was the first Serbian astronaut - after all, he drove a fiery chariot across the sky. 🚀😄

Now that’s quite an interesting quote to use as justification for not buying your child a pet! 🤪

Interesting fact - December 19th is, according to the old Julian calendar still used by my Orthodox Christian church, St. Nicholas Day. It’s a major holiday here: about half of the families (mine included) celebrate it as their home patron saint’s day, while the other half visits the first ones to join the celebration. Although the Orthodox Church is considered a traditional church alongside the Catholic one, its focus is mainly on the New Testament and the Gospels. So, while still conservative, our sermons usually center on love and redemption rather than fear. It’s almost impossible to hear threats of God’s punishment, hell, or natural disasters during service. Most of the readings from the Old Testament are Psalms. Our churches place great emphasis on ceremony - the Divine Liturgy, rich in symbolism and music, reminiscent of those once held in Constantinople. As for homosexuality, it’s officially considered a sin, but priests tend to follow something similar to the old U.S. military credo: “don’t ask, don’t tell.” Yes, it’s hypocrisy - but at least there’s no inquisition.

It really does seem that the only real connection between Brad and Alexander is Lyn - he’s the link that keeps them in the same orbit. On the other hand, since the story is told entirely from Lyn’s point of view, we only perceive what he notices. Back in college, Lyn was introverted and rather detached from social dynamics, so it’s possible that the true shape of Brad and Alexander’s friendship (or rivalry) remained hidden from him - and therefore from us. In a previous chapter, Brad even hinted that Alexander was “stealing his girlfriend,” something Lyn hadn’t known, which suggests there are layers to their relationship that Lyn (and the readers through him) has yet to understand.

This flashback is, actually, the origin story of emotional misalignment. Brad teaches Lyn to wait, to give, to expect little. Alexander teaches Lyn to be observed, managed, and molded. Lyn learns to translate both forms of attention into affection - mistaking neglect for closeness and control for care. But to be precise about Alexander - Lyn struggles to recognize that Alexander’s way of caring is control, it’s how Alexander expresses attachment. Brad usually comes across as selfish and reckless, but this scene hints at something deeper. His sharp reaction “Do I have to report everything I do to you now?” doesn’t just read as irritation; it sounds like guilt, the way a kid snaps at a parent after being caught doing something he shouldn’t. It’s that childish defensiveness that makes Brad’s character feel more real - impulsive, but not entirely without conscience. So, if he was hiding something, his defensiveness is pure deflection - the instinctive flare of someone caught off guard, maybe protecting a secret or trying to avoid confrontation. If he wasn’t, then his anger comes from a different kind of guilt - the feeling of being seen too closely by Lyn, of being held accountable by someone who knows him better than he wants to admit. That moment with Brad’s jacket really mirrors the earlier lake scene - when Lyn jumped into the water, couldn’t swim, and Alexander was the one who saved him, yet it was Brad who comforted him afterward. The same dynamic repeats here: Brad causes the chaos, but he’s also the one who reaches out to soothe Lyn. It’s as if Brad creates the wound and then tries to heal it - impulsive, guilty, but always emotionally present in a way Alexander rarely allows himself to be. Lyn gives Brad the papers - a symbol of his ongoing emotional labor. He does Brad’s work, even while sick, perpetuating their asymmetrical friendship. Brad gives Lyn his jacket - in contrast, an act of warmth and belated care. He also pushes Alexander’s arm away, a physical manifestation of rivalry and displacement.

It will be the moment when the ghosts of past, present, and future finally meet.

Maybe Lyn’s in the dark here, while Alexander… let’s just say he knows more than he lets on.

Drunk River could only ever be a dancing queen! 😂

Unless he is working for daddy because this: Finally, Adrian whispered hoarsely, “I didn’t mean to, Zayn. I was drunk. River… came on too strong. I couldn’t resist.” Sounds almost ridiculous… I mean, River? A strong badass?! 🤪

BTW, her whole plan seems to hinge on Zayn getting together with Harry, so that when they get married, Zayn would transfer all his wealth to Harry - who would then hand it over to Veronica?! Like… why would he ever do that? Even if Zayn were completely in love with Harry, he’s not a total moron! And then there’s Zayn, acting like a betrayed husband and not even letting River explain his side of the story. I used to think River was the drama queen, but it turns out Zayn’s the one putting on these embarrassing public performances. Daddy’s definitely the only cool head in the family - he’ll see that something about all this doesn’t add up.

What’s Adrian’s game, anyway?! On one hand, he’s playing along with Veronica’s scheme, hammering another nail into River’s coffin… but on the other, he’s trying to reach out to River, pretending to be innocent and confused. Why?!

Sorry, but I’m with @Okiegrad on this one. C’mon, don’t make me start quoting every description of long-haired, man-bun guy in your stories... all those open linen shirts and silk suits! @peter rietbergen's eyes might roll straight into the next chapter!

I thought I was the only one who noticed! 😂 By the way, I know @vanalas has a weakness for boys with long hair. 😜

That’s what I meant - if there was no penetration, it wouldn’t legally qualify as rape. However, that doesn’t mean it wasn’t deeply humiliating, and it’s important to note that there could still be criminal elements involved, such as sexual harassment or drugging someone. Adrian definitely seems headed for jail. Of course, we still don’t know what really happened, how far Adrian actually went, or whether he acted alone.