From the window of my carriage, on my way to Sirkeci Terminal travelling with my luggage and my finest clothes on, I bid farewell to Santa Sofia as I approached the train station. The coachman opened the door and held his hand out for me. I put my gloves on and closed my cape before taking his hand and climbing off the carriage. The coachman took my luggage and handed it to me. I gave him a tip and he disappeared in the sea of carriages and few automobiles.

Waiting to board the train, I allowed a few tears to roll down my cheek. I was leaving everything behind, and I felt it more than I had when leaving Russia and my sisters. I was leaving Sadiq and every memory I had of him, I was leaving Andreas, I was leaving my old life behind and ready to start a new one, and that made me a little afraid of what was to come. Suddenly I felt a tug on my cape and looked down to see a young girl with big brown eyes looking up at me.

"Why are you crying, sir?"

I felt my heart clench at the innocence in her voice and that made me remember when my sisters and I were young, after our father had died and mother used to cry alone in her room. We could clearly hear her, she was so devastated she couldn't take care of me and Natasha and Ekaterina had to play the role of mother. She used to comfort us and try to distract us when mother locked herself in her room to cry, a cry that resounded throughout the entire house. I wiped the tears with the back of my gloved hand and smiled weakly at the girl.

"I'm just very happy, that's all"

The girl smiled and went over to her mother's side. Finally the train arrived and the passengers began to board the Orient Express. I had spent a considerable amount of the money that had been sent to me by Ekaterina in buying a ticket in Europe's most luxurious train from Istanbul to Paris. I boarded the train and went to my cabin, which I was sharing, again, with two nuns travelling back to France. It seemed as if God was trying to make me realise I had to get my life on track by putting nuns in my way.

"Tell us, son, what do you work as?"

One of the nuns asked me with a warm smile on her face and the other looked at me intently. I decided to tell them the truth, as I didn't feel right lying to a nun, for the second time in my life.

"I'm a dancer"

They seemed surprised and they avoided talking to me for the rest of the day. By the time we arrived at Bucharest, they weren't there anymore. At dinnertime, I sat down in one of the tables of the restaurant coach and spotted a man staring at me. He had long wavy blonde shoulder-length hair framing his beautiful face. He had bright blue eyes and slight stubble and was wearing an impeccable white suit. He was fidgeting with a rose and when he caught me staring back at him, he winked at me, making me blush. He came over to my table faster than any waiter could have and took my hands into his'.

"You have the cutest blush I've ever seen"

He said seductively and by his accent I could tell he was French, but he hadn't even told me his name before starting to openly flirt with me, without even knowing either my name or if I was into men like he certainly was. I decided to speak up before he could continue.

"What is your name?"

He smirked and his fingertips lingered over my hand before leaving my table. I was slightly shocked by that abrupt reaction of his, but I decided to follow him. He looked over his shoulder with a playful smile on his rosy lips and he entered his cabin and motioned for me to come in with his finger. I was confused, but decided to play along and entered his cabin. He closed the door and began to kiss me in the lips, running his hands through my hair. I sneaked my arms around his neck as he continued to kiss me passionately. We parted and I was gasping for air as he undid my tie and the first few buttons of my shirt.

"You are so beautiful. I knew you were into me when I first saw your eyes"

He unwrapped the scarf from my neck and threw it away. I was having so much pleasure when he began to kiss and bite at my neck that I couldn't bring myself to care about my beloved scarf being discarded as if it was an old rag. He cupped my backside and lifted me up, pushing me against the wall and forcing me to wrap my legs around his waist as my neck continued to be assaulted and he undid the last few buttons of my shirt and my vest, removing them and throwing them to the floor, to join my scarf.

He laid me gently on the seat and began to kiss and tug at my nipples with his teeth as he undid the buttons of my pants and removed them along with my underwear, discarding it on the floor as well, leaving me completely naked under his lustful gaze. He got up and looked down at me with a smirk on his face, leaving me aroused and panting on the seat with my member erected and at full display. He removed his tie and in no time, his shirt was open to the last button and so was his zipper, revealing a rather large member, similar to the General's. His chest was fuzzy with slight blonde hairs that matched his beard excellently. I licked my lips and he dropped to his knees to kiss me passionately once more. He pulled apart.

"You like what you are seeing, because I sure do so"

He took a small jar of Vaseline from his jacket inner pocket and coated his member with a generous amount of the transparent substance and in no time he was inserting his member inside my backside slowly while moving his hand up and down on mine, causing me greater pleasure and I almost could forget about the pain I was feeling. Soon, the pain turned to pleasure as he began to kiss my neck and was fully inserted inside my body, causing me to shiver.

I began moaning as slowly as I could – because I knew that people in the corridor could hear us – as he pounded into me, slowly at first, our tongues melting together in a passionate kiss, and the faster and harder. I wrapped my smooth legs around him and pulled him down for a kiss again as he had separated from me to look down at the pleasure he was causing me.

He told me I was beautiful once again and he started to penetrate me violently, causing me to rock back and forth on the seat, occasionally eliciting a few moans of pleasure as my sweet spot was hit over and over again. I suddenly screamed, unable to contain my pleasure any longer, and released all over my tummy and chest, some droplets even landing on my chin. The man smirked and groaned as he released inside of me several times. Finally, we were both exhausted and he collapsed over me, panting as I was. When we finally recovered, he helped me clean up and get dressed as he closed the buttons of his shirt and pulled up his zipper, hiding his member. While I was putting on my vest and my tie and picking up my jacket and scarf from the floor where they had been discarded, he told me his name, with his back at me as he put on his jacket.

"My name is Francis Bonnefoy; I'm a general of the French Army's 1st Division"

I was surprised by what he told me. I wasn't expecting him to be a general of all things. It seemed as my life was deemed to be surrounded by generals and soldiers. I loved their uniforms; I think that's what doomed me in the first place: the inability to say no to a handsome man in uniform. But back to the story, when I was fully dressed, I turned around and told him my name, facing him, who had just sat down, looking up at me.

"Ivan Braginski, I'm a dancer"

He smiled and clapped his hands as he got up from the seat and put his hands on my shoulders.

"So you are! You must be a very good one. I have a contact in the theatrical world; perhaps he can help you in your career"

I was ecstatic when he told me that. I would never have imagined that he, of all people, would help me in that sense. I smiled broadly and inquired further.

"Do you really?"

"I do, his name is Yao Wang. Wait"

He took out from his pocket a small card and gave it to me. Indeed, his name was Yao Wang and was a theatre producer of exotic spectacles. I couldn't contain my excitement and kissed him deeply. He was surprised at first, as his eyes were wide open, but then he sneaked his arms around my waits and pulled me closer. After a couple minutes of passionate kissing, we parted and I nodded at him with a wink before leaving the cabin. When I opened the door, he slapped my bottom hard enough to leave his hand printed in red on my pale skin. I blew him a kiss and left, I recognised one of the nuns that had shared the cabin with me in the prior leg of the trip, in the corridor. She looked scandalized when she saw a hickey on my neck.

"Good evening, sister"

She gasped and ran away, leaving me behind to laugh at her prudishness.