Dimitri I drove carefully across the freshly snow"covered road towards my parents' house. I would arrive in a few minutes if I continued at that speed. It was December 24th, but unlike the rest of the world, we were not preparing for Christmas Eve, but for my brother's birthday. I looked at the parcels that I had gotten on my last trip to London, I hoped he would like the present. As soon as I parked the car at the garage door, a message notification arrived on my cell phone. I sighed before opening the picture that Blair had sent me. In the picture she was smiling on a swing in the ocean, wearing a colorful bikini, barefoot, and with her hair loose. It had been twenty days since we had last met. She was constantly being sent to the Caribbean and South America, while I remained in Europe. I was about to answer the message, when Maria knocked on the car window, startling me. She opened the door and settled into the passenger seat. " Aren't you getting in? " she asked. " Yes, I
Dimitri I went into the living room, flopping down on the couch before speaking up again. " What is your problem?” " My problem? What is your problem? Did you tell your mother that we're getting married? " her humor was a mixture of amusement and concern. My sister gave me a questioning look when she entered the room and heard this sentence. " No, but my mother thinks I'm too old to be single and now she wants me to marry anyone who will accept it," I let out without thinking. I only realized the extent of the nonsense I had spoken when I noticed the surprised look on Blair's face. " Sorry, that sounded terrible," I tried to fix it. " I'll go change to meet the crew. We agreed to go out," she forced a smile, "congratulations to your brother for me.” And with that she ended the call, leaving me sitting on the couch feeling like an idiot. " Yeah, you really do have a natural talent with women," Masha scoffed. " How much trouble am I in?” " If I were her, I'd say a lot," she
Dimitri I slumped in a chair, feeling my head throbbing with irritation at my brother's attitude. What did he expect from the future? Without much thought, I turned to the only person who could offer me any comfort. Blair didn't take long to answer the video call, her face appearing on the other side of the screen. She had her hair loose, a comb in her hands, and her makeup undone, but she looked just as beautiful as if she were already completely ready for whatever it was she was getting ready for. " Commander, if you are calling me because you have run out of options…” My mind flashed back to our little moment before. It was a surprise that she was still willing to talk to me. " Hey, what happened? Why are you so angry? " she interrupted herself, looking at me with concern. " I'm not angry.” " Dimitri, if you were a cartoon you'd be red and have smoke coming out of your head. Come on, tell me what happened," she sneered. " What didn't happen? Tonight has been a mess sinc
Blair After returning to Newark on the 26th, I had flown to Istanbul the next afternoon, ready to start enjoying my fifteen days vacation. " All right, Ayeleen, don't you think you're overreacting? " Yusef asked while chopping the lamb. The two of us were cooking dinner together on the 28th, and I took the opportunity to vent about everything that had happened. " Overreacting? You say that because you weren't the one who watched that bitch throw herself at him while I was helplessly on the other side of the world," I returned angrily. "I'm sure that's not what you told me," my father sneered, "here, cut the bell peppers.” I took the knife, cutting in half one by one the vegetables on the counter. " Did you miss the part he hid from me that she was there? " I complained. " Did you miss the part where he introduced you as his girlfriend? " he returned, chopping onions to braise the lamb. I rolled my eyes at this comment. That was typical. Men always defend themselves. " Blair
Blair I woke up the next day noticing the absence of the usual darkness in my room. The light came in through a crack in the half open door. I sat up in bed feeling bewildered. I never left the door open! My confusion became even greater when I saw a large bouquet of colorful roses on my dressing table. I stood up, putting on my slippers, hearing some voices coming from the living room. I picked up the bouquet, bringing it up to my face to inhale its perfume. There must have been at least fifty roses in there. Had my father decided to raise the level of his presents? Driven by curiosity I went toward the voices, still carrying the roses. " What we mean is, we're not getting involved in this relationship, Blair is an adult and knows how to make her own decisions," I heard my mother declare. Are they talking about me? " Here, have some more tea? " I frowned as I heard my father offer. Who's here? I hurried my steps, stopping at the entrance to the dining room to find Dimitr
Dimitri " Can I ask you a personal question? " Blair and I were walking together through the streets of Istanbul when I decided to satisfy a curiosity that was burning in me. We were walking down a narrow cobblestone street lined with colorful old buildings, people who didn't seem to be intimidated by the low temperature and the cloudy sky, which heralded a likely rain at any moment. Blair was radiant beside me and I was still thinking about how to put the plan I had outlined in my mind into practice. But that could wait for now, I just wanted to enjoy her company. " Go ahead.” " What exactly is your father?” " I don't understand," she frowned. " He's different than I expected for a Turkish man," I tried to explain myself as best I could. That phrase caused Blair to let out a small laugh. " Can you keep a secret, commander?” " Of course.” " My dad has this whole Turkish thing going on and talking about that damned war, but the truth is he went through Californication a l
Blair Dimitri unlocked the door to his apartment, making me mentally thank him for having finally arrived. We boarded the flight to Istanbul late in the morning and had a very smooth flight, but as I looked out the window of the plane as we were about to land, I knew I hadn't wrapped up warm enough! About an hour and a half after landing at Pulkovo International Airport, going through a particular nightmare with immigration and almost freezing on the way, I felt happy to be welcomed into the warmth of my boyfriend's apartment. Dimitri closed the door behind me as I took in every detail of a place I knew only virtually. The living room was quite large for an apartment, painted in a light color, the furniture was mostly straight and in shades of dark blue and black. The place didn't have many decorations — unlike my apartment that was filled with the most diverse souvenirs from the countries I visited — but still, it was impossible to notice the good taste behind everything. On the w
Blair The next day, Dimitri tried to convince me to visit the city, but I refused to leave the comfortable warmth of his apartment heater for even a minute before it was time to go to his parents' town. We left around six o'clock in the afternoon, and I spent most of the way in silence, just observing the ice-covered landscape while feeling more and more apprehensive about this meeting. Had I really agreed to come to Russia just to meet my boyfriend's family? What was I thinking? " You're quiet. What's the matter? " Dimitri looked at me out of the corner of his eye. " Are you sure I won't be an intruder? It's a family celebration," I sighed. " Blair, you're not an intruder, you're my girlfriend," he assured me. " I know, but it's not like we're married.” " Blair, for all intents and purposes, as long as we're together and it's possible, I want you to be wherever I am. I don't care if we're married or not. But please don't bring up the subject of 'marriage' today, or we won't
Blair Taking advantage of Dimitri getting into the shower, I grabbed everything I would need to get ready, leaving the room, heading toward my sister-in-law's door. I knocked, expecting her to answer, surprising myself to hear her angry voice as soon as she approached. " Dimulya, I swear to God, if you don't leave me alone..." She opened the door in a burst, shutting herself up when she saw me. " Am I in the way of some imaginary fight between Siblings? " I frowned, staring at the girl who was wearing a robe with a red heart print on a pink background and loose hair. " Sorry, it's a... sibling thing," she said, "Do you need anything?” " Any chance you could help me get ready? " I forced a smile. " Come in," Masha smiled, taking my hand and pulling me inside. " I bought this dress the last time I was in Paris and didn't get a chance to wear it." I walked over to her bed, where a gray nude sleeved dress embroidered with some stones lay, putting the coverlet on where I carried my
DimitriThe noise of the shower started to sound in the bathroom of the room, causing me to breathe a relieved breath before I snuck out of the room, fiddling with my cell phone in an attempt to find out if everything was going according to plan, without being able to find out anything, since we had agreed that I wouldn't deal with anything directly so that Blair wouldn't find out if he fiddled with my cell phone.I went to Masha's room, which was next door to the room we always occupied when we visited my parents, and knocked on the door, being greeted by my sister still in her robe and with a towel around her wet hair." What do you want now, Dimulya? " she rolled her eyes." Is everything all right? Someone said…”" Can you stop worrying? I told you everything will be fine," Masha complained at my insistence on the subject.But I couldn't help it, I was anxious and wanted everything to be perfect that night. It had been two weeks since I had officially asked Blair to marry me, and
Blair" They only returned my cell phone after I put on the dress. You should have seen the look on Dimitri's face when he answered the call and saw me in my wedding dress," I reported to the women of the Voitovich family. We were all in my mother-in-law's kitchen preparing lunch, or rather, my mother-in-law and Katia prepared lunch while Masha pretended to do something and I was forbidden to go near any food, it seems that the avocado salad story really scared them." And how did Dimitri react? " Katia asked as the others laughed." To help, he said in front of all my friends that despite my insistence on the subject, he would not marry me," they laughed even harder." It's just like my brother to do that," Masha assured, grabbing a pot of fresh mushrooms for her mother." He loved to tell everyone I knew that I was trying to convince him to get married. I swear I came close to strangling your son at least four times," I confided to Joanne.My mother-in-law motioned for me to get up
Blair" Dimitri, are we only going to spend two days at your parent’s house? " I asked as I sorted through the clothes to put in the suitcase we would share for the weekend." Yes, you can take that dress," he pointed to a short flowered dress as he stopped beside me at the closet door. " This one? " I took it apart." Yes, I've never seen you wear it," he smiled.I smoothed the fabric, trying to remember the last time I wore it, definitely before I met Dimitri. " Are we going out? You didn't say anything to me.”" It's my mother's birthday, maybe we'll go to a restaurant, or maybe do something at home," he separated two shirts.That's when I remembered his little burst of post-morphine sincerity almost two months ago. " Is your sister going to cook?” " I don't know," he pondered, reaching over to grab his suitcase from the top shelf of the closet.A few weeks ago I would have called him out for that kind of effort, but I had to realize that I couldn't lock him in a bubble after w
BlairI walked through the streets of St. Petersburg feeling out of place. This place was still not my home, I felt lost at every moment, especially away from Dimitri. But I promised him that I could manage alone in the market, and I never ran away from a challenge.It would be quick, I just needed to get some milk and coffee, it was no challenge. At least I thought it wasn't.As soon as I entered the supermarket and started walking between the shelves, I realized that my mission would not be as simple as I had imagined.All right, coffee is still coffee and milk is milk. I just need to find them. I did a quick search in the translator and walked between the shelves, looking at several products that I didn't even know what they were for. Milk and coffee, where are they? It wasn't hard to find the coffee, I didn't know which brand to choose, so I just grabbed the prettiest package and hoped it was good. But when I found the milk, I froze at the sight of so many options. Which one sho
Dimitri" Dimitri, is your mother coming today? " Blair asked from the kitchen.I got up from the couch I was settled on, making my way to the kitchen, finding her standing in front of the open refrigerator door, investigating the contents of some jars my mother had left when she visited us three days ago.It had been a little over a week since I had been discharged from the hospital, and, despite assurances that I believed Blair and I would do just fine on our own, my mother showed up every three or four days with the excuse of bringing some food and checking if we needed anything." I don't know, why?”" I was thinking of buying food today, but if she comes, you know she'll insist on cooking," she explained, closing the fridge before opening a cupboard, "I guess I'll have to do some shopping later.”" You will Shop alone? " I frowned.Blair had started learning Russian since she moved in, and I must say she was doing well for someone who had only been learning for a week, but she wa
DimitriIt was late afternoon when my mother pushed the wheelchair that she had insisted on renting so that I would not make unnecessary efforts. I obviously intended to return it as soon as possible, but in my hurry to leave the hospital behind, I accepted everything she proposed without arguing.It was so good to be home. I watched the walls of the elevator, longing for it to go up faster, all I wanted was to get into my apartment and find Blair! " I can see your anxiety, you can control yourself a little, she won't run away," Masha sneered.She had accompanied my mother while Blair continued to stay in the apartment to clean up while she waited for my arrival." Quiet," I muttered in a smile as I drummed my fingers on my leg." Don't get on your brother's nerves, he can't wait to see the new decorations in his apartment," my mother scoffed.I frowned, lifting my face to face them both. What's all this about new decorations? " What?”But before I could have any answer the elevator
DimitriIt was already the ninth day since the accident and I was recovering more and more. I couldn't wait for Blair to come visit me, she had landed in the morning and I longed for her presence. I couldn't stand to live away from her anymore, before I was willing to wait as long as it took and endure that insane routine from the beginning of our relationship, but after my near death experience, distance was no longer an option for me.And, lucky for me, she thought the same.So much had changed in such a short time. I walked to the window, watching the movement outside the hospital. It seemed like forever since I had been outside those walls, I couldn't even remember what it felt like. I spent a few minutes standing there, lost in my thoughts when a knock on the door caught my attention. My surprise was complete when I saw who had entered the room." Olga…”Your visit was not exactly an unpleasant surprise, the two of us had managed to find a middle ground in our coexistence over
BlairI arrived at my loft in Newark early the next evening, feeling exhausted from jet lag, but struggling to stay awake for the next few hours. I had a lot to do before I could move.After ordering my dinner at a local Indian restaurant, I grabbed two suitcases from my closet and started to put away some clothes and shoes. Tomorrow I would have to buy some bubble wrap to pack the decorations that I would take to my new home.My new home. How have things changed in such a short time? It has been almost a month since I received the call about my parents and left my apartment. That day I could not even imagine that I would come home just to pack everything.I managed to fill an entire suitcase before fatigue overcame me. I fell asleep amidst a pile of clothes on the bed, waking up only the next morning with the ringing of my cell phone. " Good morning, Commander," I greeted him with a yawn." I don't even need to ask if you slept well, the drool on your face already answers," he teas