Well, what are you staring at? Drop your buckets and rags and get ready, you’re coming with me for negotiations.” Oleg casually said, approaching the cleaner in his office.
“Who, me?” Christina asked fearfully, looking up at the boss. “Yes, you, who else?” Oleg looked down on her, almost disdainfully. “Do you need an hour to get yourself ready? No, oh, I mean yes, that’s enough time, Oleg Ivanovich.” Christina adjusted her hair with a wet hand. “What happened? Why me? I don’t know anything, just how to clean floors. Why do I need to go to negotiations?” “The more you know, the older you’ll get.”
“Just get ready and no more questions. It’s necessary. I’ll pick you up in an hour.”
Oleg twirled a bunch of keys in his hands and watched as Christina hurriedly gathered her mops, rags, and cleaning supplies. She was clearly nervous and in a hurry, causing everything to slip from her hands. “Drop all that and go get ready,” Oleg said irritably, then glanced over the office heads. “Girls, clean up here for Christina, she’s busy.” A cry of indignation swept through the office.
Everyone immediately bowed their heads and pretended to work hard. “Marina,” Oleg turned to the secretary. “Clean up here.”
“But, Oleg Ivanovich, I’m not a cleaner,” the girl objected. “Now you are,” said Oleg, pocketing the keys and walking out of the office. Christina immediately started gathering her supplies again.
Marina approached her and pushed her aside. “Go already, I’ll clean up,” she said disdainfully. “No need, I can do it myself,” Christina objected.
“Did you hear what the boss said? Go,” Marina even shouted at Christina, “If it’s all the same to you, then I don’t want to lose my job. What are you standing there for? Go on!” Christina turned and ran home, removing her work coat as she went. An hour.
She had only one hour, and now even less. She still had to get home. Thankfully, she lived not far from the office. However, it’s a ten-minute run. Another ten minutes to wash her hair. If she just uses shampoo once, even less.
Longer to blow dry. That’s another fifteen minutes. What if not with a dryer, but turn on a burner in the kitchen? Christina did that if she needed to rush somewhere and her only decent skirt was still wet.
She hung it over the gas burner, and it dried in minutes. But that’s a skirt, this is hair. Christina was an orphan.
She lived in a tiny room in a communal apartment provided by the state. The room was so small that if she stretched out her arms, she could just touch both walls with her fingertips. And lengthwise, a bed and a small table that the front door constantly bumped into fit in there.
Next to the bed was a kitchen table, at which Christina could dine without any chair, just sitting on the bed. In fact, she had no chair at all. There was only a closet that took up all the remaining space in the room.
There was also a kitchen cabinet that hung in the common kitchen. There Christina kept all her modest utensils, from dishes to cleaning supplies. One burner on the common gas stove and a common tap with cold water, for which everyone paid the same, regardless of how much water they used.
Once Christina tried to address the situation and asked why she should pay as much as everyone else when she used less water than anyone in the apartment. She even washed at work, they had a shower there. “What, you think you’re special?” Karina, a mother of four constantly screaming brats, snapped at her.
“Not like everyone else, huh? Everyone pays the same, and so will you.” In short, arguing was pointless, apparently easier to just pay. The same situation was with gas. There was one stove, just enough for four rooms, and everyone paid the same. Although Karina used the gas the most, naturally, because she had four kids.
She constantly needed to cook, fry, or boil something. Christina often noticed that Karina shamelessly occupied the entire stove, and there wasn’t even a spot left for Christina to warm up a kettle. But arguing with Karina was pointless.
No one argued with her. At the slightest provocation, she planted her hands on her hips and began to furiously yell, using various insults. Well, alright, Christina was a petite fragile girl.
But why the other two neighbors tolerated Karina was a mystery to Christina. She was sure an electric kettle could save the situation. Paying the gas bill wouldn’t be avoided, but at least she wouldn’t have to wait for the stove to free up and could peacefully have her tea or coffee.
And the weekends she could just not leave the room at all. Just buy some instant noodles, known among the people as a bum packet, and not meet the neighbors, especially Karina. Christina did just that.
From her salary, she bought herself an electric kettle, but the trouble was that the house was old. The wiring was old, and as soon as the kettle gained the necessary power for the water to boil, the fuses in the entire apartment would blow. Neighbors quickly figured out the saboteur with the kettle and forbade Christina to use it.
“Look how smart she is!” Karina then yelled. “You think we haven’t figured out to buy kettles?” Christina didn’t listen to the insults directed at her, she just went back to her room and locked the door. Karina stood at her door for about forty minutes yelling something, but Christina put on her headphones and heard nothing…
This is how the poor girl had to live after the orphanage. But it wasn’t always this way. Christina wasn’t an orphan from birth, like many.
She had a mom and dad, she lived carefree in a rich, well-provided family until she was ten. But circumstances unfolded, and now Christina was just glad to have what she had. She often heard stories about unreliable officials deceiving orphans, and they were left without any housing at all.
Yes, she was also supposed to be given a separate apartment. But, smiling sweetly, they said that there were no apartments available in the area at the moment. The house is only being built and will be ready in about five years.
But there is a room for now. Christina agreed without a second thought. Where would she wait five years? Where to live? From all her relatives, there was only one uncle. That very uncle, because of whom… No, Christina didn’t want to remember. If you don’t think about the problems, it’s as if they don’t exist at all. This practice had helped her not go mad in the orphanage for many years.
When everyone went to sleep, Christina closed her eyes, and the walls of the orphanage disappeared. She was as if back in her own bedroom at home with her parents. Sometimes it even seemed that she could hear her mother’s voice quietly singing her a lullaby song.
Only then could Christina fall asleep. Back then, she didn’t know it was called meditation. So Christina couldn’t go live with her uncle.
It was better to huddle in a tiny room in a communal apartment and think about no one and nothing. And the uncle wasn’t real anyway. A cousin or even a third cousin of her father, with whom he had only communicated a couple of times in childhood.
No one could have imagined that this distant relative would later play a far from the last role in the fate of Christina’s parents and her own. Now Christina wasn’t thinking about anything. What did Oleg Petrovich need this for? What was he planning? Christina couldn’t imagine what was on her boss’s mind.
But she also couldn’t disobey him. Not that she really valued her job, and she definitely didn’t dream of being a cleaner since childhood. But for an orphan from the orphanage without an education, this was a very good place to work.
Firstly, there was no need to stick around at work all day. Come in, clean everything, and you’re free. The salary was quite high and there were regular bonuses, on par with other employees.
Moreover, the working conditions were extremely good. There was a gym for employees and showers at work. Christina didn’t need a gym, she was quite thin anyway.
But the shower came in very handy. The common bathroom in the apartment she lived in was so dirty, shabby, and miserable that it was even scary to go in there.
And, moreover, the cherry on top of the positive aspects of the job were free homemade lunches. Oleg Ivanovich hired some old lady who happily cooked for their entire team borschts, rassolniks, salads, cutlets, and other delights with homemade pies. And all this in great abundance.
So there was enough for everyone and even with a surplus. It would have been foolish to lose such a job, even as a cleaner. And fulfill the harmless whim of the boss and go with him to the negotiations? So why not? Christina well remembered how her mother often accompanied her father to negotiations.
There seemed to be such protocol requirements. And everyone knew that Oleg Ivanovich was not married. Not married anymore.
He had been divorced for about half a year. Only one thing Christina didn’t understand, why had he chosen her? She wasn’t shining with beauty.
Well, at least she didn’t think so herself. And what Oleg Ivanovich definitely couldn’t do was suddenly see a princess under a work coat and with hair gathered in a bun on the nape. With that outfit, she definitely looked about 10 years older than her age.
In rubber gloves, without makeup. And honestly, she didn’t know how to apply makeup. Girls in the orphanage put on makeup, tried to teach her, but Christina didn’t like it.
Everyone was coated with the same eyeshadows and suffocating bright red lipstick. She definitely didn’t want to be like that. In grades 8-9, boys gave all the girls the same cosmetic sets for March 8.
Cheap Chinese knockoff sets for 100 hryvnias. From a fixed price shop. Or even from a shop where everything cost 40 hryvnias.
Since then, all the girls in the orphanage had green eyeshadows and crimson lips, like clowns. Christina didn’t want to be like everyone else. Moreover, not everyone suits such a color scheme.
While she was running home, a couple of times the thought crossed her mind. Why does Oleg Ivanovich need all this? He could have invited Marina, the secretary. She was more suitable for this role.
Beautiful, tall, always very fashionably dressed. Moreover, persistent rumors were circulating around the office that Marina was Oleg Ivanovich’s mistress. Now that’s who should have been invited to the negotiations.
But he decided to invite her, the cleaner. Or maybe he decided to laugh? No, there’s no time to think about it now. Time is ticking, and it’s either do or die.
Either everything or nothing. Christina pushed away these thoughts. Otherwise, if she now sits down and thinks about them, time will fly even more unnoticed.
Oleg Ivanovich will arrive, she won’t be ready, he will leave, and she will never know why all this was necessary. “Who does not risk, does not drink champagne” – this famous phrase was spinning in Christina’s head. She took out the most expensive thing from the closet – her mom’s dress.
It was the only thing left in her memory of her mother. It was very beautiful, lacy, with ruffles and a bow. The dress was cream-colored, with small bouquets of multicolored flowers scattered all over the dress…
It was very, very beautiful. Christina never dared to wear this dress. She sometimes just took it out of the closet, hung it on a hanger, and admired it, imagining her mother in it.
The dress still retained a light scent of her perfume. Christina pressed the dress to her face. And then she hurriedly put it away because tears began to cloud her eyes, and a lump rose in her throat.
It became difficult to breathe. It was hard without parents, especially without a mom. But nothing could be done, corrected, or returned.
Her parents were no longer alive. It was time to dry her hair. Thank God, the noisy Karina wasn’t in the kitchen.
Probably went out with her brats for a walk or to the store. Christina turned on the gas and brought her hair close. She had gorgeous long hair.
Christina hadn’t cut it since she ended up in the orphanage. Over the years, it had turned into a gorgeous thick braid. Her hair was thick, and Christina had to tie it up in a knot on the nape when she went to work.
For the same reason, they took a long time to dry even with a dryer. She bent her head over the gas burner, spreading the strands with her hands. “What am I thinking.
We cook food here, and she shakes her hair,” Christina heard the voice of her noisy neighbor. Apparently, Karina had returned when unexpected. Startled, Christina turned around, a strand fell out and landed right in the fire.
Her hair flared up like a torch, and with some kind of furious hissing, it began to smolder on her head. “What a fool!” Karina yelled and threw a towel over the girl. They knocked down the fire, prevented a fire, but the hair was hopelessly damaged.
Christina was just in shock. She wanted to fall to the ground and just bury herself in it, never to show herself to anyone again. So much for getting herself ready.
She sat in the room in some kind of stupor and watched the clock ticking. “Let it all burn!” Christina said, brushed her remaining hair to the burned side, tied a bun, put on her mom’s dress, and rummaging through a box of trinkets, found the very set of cosmetics given by the boys in the orphanage. The shadows had already dried out and crumbled, but something could still be gathered on the fingertip if it was moistened.
However, applying it evenly on the eyelids and blending it was no longer possible. A couple of blinks were enough for them to gather in lumps, like pellets on an old blanket. The mascara had dried out and was due for complete disposal.
But the lipstick was still quite alive. There was only one problem. No matter how she applied it, it still spread over her lips, turning them into a chicken’s butt.
Nevertheless. Such a beauty, Christina stepped outside exactly an hour after talking with the boss. She was counting on the fact that Oleg Ivanovich just joked or in the bustle of work forgot about her and long ago went to the negotiations.
But no. His car was parked in the courtyard, and he himself was standing next to it, leaning against the door, crossing his legs, and animatedly talking with his friend. Christina had seen him in the office only once.
Arkady was Oleg’s childhood friend. They started all kinds of businesses together. Initially, as children, they hustled something in the park when buses with foreigners arrived.
Then they took loans together, paid them off, and all that stuff. In the end, they divided the capital, and each went his own way. They constantly both talked about how it would be the most wonderful decision in their lives, for each to choose his own direction in business, not affecting the other.
Otherwise, they would have long bitten each other’s throats. As it was, there was nothing to divide, nothing to argue about, and the friendship continued happily. At some point, Arkady suddenly became indecently rich.
Either he received an inheritance, or something else. Oleg didn’t intend to delve into it, by that time he himself was already wealthy enough and could only be happy for his friend. Now they had something like an unspoken competition.
Not even a competition, rather disputes. Each posed an interesting challenge to the other and waited to see how someone would execute it. Well, simply put, they took each other on a bet or on a dare.
But they did not cross certain boundaries. In the sense that it never occurred to anyone to tell his friend, well, dare to give away your business. All their jokes and jabs were strictly in jest.
Seeing Oleg Ivanovich with a friend, Christina was stunned. She already wanted to turn around and run home when the men noticed her. “Mother of God,” was all Arkady could say.
“I must admit, I didn’t expect this,” Oleg replied. “At the negotiations, everyone will be completely blown away,” Arkady chuckled. “Christina, you have rather peculiar notions of how a woman who got herself ready should look.”
“Christina, right?” Arkady reacted strangely to a quite common and normal name. “Is this wonder called Christina?” “Well, yes.” “Excuse me, may I stay home?” Christina joined the conversation.
“I understand everything, but I really tried. And the hair is not my fault, I wanted to dry it faster.” At that moment, a gust of wind awkwardly dislodged the bun to the side, and the men could not contain their laughter, seeing the sad spectacle.
“I really will go.” Christina cried and turned home. “What, did we move the negotiations?” Oleg asked Arkady.
“You said an hour and a half,” he replied. “Let’s go,” Oleg commanded and called Christina. They rushed somewhere in his beautiful car.
Christina cried and didn’t understand what she was still doing here and why she hadn’t run away from her boss. What was there to run away? When she burned her hair, she should have just not continued, not left the house at all. What incredible force made her put on her mom’s dress, not know how to apply makeup, and leave the house.
Christina sometimes didn’t understand herself. “Maybe not?” she asked timidly. “Maybe you’ll just take me home after all?” “No, my dear, it’s necessary.”
“If you call yourself a mushroom, get into the basket,” Oleg Ivanovich replied. “But I didn’t call myself, I just cleaned the floors, you yourself,” Christina muttered. “Well, yes, I did,” Oleg replied and turned to his friend.
“Maybe we’ll tell her?” “No, don’t spoil the fun, the most interesting part is just about to start,” Arkady replied. They arrived at a fairly expensive beauty salon. Christina had seen such salons, but couldn’t even dream of not just getting in, but even stepping inside.
And now she was sitting in a chair, they brought her coffee, and the hair stylist was examining her morning disaster on her head. “The hair is gorgeous, natural, who did this to you, girl?” the hairstylist asked. “I did,” Christina honestly answered…
“Wanted to dry it faster.” “But honestly, it’s not a sheet or socks, it’s hair.” “Such a luxurious treasure you were given by nature, such hair is not found easily nowadays, and you…” The stylist was genuinely upset for Christina’s hair, as if it should have belonged to her.
“Can something be done with this?” Oleg asked. “Well, only a pixie or asymmetry,” the stylist replied.
“And what will that look like?” Oleg asked. Christina sat silently and felt like a first-grader who had brought home her first failing grade, and now her parents were deciding which punishment to choose. She didn’t look… she wouldn’t dare open her mouth.
“Let’s go for something in between,” Oleg said. “Can you?” “You insult me,” the stylist snorted. “We’re not sewn with twine here, we’re artists.”
“Sorry,” Christina decided to join the conversation. “Can we just not very short?” “Can’t,” the stylist sternly said.
“You’ve already done everything possible for that, so sit still.” “It’s just that for me, hair is a memory. A memory of the past.”
“Sometimes you need to let go of the past to see the road to the future.” “It’s just a memory of my parents, who were still with me then. These hairs saw them alive.”
“Memory of your parents is in your heart, and hair is just hair,” the stylist said and took up the scissors. Christina closed her eyes. After the hairstylist, the makeup artists took over.
The light touch of brushes and sponges to her face tickled and amused Christina. “What’s your clothing size?” Oleg asked. “Forty-four, forty-six.”
“Forty-two and height one hundred fifty-seven. What?” “Oh nothing,” Oleg mysteriously replied. Some time later, he looked into the room and told the artists, who were already working magic on her manicure, to ask Christina to change.
“But this is my mom’s favorite dress,” Christina objected. “Mom’s,” Oleg replied behind her back. “But not yours.
Almost sure your mom was beautiful in this dress. But it’s the twenty-first century. And on you, it’s like a saddle on a cow, sorry.
Sure, if you had a chance to dress up, you could choose your favorite dress.” Christina decided not to argue. She just surrendered to the circumstances.
Oleg brought a gorgeous denim suit from the store. Such could only be dreamed of. Excellent quality, natural cotton fabric, sports style, jacket like a biker’s, extended capris, and a pristine white basic t-shirt with a stand-up collar.
Yes, her mom’s dress was beautiful. But nobody was forcing him to throw it in the trash. What girl in her right mind would refuse such a suit? Christina obediently changed.
And there in the mirror stood some kind of princess. She couldn’t imagine she could look so beautiful. She had always considered herself some kind of drab, little, plain, shabby.
And here was a woman with a trendy haircut, professional styling, great makeup, and fashionable clothes. Christina didn’t recognize herself. She looked as if she had stepped off the cover of a glossy magazine, moreover a foreign publication.
She liked the reflection immensely, and she couldn’t imagine that in one hour, without any plastic surgeries, they could make such a beauty out of her. When she walked out of the salon, Arkady even whistled, seeing such changes. And Oleg’s mouth literally fell open.
The negotiations went as usual, no different from others. Christina had never been to such an event in her life, so she had nothing to compare it with. But those negotiations seemed terribly boring to her.
Smart people with smart faces sat at the table and talked about something. Time to read the contract. Silence fell.
Christina glanced at the contract in Oleg’s hands. Looked and couldn’t believe her eyes. Oleg Ivanovich.
She quietly addressed the boss, so that no one could overhear. I think there’s something wrong. There’s an inaccuracy in this contract, and it might become decisive over time.
Christinka. Oleg even smiled. The contract is printed in Chinese, look from the left side, there’s the translation in our language.
That’s just it, Oleg. It’s only translated into Ukrainian, and it doesn’t match what’s written in Chinese. The main contract with the partners is in their language, and in court, in case of problems, the Chinese version will be considered, not the Ukrainian translation.
Christina explained. In that case, the inaccuracy will not be in the Chinese copy of the contract, but in the Ukrainian, as in the translated one. And the court will recognize the right for the Chinese side.
So, you read Chinese and understand what it says? Oleg asked in surprise. Well, yes, don’t you? Now Christina was surprised. I must admit, no, Oleg described.
Christina, which planet are you from? On our planet, not everyone is a polyglot, and definitely few can read Chinese. Do you realize they write in hieroglyphs? Yes, I know, I know. I just lived with my parents in China until I was ten, and I know their language perfectly.
There’s a precise error. Well, or a deliberately allowed inaccuracy. Gentlemen, Oleg Ivanovich announced aloud, I am forced to inform you that the signing of the contract is postponed indefinitely, if it happens at all.
My new consultant noticed a discrepancy in the Chinese copy and the Ukrainian one. Please excuse us. Further work will involve a lawyer.
He took Christina by the arm, and they left the office. Well, did they sign? Arkady asked cheerfully, who was waiting for them in the car. Arkash, here’s the thing, Oleg said…
Our circumstances have changed, could you call yourself a driver or a taxi? Whichever is more convenient for you? I’ll pay for everything, but Christina and I need to hurry. As you say. Arkady was not just surprised, but even scared by his friend’s behavior.
My lawyers, Arkash, will explain to you. And now please leave my car. Calmly, said Oleg.
Arkady cursed, jumped out of the car, and slammed the door so hard that a little more and the glass would have flown out. They drove in silence for a while. Christina was afraid to even move, let alone ask what had happened.
Oleg spoke first, but still a childhood friend. With regret, said Oleg, hitting his palms on the steering wheel several times out of anger. Cursed, calling Arkady a bastard.
Oleg Ivanovich. Finally, Christina decided to speak up. Please, drop me off.
Where do you want to be dropped off? Oleg asked casually. Anywhere, please, I don’t care. I’m just scared.
I’ll return the money for the suit from my salary. Oleg stopped and looked sharply at Christina. Where did you come from, huh? Money she will send.
You don’t even realize what it costs, five or even six of your salaries. Then I’ll bring it to you at work tomorrow. She hadn’t finished speaking when Oleg suddenly kissed her on the lips.
Christina didn’t have time to think or resist him. Let’s go to the restaurant, I need a drink. Said Oleg, when he finally pulled away from Christina.
Let’s go. Quietly, she said. They sat in the best restaurant in the city.
Oleg said to order whatever she wanted. She couldn’t understand what to order. She didn’t understand a word of what was written there, although the menu was in Ukrainian.
Some fricos and foie gras. What did all that mean? Do they have a hamburger? Christina finally asked. Hamburger.
The waiter asked disdainfully. Are you an idiot? Oleg scolded him. The lady asked for a hamburger.
That means disappear and make it. The waiter vanished and soon the order was served. Christina, to her shame, had never eaten a hamburger in her life.
But for some reason, that was the first thing that came to her mind. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have been able to order anything at all. Tell me about yourself, Oleg asked.
What’s there to tell, Christina was embarrassed. An orphan who grew up in an orphanage? And who is perfectly fluent in Chinese? There was sarcasm in Oleg’s voice. Were your parents spies? No, my parents were businessmen.
They lived in China for a long time. Christina learned the language because she attended a Chinese school. In China, children go to school from the age of four, and she was no exception.
So she knew Chinese as well as her native language. At home, they spoke Ukrainian, and for a long time, Christina thought that her parents made up this language themselves to communicate so that no one would understand them. And only when they came to their homeland, and Christina was also born in Ukraine and was a citizen of her country, did she realize that a whole country speaks the same language.
They lived with their parents in two countries. Often traveled back and forth. Lived in a rich house in China, but also had a decent apartment in the capital’s center in Ukraine.
Carefree life ended when one day Christina’s parents were summoned to a meeting with the local boss. Well, or someone like that. The Chinese have a complex hierarchy, and it was difficult for Christina to understand it.
But she knew her parents had a meeting with someone important, and they were very worried about it. She was left with a babysitter. Her parents never returned from the meeting.
And Christina never saw them again. The house they lived in, the money they had, everything went to the person who summoned her parents to that meeting. Later, Christina found out that he had the power to determine their fate.
Maybe her parents were alive, maybe not. But Christina didn’t hope for it. As an adult, she hired a private detective, but he couldn’t find any information about them.
They vanished as if they had never existed. And Christina was taken by her distant relative, who lived in the same city and often visited their house. Uncle, the same one because of whom she didn’t want to remember.
Yes, Christina was able to return to Ukraine, thanks to him. But all the property that her parents had, he seized. She was sure that he was the reason for her parents’ disappearance.
Somehow they must have crossed paths. He, of course, never told her anything. Her parents’ disappearance was an unsolvable mystery.
The only thing she knew was that one day she would find out the truth. The truth about their disappearance. Why and for what reason they had to vanish, what her uncle’s involvement was.
She wasn’t even sure if she could call him uncle because her parents never had close relationships with him. But he was their only relative. Who else could she go to? What are you thinking about? Christina suddenly realized that Oleg was staring at her, as if reading her thoughts.
Are you going to tell me everything? Or only what I have to guess? I don’t know, Christina mumbled. Maybe you don’t have to know everything.
Maybe you don’t want to know anything about me at all. Why? Oleg was surprised. Because the more you know, the older you’ll get.
What does that mean? Christina looked him in the eye and smiled. Remember what you said earlier today? What did I say? That the more you know, the older you’ll get.
And you’ll get very old if I tell you everything about myself. I already feel old, Oleg smiled back. Let’s drink to our age then. And to new opportunities.
And to new opportunities, Christina agreed. They drank and toasted. But Christina’s heart was heavy.
She remembered the good years she spent with her parents. And she understood that she would never get those years back. No matter how rich or successful she became.
But now there was an opportunity to start all over again. To create something new, something her own. Without looking back.
Without being afraid that someone will take it all away from her again. Because now she had something that no one could take away. Knowledge. Knowledge of languages, knowledge of people, knowledge of life.
And she was not alone. She had Oleg by her side. A man who saw something in her that no one else did.
And gave her a chance to prove herself. Not as a cleaner, but as a person. A person with a past, with a history, with her own experiences.
And with her own future. Which she could now build with her own hands. And no one would ever take it away from her again.
Christina held her glass, the light flickering through the amber liquid, her thoughts a whirlwind. Oleg watched her closely, an intensity in his gaze that felt both comforting and unnerving.
“To second chances,” Oleg toasted, lifting his glass higher.
Christina smiled, her eyes meeting his. “To second chances,” she echoed, the weight of her past and the possibility of her future pressing equally on her heart.
They clinked glasses, and Christina felt the warmth of the whiskey as it slid down her throat. The warmth spread through her, loosening some of the tension that had built up over the last few hours.
As the evening wore on, Oleg began to share more about his life, his successes and failures, his dreams that had been fulfilled and those that remained just out of reach. Christina listened, finding comfort in the fact that Oleg, too, had his vulnerabilities.
“Christina, I know today has been… overwhelming,” Oleg started, his voice soft in the dim light of the restaurant. “And I’m sorry for the part I played in that. I never wanted to make you feel like a pawn in some game.”
Christina nodded, her gaze steady. “I appreciate that, Oleg. And I believe you. But it’s a lot to process.”
“I can only imagine,” Oleg said. “But I want you to know that whatever you decide about us or your future, I’m here. You’re not alone in this.”
The sincerity in his voice touched Christina deeply. It was the reassurance she hadn’t realized she needed. The night stretched on, their conversation weaving through light-hearted topics and deeper discussions about their aspirations and fears.
Eventually, Oleg drove Christina home. As they pulled up in front of her building, the silence between them was comfortable, unforced.
“Thank you for tonight, Oleg. For the honesty,” Christina said as she unbuckled her seatbelt.
Oleg turned to her, his hand reaching out to gently grasp hers. “Thank you for giving me the chance to make things right. Christina, I… I would like to see where this could go, if you’re willing.”
Christina looked into his eyes, seeing the hope flickering there. She squeezed his hand, her decision made clearer by the events of the day.
“Let’s take it slow,” she suggested, a small smile playing on her lips. “See what happens.”
Oleg’s response was a relieved laugh. “Slow sounds perfect.”
They said their goodnights, and as Christina closed the door behind her, she felt a mix of excitement and calm. The night had started with uncertainty and confusion, but it ended with the promise of new beginnings.
Back in her small room, Christina sat on her bed, the events of the day replaying in her mind. She felt a shift within herself, a readiness to embrace whatever came next with an open heart and an open mind.
She was no longer the orphan girl defined by her losses; she was a woman with the world at her fingertips, ready to write her own story. And maybe, just maybe, Oleg would be a part of that story. Only time would tell, but for the first time in a long time, Christina was looking forward to finding out.