What is he talking about, though? What did the Sokolovs do to him?
Getting more curious, I peek around the door, just a little. It's an office-type room, and Bardil is sitting on a chair next to a coffee table. His phone is on the coffee table. He's facing away from the door, so I watch him. He has his hands over his face, rubbing his eyes as though he's exhausted and frustrated.
"I don't understand what you're talking about, Bardil. You did some fucked up shit, man."
"Look, I got screwed over the Sokolovs, and I admit I tried to cover it. I lied to you guys to hide what happened. But I was trying to fix it to save you the trouble. I didn't want to drag my family into the mess that I got dumped with. But that doesn't make me a bad person!"
Simon sighs heavily.
"I don't know what to say, man," he says, sounding burdened.
"You're my brother. You should at least give me the benefit of the doubt," Bardil grumbles. Then, before the conversation can go any further, he hangs up the phone.
Just as he's turning around, I duck back behind the door frame to hide. I do not want him to know I heard all of that.Even if, to my surprise, the conversation shifted my perspective of him, and it's actually more in his favor.
Inside the room, I hear him stand up. Shit. I need to move.
I run as quietly as I can back down the passage and away from being caught.
Ducking into my own room, I quietly close the door behind me.
I've heard my family say a lot of things about how bad Bardil is, but I never really considered his side of the story, and that they might be wrong about him. What if everything was just a big misunderstanding? Bardil was so frustrated now that I could almost feel his hopelessness. Like all he longed for was for Simon to understand him.
I often feel that way.
I often long for someone to just understand me. To stop making assumptions about what I want or need and to really try to get to know me for who I am instead of who they expect me to be.
My heart grows heavy for him.
What if this entire situation were totally avoidable if someone had just taken the time to understand him?
I mean, there are two Popovs already married into the alliance. The link between his family and mine is already established, and it's clearly pretty damn permanent.
That connection is for the rest of their lives, so Bardil isn't going anywhere either. He's locked in with us, indirectly already a part of the family, whether he wants to be or not. I've had the thought before, and it comes again now. His brothers and his sister are good people, so he can't be that bad.
I hear Bardil walking down the passage, past my room, and in a rush, I pull the door open and burst through it.
"Hey," I shout after him. He turns to look at me, his face tired.
"Did you need something?" he sighs.
"Yes," I grin. "I need a drink. And you're taking me. We're going out."
He groans and shakes his head. "Not tonight, little rabbit," he pleads.
"Nope, this is definitely happening. We are going. You promised me adventure, and this is the first one," I rush back into my room to get changed, shouting over my shoulder. "I'll be ready in ten minutes."
While I'm getting ready, I half expect him to come and tell me it's not happening. But he doesn't.
I get dressed in a little black dress. It's more of a beach dress, not really a dress for a night out, but the options for dressing up aren't exactly vast. I manage to make do, though, and when I look in the mirror, I feel sexy.
Heading downstairs, I find Bardil waiting for me, leaning against the wall near the bottom of the stairs. "That was longer than ten minutes," he huffs. But I notice his eyes playing over me.
"Oh, whatever, you're just impatient because something made you grumpy tonight," I smirk.
"I'm not grumpy. What gives you the impression that I'm grumpy?" he asks, seemingly surprised that I would notice such a thing.
I slip my arm through his and pull him toward the front door. "I'm a girl. Girls notice everything."
