“I am going to start looking for a job tomorrow. I’m sorry, I don’t want you to think I’m taking advantage of you. I…”
She takes my arm and pulls me to face her. “Sweetie, breathe. You can’t be thinking about work right now. You just lost your father. Your whole life is upside-down. You need to take time for yourself and let yourself process and heal,” she says.
“Yes, but,” I gesture around her apartment, sighing softly.
“This place is yours for however long you need it. I promise you. A month. A year. It literally makes no difference to me. It’s yours, ok?”
I start to cry, overwhelmed by her kindness.
“I don’t think anyone has ever been there for me like your family has,” I blurt out as she pulls me into another hug.
It strikes me how true my words are.
Anka.
And Adrian.
Even though he lied, he still took care of me. He still made sure I was ok. We had something special…
Stop that, Athena. You’re remembering the good and forgetting the bad.
Anka steps back. She gestures to the packets she’s placed on the open-plan kitchen counter. “I figured you most likely hadn’t eaten. When I was depressed, I went on this massive junk food binge because I couldn’t eventhinkof cooking. But it made me feel a thousand times worse. So, I got you a few sweet treats,but I made sure to stock you up with all the fresh veggies I could think of. And some steaks and some mince and some…”
“You really didn’t have to do this,” I stammer, following her to the kitchen.
“Yes, I did. And you need to stop telling me otherwise because, regardless of what happened between you and my brother, you are my sister-in-law, which makes you my sister, and that means I get to look out for you, ok!” she says sternly.
I grin at her serious tone and nod. “Ok,” I agree.
“Now, I was thinking I would make a stir-fry.”
“Sounds amazing,” I say, even though I’m not hungry at all.
I haven’t been eating. And I totally get why she binged on all the junk food. It seems easier. Convenient and comforting.
She gets to work in the kitchen, handing me a cutting board and a knife. I don’t have to think much while I slice onions and carrots.
After a while of comfortable silence, she tentatively says, “I spoke with Adrian today.”
I press my lips together. I have a thousand questions.
She glances at my face. Then carries on. “Do you know what happened between us in the past?” she asks.
“I know some of it. With Viktor. And how he lied to you?” I reply.
“He hurt me badly. He stole years from me. Years where I could have been with the man I loved, but because of Adrian…” she hesitates. Sighing and rolling her eyes. “It’s so frustrating because somewhere in that stupid brain of his, he thought he was doing the right thing.”
She talks to me about what she went through. How betrayed she felt. She speaks openly, and while she makes it clear she still has anger, she also makes it clear that she has forgiven him and is working toward completely moving past it because her life is so perfect now.
“In the end, I am exactly where I am meant to be. Maybe the delay was meant to happen? I don’t know.”
“But… Adrian orchestrated the delay. It wasn’t divine intervention, it was him being controlling,” I say.
“Definitely. I don’t disagree. But I have come to learn that my brother acts with extreme stupidity when he cares about people. And he is trying to unlearn that habit.”
“And you two get along now?” I ask.
She nods. “That poor man has jumped through hoops to make it up to me. And still to this day, he is humble and apologetic. And he does and will do anything for me. He’s proven himself to me, and from my side, it would be silly of me to let go of someone who cares deeply enough to try and to put actions out there to prove how sorry they are.”
