𝒊𝒓𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒐𝒄𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 | ʜᴇʟᴍᴜᴛ ᴢᴇᴍᴏ

ᴘʀᴏʟᴏɢᴜᴇ

novi grad, sokovia

2006

The music was loud and the chatter was overwhelming. Kalina Konopka sat with a few friends at a round table, gossiping over wine about the bride to be, the decorations, the music. Everyone at the party was so posh and snooty, but that was to be expected in the high society. Your name meant everything, and your name was your currency. Who you associated with and who your friends were had equal importance. 

The Konopka family history was not etched with wealth, they were built from a lineage of miners and rose from the ashes of the Cold War that forced many to rebuild what they had grown accustom to over the Soviet reign. Andrei Konopka, an inventor from Sokovia, built a humble empire on aiding the progression of nuclear power in the Slavic region. He gained a very revered title in the Sokovian Armed Forces as a civilian contributor and retired comfortably at his estate with his wife Sonia and sole heir to the Konopka fortune, daughter Kalina. 

A youth of mining to help his family afford basic needs in Soviet Sokovia cost Andrei his life, and he passed at the age of 56 from cancer and a number of lung ailments, leaving Sonia and Kalina without an aristocratic title but a legacy and an admirable wealth. Sonia passed a few years later, to what doctors could only surmise as depression at the loss of her husband. She lived her life supporting Andrei, from the mining man he was to the nuclear tycoon he came to be, and when Kalina grew to be of age to take care of herself, it was said Sonia lost her purpose and fell ill, eventually succumbing to her grief.

This left Kalina, the wealthy heir to the Konopka fortune, alone in the world. She did not grieve long, her parents were often caught up in the corporations and politics of their new-found wealth, and left her with nannies and caretakers often to attend social events advancing their status in Sokovia. She understood why her parents acted in this fashion, and did not hold their distant relationship against them in death. It was all she ever knew growing as a young girl. 

She had other plans for herself, desiring to make her own name in the world, but riding the wave of the Konopka name had its perks. She was a socialite, well known for her fashion sense and ambitious personality. Kalina was a businesswoman, she knew how to play the game and she knew how to act in any role. While she was outspoken and charismatic, she also kept to herself and limited her inner circle to only her closest confidants. This did not stop her from being at the top of everyone's guest list when it came to private events and social parties.

Which is why she currently sat sipping wine at the pre-wedding party of Bohuslav Kanev, son of the current Sokovian president, and his wife-to-be Olena. While Sokovia enjoyed sticking to traditional Slavic wedding traditions and rituals, the parties surrounding the events were always posh and contemporary. It was always a display of wealth and power.

Kalina tipped her wine glass all the way back, taking in the last of the red liquid, filling her chest with a warmth and comfort of the finer things. Her lipstick left a red smudge on the rim of the glass, and she had to reapply it to her lips every second glass. The food was a mix of Sokovian favorites and more Western European staples, and the atmosphere of the room shouted drunk wedding cheer laced with a slight arrogance. Sokovians were known for being hospitable but proud, and adding money and power in the mix always tinted people's personalities, no matter where in the world they hailed.