𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔇𝔢𝔪𝔬𝔫'𝔰 𝔇𝔬𝔩𝔩

Part 5

"Longing, of course, becomes its own object, the way that desire can make anything into a god."

-Mark Doty

The entirety of the car ride was silent after Kate's sharp words towards Fyodor. The pair arrived at the restaurant and entered arm in arm. Kate was pleased that Fyodor finally began to behave well. She wasn't dreading the evening with him anymore. He even pulled out the chair for her as soon as they got a table at the restaurant.

The restaurant was nothing too fancy, a casual one in the town square. The casualness allowed Fyodor to continue wearing his usual clothes and Kate to wear the dress. It was full due to tourists, but because Fyodor wasn't from another country he got seating priority. What truly helped them out, even more, was Kate's perfect Russian. She spoke like a government official (which she was but they didn't have to know). Fyodor was truly impressed by the woman sitting across from him.

"Miss Chopin, why did the guild send you to represent them?" Fyodor inquired. Instead of asking in a pushy way, this time he showed great interest and no hint of rudeness could be detected. Kate realised it was a genuine question.

"I suppose it is because I am the one who speaks Russian." She shrugged slightly, not knowing the true answer herself. She did know, however, that her ability gave her an advantage against Fyodor, which was probably the true reason why she was sent.

"That couldn't be it. I speak Japanese and English other than my native tongue and so I could have conversed with anyone. Why send the petite American woman to Russia?" He wondered aloud.

"I'm afraid I cannot answer your question in the way you want me to. Until we have an alliance formed between us, I can't give out any more information about my organisation's members." She shook her head.

"Alright then, that's understandable. So, tell me about yourself-- what you can talk about, of course." He folded his hands together in front of him.

"What do you want to know?" She asked, her brows creasing together slightly. She doesn't know how to talk about herself that well, she was never supposed to.

"What do you like to do?" He asked.

"To do... for what?" She tilted her head slightly in confusion.

"Surely you can't work all day every day. When you aren't working, what do you like to do for fun to pass time?" He reworded his question to help her understand better.

"For fun? I... I don't know." She shook her head, a sad expression filling her face. This piqued Fyodor's interest finally.

"How do you not know? Do you simply sit around with that boring expression on your face?" He asked, leaning forward.

"Yes." She answered with a slight nod.

"You sit around when you're not working?" He asked, baffled by her statement.

"My mother will usually give me instructions on what to do. Sometimes I play the harp, other times I practice ice skating or even play tennis with her, or she has me embroider." She explained monotonously.

"Are you a 19th-century monarch? Who does these things?" Fyodor scoffed, finally understanding the woman in front of him.

She was the type of woman who never had a choice for herself and even doesn't know. Ironically Fyodor hated these types of people despite his manipulation of others. He hated people who didn't think for themselves and relied on others to tell them what to do. He hated that man was given free will and chose not to use it. What was the point of sinning in the beginning if you do not sin again? In his mind, the mad monk, Rasputin, was correct; if you do not sin, you cannot repent and if you cannot repent, you cannot be closer to God.