Strictly Professional

42: The Long Run

ELLE
Love Of My Life-Queen

"Nora!" The voice of my sister shouting my name in excitement only made me realise this was real and not just my imagination.

"Anna? What are you doing here?" I extended my arms as she threw herself into my embrace, wrapping her arms around my shoulders to squeeze me tightly as she swung us from side to side.

"Aren't you excited to see me? I thought you would've missed me by now." She teased once she broke the embrace, stepping past me to enter the flat. I noticed she had a suitcase with her that she rolled behind her, abandoning it by the front door once I closed it.

"I'm absolutely thrilled. You know I missed you. Is mum with you." She winced at the mention of my mother, guilt evident in her eyes. I gave her a warning look, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Anastasia." I spoke her full name in a low tone, showing her I wasn't just kidding around.

"She kinda doesn't know I'm here."

"What? Are you insane? You flew here without mum knowing? She's gonna go mad looking for you!" I scolded her instantly, but all she did was roll her eyes. This was the missing incident all over again.

"It's not a big deal. She thinks I'm at a friend's house. If it makes you feel better, I'll call her and tell her later." She shrugged unbothered, kicking her sneakers off before strolling over to the couch, plopping down onto it. I sighed in defeat, aware that knocking any form of sense into her head would be useless.

"How did you even get on the plane by yourself?" My question had her laugh, though I didn't see the joke. I sat next to her, facing her with my leg folded under me.

"Did you forget I'm eighteen now?"

...Yes.

"I'm free to do whatever I want. Finally." She released a heavy breath of exhaustion, slumping into the cushions.

"So what you decided to do with your new found freedom is visit your beloved sister that lives in foreign land? How sweet of you." My tone was sarcastic, because I knew there was a deeper reason as to why she was here so suddenly. But I was still happy I get to see her after so long.

"Had some savings laying around, so I thought why not?" She shrugged, resting her arms over the back of the couch and kicking her feet up on the coffee table. She already felt at home, that's good to know.

"Cut the crap. What happened that made you wanna leave so suddenly?" I stopped beating around the bush, trying to understand her true intentions. She dramatically groaned, throwing her head back.

"Ugh, fine. But can I have some coffee first? I got up in the break of dawn to get to the airport." She childishly whined. I rolled my eyes at her, getting up from my seat.

"Eighteen my ass." I muttered as I made my way to the kitchen.

"I heard that." She sharply spoke, following after me.

"Good." I smiled sweetly at her, getting the coffee pot back out to make another serving of coffee. I made her a hot mug of coffee before going back to drinking mine, leaning my back against the counter as we both stayed in the kitchen.

"You've got your coffee. Now talk." I warned, taking a sip from mine. She sighed in defeat after drinking, knowing that she had no other excuse to keep delaying this.

"I got in a big fight with mum a few days ago. The vibe around the house was terrible and I couldn't deal with it. So I decided to come here for a few days." She explained, trying to seem unbothered when I could see how down it got her. Out of all three siblings, she was the one to contradict my mother the most. I guess it's true that the youngest child is always the most rebellious, untamed and intense out of the rest. It was an almost daily occurrence for Anna and my mother to get into an argument, even over the most random and pointless things like what to have for lunch the next day.