Dmitri

Chapter 3

It was two days until my parents funeral, and I was laughing. Laughing so hard I was doubled over with it, and this was because Natalya was telling me childhood-stories about her and Dmitri. Apparently, even before he became the man he was today, the leader of a criminal syndicate that most people feared, he had always been a bit of a troublemaker. 

"And then, I kid you not, he grabbed Andrei by the neck and shoved his face into a big pile of dogpoo!" Talya exclaimed and I was struggling to breathe through my laughter. 

A week ago, after feeling like my entire world had crumbled to the ground, all I felt was despair and empty inside, I never thought I'd laugh again. It felt good, normal, like I could move on and grieve my parents without losing everything that was me in the process. 

Dmitri was always so serious, I didn't think I'd ever so much as seen him smile, so it was refreshing and histerically funny learning there was actually more to him than just his serious, take no bullshit, badass motherfucker persona that I'd always associated with him. 

After our talk in his study earlier that day, what he said snapped me out of the narrow existence of feeling sorry for my self, little bubble that I'd shut myself tightly inside of. And it wasn't hard to talk him into taking me into the city to do a little shopping, but seeing as he was a man and all, and not particularly up to date on the latest fashion in the female-department, both Talya and Irina had tagged along. 

I ended up buying more than a funeral outfit though, more like replenishing my entire closet and much to my chagrine, Dmitri hadn't let me pay for any of it. When the shopping was done and I had approximately eight huge bags of clothes from various stores, and another three bags of different types of shoes (thirteen pairs in total), he took us to a russian restaurant that he of course owned. 

It had been a while since I'd had russian food, since I'd eaten a proper meal in general, so I didn't order something too mighty, knowing that my stomach couldn't handle it at the moment. I needed to work up to full-blown meals, to let my stomach readjust to the concept of food again. Dmitri was not happy with my choice of the traditional russian solyanka soup with meat as my main course, but on the other hand he was just pleased that I was eating anything at all. 

For the first time in a week, it felt like I was living again, and not just existing. The pain over the loss of my parents was still fresh and I knew it would stay that way for a long time, but I also knew Dmitri had been right earlier. I wasn't doing myself any favors with the way I was acting, and I wasn't honoring my parents by giving up on my life when they had lost theirs. I'd made a decision to live my life to the fullest, to honor my parents the best way I could by living a happy and glorious life and become a woman they would be proud of. 

Which brought us to now, sitting in the kitchen in Dmitri's humongous mansion that really needed horses, and sharing stories with Talya and Irina over tea and buscuits. I'd learned that Talya had spent four years attending university in London and she'd picked up a few things that stuck with her even now, like tea and buscuits. Irina, sweet, beautiful and innocent-looking Irina, had worked as a stripper for a spell and that's how she'd met Vigo. She told me that she'd had some trouble a few years ago and Vigo had been there to help her through it all the way. 

I loved this for her, and I realized I loved Vigo for her. To me he'd always seemed like such a scary a guy, a big bear of a man that looked the part of what everyone thought when they heard the words Russian Mafya, but he was obviously the love of Irina's life and she was his. It was a little weird at first, seeing them together, because he was just so much bigger than her. But then again, my mother had not been a tall woman and my father had always seemed like a giant to me, so really it didn't take all that long to get used to it. And as a small woman myself, most people would describe me as petite, I could definetely see the appeal of having a man that was tall and built, someone I knew without doubt would always be there to protect me.