The Maestro | RusAme |

Seventeen

Yan wasn't home until very late, which made Ivan wonder what kind of work kept her so long at work. The minute she came home, she was in the shower.

It wouldn't have mattered to Ivan anyway, since he was busy practicing that Vivaldi concerto for Roderich. He had already gotten ready for bed, but couldn't sleep yet and decided to play the piece and polish up some other stuff.

Yan got out and threw in something to sleep in, laying down exasperatedly.

"What is it you do at work that you have to stay so late for?" Ivan asked curiously.

She groaned, "Filing papers, signing and filling out papers, answering emails, making phonecalls... It's worth it, though, I'll be promoted soon, I know it!"

Ivan shook his head, "I do not know if I could ever do something like that. Sitting at a desk would be too depressing for me." He sat down on the bed next to Yan after putting his violin away. "Anyways, I took your dress to the dry cleaners, and scheduled your appointments and all that..."

"You're such a great help, thank you." She turned to face the wall, and closed her eyes.

"Just doing what I can... Good night."

He rested his head on the pillow, his back facing hers. He still couldn't fall asleep even if he wanted to. After maybe an hour of lying in bed and staring at a picture on the bedstand of him, his sisters, and his father at the beach in Sochi.

He held nothing against him, and after making amends with him when he was in Moscow for university he felt nothing but pity for the man (maybe slight resentment).

However, he was glad to make a final visit with him, and never wanted to live in Russia again. But he didn't want to live here either, he felt unhappy sleeping in a bed with Yan and he knew why but he didn't want to tell himself why.

He got up quietly, walking to the back of the house and sitting on the tiny porch outside. He was out there for so long that he didn't realize it was already around five. The whole time he was out there he didn't really think of anything, but he focused on the sounds of someone's AC, which was surprisingly meditative.

It hummed at a b flat.

He came to when he heard Yan open the door and walk out.

"Hey, are you okay?" She asked, looking concerned, to a degree.

He lifted his head from his knees and took his feet off the lawn chair. "I am. I couldn't sleep so I decided to get some air..."

She laughed softly and shortly, "Well, how long have you been out here for?"

"Not sure."

She stepped back in and beckoned him to get up and come back in. "Why don't we have breakfast, since we're up so early?"

"No thanks."

Yan was a slightly surprised he didn't want to eat, but she didn't bother him, and actually looked quite relieved. "Okay... I'll make extra for you to have later if you want."

Ivan nodded at her and smiled, and she went back inside. He didn't tune back into the AC, but he listened to Yan answer the phone.

"Ni hao... Oh, hi Kiku, called right in time. Ready for the party tonight?... Yeah..." She continued talking on the phone.

Ivan stayed still and listened as carefully as possible, wondering who Kiku was. He was obviously a coworker, from the sounds of it. And this call was scheduled...

"You want me over after?... Yeah, I can do that. I'll be there early, I got everything scheduled and I should have time that I can leave a little early with you... Okay, see you." She hung up.

Ivan was pretty quick to catch on, extremely suspicious of her. He didn't know what he was a going to do, but he couldn't help but feel both dread and relief (although he knew one of those feelings was wrong). Although he didn't hear the whole conversation, he had a burning feeling that the phonecall was not meant to be heard by him.

But he stayed out on the porch, waiting until she was gone to call someone and ask, just to make sure he wasn't crazy.