Mitosis

Prometaphase

III. Prometaphase

This step is likely missed and ignored by everyone, yet if this didn’t happen successfully, there wouldn’t be a metaphase in the scene.

One week passed as quickly as water flows in a river, Zhen Wang and Feodor Vasilyev decided to name their fairly complex relationship being friends – even though in reality, it was far from the definition in the dictionary. Friends’ stomaches didn’t fill with butterflies whilst talking to each other, orthey didn’t steal glances during the London tours, secretly grinning afterwards. No, they both knew it wasn’t definitely that but both of them were cowards.

They visited the Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, The Thames, the National Art Gallery and – London Eye. It was the favourite of both of them, since they could watch London perfectly there. They’d been there for numerous times now, since they ended up there whenever they got bored, if they weren’t in cafes and places other than touristic ones. They discovered some new hangout places and improved their British accents. To be frank, they were helpless since they were forever stuck in their Russian and Chinese accents but it was funny to try it and speak to each other like a Brit.

They bought some souvenirs for their families and friends – well Feodor actually bought something for himself and he also bought a gift for Zhen to give her at the end of the vacation, which she had no clue of. Zhen never learnt that Feodor was coming from a wealthy family and he was actually rich, because Feodor wanted to be just Feodor for once and he actually succeeded. He felt like a normal person with interests and hobbies around Zhen, he felt like a silly romantic and maybe a flirt even.

It was about six in London and they were in line for the London Eye once again. They liked to mention their dreams and desires there – watching the beauty and having a sort of confession time. Zhen was wearing a white summer dress, her raven straight hair falling onto her shoulders and she was laughing at the joke Feodor had just made. She found him very funny and she knew she was on the verge of falling – into oblivion and love. But each time, she remembered her promise. She wouldn’t and she shouldn’t have. But, she realised, it wasn’t as easy as it sounded. It seemed like holding a fish not to let it fall into the sea and disappear again. The fish was moving and trying to escape from her hands, it was demanding to be free. She was that fisherman holding that stubborn fish tightly to not let it go.

She had to be more stubborn than her love was. She had to catch it before it could fall into her heart.

Feodor patted softly on her shoulder, then as she looked at him, she came across a wide grin on his face. She couldn’t help but to grin back at him as he informed her that it was their turn. They happily got into the cabin with several people who were holding cameras, fascinated by the view and the biggest ferris wheel in Europe. They glanced at each other, again, with a knowing smile. They’d been there for many times yet it was still as enchanting as the first time. London looked rather amazing and full of lights at night.

Sometimes, Zhen wondered why every photo she had taken there looked just good. It wasn’t the beauty of her but of London. What made the photo beautiful was the city itself.

During their time in the London Eye, they enjoyed the view once more, knowing that they’d be visiting here more and more until they got bored of it – which sounded impossible. Also, they told each other random facts about themselves.

For example, Zhen didn’t like sushi.

Feodor’s reaction had been priceless when he learnt this. “I thought all Chinese loved that.”

“It’s Japanese food, Feo,” she said matter-of-factly and she had started calling him Feo in a few days because it was just easier to say more than his full name. “And Chinese people are bipolar to sushi. Some like it and some don’t. For example, my brothers eat sushi once a week but I am not very fond of it.”

And Feodor said that Russian people didn’t smile at strangers.

“You are an exception then,” Zhen exclaimed, then lowered her voice as she noticed people looking at them. “You completely smiled at me and oh, you were literally flirtatious.”

“I never thought I belonged to Russia.”

“But you do,” she denied, “I mean your appearance gives you away.”

“But my soul,” he explained, “it is from a foreign city. It is as if I belong here, this hustle and bustle.” They stopped for a while and exchanged confused looks, very very confused. Zhen thought this was madness that she desired to be more than friends. She wanted him in her life after this journey passed and this was totally insane. No one would accept that, she meant that as in: his appearance gave him away and this was bad. Even if he said that his soul belonged to China, his body didn’t. And her family would be interested in his body rather than his soul. She realised it was getting harder to catch the fish. If she gave up and dropped it, then she would be messed up. But she wanted to, she really needed to live her last week with Feodor in something different than the friendship situation. Because they weren’t, they knew it deep down.

When their turn ended and they stepped out of the cabin, things seemed different to both. They didn’t speak up because their thoughts were too loud and they were afraid not to be able to hear each other due to the chorus inside their minds.

Zhen looked around, at the people from different ethnicities and how peaceful they seemed living together. But her family wouldn’t be. She needed to marry a Chinese man and give birth to fully Chinese babies. Because it was what she was: Chinese. She was made in China and she was one of them. But it didn’t seem logicalto Zhen Wang. She belonged to Earth, maybe it was as Feodor said to her: her soul didn’t belong to China.

She closed her eyes, to stop thinking of the matters that wouldn’t matter to anyone. In no books and nowhere, Feodor and Zhen would be written in the same paragraph or the same sentence. Because their lands were far away and their cultures were quite different from each other. She knew, in the end she had to obey the non-sense rules people made for them. She knew she wasn’t as brave as any heroes and she wouldn’t even save her life or love. She wasn’t one of those people that had stepped on Earth in rare times, she wasn’t the sample of a fighter. When she thought of her future, her family and an unknown husband, maybe some children appeared in the image. But not Feodor.

It was the same for Feodor Vasilyev.

His family would never approve a Chinese girl –especially if she wasn’t rich or lived up to their standards. Plus, he wasn’t brave either. He was convicted to their money and their last name. Because without them, he was nothing in this world. No one would hire him for a job and he would never be the father of the family if he couldn’t earn money at all.

Both of them were cowards. So, in the end, they both decided to one single thing. To be brave around each other and live this journey to highest of their capacity.

They envisaged the consequences even, to be two pieces of a broken heart afterwards.