Diamonds Dancing

Eleven "Part 2"

PART TWO

"Ha!" An airy snort tickled her ears, her face blanched as the habitual compliments continued. "Rich music producer my fucking ass, you would think he would be able to afford a real private jet but no, we got stuck in economy. Economy, Sato! I didn't think anything could be worse than my dingy motel but I was proven the hell wrong."

Trudging through the thick layer of snow, Rika yanked her suitcase roughly, grunting under her breath. "Stop complaining Marco, it's nice enough that they even want us over. And it's not his fault, I told you already, I haven't exactly let my boss know that we're going to be staying over for the holidays." She expressed, her woolly black hat slipping over her forehead and covering the top of her eyebrows.

"I'm sure he would've booked us a private jet if he knew," she was lying through her goddamn teeth, there was no freaking way Slater would ever willingly book her a private jet.

After a long plane journey with her ex-landlord, and trusted friend, they had suffered an equally terrible cab ride to the cabin house. But alas, they had finally arrived.

To tie in perfectly with the festive season, the tip of her nose was as bright as Rudolph's, and her poor ears were so numb that she could no longer feel them."Holy crap, it's so freaking cold!" she found herself exclaiming for the umpteenth time that day

Nobody could have prepared her for the coldness she was currently facing, she had no idea Russia could be this frosty.

Marco cheeks said it all, puffing them out as he trodded behind her.

The middle-aged man albeit easily irritable, was a loveable grinch during the holidays.

She loved spending her Christmases with him, first impressions were always lost on the hardheaded man, but he was truly a gentle soul.

Reaching the steps leading up to the wooden door, she looked over her shoulder to see ocean eyes on her own. "Try to be respectful, Marco, remember there's going to be kids here." She reminded him, causing him to sneer at her.

His short brown hair that had been recently trimmed honestly looked great, the slight wrinkles around his eyes became more prominent as he glared.

"I'm good with kids, you act like I don't have three of my own."

Rika bit her bottom lip, not pressing on the issue. Sure, he had kids, but none of them bothered to stay in his life as soon as they all reached the legal age.

She learnt after knowing him for a while, that had struggled in the past with addiction, saying that though, the man before her was a completely different one than the man she had met a couple years ago. She was proud of how far he had come.

Hoisting the bags onto the top deck, she straightened up and brushed her snow coated gloves over her face to push her hair out of the way. "How do I look?"

He paused to give her a one over, "like you've been through hell and back." The sarcasm dripped off his tongue, her eyebrows knitted together in frustration.

"Well, you don't look any better yourself." She retorted, facing the door again.

She wasn't sure what to feel in that moment, she was excited to see Vera again even if it had only been one week since she returned home.

Slater had given her the holidays off, letting her stay in his home. Yet, of course, he had no clue that she would be joining him. What she did know was that her boss had already been in Russia for four days now, she didn't know if that was a good thing or bad.

He'll get over it Rika, she told herself.

Of course he would, he had no choice but to get over it, she had travelled all this way.