NOTHING BUT A BAD TASTE. (✓)

10. MEETING ALEXEI.

( unedited ) 

SOMETHING NEW AND WITHOUT warning had landed on the doorstep of the Cástros, going by the name of Alexei Kodatsky, the potential new hire.

The steel-blue deadpan of the Siberian was a complete tilt to the russet brown orbs of Rhodes that Maya had spent years confiding in. He had a felonious look to him; with the broad circumference of his arms bulging out of his t-shirt, likely pumped by steroids with soft brown hair raked in a messy cut like someone else had run their hands through it.

And the definition on his jaw was sharp; courting the newlyweds with a pressed lip — and not a brief smile or smirk, but a glance that didn't invite questions.

"Hi," Ebén began the introducing, "I'm Ebén and this is Maya, my fiancée. Welcome to our home," He nestled her into the scoop of his arm and took a stalk backwards and let him enter. Maya appreciated the gesture; his hand grazing her hip and stayed there.

"I zknow who zyou are," Alexei said quietly, not needing an introduction. 

"Oh, you do?" 

"Yes, I zdo."

It felt very different to see the illustrious lovebirds in full view; as rumours had swirled that they weren't as secure as they had people believe. Alexei however, witnessed the opposite — two people firmly in love.

"Alexei Kodatsky. Znice to meet zyou." 

He stretched out a hand in an effort to be polite but could not ignore the strong waft of reluctance. He did not expect them to stamp his arrival with fanfare, after all, he was nothing but a stranger — but he didn't expect the mood to be this sour either.

Especially worn on Maya's lips as though she had been mourning the dead with sullen bags as eyes.

Maya's sag of reluctance was hyper-visible; and it was something that intrigued Alexei, in that, he often overstayed where he wasn't welcome. He was going to like it here. Maya, though, was not best pleased even after meeting the new hire; still adamant that they were better off getting Rhodes back, instead of welcoming in someone new to the mix. 

But the reality dawned on her — away days meant that Ebén would hardly be home, and she was not well equipped to fend for herself, now that she was pregnant. "You too, Alexei. Thank you for coming." 

The fate of his predecessor was not no secret, and Alexei was intent on boasting that impression that would win over his hard-knuckle, prospective employers. He didn't have a background in security like he alleged, but knew ways to circumvent thorough background checks. There was a lot riding on him getting this job and he could not financially afford them to opt with someone else. 

Alexei's eyes silently toured the bold ceiling accents of white that hung above his head in careful detail and the candid photographs framed in white.

"Svery nice house. Svery big. Also, svery nice." There was a tint of jealousy in his tone that neither Ebén nor Maya picked up, but there was something about their wealth that offended Alexei. Maybe it was the manner in which they paraded it or that the grouchy Siberian had grown up with next to nothing and couldn't believe this was how the other half lived. 

He didn't know which factor offended him more; but he just knew that it did.

"Thank you. It's all her though," Ebén's fingers slid into Maya's with ease, knowing that his house used to be just empty, marble walls of loneliness. Maya's eye of interior detail had given the place character like never before; it was no longer a place that Ebén dreaded to return to after a long couple days on the road. It was home, it was their home.