No Tears | NR

Chapter 4

Sæbø, Norway

Yara had actually been a little early for work. She had underestimated just how small the Norwegian village was. The company's offices were located inside of a converted warehouse just outside of the town. The main part of the building consisted of a large laboratory where all sorts of robots were designed, built, and tested.

A middle-aged man had met her at the main entrance and had introduced her to the three men with who she would be working for the next week. The three men looked exactly like what one would expect a computer scientist to look like. All of them were at least ten years older than Yara and spoke English with very strong accents. They had obviously been surprised when Yara had been introduced to them. She correctly assumed that they had expected someone different who was maybe a little older and not female. But the men had accepted the idea surprisingly quickly that they were getting help from a young woman which was evident as they seemed genuinely interested in everything she said.

At first, their communication was a little rough. While computer science used a lot of English terminologies, the Norwegians weren't used to communicating exclusively in English. But they adjusted quickly helping each other out whenever someone didn't know a word.

Yara had learned their names surprisingly quickly, considering that she usually struggled with names. The oldest one of them was named Jørgen Erikson. But he told her to call him Jørgen, as everyone was on a first-name basis here and it would be weird for him to be called Mr. Eriksen. Morten and Tore were the other two men's names. She had told them to call her by her first name too.

Yara had gotten a fairly good picture of what the project was that her three coworkers had issues with by the time that they left for lunch. The young woman had stayed at the warehouse to eat. She was glad that she had gotten some food earlier because she was starving and there was indeed no cafeteria or anything similar.

After the three men returned from their break, Yara took a closer look at various pieces of code. She always kept one of the three men by her side so he could explain what certain lines and sections were supposed to do.

Yara's brain felt foggy by the time that the workday finally came to an end. Her head was buzzing with if-statements and for-loops. She had gone over more than 500 lines of code, analyzing and double-checking every single line.

The sky was covered in clouds but it was still fairly bright outside when Yara stepped out of the warehouse. A strong, cold wind blew and made the woman shiver. She hurried to her car, to find shelter from the chilly Scandinavian air. Once she reached the car, she fumbled with the keys for a moment before she unlocked the car. She pulled the door open hectically, climbed into the driver's seat, and slammed the door shut behind her. Then she took a moment to relax from the sudden stress and spike in movements.

Yara arrived back at her hotel less than ten minutes after she had left work. She didn't think that she would ever get used to how small Sæbø really was. Sure, she figured that this would be a nice, little vacation from the cities that she was used to. On the other hand, she couldn't imagine what it had to be like to actually live here.

As soon as she arrived, the woman set an alarm and laid down in bed to take a nap.

She fell asleep within minutes after her head had hit the pillow. Her alarm went off about an hour later. Yara didn't want to get up, but she felt her stomach rumbling, again. She had been invited to dinner with his family by Jørgen. So, she climbed out of bed, freshened up a little, and left her room.

It took her about 25 minutes to get there because Jørgen didn't live in Sæbø, but in a town that was on the other side of the fjord. She didn't like driving very much, especially ever since Germany. Regardless of her constant numbness which she carried around with her everywhere, she still kept on seeing her sister on that hospital bed in Berlin. She tried to keep herself as busy as possible, not giving herself the time and chance to think about it and mourn her properly. Instead, Yara exhausted herself to such an extent that she passed out immediately as soon as she laid down to sleep which was the only reason why she was able to sleep at all. Whenever she was driving, however, she had to focus on the street which didn't seem to engage her mind as much as she wanted and needed it to.

In an attempt to distract herself from the numbness and focus more on the task of driving, she took a quick look around and spotted the store that she had gone to before work. She suddenly remembered her encounter with the famous Avenger who was in hiding. Work had required all of her concentration so she had completely forgotten about it up until now. Yara wondered where the ex-assassin was now, momentarily getting distracted from her dark thoughts. What does someone like Natasha Romanoff do when they are in hiding and can't go anywhere? Does she do something crazy like work out non-stop? Or does she chill and watch Netflix all day long like a normal person? Somehow, the thought of the redheaded Avenger sprawled out on a couch and watching a movie with a bag of popcorn in her hands amused Yara and a small smirk made its way onto her face.

When she finally arrived at the address that she had been given by Jørgen, her smirk disappeared immediately and the numbness returned. His home turned out to be a simple but spacious traditional house. It was surrounded by a garden that carried more resemblance to a tiny forest than an actual garden. But Yara kind of liked it. The fir trees shielded the property from curious neighbors and passers-by. She could, however, not find a doorbell at the front gate. She wasn't sure whether she was just supposed to wait here or go to the house's front door. Deciding that she didn't want to wait here forever, she stepped onto the property and walked around the building to reach the door where she finally found a doorbell. After she rang it, she heard someone shuffling to the door quickly, before it was opened and revealed her smiling coworker. He let her in and led her to the dining table to meet his family after he had put her coat up on a hanger and she had taken her boots off.

His wife had long, blonde hair that was slowly but surely turning a grayish-white color at the hairline. She had warm, grey eyes but she seemed to be a little stressed out trying to keep the children in line. 

Jørgen had four children: three girls and a boy. Their ages ranged from nine to 13 with the youngest two being twins. The oldest one, Liv, and Nils, her younger brother, had already learned some English in school and were trying their best with their parents' help to talk to their guest. The twins had been excited to meet someone who wasn't from here at first, but they had quickly lost their interest in Yara because they couldn't understand her.

The family was a nice distraction from her own problems, but the numbness never went away. She tried to enjoy her time there as much as possible, but she couldn't shake the growing feeling of sadness and maybe even a little envy as she watched the family of six.

Nevertheless, two hours had passed quickly without Yara noticing it. They had a Norwegian dish called Kjøttkaker which were essentially meatballs. It was 9 pm by the time that Yara finally decided that it was time for her to get back to her room and get some more sleep in before work tomorrow. She thanked the family for the hospitality and the meal which she had enjoyed very much and said goodbye to Jørgen's family. Then she got dressed and walked outside with her coworker who had insisted on accompanying her to her car. She thanked him once more before she finally got into her car to head back home.

Yara didn't get back to her hotel within the next hour.

AN:

I am sorry that it is taking so long for Yara and Natasha to meet again, but it will happen soon. I promise.