Russian Roulette

Meji

The plane touched down on the tarmac jolting both passengers out of their slumber.

"Welcome to Novosibirsk, Mr Alinsky and Miss Sanusi. We're at Aeroprt Severnyy and the time is 8:51 am."

He climbs off the bed and into the bathroom and returns to find the girl once again passed out and huffed out a laugh under his breath.

"Zo, darling. We've got to go."

She lifted her arms in the air and he rolled his eyes.

"Ok, you big baby. Up you go." He lifts her over his shoulder and grabs his wallet from the nightstand and her purse from the couch.

He throws a scarf over her head and walks off the plane. He stands at the top of the plane steps and blinks rapidly to adjust his eye to the sunlight and checks to ensure the scarf is still covering the light from her eyes.

"Morning, sir. The car is ready for you and your room has been prepared for you to the exact detail as pre-requested before arrival." A suited man steps in front of him as he arrives on the last step.

"Thank you, Nario. Hop in and we'll drop you off at the nearest train station. Go home and wish your wife a happy birthday. Your twins are very persuasive." He winks at the man as he climbs into the car.

The man outside the car stares at the occupants with a dazed, dopey look. For someone the rest of the world had labelled a devil, remembering the most important days of one of the several workers that he barely had contact with was definitely not the attributes of a devil.

Nario shook himself out of his stupor and climbed into the front seat of the car and said his thanks to the man in the back as the car pulled out of the airport tarmac and onto the roads of snow-covered roads of Novosibirsk.  

After dropping of their passenger at the train station, the car pulled up to a house on the edge of the city. Well, an estate.

By now, the sun was at it's peak and so was the girl in the car. He was in awe of her simply watching her as she chose to talk and explain why Netflix was stupid for cancelling a show meant for teenagers. It was at moments like this that he really saw her, the light in her.

"Shut. Up. Jo, honey I know you're rich but like how rich are we talking? Becuase I was gonna break up with you like yesterday, but like maybe I'll just be a gold digger instead." She gasped at the estate as the car drove up to the front door. "You even have a fountain."

"Zo, darling, shut up." He pulled her into a kiss that seemed to shut her up long enough for him to pull her out of the car and through the front door.

"Damn, I love this, it feels like home. Not a fancy hotel, but home, and huge houses rarely have the ability to pull this off. Like I need your decorators number." She turned around to find him staring at her with laughter dancing in his eyes. "Come on!" she waved him over vigorously and he moved forward to throw his arms around her. 

Someone cleared their throat behind them.

She turned around with a huge smile ready to charm whoever was behind them, but he stood for a moment with his eyes closed, knowing who it was. Finally, mercifully he turned around. She was complimenting the woman on the decor off the house and the woman simply looked ... unreadable. 

"Hello, mother." Even after all these years, he could never really get a read on the woman. But with those cold grey eyes on him, he definitely felt the warmth of being home.

The woman walked towards him and pulled him down into a hug.

"Welcome home, Nazaire."