We Are Similar

Before Everything

A two year-old blonde walked hand-in-hand with the seventeen year-old. The younger had a large smile on her face. "Mom said she's making Japanese food!"

The elder male chuckled. "Did she now?"

"Mmhm! Mmhm!" The little girl started skipping. "They're called sushi, ramen and oni... Oni..."

"The riceballs you mean? Onigiri?" He asked.

"That's it!"

"If you have trouble pronouncing it in Japanese, just say it in English." He suggested.

However, the younger girl shook her head. "Nu-uh! I wanna learn Japanese too!" She began tugging on her brother's sleeve. "You're gonna teach me, right?"

"Yes, yes, of course." He replied. "We're going to move back to Japan soon anyway, so it'll be good if you could learn the local language beforehand."

"Mmm." It was silent for a few minutes, but she decided to open her mouth again. "And then dad says he's having a few friends over too."

"Oh really? Did he mentioned who?"

"Leff... Loff... Loll... Uhm..." The younger girl stopped to think, but bounced back in an instant. "Love-noff!"

"You mean Levanov?"

"That's it!"

~~~~~

A three year old Russian girl layed her head on the table. "Bored... Bored... Bored... Bo-Bo-Bored..."

"And our little girl is singing her famous bored song again." Her father said with a chuckle.

"We can't help that they are a little late, Niara. Now sit down properly, we're guests." Her mother said as she helped bringing out some of the food.

"Hmm okay..." The little girl sat up again, but her mouth didn't stay shut. "I'm hungry."

"We know, deary. We all are." Her mother said with a sigh. "But we still have to wait. It's impolite to start without them."

"I see Niara is as bright and open as you described her to be, Yana." A blonde woman walked into the room with more food to set down.

"Open? Yes, immensely so. Bright? Not the exact word I'd use, Karen." Another man chuckled from his seat. "For sure I know she's smart, but-"

"Yes, yes. She's lacking in common sense. Don't need to tell me twice, Eric." The little girl's father said, joining in on the laugh. "But because of that, our lives are never boring."

"I'm sure, Stanny." Eric rolled his eyes in a joking manner.

Then, a knock came from the door. The woman named Karen smiled. "That must be the kids. Come in, it's open!"

The door opened to reveal the 17 year old boy and the 2 year old girl. The little girl ran in and hugged her mother's leg. "Mom! Dad! We're back and Hugo taught me how so say 'onigiri'! See? I can say it now!"

"Learning Japanese now, are you?" Karen said, picking up the little girl.

"I figured she might need it for when we move back." Hugo said as he entered. When he saw the guest, he bowed. "Nice to meet you all. Dad talked about you a lot. I'm Hugo."

"Nice to meet you, Hugo." The Russian man, Stanilov, greeted. "Your father talked about you as well. You and little Evangeline."

"Congratulations on graduating last year." Yana said. "I don't know a lot of people who could finish college so quickly."

"I just got lucky." The boy said, blushing slightly.

"Do you think Evangeline's going to be the same way?" She asked.