It's a long way home.

Chapter 8

Alyaksandr lazily opened the door of the shower, before stepping out slowly and reaching for his towel. Putting it around his waist, he took another to quickly rub off his hair, and let it hang around his neck afterwards. Stepping in front of the mirror, Alyaksandr looked at himself, before he started to brush his teeth.

Before leaving the bathroom, he checked his hair, arranging it the way he always had, wavy locks of white blond which stopped just above his defined blond eyebrows. As he made his way to his room, Raman stopped him.

"What?" Alyaksandr asked his brother in a surprised tone, raising an eyebrow at him.

Raman looked into his brother's eyes.

"Who are you getting ready for?" Raman asked him suspiciously, while eyeing him from head to toe.

"I'm going to meet up with my friends, Roma." Alyaksandr said, a little bored of his ever so controlling brother.

"Weren't you supposed to clean up your room today?" Raman asked his little brother, giving him a stern look.

It was true. Alyaksandr hadn't cleaned his room in a while now, and he had promised his parents he would do it today. However, meeting up with his friends before leaving for the Czech Republic, has become a priority in his life, at least for now.

Alyaksandr looked up at his brother, giving him an unsure look, unsure of what he could possibly say to convince Roma to let him go. He managed to incorporate puppy eyes in his look of despair, which, in return, made Raman break his stern look and smile at his younger brother, shaking his head disapprovingly while still smiling, flashing his perfectly straight, white teeth. Roma's hand reached out to mess up Alyaksandr's hair even more.

"Fine. I'll do it for you. But only today." Raman told his brother.

Alyaksandr nodded and gave his brother a quick hug before thanking him.

As he entered his room, he heard Raman call his name, making him stop in the door frame again.

"What?" Alyaksandr asked his brother.

Raman looked at Alyaksandr, before smiling and saying: "Go get her." Raman winked his left eye.

Alyaksandr rubbed the back of his head, blushing while letting out an awkward cough, as he avoided his brother's eyes.

"Uhm, yeah, sure." He said, knowing very well whom his brother was talking about.

Today would be the ideal occasion to try his new winter outfit his mother had bought him as a gift earlier this month, he thought. While going through his underwear drawer to put on a pair of boxers and long socks, Alyaksandr decided to go with a white theme. He was known to be meticulous when it came to representation; he was always well dressed and smelled of cologne, which on him seemed to last the entire day. As he struggled to put on his white skinny jeans, dancing in a somewhat awkward manner in order to pull them over his thighs, he made his way over to his bed. He could have sworn that he left it unmade before heading to the bathroom. Compliments of Roma. Alyaksandr shook his head, smiling, as he found a dark blue jumper on his bed, which his brother had kindly washed and folded for him. After putting on a white t-shirt and pulling the jumper over it, Alyaksandr took his new winter coat off the hanger. A thick, pristine white jacket, filled with the finest feathers, laced with precious fox fur at the bottom, the hoodie and the endings of each sleeve. Even the inside was completely covered in fur. Of course his mother had bought him a matching wool hat with a fur ball on top as well as a pair of white gloves laced on the inside with the same fur as the hat and the jacket.