The Mafhyja

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"Bezymenskij." The young man looks at the older man behind him.

"Oh, Ivanov. I heard that you got a higher title, soon we'll probably be working under you instead of Morozov." Tamryn looks at the younger man with a smile who smiles back.

"Time really fly fast, I remember when we took you in when you were nine years old, we didn't think that a kid could do the stuff we do, but... I guess we were wrong. It's been eleven years, right" Tamryn pats Nikolaj's back, "How about we go and have a drink or two? Lebedev is waiting for us."

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The two men walks into the basement of a big house where their organization, The Mafhyja, have their headquarter and where they also spend the most of their free time. They see a brown-haired man in his late 20's by the bar waiting for his drink.

"Hey! Lebedev!" Tamryn waves at him with a smile.

"Tamryn, I see you brought Nikolaj too. How about a drinking contest?" Michail Lebedev grins at them and waves for the bartender to bring some liquor.

"Good to see that you never change." Tamryn says and they sit down. "How long has it been? Seven months?"

"Yep, it's been seven months since I went on the plane to Spain to take care of some things." Michail gives them another grin as they get their liquor, "Well then, bottoms up." and they drink it.

-*

"Nikolaj, come down." Nikolaj hears his mother calling and runs down the stairs, "Eat up." They pray and he starts eating the food as fast as he can. "Nikolaj, don't bend your head so close to the food and eat slower." Nikolaj sits up straight and chews slower, "Good."

"Mama, when will papa come home?"

"He'll be here soon." Marie says and looks anxiously at the clock.

They eat their food in silence and his mother always glances at the clock.

"Now..." Marie says and pulls Nikolaj up from the chair and they walk upstairs to his room. "Can you stay here, you can watch TV if you want to, or play with your toys." Marie starts to walk out of the room and locks the door, Nikolaj looks at the TV, it's celebrities from all around the world, America, England, France, China, Germany, South Korea and their country, Russia.

Just some minutes later he hears the front door open downstairs, his papa, he seems to talk with his mother, they talk loudly, are they singing? He hears loud sounds from the kitchen and things falling to the floor, are they dancing?

He looks at the beautiful people on the screen, listens to their stories, what they've done and tips to success.

"Other people really are successful..." Nikolaj whispers to the screen, the eight-years old boy dreaming about being like them, well known, loved, rich.

-*

"My sweet boy..." Marie runs her finger through Nikolaj's hair and he wakes up, she has many bruises on her face and smiles at him.

"How did that happen?"

"I was just clumsy, nothing to worry about. Isn't it more comfortable sleeping on the bed instead of the floor?"

"Yes."

"Then let's go to bed." Nikolaj lays in his bed and Marie kisses him goodnight on the forehead.

"Goodnight mama."

"Goodnight, sweetheart."

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