Say my name

Chapter 14

Flying into Krasnoyarsk, Anabella could only notice a sea of white. Everything was covered in snow; the many chimneys were spewing greyish smoke into the air. The world below looked frozen. Well, at least I am going to have a white Christmas, Anabella watched the scenery with her forehead wrinkled thoughtfully.

At the airport she noticed Sergey waiting for her, instead of his father. Sergey greeted her just like in the summer with a hearty hug and three kisses. But this time Anabella did not make any plans involving him, although he was still devilishly handsome. As if reading her mind, Sergey said, "Beautiful as usual." He looked her over, "Girl, this coat will not do, you will see for yourself when we come out. Thankfully, Elena thinks about everything and she sent me with one of her fur coats."

"I don't wear coats from animals Sergey," Anabella refused walking towards the exit.

"Relax Bell, it's fake," Sergey chuckled, "Elena is an animal lover too. Nevertheless, in the winter you will see a lot of people wearing the real thing. Don't get too excited, the climate is harsh, they have to choose what's best for them. It's been a tradition for hundreds of years." The moment they came outside Anabella stopped in her tracks and almost choked while taking a breath, "Oh my God!" she whispered.

Sergey laughed looking at the novice of winter in Siberia, "It's only a balmy negative 30 degrees Celsius. You will get used to it. It's actually a warm day." It was frigid. It was unbearable. The windchill intensified the coldness. Anabella was shocked how cold it was and people walked around like nothing. She thought she was very clever by going to a sporting goods store and buying a good winter coat to keep her warm, but besides looking good it was not enough in those temperatures.

"Hurry up, let's go to the car. You will warm up in a couple of minutes. My heat works fast," Sergey pushed her forward grinning from ear to ear. He loved the first impressions of Californians of the Siberian winters. Many of his work colleagues reacted the same way. Anabella could not speak because her body shrunken itself to preserve the heat. She felt paralyzed. They got to the car, Sergey threw the suitcases in the trunk and they were off. As promised, the heat began working within minutes and Anabella thawed slowly, "What is it? Like a million degrees below zero?" she finally asked, still blowing the steam out of her mouth.

Sergey pointed to a temperature reader in the car, "Look. Actually, only negative 28 today. We're getting a little heat wave for the next couple days," He joked.

"Sergey how can you survive this?" Anabella asked curiously.

"You can get used to it. The temps are like those in Minnesota or Alaska. The key is in dressing yourself properly. Elena will teach you everything," Sergey laughed.

"Yeah, that's why I don't live in neither of those places."

Sergey looked at her briefly, before focusing on the road ahead, "I am surprised that you wanted to spend holidays with us."

Anabella threw him a glance thinking how much Aleksey told him, so she proceeded carefully, "Aleksey invited me, and I was very curious how the winter looks here, and... and... well honestly...I wanted to talk to your brother," she added quietly.

Sergey nodded, "That's good. Thank you." He did not push the subject, not knowing exactly what was going on between those two. His brother became a mute on the subject and his father only smiled mischievously and was not explaining anything. Sergey asked after Jessica and Kevin, and about the Novak's Christmas traditions. The drive was pleasant. "You may be a little disappointed with us," Sergey said after listening for almost an hour how cheerful and wholesome Christmas was in Anabella's family, "After my mom died, we didn't really pay too much attention to holidays. She was Catholic, so she always went all out for us. I guess us males, we didn't have patience for all those frills. We don't even have Christmas tree; we just exchange gifts. Although the old man still prepares traditional dishes." Sergey shrugged his shoulder carelessly.