The apartment hotel that Ivan Braginsky chose for his somewhat long stay in this area was in a deceptively quiet section of the city.
He hummed softly under his breath as he stepped through the quiet foyer. The manager on duty looked up at the sound of footsteps and nodded in recognition when he saw the tall Russian.
Ivan inclined his head slightly in response, not pausing on his way to the elevators. Stopping before them, he pressed the button and waited.
The slight vibration in his pocket alerted him to an incoming call.
Glancing at the caller ID, a small smile appeared, his violet eyes lightening in something akin to pleasure, “Zdravstvulte, Yao.”
The man on the other end of the line said something to make the smile grow wider. Ivan chuckled, a low sound, as the elevator dinged and opened its doors for him.
“Would you believe me if I said it was an accident?”
Then without waiting for Yao to reply, he ploughed on, “I want to see you.”
There was silence for a moment and an audible sigh could be heard. Yao said something quietly and Ivan’s smiled dimmed just a bit before both sides hung up.
He stared at his reflection for a moment in the mirrored expanse of the elevator, watching the numbers light up as it passed each floor.
As it hit his floor, the polished doors opened with a whisper, stepping out, Ivan wasn’t surprised to find another pair of shoes falling into step beside him
“Up so late Natalia?”
The beautiful young woman tossed her head of silver-blonde hair, flicking the strands back over her shoulder, “Just waiting for you brother.”
The smile he sent her was half amused and half warning, as he fiddled with the door to his room, “You shouldn’t have.”
Natalia took the gentle rebuke expressionlessly, “You said you would be back for dinner and you didn’t call.”
With a click, the door swung open, Ivan strode inside, turning to look at his ‘sister’ with a warning glint in his eyes, “I answer to no one Natalia. It’ll do you good to remember that.”
With that, he shut the door firmly in her face.
Natalia spent a moment longer staring at the closed door before spinning around and heading towards her own room, a faintly displeased look in her blue eyes.
~
Yao sighed again as he hung up his phone. He should have known calling Ivan would lead him nowhere.
He tilted his head to one side, leaning his weight on one hand, elbow pressed against his desk.
The light glinted off the clear bottle of liquid that sat innocently on his table. Yao watched it for a moment, mesmerized by the way the liquid swirled inside the bottle and refracted the light passing through it into a thousand crystal shards.
This particular bottle of vodka had been a gift from Ivan. Yao had never tasted it, just left it standing on his desk, in a very obvious position. While he enjoyed alcohol, especially traditional wines from China, vodka wasn’t a drink of choice. However, he delighted in leaving the bottle in its place, where Xiang and Tai were guaranteed to glare at it whenever they came into his office. It was one constant source of amusement for Yao.
With a soft sigh, he reached out and tapped the bottle gently, listening to the gentle ‘ding’ from the glass, “Ivan… What am I going to do with you?”
***
Notes: 1. Sorry that it’s so boring yo. I promise more action once everyone important shows up. Except I still haven’t figured out what the plot is exactly. Oh well. I’ll just run with whatever comes up. 2. I was originally going to have Natalia refer to Ivan as ‘брат’ [Russian for brother] since I have Xiang and Tai calling Yao ‘Da-ge’. But the Romanization for that was ‘brat’ so um. Yeah. I gave up on that. 3. No idea how Russians answer the phone, but I shoved a ‘Zdravstvulte’ there anyway. It’s a slightly formal way of saying ‘Hello’. [Or so Google tells me =3]
He hummed softly under his breath as he stepped through the quiet foyer. The manager on duty looked up at the sound of footsteps and nodded in recognition when he saw the tall Russian.
Ivan inclined his head slightly in response, not pausing on his way to the elevators. Stopping before them, he pressed the button and waited.
The slight vibration in his pocket alerted him to an incoming call.
Glancing at the caller ID, a small smile appeared, his violet eyes lightening in something akin to pleasure, “Zdravstvulte, Yao.”
The man on the other end of the line said something to make the smile grow wider. Ivan chuckled, a low sound, as the elevator dinged and opened its doors for him.
“Would you believe me if I said it was an accident?”
Then without waiting for Yao to reply, he ploughed on, “I want to see you.”
There was silence for a moment and an audible sigh could be heard. Yao said something quietly and Ivan’s smiled dimmed just a bit before both sides hung up.
He stared at his reflection for a moment in the mirrored expanse of the elevator, watching the numbers light up as it passed each floor.
As it hit his floor, the polished doors opened with a whisper, stepping out, Ivan wasn’t surprised to find another pair of shoes falling into step beside him
“Up so late Natalia?”
The beautiful young woman tossed her head of silver-blonde hair, flicking the strands back over her shoulder, “Just waiting for you brother.”
The smile he sent her was half amused and half warning, as he fiddled with the door to his room, “You shouldn’t have.”
Natalia took the gentle rebuke expressionlessly, “You said you would be back for dinner and you didn’t call.”
With a click, the door swung open, Ivan strode inside, turning to look at his ‘sister’ with a warning glint in his eyes, “I answer to no one Natalia. It’ll do you good to remember that.”
With that, he shut the door firmly in her face.
Natalia spent a moment longer staring at the closed door before spinning around and heading towards her own room, a faintly displeased look in her blue eyes.
~
Yao sighed again as he hung up his phone. He should have known calling Ivan would lead him nowhere.
He tilted his head to one side, leaning his weight on one hand, elbow pressed against his desk.
The light glinted off the clear bottle of liquid that sat innocently on his table. Yao watched it for a moment, mesmerized by the way the liquid swirled inside the bottle and refracted the light passing through it into a thousand crystal shards.
This particular bottle of vodka had been a gift from Ivan. Yao had never tasted it, just left it standing on his desk, in a very obvious position. While he enjoyed alcohol, especially traditional wines from China, vodka wasn’t a drink of choice. However, he delighted in leaving the bottle in its place, where Xiang and Tai were guaranteed to glare at it whenever they came into his office. It was one constant source of amusement for Yao.
With a soft sigh, he reached out and tapped the bottle gently, listening to the gentle ‘ding’ from the glass, “Ivan… What am I going to do with you?”
***
Notes:
1. Sorry that it’s so boring yo. I promise more action once everyone important shows up. Except I still haven’t figured out what the plot is exactly. Oh well. I’ll just run with whatever comes up.
2. I was originally going to have Natalia refer to Ivan as ‘брат’ [Russian for brother] since I have Xiang and Tai calling Yao ‘Da-ge’. But the Romanization for that was ‘brat’ so um. Yeah. I gave up on that.
3. No idea how Russians answer the phone, but I shoved a ‘Zdravstvulte’ there anyway. It’s a slightly formal way of saying ‘Hello’. [Or so Google tells me =3]
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I have a thing for MafiTalia, and this is really well-written. <3
Thumbs-up for you, and I can't wait to read more~ :33
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Awwwww, they have each other's cellphone numbers! That's so sweet! xD
(Especially being Bosses, their numbers are really REALLY hard to get.)
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Words cannot describe how much I love this so far.
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