Yekaterina Braginskaya was spending her holiday visiting Ivan in Russia. They tended to visit each other when they had free time from work. Also Natalia had arrived from her home in Belarus. Natalia had always loved her brother, even too much sometimes, because whenever she and her brother met, the man got marriage registration papers before his eyes, though Ivan refused every time because they were siblings and Ivan could not respond to his sister's feelings.
Katya was very modest. She was also very poor and there came times when she had problems with paying all the bills. Until now she had still managed to stay alive. She loved the Russian with her whole heart, but never dared to tell him.
The three of them were sitting in the kitchen, eating dinner. The meal was prepared by Yekaterina, because that woman had made a promise to cook every meal when visiting her brother. "It's a thank you for the accommodation," she tended to say. Ivan didn't dare to deny her because he knew that though she was a guest she had to do something to return the favour. It belonged to her habits. Usually Natalia did dishes, though Katya tried to refuse her to be able to do it herself.
Dining went as usual. They exchanged news, complained about the amount of all the paperwork and those kind of things. But the Ukrainian kept quiet. Ivan began to worry about her. Normally, she was in a good mood when in company.
"Are you getting sick?" Ivan asked, also getting Natalia's attention for the quiet one. Katya sighed and rose from the table.
"I wish I'm not... I hardly slept last night and because of that I'm really tired now. Excuse me; I think I'm going to bed now."
The Russian stared after his older sister when she left the kitchen. Maybe she really was sick. Catching a cold wouldn't be a surprise in the cold Russian winter, but this seemed like something totally different. The man was confused.
Yekaterina walked to her brother's bedroom and opened the desk drawer. A moment after searching she found what she was looking for: A letter addressed to Ivan Braginski. The woman knew she was doing wrong, but she wanted to make sure of one thing. She opened the letter and read it. Katya had to sit down. The information the letter contained got her upset. The letter Ivan sent her a week ago wasn't just a bad joke. He was seriously going to cut off the gas pipe to Ukraine. Though Katya knew that Ivan wasn't doing it for his own will, but was forced to do so. She was sure that if she let it happen she wouldn't be able to survive the following winter.
Meanwhile Natalia was clearing the table and taking the dishes to the sink. Ivan stood from his place leaving the room to read few papers. He found the Ukrainian sitting on his bed crying, the letter in her hand. Ivan sat next to her and well understood the reason for woman's tears.
"Katya, I-..."
"It's o-okay... It's not your fault..."
"If it matters, I tried to figure out some way to help you."
"...T-thank you..." Ivan wrapped his arms around Yekaterina and pressed her head lightly against his chest.
"Don't cry, we'll fix it out somehow." The woman gave no answer. She managed to stop her tears and calmed down inside the man's arms.
