Bargaining
I promised myself I wouldn't drink after what happened at the banquet that year. But now I found myself buying alcohol at the nearby shop while taking Makkachin for his walk; it was a Tuesday, I think, the weather was chilly and it was late at night. The shop was 24/7, it smelled weird and the owner looked like he would kill someone for looking at him the wrong way. I was in and out in a hurry. That night, I drank the whole bottle of Vodka to myself.
The apartment buzzer woke me up the next morning. After last night- it was too early for this.
"Mm, hello?" I slurred down the phone.
"Hello, is that Mr Katsuki? I'm Victor Nikiforov's solicitor,"
Solicitor? I didn't know Victor had a solicitor.
"Sure, come on up," I answered. I quickly put a pair of jeans on and what I thought was a clean T-Shirt from the floor. The door quickly knocked, so I made my way the answer it.
"Hello Mr Katsuki, my names Nikolai Pavlov and I'm here on behalf of Victor Nikiforov. Before his passing, he contacted me to discuss a few things. That's why I am here today."
"Oh right, Ok. Then please come in, take a seat. Sorry about the mess," I replied, showing him the sitting area. "I didn't realise Victor had contacted you, he didn't say anything to me."
"Well, Victor was very forward about his wishes. He didn't want anyone to know until he passed. So here I am," Nikolai said. He sat back, placing his black briefcase on the coffee table and opening it up. He brushed the brown hair from his eyes. "Shall we begin?" I just gave a little smile and nodded.
"First, Victor wanted me to give you this letter," he handed me a white envelope with my name written in Victor's handwriting. "Victor didn't have any close relatives, so he made it clear to me what was to happen to his assets, savings and personal belongings. Firstly, personal belongings. Victor has wished that all his medals, trophies and his skates to be given to Yakov to put at the ice rink. He said that he wanted everyone to remember him and his achievements."
Typical Victor. I thought to myself.
"His other personal belongings, he made it clear that he wanted you specifically to sort them out. Give things to charity, give to the skaters at the rink and his extended family. But the poodle, Makkachin; you have to keep him and only you Mr Katsuki," I nodded and agreed. My brain was still trying to take all this in, I didn't want to give up Victors things.
"His assets; I'm not sure if you were aware Mr Katsuki but Victor only recently paid off the mortgage on this apartment, he owned a property in France which he used to do so. He's left the apartment to you and Makkachin- his words."
I didn't know Victor had a place in France.
"Mr Katsuki, Victor has left all his savings to you. To be exact he has left 88.6m Ruble. Which is approximately 1.4 million US dollars." I felt my eyes widen at the amount of money.
"Excuse me? I knew Victor had money, but we never discussed finances. Are you sure that's correct?"
"I'm absolutely positive Mr Katsuki; here's the cheque for you to deposit." I took the rectangular piece of paper of the brown haired man, the cheque was definitely made out to me, written in Victor's handwriting.
"Tha-thanks," I whispered. "Was there anything else?"
"There was one more item, he told me to give you this," looking through his briefcase, he pulled out a gold ring.
"Victor's wedding ring? I thought he got buried with it," he placed to gold ring in my hand, I just stared at it.
"That's all Mr Katsuki, thank you for your time, I'll let myself out." My head just nodded naturally.
What the hell just happened? I can't believe he would do this to me. How could he leave me like this, then leave me everything?
"I need a shower," I said aloud. I needed time to think.
That evening I gave Yurio a call to see if he could come over and watch Makkachin for a bit.
"Thank you, Yuri," I said to the young boy as he entered my apartment.
"No problem pork cutlet, take as long as you need," Yurio gave Makkachin a pat on the head and made himself comfortable on the sofa.
"I'll be back soon," I left the apartment, grabbing my wallet and keys on the way out. I didn't know what my plan was but I was back at that dive of a shop before I knew it.
"Hey Mom, sorry, I know it's early," I slurred down the phone.
"Yuri? Sweetie, have you been drinking again?"
This wasn't the first time I rang Mom up drunk, the last time, I think was last week. But this time- this time was different.
"Mom, I-I don't know how I'm supposed to do this anymore, I- I can't do this, I can't be without him, Mom," the words slurred from my mouth, I tried hard to hold back the tears brewing in my eyes, I didn't want my Mother to hear me cry again.
"Yuri, please listen to me. You will get through this, I promise. I know these moments feels like your heart is ripping from your chest and that your world is ending, but it will be OK. Why don't you come back home for a while? So you're not by yourself? Especially the state you're in," Mom replied, in her soothing voice.
Many thoughts raced through my head, but only one scared me the most.
"Mom, I love you so much, tell Dad and Mari the same. Goodbye." I hanged up on her. I started running like a usually did, I kept running until I was at one of the bridges that connected Russia.
"Victor, I hope you can hear me because I want you to know I would swap my life for yours in a heartbeat. I want to take your place Victor, please. Please, please, please take everything I own so I can be with Victor again," I whispered to myself, hoping some higher being would hear my cries. I stood up on the railings of the bridge. "Victor," I whispered.
I began to remove my jacket when something fell from my pocket. It was Victor's ring and letter to me.
A/N
I hope you're enjoying reading this. I'm going through grief at the moment so I feel like I need to vent it out somehow.
