Ch 5 A Break In November

A pair of sparkly clean riding boots stepped on the sidewalk in jolly spirits. Ivan Braginsky didn't look at the road but was always able to avoid all the water puddles. His callous fingertips skimmed through the top brim of the fences on the sidewalk and his snowy white scarf, like a float of cloud, merrily drifting up and down behind him. All the girls on the street couldn't help but to stop their steps and give a second look at this handsome young soldier.

As a young man unaware of his own vanity, Ivan knew he was easily eye-catching—even when he ran on two feet, he ran in the same manner as he rode his horse, graciously and effortlessly. But this time, he left Kostya at his station, since he was inside the city of Moscow, not on the field of Mozhaysk. At the end of October, as fresh troops filled into the area, the Supreme Headquarter started transferring back some troops from the front to rest and reorganize. Ivan's cavalry and Wang Yao's infantry units were among them.

This was definitely what Ivan had hoped for. Days of exhaustion from non-stop missions allowed him to do nothing but to bury himself under the cover at the end of the day. Natasha wrote him three letters in ten days, complaining in her typical tone—sweet, whiny but proud nonetheless—of why he didn't come to the nearby infantry station to visit her where she just started there as an army nurse; but, he really didn't have enough energy togrant wishes to his spoiled little sister.

What made things all the more delightful was that, even when they were transferred back to Moscow, the two units were still fairly close together, especially that the company commander handed him the liaison work between the two units. "You can drop by and visit your sister, but don't take too long."

Without violating the rules, Ivan stretched the time spent there by a little bit every time, even when Natasha couldn't spare the time to come out to see him. Perhaps, he didn't realize that Natasha wasn't the only one on his mind.

"Ivan, next time when you visit, can you ride Feiyun…I mean, Kostya?"

It was another evening when Ivan visited the infantry unit. After all the work was done, on the way out, Wang Yao walked with him towards the nearby central park—a route Ivan must take when going back to the cavalry unit—and made his long-concealed request.

It was early November of Moscow, the autumn had ridden on the back of white cranes' wings and escaped to the south, leaving the winter general to march on streets, allowing no one to interrupt his meditation.

"Ah! So deep inside, your friend can't even compare to a little white horse. I'm so sad." Ivan joked in his unique innocent voice.

Wang Yao smiled awkwardly. "I'm very sorry…" When it came to conversing, he was always cautious and reserved. He knew that Ivan could not ride inside the city, but ever since that unforgettable evening when they first met, he never saw that great horse again—the one that reminded him of his beautiful Feiyun…

In previous reunions, Ivan didn't ignore the slight disappointment contained in those otherwise joyful eyes. Being a outgoing and cheerful spirit all his life and never thinking twice before speaking, for the first time in his life, he started to think over whether he was joking or was he truly sad. The thought of himself being unreasonably jealous of his best buddy Kostya made him a bit gloomy inside.

He was naturally a proud young man. He loved to gallop down a wild field on his horse, sing a hearty song out loud, show his paintings around to everybody meanwhile, in a child-like innocence, showing people that what he did was not out of pompous intention. It was merely out of a young man's careless pursuit of loose hobbies; but also did he know, by heart, that doing the sort of things that he was good at always drew people's respect and admiration. He wanted people to like him out of his charisma, not his belongings—such as Kostya.

What about this foreign friend that he just came to know? Wang Yao could count as a handsome young man, but Ivan believed that if they were to stand together in front of all the girls of Moscow, more than half would pick the magnificent cavalry rider Vanya. Certainly, in terms of charm and appeals, air force beat navy, and navy beat the land force; however, if you were to choose only from the land force, a cavalry rider looked cooler than an infantry soldier. More importantly, it was also because Wang Yao was less of a showy character; his reticent and introverted temperament did not draw attentions. What did his fellow soldiers say about him? "Assault or scouting, you would always want to be with him."

In the battlefield, this was the highest opinion a person could get.

To ease Wang Yao's apparent embarrassment, Ivan hugged him jokingly, and as expected, that uneasy expression was caught in his eyes again.

"Hmm…in my country, we have a saying 'do as the locals do'. But all your huggings and kissings…I still can't get used to it."

"Indeed! The folks from your unit described you to me exactly like that!" Ivan giggled and mentioned some funny stories Wang Yao did in the infantry. As expected, he saw the black-haired young man blushed again.

"How did you know all those things about me?"

"When Ivan wants to know, there's nothing that he can't find." Ivan grinned like a child succeeded in his little prank. "Chinese don't like jokes?"

"We like jokes, but things like hugging and kissing…well, back home, it's only between the closest…"

Wang Yao couldn't imagine how awkward the whole conversation would get into if it wasn't when, in a distance, a passionate and somehow desperate voice attracted their attention.

"Natasha…Natashenka. Please listen to me."

*Vanya: diminutive form of "Ivan"

*Natashenka: diminutive form of "Natasha"