"Would you like some tea?"
"Yes, please."
Yao sat on a dump couch, squished between Natalia and Katrina. On the other side of Katrina sat Ivan, all huddled together in the rural house of one of their neighbors. A square table was positioned before them covered in a striped cloth. The speaker was the woman of the household, a pregnant, lovely lady with curled black hair and a warm dress. She, her back tilted backwards, went into the kitchen to fetch the tea.
Across from them, on a prickly wooden chair, was her husband; a thin, bony man with a salt and pepper mustache and curly hair of the same colors. "It's a pleasure to meet you all." He said softly, scratching his neck. He was one of Ivan's fellow soldiers, retiring a year before Ivan did.
"And a pleasure to meet you, too," Katrina said, smiling radiantly.
The couple, along with the child in the wife's belly, also had a little girl. The girl shyly looked at them, tempted to touch Natalia and Yao's hair for its long, silky beauty. Her name was Varvara. Her mother was Natasha and her father Nikolai. She neared closer and Ivan spotted her, beaming and lifting her into his arms. She blushed at the strange man's touch and he placed her on his knee, like a cheery uncle would. Katrina doted on her as well, speaking in sweet tones to the toddler. "Oh what a darling child!"
"Children are so sweet and innocent, unlike us brutish adults." Ivan said and handed the girl over to Katrina, whom she had taken a fancy to.
Laughing, Nikolai agreed. "Ai, yes, children are quite the little angels. My wife and I have tried for many, but she is the first to live of many. Now we are trying again, and I pray this time it will turn out to be well."
Ivan nodded.
Natalia stared at the child in distrust, her eyes wide and her lips pursed. "What do you want, girl?" She seemed to express.
Yao looked over and Varvara looked at him and crimsoned, pointing to his hair and asking in squeaky tones to touch. Gladly, Yao pulled her over and she took his hair in tiny fists, touching it gently before hopping away, bashful and excited. Her black hair was tied back into two red ribbons and she picked at her big red lower lip, her intelligent eyes looking towards her father.
Natalia recoiled when the girl came past her, like one might a strange animal. She did not hate children. She just did not understand how to interact with them. In fact, like her brother, she quite enjoyed them and their presence. Katrina said that she would learn with age. Natalia doubted it but bowed her head in agreement.
Natasha came back with a tray, giving a cup of tea to all of them. She set it down, her cheeks blotchy and her hand on her back.
"Sit down, my love," Nikolai said, standing and helping her take his seat. She flushed and thanked him.
"Oh I feel dreadful for making you work!" Katrina cried out, fat tears rolling down her cheeks.
"No, not at all!" Natasha protested, looking at Katrina profusely.
Nikolai tapped Ivan on the shoulder and the two men left, leaving Yao with the ladies.
Natasha's loving eyes lingered on Yao. She spoke to him about his home and about Ivan. He blushed slightly when he mentioned Ivan and hid his face by turning away. She only smiled in reply.
"Come here, Yao," Ivan called and Yao stood, leaving them.
As he left, Natasha looked towards the sisters. "Is it strange to want these two men to be together?" she asked in an undertone.
"We've been… I've been trying to make it happen," Katrina whispered, correcting herself at Natalia's sharp glance.
"I feel like an old lady when I say this but I feel like something must be done." Natasha giggled, placing her hand on her stomach and rubbing it.
Back in the kitchen, Yao stood between Nikolai and Ivan. In front of him was an opened jar of homemade cherry jam. Ivan picked up a piece of black bread and with a spoon spread some of its contents. He held it before Yao and Yao bit into it, feeling Ivan's fingers brush against his lips. He kept his eyes shut, enjoying the delicious flavors and complementing Nikolai.
When he opened his eyes he met Ivan's own, colorful irises and his heart dropped straight into his knees. The time for tomfoolery was done. Dancing around trees and chasing each other's tails, teasing with brief touches was all a thing of the past. Ivan's warm spread into Yao and he felt something change inside him. Ah, so this was love? Such a strange, beautiful, fluttering, painful, loathsome, addictive feeling boiling up in his stomach that foretold betrayal at any possible moment-!
Yao smiled at Nikolai and thanked him, returning to the couch and sitting down, his shoulders stiff and his teeth clenched.
At once he had set it in his mind to make Ivan's his and give himself completely to Ivan. But still the love was strange and nasty—and all the same omnipotent. Yao fiddled with the ends of his sleeves, not paying attention to the conversation.
He barely noticed when he exchanged good-byes with the family and left to visit another. He didn't pay attention to these new residents either, completely consumed in his own thoughts and unable to function properly. Ivan barely seemed to notice.
The next residents they visited were Ira and her family. Her father a retired general and her mother once of aristocracy but having fallen out of it due to sickness that led her to believe that the rural life would be better for her. Ira had two siblings—a brooding young man who was sly and malicious, grimacing at the faintest sounds and falling ill often. Her other sibling was an older sister who was married but had come for a visit.
The conversations were animated but the eyes of Ira's family constantly focused on Ira and Ivan, egging them on to romance as they hungered for. Natalia and Katrina watched uneasily. Yao broke away from his reverie when this happened several times. He felt not only ignored but heatedly jealousy. Green envy poisoned him and he wanted to tear Ira out of the picture and replace her with himself.
What baffled him more was that Ivan complied with it. Ivan agreed to the glances and even took Ira's small hand in his from time to time; smiling brightly and complimenting her, saying fanciful French phrases to her that caused her to chuckle lightly.
Yao's eyes met with Natalia's and then with Katrina's. Both responded with morose, pitiful looks. Yao felt crushed. His entire fantasies where nothing but illusions: dreams that would never become real.
Yao looked at his hands, trembling and wishing it all over. Just marry her. Go on, get it over with, and leave me in the dust.
Natalia placed a finger on his sleeve and asked him to come outside for a moment, excusing herself from the family. She took Yao out to the front yard, where the warm air trailed through the afternoon day, caressing the flowers and rustling the leaves. Her own hair shifted slightly. She looked down at him sternly, her pale lips drawn thin.
"I promised myself I would not interfere." Natalia said, sighing, "But I suppose I should tell you something. Last night, after dinner and after you and Katrina went to bed; Ivan wanted to speak to me again. This time you didn't sneak up, surprisingly, so you would not know of this. Anyway, he said that he wanted to marry Ira and would propose the next day."
Yao furrowed his eyebrows, trying not to allow tears to spill down his cheeks.
"But he had his reasons. You know what they are? He said 'you never look directly at love because it will be damaged.' He said that because he loves you. He makes rash decisions sometimes and you have to deal with them. He wants to marry her because that is the 'regular' method. You need to understand that he does not love her but her family needs the money and she needs the self-respect."
"He loves me…?" Yao whispered hoarsely, looking back at the house painfully and allowing the tears to flow down his cheeks freely now.
"Yes." Natalia said and stepped back. She pressed her rough thumb against his cheeks and wiped them dry, like a nurse to a child. "Wait here. I think you should go home."
He nodded mutely, staring out into the distance. Summer was approaching and he could see, leaning against the post standing outside the house, a set of bells. Bells that were made in summer; without a care and by candid hands. Bells for the summer and the warm air. But now they did not sound, even as they trembled in the breeze, all noise blocked by the horror filling Yao's ears.
Summer bells ringing silently.
Thank you all again for the reviews! They make me smile and so happy I just adore it-thank you so much!
Sorry for the short chapter. Love is so difficult to write about I'm afraid to spoil it and make it seemed forced. I'm putting my all into this and I hope it shows.