The next day when he went back to the library, it was definitely not in hopes of seeing that Chinese man again. No sir, he just… he just wanted to see if there were any other good books in the Russian/Ukrainian section. And if he didn't actually make it to that area that day, well, it was because he got distracted.

He was passing the same aisle as he'd hidden behind the day before, when he became intrigued in the contents of the shelf. He shrugged and went down the aisle the Chinese man had been in, and studied the book titles. He struggled for only a moment to read the marker before he gathered that it was the cooking section. That's funny.

A young male librarian suddenly popped up at his elbow then. "Is there anything specific you're looking for here? If you're wanting the cake baking books, you'll have to either wait here or go up to the reading tables and find the guy who takes them up there every day. I swear, he's here nearly every day, and all he does is take the cake books and read them upstairs. It's kinda weird, but Xiao Mei likes him so I'm not going to complain or anything." He said this all very quickly, and Ivan stood there in shock as the librarian shelved some books. Why did this guy think he wanted cake books? Did he look like a cake baking type?

Wait.

This guy who took all the books. Maybe he was the Chinese man? He had had quite the armful the day before, and he hadn't checked them out.

"Where are the reading tables?" The librarian pointed at the staircase in the middle of the floor without looking.

"Up there."

Ivan left silently, and calmly made his way up the stairs. Chances were this 'cake-guy' was not even related to the Chinese man in any way, and Ivan didn't know why he cared that much.

The tables were aligned in rows, with bright lamps on each individual one. It was hard to make out facial features with those lights shining in all the people's faces, so Ivan scanned the rows for long black hair. And oh god there he was. He was in the third row, big red button up rolled up to his elbows and his nose buried in some book that didn't look like a cook book and a stack of thick hardbound books on the desk. Ivan didn't know what to do.

He didn't have any books with him so he couldn't sit without being suspicious, but he didn't want to leave because he might lose sight of the Chinese man.

But what did that matter? What is it with this guy, Ivan? Pull yourself together you've never been like this before. Stop acting like a girl.

Looking around, he noticed a stack of books abandoned in the second row. He took one of these and sat at a table, facing toward the Chinese man.

He pretended to read, glancing up occasionally to catch a glimpse of the man's face across the aisle. And he made the cutest expressions. His eyes would sparkle at parts, and he'd have to look up, away from the book. Ivan would quickly look back to his book at the occasions, but not before cataloguing the almost childlike face and perpetual blush, the hastily cut bangs or chocolate eyes.

Then he would look back down at his book and be immersed once more. He smiled or frowned or stifled a laugh in the most adorable way Ivan had ever seen. He would never, ever admit that, though. No sir, Ivan did not use the terms 'adorable' or 'cutest' to describe anything. Definitely not another man.

He had the night off, so he went home to his apartment, sat on the couch, and popped open a bottle of vodka. It's cheap and flat, but it's better than nothing. The radio was on, but the English was too fast for him to understand yet. He'd catch most of it but then a word or two would go by and he wouldn't understand and he'd miss the meaning of the whole verse. He mourned leaving his cassettes back home with Yekaterina.

Taking another pull from the bottle, his thoughts returned to the Chinese man in the library. He briefly wondered if, if he went back tomorrow, he'd be able to see him again. This was gonna get to be a problem, wasn't it?

It was getting to be nearly eleven, and Ivan knew there was a slim chance of Katerina being online, but he pulled his laptop onto his lap and logged into Skype anyway.

Today, Thursday June 27

Ivan Braginski:

Had interesting day. Library here is very big, but didn't have much in Russian.

How was your day?

And Ivan left it at that, not really expecting something, as he logged into his email. There was one message in his inbox, about some sale going on. He logged out and went to Facebook.

He had one friend request. Tino Väinämöinen. Ivan sighed—it wasn't like he could ignore it—as he accepted. His homepage was almost instantly flooded with Tino's statuses and pictures (quite a few of which included Berwald).

Before he had time to think about this, a bleeping sound returned his attention to the Skype window.

Yekaterina Braginskya

Oh, you went to library? That's good. You should probably start practicing your English more, you know.

Natalya is at a friend's house.

Ivan Braginski

I did not actually expect to catch you. What are you doing on?

Yekaterina Braginskya:

You remember that it's 10 am here, right?

Ivan Braginski:

Ah, yes? I thought you were working.

Also, that 'friend' of Natalya's better not be friend of the male gender.

Yekaterina Braginskya:

Haha, you're funny. His name is Toris and he's quite nice young boy.

And I've got day off today.

Ivan Braginski:

I am not convinced of that. If he hurts Natalya I'm coming home and I'm going to hurt him.

Yekaterina Braginskya:

Ivan!

They are not even dating. They're just friends; her study group just met at his house tonight.

Ivan Braginski:

Are there other boys in this study group? I'll break their arms.

Yekaterina Braginskya:

Honestly Ivan if I thought Natalya was in any danger with these boys do you think any of them would still have their eyes?

And if you come home you'll lose your green card and I'd have to wring your neck.

So tell me more about Seattle. Have you been able to go walk around yet? Aside from the library

Ivan Braginski:

Not yet…

Yekaterina Braginskya:

Have you made any attempt to meet new people?

Ivan Braginski:

Not yet…

Yekaterina Braginskya:

Ivan. You need to work on that.

I need to go now, bye!

Ivan Braginski:

Bye…

Yekaterina Braginskya has left the conversation.

Ivan sighed and went back to his internet browser, throwing back that last swig of liquid in his bottle.

Tino had uploaded a new photo, this one of Matthias and some other blond on a red couch. Ivan had to laugh to himself, because the other man did not look happy with Matthias' hand on his shoulder.

Ivan went back to have another drink of his vodka and remembered it was empty. As he stood he started to feel a little woozy, but he shrugged it off and made his way to grab more from the kitchen.

When he came back to his computer, Katerina had sent another message:

Yekaterina Braginskya:

Also, you better not be drinking. It's not good for your health or social status.

If there was anyone who really knew Ivan, it was that woman. Feeling somewhat unsettled by how well Katerina had him figured out, he logged off of Skype.

(And popped open the new bottle.)