The Hitman and His Consort

LX - Correct

Third Person P.O.V: - - -

Arthur spent another minute or so just waiting out in the silence. Her mind was both occupied and blank at the same time that it didn’t make sense. How that man just manages to drag her into emotional turmoil always seemed like a mystery to her.

'The heck is so important that you had to run out of here?’ she thought as she clutched the blankets closer to her and walked barefoot on the cold woodgrain-designed tiled floor, shivering at the contact. Staring at the stack of pancakes that valentine left, thinking he couldn’t possibly think Arthur could finish it all by herself.

She took one and nibbled on it as she started walking around to look for indoor slippers, if there even is one in this barren house. As she walked, her eyes trailed around the room. The fireplace, the round table, a recliner chair, and a nightstand with a small lamp. She went to the nightstand, overtaken by her curiosity about what type of books Valentin reads.

Couldn’t say she was surprised to know that it’s a book for learning Russian.

“That makes more sense than him reading literally anything else,” she said to herself as she flipped through the workbook before putting it back in its place. She looked continued surveying the place, nodding to some areas and making a mental renovation to make the place not so lonely looking.

She entered the kitchen which still smelt like pancakes, she even search the cupboards and smiled to herself to see it filled with purely necessities, she wasn’t hoping to see a cookie jar but still; she remained expectedly disappointed to see canned goods and easy to cook meals.

She occasionally readjusts the blanket draped over her shoulders and exhales hot breath to her hands, one way to keep herself warm, once she finished a whole piece of pancake, she walked back to the lounge to grab another, by then she chose to check the bathroom, maybe freshen herself up because her bed hair would probably be a sight to behold, she used to keep it short before and even with that short length, managing it was a chore. It’s always going in all directions except down.

There were times that she’s considered picking men’s hairstyle, or just shaving her head, but it never happened moreover ever since Valentin left…

“Ugh, that’s annoying, why does he have to be attributed to everything?” she whispered to herself with a smile on her face.

She could deny it, but one of the many factors and excuses she made to keep her hair long was all rooted in Valentin. It was in the initial months after his disappearance that she missed the chance to trim her hair when all of her time was spent trying to look for him. After that, she just ignored it completely, and after two years…

It remained as her only momentum, a reminder of the last time Valya ever treated her kindly, it was at the Hacksaw residence just after her rescue, after a long intense chase, Valya started patting her hair down to try and settle it into one place. He didn’t succeed, but for some reason, that seemed to be like the mark of when things started to go wrong.

He tried to talk her down into being with him and Arthur had just experienced one of the harshest wake-up calls in history to stop dating his kind of men.

It was a clash between two epiphanies from opposite perspectives.

Arthur entered the bathroom, which was as bland as the rest of the house. It seemed big, the house was spacious itself and that reach even in the lavatory space, there was a tub and a shower, the sink had a foggy mirror over it and when she tried to wipe the fog out the sharp feeling of chill made her recoil.

“That’s cold as f*ck… what the hell,” she said with a small shiver,

Now, with the help of her blanket, she tried again and this time, albeit still cold, the prickling chill was more manageable and she was able to see her face clearly. Her eyes were puffy, probably from all the crying last night. Her nose was red, and she was rather pale, which could be because of the cold.

From that point on she just shrugged at the idea of washing her face, she would just freeze over and Valya would have to come home to an Arthur popsicle, she just trudged back to her backpack and brought out her clothes and hygiene necessities which includes a toothbrush and a face towel that’s she’s going to use to wipe her body down.

Although she did notice that she was clean when she woke up, even when she vividly recalled the previous night as something very messy.

‘It must’ve been Valya,’ she thought as she prepared her change of clothes,

She went back to the toilet and studied the mechanics of his sink, “There has to be a hot water option in this… otherwise… it’s borderline lethal to take baths,” she said to herself as she somewhat understood the mechanics and filled the sink with hot water and partial hot water.

She got undressed and wiped her body down with haste before throwing her clothes on, not that she’s going anywhere but she ought to make some preparations if they’ll ever head to the secondary address. Thinking that the planets must’ve aligned for her to make her choose Novosibirsk first before Kemerovo.

She wondered what she could’ve found…

‘Who was at Kemerovo?’ ‘Where could his parents be?’ ‘How did they know Valya is at Novosibirsk?’

Those were only a few of the questions that plagued her. After being more well equipped against the cold, she started moving around more freely, searching for a map of sorts and gauge just how far Kemerovo is going to be, but it wouldn’t be right to try and flip the whole place over for something like a map.

And for some reason she felt silly looking for such a thing in the kitchen, that is until a startling buzzing sound came from the countertops, it seems like Valya left his phone.

Someone named Kavon is calling him. “Must be the colleague he was talking about earlier,” she noted, looking at the caller ID, wondering whether she should answer for his sake or just ignore it.

Then again, she shouldn’t interfere with his personal life, but what if it was important? With a sigh, she pressed the answer button, not thoroughly thinking about this conversation, and that became more evident when a long string of Russian words came flying into her ear,

“Ah—e-excuse me—sir!” she said through the phone and the man’s finally stopped talking, only then did she slap her forehead with her palm, disappointed with her choices, “Sir, I…whew this is a stupid decision, I can’t speak Russian—ah…no Russian,” she worded out, trying to get the meaning across the language barrier,

“English is fine, are you… Король Артур?” the man asked,

Arthur froze in her spot once she heard the pronunciation of her name along with that Russian word that Valentin calls her, more shocked to hear both and not at the fact that the man spoke English.

“Yeah, yeah… uh, I’m Arthur,” she affirmed, forming her lips into a thin line as curiosity and anticipation kept her blood flowing fast enough to keep her warm.

“Ahh, how nice, Vaska must be happy, can you pass the phone?” he asked and Arthur sucked in a sharp breath as she shifted on her feet and rested a fist on her hips,

‘It’s Vaska, huh? That’s not very creative of him, sounds cool though,’

“About that, Val—Vaska, left, and he seemed to have forgotten his phone,” Arthur replied,

“Hah? How out of character for him, Sofya is excited to talk to him after all,” the man said making Arthur’s mood immediately hit rock bottom.

Not in a sense that she was pissed, but there was this hollowed-out space in her the moment the man mention the name Sofya. As if the happiness and giddiness that she’s been trying to maintain to pull herself together were washed away, leaving her in shock, unsure how to feel other than self-pity.

‘Even his colleague knows about Sofya? Must’ve been serious,’ she thought, leaning on the counter for support because the strength on her legs seemed to have vanished into thin air, yet she did her best to remain calm and preserve her composure.

“But he’s not here, so maybe you could call back—“

“Oh well, I think Sofya would like to speak to you more,” the man interrupted, setting her nerves in full panic mode.

She’s not good in situations like this, so despite her shock and stuttering, she tried her best to refute, “I—no, I can’t possibly—“

“Forgive her though, English is hard to learn for a child,”

“—really I can’t… excuse me?” she paused after the words of the man sunk in and before she could ask him to repeat what he just said, the loud cheery, and excited voice of a baby girl filled her ears.

“Приветик, Король Артур!” the child greeted followed by a giggle.

“That means, ‘hello’,” Arthur heard the man’s voice translate in the background.

Stunned out of her wits, Arthur pressed on her forehead before gulping a lump in her throat, “Ah, yes...h-hello, Sofya,” she replied in a questioning tone, frankly still confused and lost as the fact that the ‘Sofya’ she was so worried about was a child, it raised a million new questions.

‘Why does Valya know a child? Is she his daughter?’ she thought, which was a rather rash claim to make,

The girl giggle at Arthur’s reply, sending a wave of ease to the woman’s nerves that despite the troublesome conclusions her mind was making, Arthur couldn’t help but smile. She recently developed a fondness for children ever since her precious nephew.

“You know Sofya!...but where Vaska?” the girl asked,

“He left, I don’t know where he is, but he’ll come back,” Arthur replied, her smile widening to hear the thick yet adorably childish accent from the little girl,

“Hah? Uhm… missing?” Sofya asked and Arthur hummed to disagree since the child sounded genuinely worried.

“No, not missing, he just left to do something, he’ll come back,” Arthur explained, trying to make it sound as simple as she could so it wouldn’t trouble Sofya’s understanding too much.

“Da, Vaska, will come back, no worry, you are his… любимая,” she said with restrained giggles that it infected Arthur too, despite not knowing what the word actually meant. Luckily, Kavon was kind enough to do so,

“That means sweetheart, darling, beloved, favorite—“ he listed with a knowing smirk, but before he could go on Arthur’s voice blew from his phone’s speaker, unaware of the intensity of the woman’s jitters that took over her body.

“Y-Yes! Yes… I kind of understand, thank you,” Arthur cut off, now sitting on the cold floor of the kitchen. Both arms tried to cover her head and face because despite being alone in the house, she felt as if people could easily see how red and flustered she was.

“No problem,” Kavon replied, chuckling along with Sofya.

“Mr. Kavon?” Arthur began, “Can you call again later I… I need to find Vaska,” she asked, and the man chuckled from the other side, amused by the woman’s gentle tone as she spoke fondly of his colleague who seemed like he was made of stone, cold and stoic.

“Of course, до свидания, Arthur,” he said before ending the call, smiling to himself and the little girl, proud of their mutual friend who's finally looking forward to better days with someone to spend their cold nights with.

While Arthur felt her heart pumping twice as much blood, hurriedly putting on her boots to run after Valya. There was a sense of déjà vu with this feeling, but this time, she didn’t feel dread nor apprehension.

At first, it was Valentin who found her when she was taken.

Then it’s her who found him after five years.

And now that they’re in the same city, hopefully, since neither of them are locked up somewhere nor hiding in seclusion…

Arthur had hoped that perhaps this time, they will find each other.