Rybinsk, Friday 13th February 2004
Aglaya stared at her reflection in the mirror of the changing room at the artistic flying school. She had just taken a shower after today’s training and was now applying makeup to look presentable for her meeting with Will. It was the first time in months that she had agreed to go out for dinner like this. While she wasn’t sure why William out of all people had the honour of dining with her, she felt that it was a good idea to try and live a little again. The past months had been hard and she couldn’t deny that she was still recovering from the things that had happened. The worst thing was the fear that seemed to follow her everywhere just like a shadow, sometimes small and sometimes threateningly huge.
She really tried her best to conceal the dark circles around her eyes, tried to give her pale face some fresh colour, but she wasn’t quite satisfied with the outcome. She looked okay now, but she certainly did not look anywhere close to her best. It was no surprise, though. Ever since her mother had told her to stop taking the dreamless sleep potion every night, Aglaya wasn’t getting a lot of sleep anymore. She wouldn’t even have stopped taking the potion, had it still worked properly and not made her feel quite drowsy during the day. She knew that taking it wasn’t going to work any longer - not taking it didn’t seem right either, though. Training was hard, too. Aleksandra Viktorovna wasn’t going easy on her. She could tell that her coach expected her to start working on the back flip again but she just didn’t feel ready. As it was she already took more falls during training than she was used to.
Feeling quite sore and having some new bruises in her collection, Aglaya was glad that she had chosen to wear a
black jumpsuit for the evening which concealed most of her skin. Only when she was ready to go, Aglaya finally slipped into her
shoes, and put her
coat on. One last time she glanced at her reflection, running her hand through her red curls and then turning away. There wasn’t really anything she could still do to improve how she was looking. She stepped out of the changing room, almost bumping into her bodyguard,
Ivo, who had positioned himself quite unluckily in front of the door. After snapping at him, Aglaya thrust her bag into his arms, indicating that she expected him to carry it and led the way into the office to the fireplace. It annoyed her to see the grin on Ivo’s face as though he was the one going out for dinner and not the one who was just meant to watch over her and protect her should the need arise.
As they stepped out of the Griboyedov’s fireplace moments later, Aglaya only just refrained from rolling her eyes at Ivo who immediately seemed to check the room and approached poor Igor to check him. “Stop it,†Aglaya said with a threatening undertone in her voice. She knew the waiter at the Griboyedov for longer than she knew Ivo and, truth be told, she trusted him more, too. “Has my guest arrived yet?†she asked Igor, offering a slight hint of a polite smile. Igor confirmed that her foreign visitor had already arrived and been seated at the far end of the restaurant.
Before the three of them made their way to the table, Aglaya reminded Igor in a whisper that she expected that he’d talk to nobody about her being here and keep people far away from their table. She always did so when she met people at this place, appreciating the confidentiality with which her visits were treated. She gladly gave Igor a huge tip every time to make sure he remained loyal to her, blissfully unaware that he would likely do almost anything for her anyway, given the admiring looks he gave her.
As they reached the table which was coincidentally the table below an oil painting that showed her face, Aglaya opened her coat and had to suppress a smile when she saw that both her bodyguard and the waiter hastened to take it from her. “William, good to see you. I hope you haven’t been waiting for too long,†she now greeted the Englishman in accented but fluent English. Admittedly she didn’t really care if he had waited long or not. It was not as though he had been standing outside in the cold anyway.
Her gaze wandered from Will to Ivo who seemed to intend to body check the Englishman now. “Ivo,†Aglaya warned, her voice icy, “leave him alone.†However, the young bodyguard seemed to have every intention to make this as awkward as possible and, thus, attract unwanted attention. He explained quite joyfully that he was just doing what he was being paid for and Aglaya turned to face Will again, an apologetic expression spreading across her face. “I’m sorry…†she said, unsure how to explain the scene, “this is Ivo Georgiev…†she paused, before she added quietly, “my bodyguard.â€
@William Dasher 
