Chapter 7-Dangerous ties P2

“It’s me, Misha, your cousin.” I said smiling at her, hoping she will recognise me.

Her eyes went wide with astonishment and immediately warmed up to me, pulling me into a strong hug.

“Irina, it.. it’s too strong.” I said trying to gasp for air.

“I’m sorry, Misha, I didn’t see you in a very long time. Please come in...” she said excited, inviting me inside. I saw her gaze moving to someone behind me and I realized that Will was still there, waiting to be introduced. I see Irina moving past me and stretching her hand to his direction.

“Hi, I’m Irina. And you are...”

“Will, nice to meet you” he answered, shaking her hand.

“Likewise!” she followed and moved from the door frame allowing us to go in. She had a very spacious and warming house even tough from outside it seemed small and cold. The floor was covered with marble and the stairs were from wood, very well crafted and maintained. We got to a large living room with a big terrace that showed a mirific view of a garden full of flowers and small fruit trees that surrounded a big fountain with water gushing out from a snake’s mouth. The walls’ color was a blue grey, decorated with abstract paintings and across the couch a big fire place that reminded me of the times we went to our grandma for Christmas and I used to steel Irina’s present invoking the motif that Santa mixed the gifts since she always received better gifts that I did.

“Would you like something to drink?” she asked thrilled of our reencounter.

“Sure, I would like a juice.” William answered.

“Bring me some tea.” I said and then added “and get your ass back here because I want to talk to you”. She smirked at me, quickly passing by the couch and into the kitchen while Will’s eyes found mine, winking at me as a sign everything was going good so far.

When she returned with the beverages, she looked concerned as if remembering something disturbing.

“Misha, I waited for you to come and visit me since I received your call two weeks ago. I was worried that something happened to you.” she said sitting on the armchair in front of me and crossing her legs.

“Irina, I’m so sorry for the situation. I don’t recall our conversation but the bottom line is that I was kidnapped once I got here. Will saved me from the bastards that took me away but I need to testify against them soon and I have no recollection of what happened before I got here.”

She gave me a compassionate look and turned her face to Will.

“Will, thank you for taking care of my cousin.” she said gratefully with a coy smile.

“No problem, now if you excuse me, I have some business to take care off. Misha, when you are done, call me, ok?” he said looking at me.

“Ok.” I told him smiling.

“It was nice meeting you!” Irina added following him to the door.

“Same.” he answered icy and left like he was in a hurry. I didn’t understand his sudden change of attitude but I figured that he got a text from his fiancée asking him to return home.

After Will left, I spent hours with my cousin talking about our childhood. We began talking about high school, remembering the days we used to meet at our grandma’s house, playing together until it was dark outside and stealing cookies from her jar every time she wasn't paying attention. After three hours of catching up, I felt tired and picked up my phone, dialling Will’s number to come and take me home. I waited for a while until a woman cheerfully answered:

“Hello, who is this?”. I froze instantly. I figured it might be his fiancée so I tried to sound as calm and friendly as possible.

“Hi,I’m Misha, Will’s friend. Can I talk to him?” I heard people laughing in the background so I tried to ignore it.

“Will? there’s no Will here.” she spit the words out, half-drunk from what I could tell. Instantly a thought passed through my mind. The bastard lied to me and gave me some random phone number to get rid of me. After a couple of seconds, I hear her shouting and asking everybody:

“Hey, there’s someone named Will here?”. Asking that, someone from the crowd made a joke I could not comprehend and she chortled, meanwhile I hanged up considering there was no use to waste my time with whoever was on the other line. I followed by calling Brian, knowing I could count on him to come and pick me up.

“Hi, Brian...sorry for bothering you at this hour.” I said knowing it was almost 10 o’clock in the night. “Can you come and pick me up from my cousin?” I followed shily.

“Hi Misha, sure. Text me the address and I’ll be on my way.” he answered.

“Thanks” I uttered.