He woke up, opened his eyes, and stared into the darkness surrounding him. The room was black, covered by the night. He reached for his phone. 3:57. Nine more minutes of sleep compared to yesterday. That’s some progress at least. He sat on the bed, rubbed his forehead, then slowly got up and walked towards the gray square of the window in front of him. It was raining again. It is still raining, he thought after a moment.

He walked to the kitchen, grabbed a glass, poured some water in it, went back to the room, to the window, pushed the curtains aside, and opened the frame. Chill night air touched his skin. He winced, then took a sip from the glass. Standing still, he peered into the darkness outside. Trees branches were moving in the wind, occasional raindrops were flying inside, leaving streaks of water on his face and chest. It was getting cold, but he wanted to stay like that for a moment longer. To freeze and watch the rain and shaking trees.

After another sip of water he closed the window, sat on the edge of the bed, and put the glass on the nightstand nearby. A few drops fell from his wet face on the floor, and he unconsciously tried wiping them with his toe. That just smeared the liquid on the parquet wood.

His phone buzzed. A message.

Aiko.

Staring at the bright rectangle in the darkness, he half-reached it, then froze, his arm hanging awkwardly above the sheets and the nightstand.

The phone buzzed again. Another message.

He frowned, clenched his fingers, hesitating, then finally picked up the phone.

“Hey, listen,”

All that was displayed in the notification area. He swiped the line of text to the right by habit instead of pressing it. He kept asking himself why he was doing it every time and then opening the messenger from the apps list. He couldn’t find any reasonable answer, but he kept doing it.

“Hey, listen,”

Apparently, that was all that was there. She didn’t write anything else. Hence the second message, he thought. She always sent a few words without finishing when she hesitated. He remembered how she was telling him that was her way of making herself do something. You start small and then you have no choice but to continue.

He scrolled the messages down.

“I’m sorry, it’s nothing. Didn’t want to bother you.”

Seemed like this time she did have a choice of not continuing.

Another buzz.

“That might not even be your number anymore. Sorry, just, well, never mind.”

He stared at the messages a while longer, then pressed the text area.

“Hey.”

Three letters, but it took him more than three minutes to type them and then a few more to hit the Send button. The moment it was done, he put the phone aside, not willing to look at it. He had that weird feeling you have once something you weren’t sure about is done. Then you put it aside and try not to think about it. Like a text you were embarrassed to write but wrote anyway. And once it’s written, you pretend it’s not there and maybe no one will notice.

Screen lit up.

He grabbed the phone almost instantly and this time pressed the notification directly.

A deleted message. Then she was typing. Stopped. He drilled the phone with his gaze until the screen turned off. He turned it back on. She was typing again. Stopped again.

“What’s up?”

He didn’t send it. Erased the letters one by one angrily hitting the screen.

“How are you?”

He sent this one and stared at the screen, waiting.

Some time passed. Nothing. He tossed the phone on the nightstand and was about to get up.

New buzzing sound. As if it was waiting till he put it aside.

“I’m fine, all’s good. Sorry I bothered you, Lori. It’s nothing really.”

Lori. He hadn’t heard that name for a long time. She used to call him that. Four letters with “i” at the end.

“You didn’t bother me. Anything I can do?”

The moment it was sent he grimaced as if eating something unpleasant. The words looked like some work-related formal conversation. But the message had been read already.

“Not really.”

A pause. She was typing.

“Well, since we’re talking anyway…”

Another pause.

“Can I call you? It’s getting weird with all the typing.”

“Sure. Go ahead.”

“Great. Calling then.”

He knew she would wait a bit before calling. Everyone does it. It’s like the need for this additional confirmation after you type more filler-words than you say. But he would do the same.

The phone finally started vibrating.

“Hi, Aiko.”

“Hey, Lori. Sorry, I shouldn’t have bothered you, you know…”

“It’s fine, no worries.” The words made him feel awkward. “Everything’s good?”

“Yeah. Yeah, quite good.” She made a pause, sighed, and got silent.

“You wanted to ask me something,” he decided to say once she stopped talking.

“Oh, about that. Feels kinda silly now when we’re talking.” She chuckled nervously, then added almost like persuading herself: “But since I’ve mentioned it already, it would be even sillier not to say it.”

“Mhm,” Lori felt the need to make some kind of confirmation.

“You’ll probably think I’m crazy.” She made a long sigh. “Ok, fine, too late to go back now. I’ve been quite busy with work recently, you know. End of the year hustle, everyone wants to tie things up, to finish all the unfinished stuff and so on. As if it won’t be enough time after the holidays. So, I had to stay late quite often, to do all these stupid reports, prepare some presentations and what not. Long story short, Kleo spent the holidays with my parents. And I kinda feel bad for being the type of mom that just dumps her child to grandparents and is done with the task. Ugh… That sounds so terrible. Don’t know why I said it.” Aiko made a new pause, as if waiting for a reproach, but Lori said nothing, and she continued: “What’s done is done. I’ve managed to get some time off, but, as you can imagine, holidays are over, and Kleo has school in a few days. So I was thinking…”

“Yeah, I’ll call Timmy.” Lori already knew what she was going to ask. “I’m…” He realized Aiko didn’t know about his new job. “I’m not at the office, but he’ll be able to sign the papers. A week?”

“Uhm, do you think it’ll be fine? I mean, I’m not sure that her teachers won’t have any questions.”

“Nah, she’s a good girl. Grades are good, no issues with homework and classes. You know it better than me. Let’s say after skiing a little bit too much during the holidays she’s now coughing, feeling dizzy and so on. I’ll tell Timmy what to mention in the papers.”

“Thank you, Lori,” she sounded relieved. “I needed that. Should I come by your office?”

“No.“ He thought about that for a moment, then quickly added: “No need. I can bring the papers to you.” He glanced at his watch. “Not sure when though.”

“I’m at home for a few days. Some remote work needs finishing, and Kleo is still with her grandparents. I have to sort things out before she’s back. Just give me a call maybe?”

“Yeah, I’ll try. See you later, Aiko.”

“See you, Lori.”

Once the call was over, he stared at the phone for a moment, then shook his head and opened the plane tickets app. He was scrolling it for some time before finally managing to find a flight departing in a few hours. The economy had been fully booked already, so he had to buy a business class ticket.

“Well, guess that will count for a vacation I didn’t take this year,” he muttered before hitting the order button.

Once the purchase had been confirmed, Lori got dressed, grabbed his coat, and ordered a taxi. With his hand on the door handle, he froze for a second before leaving, thinking about something.

“Whatever.” And with that he was off to the airport.

“Early flight?” the driver asked him once he got in the car.

“Yeah, quite an early one.”

“Business?”

“Yes… No.“ Lori realized the question was probably about his trip and not the class he was flying. “No, not really. Just need to sort some things out,” he replied mechanically while looking at the raindrops on the window glass. “Kinda related to my previous job though.”

“Huh.” The driver chuckled. “Busy man flying to sort things out at this time of the year.”

“Well, doctors usually are busy.”

“So, you’re a doc?”

“Well, I was, yes, but now it’s more complicated.” Lori showed him an app icon on his phone. “I’m in software development now. Not directly, mostly giving medical-related consultations. It’s a health checking app, so I’m sort of an expert to make sure they program everything correctly.”

“Oh, I’ve used this one!” the driver exclaimed, seeing the app logo. “It kept telling me I don’t have enough sleep and must drink more water.”

“Looks like good advice.”

“Well, yeah, but it’s like telling everyone to eat healthy and exercise regularly. I mean, how many of us can keep up with that?”

“Not too many.” Lori watched the road slowly getting brighter as the sun began to rise. “The app is not aimed at giving you a perfect recipe to cure all your problems.” The argument was so common that he almost recited the company’s documentation word by word. “It’s like a gentle reminder to take into account every day. Certain things look obvious to us, but we keep avoiding them or do something else instead. Then someone tells us to do it, we try, and apparently it works.” He wasn’t sure he was still talking about the app but decided not to tell the driver about it.

“Huh, I guess you’ve got me there.” The driver thought about it for a moment. “I might even consider installing your app again, pal. Might even give you five stars.” He grinned, looking at Lori in the mirror, then added. “As long as I get five stars from you.”

“Sorry wha…” Lori shook his head, as if waking up from sleep, switching from his own thoughts back to the conversation. “Ah, yes. Sure.” He took out his phone with the taxi app open. “Five stars, no problem.”

“Looks like we’ve got ourselves a deal.” The driver winked at him.

The rest of the road went in silence and Lori kept staring at the window, watching the raindrops sliding down, leaving long wet streaks behind them.

“Hey, man, listen, we’ve arrived, so I’d appreciate it if you could, well, go and catch your flight maybe?” The driver smiled meaningfully. “Ten minutes stop at the airport for free, you know. Not really in the mood to pay for an hour.”

“Oh, sorry, yeah.” Lori hurried up to get out of the car. “My bad, didn’t have enough sleep today.”

“You better use your app then, mate.” The driver chuckled, then waved with his phone. “Don’t forget our little deal.” He was about to get out of the car as well, but then thought about it and turned around. “I’ve just realized you don’t have any luggage. Guess it’ll be a short trip. Cheers, man.”

And then he drove away, leaving Lori in front of the glass doors leading to the check-in area.

He stood there for a while, watching the people inside, walking, running, standing near the panels with the flights’ schedule.

“Excuse me!”

He realized he was blocking the entrance and a group of five was trying to pass by him to get inside. A family, their father in front, pushing an impressive looking trolley with a decisive look.

“Sorry.” Lori stepped aside letting them pass.

“If you want to stare, you can do it in a less busy place.”

“George!” the woman hissed at her husband. “He can hear you.”

“Well, that was the point, honey.” Lori heard them talking while the glass doors closed once again.

He glanced at his ticket on the phone screen. Check-in was about to open.

“No refunds anyway,” he murmured to himself and walked inside.

No matter what time of day you arrive at the airport it’s always as busy as it can ever be. Departures, arrivals, last-calls, delays, taxi services, the smell of fast-food and recently cleaned restrooms, all mixed together in a whirlwind of bags, trolleys, golf-carts, and miles of barriers tapes. Might seem excited at first, but the more you visit the place, the less excited you get. Lori sighed, looking at the giant screen from which a pair of glamorously looking individuals were smiling, offering him to buy some expensive perfume.

Online check-in wasn’t possible. Again. Wondering why some airlines do that, he proceeded to the registration area. At least this time he arrived just in time when it had already started and not a few hours in advance. Though it also led to a long queue of passengers who got there before him.

The angry man with the heavily loaded trolley, as well as his family, was there too. Seemed like they had the same flight. He noticed Lori and awarded him with a triumphant gaze, probably being really proud of himself as they were standing a couple of passengers closer to the registration counter.

“Excuse me sir, are you flying in business class?” The woman from the counter nearby noticed the ticket’s color on Lori’s phone and waved to him. “Please come here.”

Several pairs of eyes, head of the family and his wife included, turned towards Lory disapprovingly. Feeling as awkward as any person who is not used to VIP privileges, he lowered his head almost by instinct and approached the counter.

“No luggage, sir?” the woman asked when handing his boarding pass over.

Lori realized that all he had with him was his phone, keys, and wallet. Apart from his clothes of course.

“Uhm, no.” He felt the need to give an explanation for some reason: “Traveling light.”

“Of course.” The woman smiled. “Have a pleasant flight.”

Half an hour later he stood in front of the terminal window, looking at the planes landing and taking off. The rain started again, drumming on the glass ceiling high above his head.

He felt a vibration in his coat pocket.

“Hi, Aiko.”

“Hey! Erm, sorry again. Listen… This is so stupid…” She chuckled nervously. “Whatever.” Aiko took a deep breath. “Do you remember where we put the decorations for the house?”

That took him by surprise, and he was silent for a moment.

“You want to… decorate the house? After the holidays?”

“Ugh, when someone else is saying this, it sounds even more stupid,” she muttered, almost to herself. “But yeah, I mean, Kleo spent this time with my parents, and I was working. Didn’t get any chance for this stuff, you know. And when she was calling me, I just used this silly digital background with funny lights, deers and so on. Looked like an idiot, but at least that made Kleo laugh. Now, continuing being an idiot parent, I thought I should at least try to make something nice for my girl. Hence this wonderful idea.”

“I think it’s a good idea actually,” Lori replied once she got silent. “The decorations are in the garage, the big blue box on the right shelf, at the very top.”

“Ah, that one!” she exclaimed. “I was wondering what’s in there but thought it’s something for the car. Great, thanks, Lori.”

“No problem. Do you need any help? Well, when I’ll come by later, I mean.”

“Nah, it’s fine. I’ll manage. Will take out just a few, I think, and not those that are for the outside of the house. That would make the wrong impression on the neighbors.” She chuckled, then added: “I wish I’d bought these colorful cookies we used to buy in Duty Free when we were traveling. Had a business trip last month and completely forgot with all that work.”

“I…” Lori glanced at the boutiques behind him. “I’ll try to find something on my way to you.”

“Don’t bother. You won’t find them anywhere else. It’s fine, no worries. I’ll grab something similar at the store when I go there.”

“Sure, you do that.” Lori was already on his way to one of the boutiques. “I’ll see you later, Aiko.”

“Bye, Lori.” She hung up.

Once the cookies had been bought, Lori went to the restroom on the ground floor of the terminal. Upon entering he saw a tall young man standing at one of the sinks. Balancing on one leg and shaking from side to side, he raised the other one all the way up to the tap and was washing his foot, murmuring something incomprehensible. The tap was motion-controlled, and he had to wriggle his toes every time the water stopped.

Lori froze for a moment and the young man finally noticed him. They stared at each other, one with a bag of cookies under his armpit and the other one with his foot in his hands under the running water from the tap.

Not knowing what else to do, Lori nodded, almost by instinct, to show some reaction to the staring scene. Then he quickly proceeded to the cabins.

When he got back the young man had finished with one foot and was now occupied by the other. This time they both pretended not noticing each other, and Lori washed his hands at the sink on the opposite side of the restroom.

“It’s my fiancée’s father,” the young man suddenly said when Lori was going towards the exit.

“Excuse me?” Lori looked at him.

“I’m getting married.” The young man smiled apologetically. “And we’re flying to my family with my future father and mother-in-law. He is very strict. I mean, my fiancée’s father. I heard him talking something about the smell, thought that it might be my feet, panicked and came here.” He kept smiling awkwardly, standing on one bare foot on his shoe and the other one hanging in the air. Lori felt he wanted to tell something else. “So… I’ve decided to wash my feet then.” The young man sighed. “I don’t know why I’m telling you this. I just… I don’t want to screw this all up.”

“Do you love her?” Lori asked him suddenly.

“I’m sorry?” the young man got confused.

“Your future wife. Do you love her?”

“Of course!” He looked as surprised, as if it were a question the answer to which was beyond obvious. “More than anything in the world!”

“Good.” Lori made a pause and knocked at the door frame with his knuckles, like confirming each word.“That is… very good.”

Lori nodded to the young man again and he nodded back, still smiling but a little bit less confused this time. Not saying anything else, they both got back to their own thoughts and paths.

Some time later, looking at the runway getting smaller and smaller under the plane’s wing, Lori thought about that day. It felt like a series of random events hastily stitched together: waking up and staring at the window, writing, and then talking to Aiko, buying tickets, chatting with the taxi driver, and so on. He felt like jumping from one of them to the other, without noticing what was happening in-between. His whole life sometimes felt like that.

“O-oh…” The old lady next to him took a peek at the window. “We’re already in the air.” She looked a bit scared. “That always frightens me, you know. What if…” She got silent, as if being afraid of saying it, then added: “I still have so many things to do. But on the plane, we’re just sitting and waiting. Can’t do anything ourselves here till we arrive. I’ve so many plans—”

“Does it matter?” for some reason Lori interrupted her. He wasn’t angry or annoyed by the old lady’s chatting. It just triggered some response in him, as if he simply wanted to tell that out loud. “Life’s just a series of events between which we live. Sometimes one leads to another, sometimes they are just random. But it’s all meaningless in the end. Plans, things to do. All we have is a present moment, slipping through our fingers while we’re making plans or writing a new to-do list.” He glanced at the old lady, then nodded at the window. “But in reality, there’s just an instant between past and future. And we only think about it when it’s already too late or still too early.”

He suddenly noticed a disapproving look of a hostess who was passing by and overheard his monologue.

“Is everything alright, madam?” The hostess leaned towards the old lady.

“O-oh…” She glanced at Lori for some reason.

He looked at the hostess and saw a very distinct expression on her face, so he tried to give the old lady a confident nod. “Everything’s going to be all right. I am sure.”

“In the meantime, I can get you a nice cup of tea, how about that?” The hostess smiled and, after glancing one more time at Lori, went towards the cabin section of the plane.

The rest of the flight went in silence.

Upon arrival and exiting the terminal Lori watched the dark clouds gathering above him. The drops of rain were already on his coat. He took out his phone and called Timmy.

“Hey, man.” Lori heard children shouting while Timmy was speaking. “What’s up? Haven’t seen you for a while. How’s your tech journey going? Already got that senior position with a million years of experience required?”

They talked for a bit about how things had been before and how they were now, all the while the shouting getting louder and louder on Timmy’s end.

“Is it a good time to speak?” Lori finally decided to ask.

“Yeah, it’s fine. Spending some quality time with my family, you know,” Timmy made an emphasis on the word. “My wife suggested it. As if spending just my regular time with them is not qualitative enough.” He made a loud sigh. “I mean what’s with this expression? Am I supposed to, dunno, transform into some quality measurement machine and figure out what this type of time is and be like: ‘Ok, here’s me giving my all! Everyone pay attention, it’s quality time!’”

Lori heard a woman’s voice somewhere in the background.

“No, honey… No! No, of course not!” There were some panicking notes in Timmy’s voice. “Yes. Yes! I will do my best!” He got back to Lori. “Yeah, sorry about that. Afraid I need to go. You wanted to ask me something?”

Lori told him about Aiko and what she had asked for.

“Sure, man. No problem.” There was a pause and a loud exclamation of something incomprehensible. “Phew. Almost slipped and fell in the pool. Never mind. I’m not at the office, as you can imagine. But Narin is working for some reason. Told her to take a few days off, yet she said she wanted to sort out a bunch of things. I’ll text her. Come by the office, she’ll sign everything.”

“Who are you talking to?” Lori heard Timmy’s wife’s voice.

He got silent for a while, probably covering up the phone to reply.

“Him?” Lori heard an angry hissing. “After all their… issues with Aiko?” The hissing was getting angrier with each word while Timmy was trying to explain something.

“Listen, man,” he finally got back to Lori, “have to go now. Quality time awaits. Really sorry.” They both knew Lori overheard the conversation. “Talk later, ok?”

“Of course. Thank you, Timmy. Hope I didn’t bother you too much. Appreciate the help. Have a good one.”

“You too, man. Cheers. All Right! Fine! I’m coming already!” The last phrases were probably addressed to his family. There was a loud sound of water splashing, then Timmy hung up.

“We surely did have a lot of… issues,” Lori muttered looking at the phone screen.

He called a taxi and went to Timmy's office. Their former office, he added upon some thinking while getting in the car.

Once arrived, he saw a note on the door: “Doctor is out of the office this week. General consultations only.”

Narin indeed seemed to be there. Lori pushed the door and went inside.

“Hello, Narin,” he said to the young woman sitting at the desk and writing something. She seemed to be a bit on the nerves, furiously scratching lines of text on the paper.

“Oh, good afternoon, doctor… I mean…”

“Lori.” He realized that after Aiko’s call he wanted to use that variant of his name. “Just Lori now. Not working here anymore, remember?”

“Of course…” She was about to say his name, but, as it usually happens in situations when you can address your former boss informally, decided against it. “Happy holidays,” she said instead.

“And to you too.” After a pause, seeing that Narin was looking at him as if asking to continue, he added: “Did Timmy message you regarding the favor I’ve asked him about?”

“Ah, yes, of course.” She opened the drawer and took out a few papers. “Here.”

“Thank you, Narin.”

“I’ve added a few more days.” She winked at him. “Just in case. It’s quite an ordinary thing for schools, so if Kleo comes back earlier, it’ll be fine as well. Just to give you some flexibility.”

“That’s great. Thank you again.”

“No problem.” Narin smiled, then glanced at her paperwork with angry notes all over it and sighed.

“Is everything alright?” Lori felt like she needed to vent a little. “It’s probably not my business, but you seem a bit distracted. Holidays went well?”

“Ye-a-a-ah… no.” She made an unnatural laugh. “I mean, it’s ok that you’ve asked. As for the rest… Oh well, just having some usual disputes with my insignificant other. It’s fine.” She waved it off. “Some minor grudges.”

“Don’t let them turn into major ones, if you don’t mind my advice.” Lori sighed. “Better deal with all the little disputes once and for all and make sure there is none left. I do have some experience in the matter.”

“Oh, you surely do.” Narin chuckled bitterly, then her eyes immediately got round. “Oh my… I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to say it like that! It's just—”

“It’s ok.” Lori interrupted her softly. “Truth is truth after all. No reason to hide it. At least I can be a good example for others. Or a rather bad one, but still, you got my point.”

Narin tried to smile again, not knowing what to say.

“Anyway,” Lori said once an awkward pause started to hang between them. “Thank you for the papers. I should be going now. Don’t work too hard. Get some rest. Nobody’s here today.”

“I will. Just need to finish a few things. Have a good day…” She still didn’t want to call him Lori and tried not to mention the name.

Lori turned around and walked towards the door.

“Should I give him another chance?” Narin asked when he almost left. “Feels like I want to hear it from anyone except myself.”

“Not sure if I can be a role model to follow,” he glanced at her over his shoulder. “But maybe once you finally want to hear it from yourself there’ll be your answer? Until then, honest talks usually help. Sounds dull, yet we’re always so focused on complex things that simple ones manage to slip by.” He paused, then added in the end: “Best I can offer. Goodbye, Narin.”

“Thank you… Lori.”

On his way out he saw a puzzled-looking man entering the office. He seemed to be quite in a hurry and confused at the same time, almost like he wasn’t noticing what was happening around and trying to figure out how to proceed.

They almost bumped into each other, both consumed by their own thoughts.

“Pardon…” the man said, shaking his head, then he glanced at Lori and asked: “Excuse me, do you know if Narin is working today?”

“Yes.” Lori could already guess who the man was. “I assume you’re the reason she’s working?”

“Erm…” The man rubbed his head, looking aside. “Yeah… I kinda am…”

“Well, at least you’re here now.”

“Yeah…” he said again. “I kinda am…”

“Don’t keep her waiting.”

“Of course! Thanks… Hm… Yeah, I better be going then.”

“Good luck.”

“Thanks.”

Lori glanced at the man going up the stairs, then walked towards the exit. He stopped there for a moment, looking at the note on the door to the office. He took it off, flipped the “Closed” sign to face the street and walked away.

Before coming to Aiko’s house Lori browsed the empty streets for a while. The sky was gray, a light drizzle was falling on his coat while he was walking. Rare folks were hurrying up to their homes. The streets were almost silent. Always like that the day after the holiday. Everyone is not sure if that new life of theirs has already begun or if they are still living their previous one. The frontier has been crossed but not much seemed to be changing.

Upon approaching the house he saw Aiko adjusting the head of a giant plastic snowman. Frowning and being fully focused on making it sit on top of the huge white ball perfectly, she was murmuring something, not noticing anything else around. Lori unconsciously stopped, watching her. She was always like that, completely consumed by the task at hand and giving it all until it’s finished.

“Need any help with that?” he finally spoke standing at the fence.

“Nope, thanks.” She then realized it was him and quickly turned around. “Hey… Lori. Wow. I didn’t expect you today. Thought you’ll be celebrating somewhere, or I guess doing all the after-celebration stuff.”

“Nah.” Lori shrugged. “Sorry I didn’t call in advance. Decided not to postpone… this time,” he added the last words after a moment of hesitation, then quickly changed the subject: “Mister Snowy’s looking good.”

“Oh, yes. I suppose.” Aiko briefly glanced over her shoulder. “I still feel like the head is not quite even.”

“It should click once attached. When you hear it, you can’t really turn it anymore. It’s basically stuck in that position.”

“I know,” Aiko’s voice got slightly irritated. “Yet I still want to turn it a bit to the right. Keeps bugging me… Oh well,” she finally waved it off. “Guess not everything is supposed to be perfect in life. Or maybe it’s already perfect, and we just think that there can be more of it.”

They stood silent for a brief moment, not knowing where to go from that point of conversation, then, almost at the same time, both shook their heads as if waking up from a quick nap and realizing that life keeps happening around without you noticing it.

“You wanna… Come in?” Aiko asked him at last.

“Yes… Yes, sure.”

“What?” she suddenly shouted. “Can’t a woman have a wish for a holiday… after a holiday?” Lori stared at her, but then quickly realized she was talking to a neighbor who, with a surprised look, was observing the snowman assembling process and various lights scattered around Aiko’s yard. “Nothing unusual here, ok? Let’s go.” The last phrase, accompanied by an impatient wave of a hand, was addressed to Lori.

Once they got inside, he saw several other boxes with decorations from the garage.

“Seems like you’ve decided to go with more than just a few,” Lori pointed at the boxes.

“Ah, that…” Aiko looked like it was the first time she saw them. “Well, once I found the blue box you mentioned, I also noticed there were some more. I started checking what’s inside, got a bit overwhelmed by all the memories, one box led to another, and here we are.” She spread her arms. “Now I need to put it all back before Kleo arrives. This mess is not something I was aiming at. Quite the opposite. Anyway,” she turned around and chuckled somewhat nervously, “let’s go to the kitchen, there’s a bit more space there.”

In the kitchen, almost mechanically, Lori went straight to his favorite place near the window, then realized he wasn’t living there anymore and stopped right in the middle of the room, not knowing how he should proceed.

“You alright?” Aiko raised a brow. “Why don’t you sit there already?” she nodded at Lori’s old spot, as if not expecting him to go anywhere else.

“Sure, thanks.”

“Want something?” she said quickly, just to fill in the silent moment, turning around the kitchen and looking distracted, thinking about something else. “To eat, to drink?”

“No, tha—” Lori was about to refuse, but she was already passing him a bottle of water, paying no attention to his words, still being consumed by her own thoughts. “Oh…”

“Oh…” Aiko finally realized he said no and was about to take the bottle away, but Lori was already holding it.

They froze in front of each other. Lori – sitting at the table and holding the bottom of the bottle and Aiko – standing at the other side and holding the upper part of it.

The awkward scene lasted for a few more seconds.

“You didn’t want…”

“Well, I guess I can… Ugh…”

They both pulled the bottle towards themselves, making it even more awkward, then both let it go at the same time. It fell on the floor and slowly started rolling under the table. They got silent and watched it turning over and over until it finally stopped after hitting the table leg.

“That was…”

“Weird,” Lori finished the phrase.

“Yeah.”

“I’ve got the papers,” he hurried up to take them out of his coat and put a few sheets on the table. “Here.”

“Yes, great,” Aiko quickly replied. “Thanks.”

“It’s for more than a week, but she can come back earlier if you want.” Lori handed Aiko the papers. “Timmy is off today, but Narin was able to sign everything. I’ve double checked. All’s good.”

Aiko stared at the document, then made a long sigh. “When it comes to Kleo, you always make sure everything is done properly, Lori. Thank you. You’ve done so much for her… Even though she’s not your daughter…”

“Don’t!” Lori raised his voice. He didn’t want to, but it happened anyway. Like something was triggered inside of him and got out. “Just don’t, Aiko! You know well enough that I don’t care about this nonsense whether I’m her father or not! I don’t care about such things. She is a great kid and I love her. And I just want to make sure she’s doing well and has everything she needs. Why is it so important who her real dad is?”

That went too far, or at least not in the direction he was aiming at. Lori got silent, looking at the corner and avoiding Aiko’s eyes.

“You…” She unconsciously took a step back. “You’re right of course. I’m sorry.”

She then took a chair and sat in front of him. Lori realized that she was really tired, as if finally something clicked and she couldn’t pretend anymore, so she was just looking at him, head sunk in her shoulders, as if all life had been drained out and nothing left.

“I don’t know why I said that.” She noticed that Lori glanced at her meaningfully. “Well, maybe I know…”

“Doesn’t matter now.” He reached the bottle on the floor and put it on the table. “Let’s just make sure she gets all she needs in life while we try not to screw everything up even further.”

“Sounds like a plan.” She chuckled bitterly, then asked: “When did it all go wrong? What happened to us, Lori?”

“I was an idiot,” he replied instantly. “You…” His next words came out with a sigh: “You were you, Aiko.”

They stopped talking, looking at the bottle in the middle of the table and the water bubbles moving inside of it.

“Still, I keep wondering when this all started. The chain of messing things up I mean,” Aiko said quietly. “Since you appeared in our life, I kept watching you taking care of Kleo, seeing all the happiness and joy once you were with her or any other kid. Guess that’s why you’ve become a doctor, huh? I thought you wanted to have your own child…” She noticed him wincing and raised her hand. “I know, I know, you don’t like the word ‘own’. But you see what I mean. And then…” her voice trembled slightly. “Then I found out I can’t have children anymore. Thought you’d get mad.”

“I wasn’t.”

“Yeah, you could have told me that.” He felt a reproach in her voice, then she chuckled again. “Never mind. It just felt like since that moment everything’s changed. You started coming home late. I thought you were… seeing someone else.”

“I wasn’t.”

“I know. But I thought you were… Thought it was Narin.”

“What?” Lori’s brows flew up.

“Forget it. It’s stupid. And I’ve talked to her already.”

“I see.” Lori recalled Narin’s remark earlier when they were talking at Timmy's office. “She has her own idiot to take care of…”

“Oh, stop with your righteous self-flagellation already, Lori.” Aiko slapped his hand slightly. She tried saying it as a joke, but he knew that was only half-true. She never liked hearing too many excuses. “They both are quite the characters. Same as we are. Same as everyone else is.”

“Guess you’re right.” The conversation was starting to go nowhere, and Lori got up. “Well, I’d better be going now. You probably have more decorations to sort out.”

“Right…” Aiko suddenly looked confused. “Sure. Thank you again.” She walked with him to the corridor.

“Ah, almost forgot.” Lori saw the bag of cookies he bought at the airport. He left it at the door once he got in. “I’ve purchased the biggest pack they had.” He handed the bag to Aiko. “Wanted to buy more, then realized I didn’t have anything to put them into, so…”

“Wait a second,” she squinted at him. “They only sell these at the Duty Free.”

“Yeah, about that…” Lori looked aside, avoiding Aiko’s eyes. “I kinda… Moved to a different place.”

“What?”

“Well, since I’ve got a new job, I needed to relocate.”

“You’ve got a new job?”

“Yeah.”

“Where?”

He told her his new address.

“But that’s like, what,” Aiko kept questioning Lori, while he was still standing with a bag of cookies half-way towards her, “several hours by plane?”

“A few, yes.”

“And you flew all the way up here? Today? To give me the papers that I could’ve picked up myself at Timmy’s office?”

“Well, now when you’re saying it out loud, it does sound a bit…”

“Dumb,” Aiko finished for him.

“Yes, that seems to be the right word.”

“Lori,” Aiko took a step closer, trying to look him in the eye. “Is everything alright?”

“I flew here to give you the papers,” he finally looked at her and said quietly. “You are trying to decorate the house to celebrate the holiday that has already ended. By normal standards, I’d say that’s not exactly something that can be considered as alright.” After a pause he added: “I’m just glad I came to see you, Aiko. Tell Kleo I love her. Though, it’s too much, I guess. Just tell her hi, ok?”

“Of course.” She finally took the cookies.

“Right.” Lori waved awkwardly, then, not knowing where to put his hands, shoved them in his coat pockets and turned around. “Goodbye, Aiko. And good luck with…” he pointed at the boxes, “well, with your holiday special.”

He was walking through the yard, looking down at the ground, not seeing anything else around.

“Lori… Wait,” standing near the fence, he turned around hearing Aiko’s voice. “I thought maybe I do need a bit of help with Mister Snowy’s friend.” She nodded at the plastic snowman in the yard and another giant box nearby. “He kinda looks lonely. Do you mind giving me a hand with that?”

Lori looked at her, then glanced at the sky. The rain had stopped, it was getting clearer. He looked at Aiko again. And for the first time that day they smiled.

Was once posted somewhere else. Not anymore. Just want it to be here.