Stories with my Russians

    Nikolai stood on the balcony of his Moscow apartment, looking down at the people walking below. It was Valentine’s Day, Nikolai’s least favorite holiday thanks to certain happenings that occurred in the past. Betrayals of past lovers, exes cheating on him, being used… Everything you could think of happened to him in the past. Especially on Valentine’s Day. It was certainly one of the more painful things Nikolai tried to hide about himself. Not even his adopted son, Artyom, knew about these past relationships, he was that hurt over them. Only his best friend knew about it.

    “All these people… with their true love...:” Nikolai said under his breath as he took a long sigh. Resting his forearms on the rails of the balcony, he continued to watch the bustling streets of Russia’s capital. “I wish that could’ve happened to me long ago.. But, I guess not. Maybe I won’t even find anyone before I move to America.”

    Sighing again, Nikolai just watched the people below sadly. He often just stayed home and played with Artyom during the day. But now that his adopted son was asleep, Nikolai just did his own thing. The red panda became lost in thought, his eyes mindlessly watching the crowd of people walking throughout the streets of Moscow, talking with their romantic partners.

    That is, until Nikolai felt his phone vibrate in one of his jacket pockets and he turned his attention to that instead of his sulking. Taking the phone out of his pocket, Nikolai looked at the notification and saw it was a text from his best friend, a fennec fox named Aleksei. The text read:

    “Hey Nikolai, I know this isn’t the best time to be texting you but, I was wanting to ask if you wanted to come around to my place tonight! I feel like it would make you feel better and we haven’t hung out with one another for a while so, how about it? :D”

    Nikolai smiled as he read the text. Aleksei was the only one who knew the real reason why he hated Valentine’s Day and this year’s Valentine’s was particularly bad. Despite this, Aleksei knew how to make his red panda friend feel better. Nikolai responded with his own little text.

    “Yeah, I can head over! Artyom is asleep so I’ll be over there as soon as I can!”

    Right after Nikolai sent his message, he went back inside and quietly left the apartment, heading for Aleksei’s place. At least there was something that was going to make him feel better this Valentine’s Day.