Viktor
It’s been over a week since I’ve seen Millie, and I’m growing more and more impatient with her endless excuses. I thought we were having a good time together, and I’d been trying to keep the true nature of my work under wraps in order to keep from scaring her. She’s shot me down three times already this past week, and I know the pace of her shop to know better than to believe that she’s that busy.
As somebody who routinely extorts what I want from people, it’s increasingly difficult not to seek some kind of petty retaliation against her for not being transparent with me. I know better than to try to play games with her, but I have to face the reality that if she really wanted to see me, she would make time. That’s one of the most basic rules of any relationship.
I’m going over the contract for a new building when Stepan enters my office. “I haven’t seen you going out often lately. Did something happen between you and Maggie?” he asks.
I roll my eyes. “I know you know her name by now. You’re just being disrespectful,” I reply, shuffling through the papers and squinting at the miles of legal jargon.
“Whatever. If she’s being shady, it’s probably because she’s got other guys around. Not like I think that’s a wise choice since you’re clearly a highquality man, but she doesn’t strike me as being the best at decisionmaking,” he continues, walking over and taking the contract out of my hands to examine himself.
“This contract doesn’t concern you, don’t worry about it. And besides, Millie and I have a casual relationship. She’s allowed to do what she wants,” I reply.
Of course, this doesn’t truly reflect my feelings for her at all, but I can’t allow Stepan to believe that Millie has somehow been stringing me along. It would completely deplete his respect for me.
“Okay, whatever. Since you’re not busy then, why don’t you come over for dinner tonight?” he asks, and I sigh, begrudgingly accepting.
When Stepan wants something from someone, he relentlessly pesters that person until he obtains it. I’ve tried to fight him on nights out, dinners, dates with his daughter, and he never backs down until I throw my hands up in defeat and humor him. It’s no way for a grown man to behave, but it’s the way he’s always been.
I won’t fight it tonight. I’m so fed up with Millie’s games that I might just have to move on and consider seeing Katya. I don’t want to, but it’s like Millie is trying to push me away. Maybe she’s had her fill.
That night, I arrive at Stepan’s red-brick townhouse with a bottle of Russian wine and a feeling of unease and discontent. Why is Stepan involving himself so much in my love life? Is his wife just not fucking him anymore? I thought he said she was perfect. If she was sucking him off enough, he’d probably be less likely to interfere.
The first person I see is Katya, who greets me warmly as I enter and takes the bottle of wine to chill it in the fridge.
Stepan emerges from around the corner as I enter the dining room. “Isn’t she so attentive? Right at the door waiting for you as you got here,” he brags, and I’m almost completely unable to conceal my nauseated disposition.
“Yeah, she’s a nice girl. What’s for dinner?” I ask, hoping that my clear lack of interest in discussing Katya would deter him from speaking of her further. Not only am I not interested in dating her to begin with, it feels disrespectful and objectifying to discuss her qualities like she’s a prize hog at the state fair.
“You know that Katya wants to be an event planner, right? She’s so good with all that nitpicky bullshit that women like,” Stepan continues, completely ignoring my nonverbal pleas for mercy. “I know Svetlana was never really into stuff like that. She was always a housewife. Katya wants to go to college.”
I nod curtly as we sit down, observing Svetlana as she enters the dining room, silently carrying a dish full of lasagna. It looks good, I admit, but I don’t like the way she carries herself, like she’s trying to be as unseen and unheard as possible. Stepan must really have a tight leash on his women.
“This looks good Svet, thank you,” I say, and she smiles at me, blushing and then immediately turning to leave the room.
Katya enters as Svetlana leaves, sitting down cautiously across from me as her father smiles proudly.
“Katya, why don’t you tell Viktor about that thing you’ve been doing lately? Uh, what’s it called? You’ve been playing tennis or something?” Stepan says, pouring me a glass of wine that I didn’t ask for.
“I’ve been playing soccer with a local league. I told you that,” Katya replies, keeping sweet with a pointed sense of distinguished annoyance lacing her words.
“Oh, right, okay,” Stepan replies, pouring his own wine and drinking half of it in one gulp.
Despite the awkwardness, he seems particularly pleased with himself for setting this all up.
Where is his wife, though? Why did she run off like that?
“Viktor has been making some very impressive investments lately, Katya,” Stepan interjects, looking at Katya expectantly as if she’s supposed to fall on the floor and kiss my feet for being a halfway decent businessman. I doubt she even knows what it is that Stepan and I actually do with our time. “Wow,” Katya replies blandly, looking me up and down.
I clear my throat. “Soccer is cool. I’m sure there are a lot of guys your age there, too.”
Stepan laughs loudly, cutting Katya off before she even gets the chance to open her mouth. “You’re a funny guy, Viktor, but Katya prefers older men.
Isn’t that right, dear?”
Katya nods eagerly, but there’s something scripted about her movements. They’re not honest. “Much older,” she confirms.
I groan internally. It’s not that Katya isn’t a nice young woman, but she’s no Millie, and I’m still stuck on that woman like a rat in a trap. I can’t get away, even though I’m starting to think it’d be better if I did.