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She’d had her snack, and Anna was on her way to the restroom to wash her face when father dearest called. They both talked for a moment, primarily about Clarice’s condition. She still remained stable, so that was a good sign. David advised Anna she could go home to get some actual rest since he was on his way to the hospital. Anna was relieved, and thankful. She could change out of her clothes and take a much-needed shower, though the raccoon eyes would remain until she had her proper sleep.
 
On her way home, Anna had stopped by the store when she ran into none other than Nikolai. She saw him standing at the check-out, paying for a few items, and she immediately did a 180 and started to walk the opposite way. Unbeknownst to her, however, Nikolai had spotted her through the convex mirror positioned over and behind the cashier.
 
“Well, look who it is. Are you avoiding me now?” he remarked with a smirk, looking over his shoulder at her. Anna stopped, closing her eyes for a moment and sighing before facing him. This on-and-off thing they had had taken its toll on her, and if she was being quite frank with herself, she wished it wouldn’t repeat again. Of course she had feelings for Nikolai, but he was a little too carefree when it came to their relationship in the past, and so Anna felt like she was the one putting in all the effort and doing all the work.
 
[color=#C2C8DB]“Please Nik, not now. My mom’s in the hospital.”[/color]
 
His face immediately dropped, and he turned around as well. Nikolai forgot about his surroundings for a moment as he provided his undivided attention to Anna. Deep down, he truly was a caring person, despite oftentimes playing the opposite role. The drinks behind him on the counter were going to be purchased with his fake ID as he was still a few months shy of being 21, but that didn’t mean he was a hardened criminal. Absentmindedly, Nikolai took a few steps forward to embrace Anna in a hug. “I’m sorry to hear that, what happened? What’s wrong?”
 
Anna nodded in response to his words. [color=#C2C8DB]“She had a heart attack, but she’s okay for now.”[/color] She couldn’t lie to herself, in those brief few seconds he was holding her she felt safe. The warmth radiated off of his body and that was one of the things she missed, but she had to be strong and not allow herself to be drawn in again. At least that’s what she told herself because in the past she had been quite careless. Though the more she thought about it in that moment, the more indecisive she grew as to whether this brief embrace was something she longed for in general or she truly did miss him. [color=#C2C8DB]“Thank you for asking,”[/color] she went on, pulling away from him. [color=#C2C8DB]“I’m on my way home now to rest so I’ll see you around.”[/color]

“Sure thing, it was nice seeing you. Give me a call sometime to let me know how she's doing.”

With a half smile and a wave, Anna made her way towards the door, completely forgetting about the fact that she was there to buy some stuff.

**********

After Anna had had some sleep, she was on her feet again. Failing to notice earlier that day when she got home, this time she glanced over at the counter to see another unopened letter. Great. She grabbed it and took it to her room, tossing it on the dresser. The girl wasn’t sure when she would get around to reading it, but she was having a few busy days.

With her stomach growling, Anna tidied up a bit around the house before stepping out. Despite the fact that she was waking up at odd hours throughout the day, her appetite didn’t seem to suffer one bit. In fact, she believed she was stress eating from everything going on in her life at the moment. Her plan was to stop to grab a bite, because obviously she didn’t feel like waiting any longer to have something to eat, then she would go back to the store to get what she needed. 

In the midst of her being completely distracted by a recipe video she had found online, Anna didn’t notice the person in front of her and accidentally ran into him, dropping her phone and cursing as a result.

[color=#C2C8DB]“Shit! Sorry, didn’t see you there...”[/color]

The girl bent down to reach for her phone and winced in pain. The last thing she needed then was a sprained wrist.

[hr][sub][center][I]Interacting with: [@Metronome][/i][/center][/sub]