"Which station is it?"
"Brusenitsa, I suppose."
"Wow!"
Olive jumped down from her upper berth and immediately started smartening herself up. She had less than an hour before arriving at Arkhangelsk.
It only took her fifteen minutes to get ready, and the rest of the time she spend pacing up and down the carriage and trying in vain to see the outside view in the dark through the icy windows. Yana was sitting surprisingly still on her berth even though she kept asking Olive if her beloved Dima Negodyaev was coming to meet her at the train station as well as everybody else.
Olive knew he wasn't coming. She also knew that Yana's fancy red cocktail dress and glamour fur as well as the presents for Dima she had been picking with such love and care were going down the drain. But she decided not to tell Yana about it. Let everything happen as it happens, Olive thought, now the most important thing was to reach the destination. She was looking forward to coming to Arkhangelsk at last, hugging her friends and - let's just say it - Olive missed Saltikov a lot. They hadn't been in touch during the last two months - neither via ICQ nor phone calls nor even sms'. Olive had gone through a lot of thinking lately, and she had a really bad feeling about Saltikov. It was evident he had been losing interest in her bit by bit. But she hated to think about it, especially now. Now it was all about the forthcoming platform. Olive hit it first once the train stopped and she immediately found herself in her friends' arms. They had all come as a big group: there were Chrome White, Floodman, Pavlya, Cosmos, Pikachu and Max Capalin who had recently come on the Christmas holiday from Saint Petersburg.
"Hi! Hi! Here we are at last!" Olive exclaimed joyfully hugging and kissing everyone.
She was looking around for Saltikov and waiting for him to embrace and kiss her fervently as he had done last summer. He had been receiving her so just half a year before. It had then been summer, bright, nice and worm. The poplar trees had had their green foliage on. But now it was dark and cold, the platform was covered with snow, and the snowflakes were dancing in the yellow light of the street lamps.
"Saltikov what are you up to? Why don't you kiss your girlfriend?" Max Capalin shouted.
Saltikov came from the crowd and gave her a cold kiss on the cheek.
"Where is Yankee?" he asked.
"She's inside the train; we've got a lot of baggage."
A moment - and Saltikov accompanied by two guys disappeared in the train. Olive watched him perplexedly.
"Yes, he has definitely gone cold on me, he is avoiding me now..." she thought in confusion, "But why?"
Meanwhile, Cosmos and Max Capalin with bags and suitcases got off the train; Saltikov walked behind almost empty-handed; he was holding Yana's hand.
"But where is Dima? Why hasn't he come?" asked Yana wrapping herself in a pretty little fur coat.
"Oh, please, you don't want that retard! Why talk about him?" Saltikov jumped off the train and held out his hand to her.
"Now, Yankee, hold on to me, it's slippery."
Yana hesitantly put her foot equipped with a high-healed leather boot on a slippery stair.
"Wow!" she slipped and waved her arms trying to keep her balance. Saltikov was quick - he immediately put his arms around her body and placed her on the platform. He was holding Yana in his arms for a couple more seconds and let her go only when Olive's jealous eye looked at him too overtly.
"You've changed so much since last summer," said Chrome White to Olive, "Now you are prettier than ever. I couldn't wait to see you again..."
Olive turned back to Saltikov. But he was fully immersed in the conversation with Yana.
In the meantime the guys were taking their seats in the cars. It was settled to seat Olive, Yana, Saltikov and his brother in Bivis' car. There was left one more seat for Pikachu. Olive insisted on her going with them, but she straight-up refused to and said that she would get in the other car.
"How are you going to fit in Sanya Negodyaev's car?" Olive said heatedly, "Look who's taking it - Cosmos, Max Capalin, Pavlya, Nemezida, Chrome White - that makes six. There's no room for you left, while our car is half empty..."
"No, I'm going with the guys," Pikachu kept harping on, "If it gets too cramped let Chrome While sit in your car."
"Cut the cackle, will you?" Yana lost her patience, "I'm freezing and can't stand here anymore waiting for you all to settle."
"Yankee, get in the car," said Saltikov and gently opened a back door for her.
"But what about..." Olive began.
"Stop fussing, Pumpkin! Leave Pikachu alone. Let her go with the guys if she wants to," whispered Saltikov and pulled Olive's sleeve, "Can't you see she has a crush on Max Capalin!"
"How could I know that?"
"You should have been a bit smarter."
Olive didn't like the tone of Saltikov's voice. He could have shown more care and respect to her, his fiancee he hadn't seen for two months. Instead, he was showing indifference as though he had been living with her for ten years or more and got too sick of her. Olive could have probably accepted it if she had really spent ten years with him as his wife. It would have been understandable, love dies as time goes by but it was definitely not their case. They had been dating only for half a year, and lived together for two weeks in sum, so how could he get sick of her that soon? Now he treated her like dirt and paid more attention to Yana, what was going to happen later when they were married and sharing the same house? Olive got terrified. No, no, she was just working herself up, she thought. But her mood was broken anyway.
"Alright, there's no need to ruin the New Year having it out," thought Olive as they drove through Lomonosov Avenue, "Now let everything happen as it happens. And later... later..."
But she was too terrified to imagine what was going to be later and she tried her best not to think about it.
Meanwhile they had already arrived at the apartment rented for everybody to stay on holiday and celebrate the New Year. This place looked a lot better than the one rented by Saltikov for Olive last summer. The apartment had more than just one bedroom: there were three well-furnished living rooms.
"Wow, it's beautiful!" exclaimed Yana on seeing a bedroom with a huge king-size bed covered with a red satin duvet. Over the bed hang a chandelier of two lamps; the heavy red curtains on the window toned in perfectly with the bedcover.
"it's your bedroom," Olive said to her, "Now get settled and make yourself comfortable."
"But, Pumpkin, where are we going to sleep, then?" whispered Saltikov in Olive's ear.
"In the lounge room," was the answer.
"But, Pumpkin..."
"Don't be selfish," she snapped out, "I've noticed you are always trying to take the best. It's wrong."
"Why is it wrong?" Saltikov flared up, "What do you think I work for?"
"Lighten up, darling. No matter where we sleep, us being together is all that matters." said Olive and gave him a conciliatory kiss on the lips.
But the trick didn't work out this time. Saltikov just let go of her arms and went to see about the buffet, so the incident was over.
In the corridor Olive got caught by Chrome White. Penetrating her with his huge sparkling eyes he handed her his Christmas present of a shower kit.
"Thanks," Olive gave him a friendly kiss on the cheek and was about to go to the lounge room, but Chrome blocked her way and embraced her.
"Okay, easy!" she gently pulled away, " I'm Saltikov's fiancee, remember?"
The mentioned Saltikov was just passing by them at that moment. Seeing Olive in Chrom White's company he gave them an indifferent look and, paying no more heed to them, went off to run some errands.