"Well, where do we go from here, Niko?"

She turned around under the light of the sole flickering streetlamp on the long dark road.

"What are you asking me now? I was following you, you know?"

Yulia grinned ear to ear, biting her lip, her eyes half-closed, as if in a state of delirium. She was too innocent when she wasn't lost in a world of her own.

Niko woke up. Yulia's grinning face floated before his eyes for a brief moment but then he forgot what he was dreaming about. He stayed put in his place for a long time, thinking back on last night.

Perhaps he won't see Zhang anymore. That's what he always thought, but he always went to him again and Zhang always came to him. There was no two ways about it.

He looked up. The light was already beaming into the room passionately. Niko looked for a cigarette but none were to be found. He spared a glance at the only corner of the room that wasn't directly exposed to light. Yulia was still asleep in the bed, exactly in the same position.

Niko got up and walked over to the desk. He grabbed the binoculars and looked across the complex. The curtains were still closed.

Why?

He looked at the table, where a table calendar was resting among a lot of other things. So it was Sunday.

Niko found a cigarette on the table as well and lit it up, placing it between his lips. He set down the binoculars and began undoing the only three buttons of his shirt. He'd hop into the shower, he thought.

Opening the door of the bathroom, he found the bloody mess from yesterday. He sighed, but continued to tip toe his way into the shower. He made it as quick as possible.

"Get up, Yulia", he nudged her as soon as he got out, drying his hair with a towel.

Yulia didn't move. He picked up the binoculars again and scouted the woman. The curtains weren't drawn anymore. So she was awake. Niko hurriedly moved to the laptop and began setting things up at the table.

"Yulia", he noticed she hadn't moved.

He went over to her and shook her with his foot.

"Get up", he repeated, before heading back to the Chinese wardrobe.

Yulia sat up, her hair were a mess.

"How many'd you get, yesterday?", Yulia asked.

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"Just the one", Niko answered, "You?"

"Just one, too."

That was a rare answer for her. Both perhaps thought the other was up to the same thing as them. Then again, it wasn't so different what they were both doing.

Yulia got up from the bed. Her loose clothes seemed even more crumpled as if she wasn't made for them.

Niko observed the other side of the complex while a loading screen floated on his laptop.

Yulia walked to the middle of the room and sat down with her legs crossed, staring out the window at the apartment across the complex.

Niko took out a new suit from the wardrobe, still holding on to the binoculars. He briefly examined if the suit was good enough for the night, then looked himself up in the small shard of mirror on the table and decided the suit was indeed good enough. He carefully placed it back in the wardrobe.

Yulia hadn't moved an inch. She was staring at the opposite apartment like a statue. Niko thought it odd that she hadn't set out on her daily errands already.

Seeing as she was pretty messed up from her recent scuffle that he knew nothing about, he went to the main door, fetching a bag that had been placed there this morning. He took out a cup of noodles and two mooncakes from it.

Placing the food in front of her, he rummaged for the bottle of green tea somewhere on the table. It took a while before he found it. It was half empty. But he placed that before her too and uncapped it. Then he set down in the chair and began typing away at the laptop, occasionally picking up the binoculars to make his observations.

The woman in the opposite apartment was watering her plants. They would bloom in a week. She then cleaned her windows and aired her bedding. Yulia and Niko could recite her routine of the week by heart.

Since Yulia was watching, Niko could focus on the laptop screen.

An unusual interruption. His phone rang.

He looked at the little screen.

Zhang.

Niko took a deep breath and gathered his cold composure. Perhaps he regretted running away last night.

He picked it up.

The other side spoke without formality. Niko didn't utter a word. It took 13 seconds. And the call was over.

Niko shot up, taking out his suit from the wardrobe. He looked at Yulia who was intently watching the apartment. So then, there was nothing to worry about.

He hurried into the bathroom but quickly turned around. The room would have to do, the bloody bathroom was no place for his fancy clothes. He quickly got dressed behind Yulia's back and began setting his hair. It took him a while before he'd ensured he was missing nothing.

He rummaged for a cigarette in that messy room and managed to find two. Luck was shining upon him that day.

He looked at his watch, then at Yulia, then at the other apartment with the binoculars and when he'd made sure all affairs were in order, he headed out.

**********************

The sun was suddenly masked by the grey clouds. That's not what he expected, when he left the apartment that morning.

Niko put out the cigarette on the arm of the bench. It had been an exhausting day. Zhang always sucked all his energy away like a vampire.

The bus stop was luckily completely vacated. It was about to rain. It was sad that he couldn't see the sun this afternoon.

He didn't like the bitter taste of smoke in his mouth. He always felt this way when all was said and done. He'd run away from Zhang the first chance he got, but jump at the next invitation anyway. As such, they'd never gone all the way.

Niko took out another cigarette without thinking about it. His clothes were unbuttoned and rumpled, his hair a mess, and exhaustion masked his face.

He let out a puff of smoke that rested on his face instead of floating away. He wasn't waiting for the bus. He rested his head on the back of the bench and closed his eyes for a brief moment.

"Let's wait for something beautiful to happen."

Yulia's old words came to him and in an instant, he got up and started running back towards the apartment.

It had started raining.

****************************

He stormed inside, soaking wet by now. Yulia was sitting in the same position he'd left her this morning.

He cursed under his breath, before quickly moving over to her.

"Yulia!", he shook her frail, cold body rather violently.

Her eyes were fixed on the opposite apartment.

He slapped her face, once, twice, thrice. And when she couldn't be shaken out of her delirious state, he pushed her down and began choking her. Her face had an unbreakable smile planted on it.

************************

They were lying on the ground, staring at the ceiling with half-open eyes. It was dark. They were both wet with sweat.

"We're out of time", she murmured.

"How long?"

"Perhaps a day...or...a year?"

A solemn look arose on Niko's face.

"How far have we come? How much is left?"

"She went to sleep at the same time today. She carried her laundry inside before the rain started. She placed the plants outside to water them with rain. She forgot to close the balcony door. Her curtain was soaked. She mopped the water that came inside. Then, she watched TV."

"The same as usual", Niko said, sounding utterly crushed.

A dead silence floated in the room.

Niko saw an empty ceiling. Yulia saw the face of that person...that person who existed like the light in her world. Someone who was long gone now.