Chapter Text
It was just another day of life that could have gone on as usual, starting with a morning routine, followed by a day at work and ending with dinner with friends, but sometimes life or fate decided to take a different path and then the smallest thing could change not only someone’s day, but also their future. Without knowing it, Kaz was also about to face some changes. He had no idea yet, because his day was the most ordinary one could have.
He woke up in the morning just before his alarm started buzzing. He knew that he didn’t have to be quiet so as not to wake up his roommate, who was sleeping like a dead man at this part of the day. However, Kaz was careful anyway since he preferred the quiet of the morning. With his roommate awake, no peace would be possible.
After Kaz put on black trousers, a white shirt, and a black tie, he was about to make breakfast, but he found that Jesper hadn’t been shopping, even though it was his turn. Kaz sighed loudly, thinking that he would actually wake Jesper up in the most punishing way possible, because Jesper deserved it for always forgetting to buy groceries. Why should Kaz be the only one taking care of everything? Jesper was the most impractical human being, even more so than Jordie, and that was something extraordinary.
Getting his bike out of the narrow hall outside was always a workout, and Kaz swore under his breath every morning before he got out and headed to the Financial District. He knew that leaving his bike anywhere but the house would mean someone would steal it by morning. After all, they were in Ketterdam, where even living in a nicer neighbourhood didn’t mean complete safety from being robbed at night.
In any other city, it might have seemed strange to ride a bike to work in a suit, but they were in the city with the worst traffic in the world, where it was still better to use a bike than public transport, especially for Kaz, who actually hated the public part of the word because he didn’t like people very much. With a few rare exceptions. Jesper was one of them, but only on days when he didn’t annoy Kaz too much. That day he had been on the blacklist since morning.
The part of Ketterdam where Kaz lived was situated in the south, separated from the University District by a wide canal. Before Ketterdam had grown so much that it swallowed it up and made it just another part of the bustling city, it had been a separate village. Still, Bloemenwijk had retained some of its past, and being here was like stepping into another reality. For one thing, the streets were cleaner, the houses lower and more picturesque, each with a different shade of brick walls. Just one block from where Kaz lived, there was a market every Saturday from spring to autumn, and twice a week in the winter. During the season there was always a lot of fruit, vegetables and flowers, in the winter mostly wool socks, blankets, various decorations, candles and such things, sometimes even a flea market, which Kaz preferred to avoid. He couldn’t understand the fascination with old things that should have ended up in the dump, not being put on display.
Due to some roadworks on the street, Kaz had to take a detour, and then unexpectedly another, because the road workers had managed to dismantle another street. Of course, no one was working there yet, the place was just closed off with traffic signs and tape, and in the middle of the hole stood an abandoned excavator, the only thing big enough for anyone to steal it.
Kaz wasn’t very happy about this delay, because he wanted to be at work early so that his annoying colleagues wouldn’t bother him too much, and on top of that, there was the new assistant of the manager who tried to flirt with him while he made it clear that he wasn’t interested. Either she misinterpreted his ignorance as shyness, or she simply didn’t care, because every time she had a moment of free time (which was suspiciously frequent, so maybe they would fire her soon, hopefully), she’d come into the office to say hello. When this happened multiple times during the workday, Kaz felt the urge to strangle her. Some of his colleagues had apparently noticed and were constantly making fun of Kaz. Mia wasn’t that bad, Kaz had to admit that in his weak moments. She was pretty cute with her blonde curly hair and big blue eyes, but he wasn’t planning on having any kind of relationship right now, or maybe never, and even if he changed his mind (for some strange and probably stupid reason), he wouldn’t choose her.
Since Kaz’s morning hadn’t started out well, he could be sure that Mia would be the first person he met when he got to work, and of course she was. He parked his bike outside a brick building that looked a little odd, sandwiched between tall, glass-filled modern buildings, like a forgotten reminder of the old days. Mia appeared as if from nowhere. Or as if she had been waiting for him, which was probably true.
“Hi, Kaz!” she chirped.
“Hi,” Kaz muttered grumpily, heading straight for the front door, which led into a small hallway, where he showed his identification card to the receptionist to be let in.
It was a very odd arrangement, since this small accounting firm didn’t have many employees, and the receptionist was always the same old woman with a memory like an elephant, as she kept reminding him of his very first day in the office two years ago, when he had arrived an hour earlier than he was supposed to. She certainly remembered all the people who worked here, and sometimes she knew a lot more about them than they did about themselves. It was said that she was a widow and had nothing better to do than observe people and take notes on their missteps, habits, relationships, and so on. Kaz had never cared much for gossip, but Mia did, and she kept him informed without him really listening.
“Have you heard that?” she began as they passed the receptionist, who was looking at them suspiciously, as if they had decided to go to the beach in the middle of winter in their bathing suits.
Kaz sighed in response, which Mia missed or ignored. The result was the same, she continued talking all the way up to the second floor, where Kaz’s office was. Somewhere around the fifth step, he stopped listening to her babbling. He only registered the word “theatre”, and knowing that there couldn’t be anything theater-related that interested him, he happily ignored her until they reached his office door. Kaz slipped inside, leaving Mia in the corridor, talking to herself.
The good news was that he was the first in the office, the bad news was that he was hungry, and he hadn’t had his morning coffee yet, which, as all his friends knew, was about as bad as if an earthquake had hit Ketterdam. Kaz was aware of how terrible the coffee was at work (they only had a very old coffee machine on the first floor, which was always busy, even though the coffee always tasted burnt), so he was faced with the decision of whether to risk ruining his tastebuds the rest of the day (but getting enough caffeine would help him through the morning) or holding out until lunchtime, when he could go and buy something decent at a real cafe. Suspecting that Mia was lurking outside, he strategically decided to wait.
The morning dragged on incredibly slowly. Even without coffee (Kaz didn’t need much food when he had black coffee, no sugar, no milk, please), Kaz could only concentrate on the numbers until he realised that his colleagues had already gone to lunch, probably at some cheap restaurant nearby. No one had invited Kaz to join them, and even if they had, he wouldn’t have gone. They were all boring and mostly idiotic, with the only topics of conversation being women (more precisely sex) and football, which meant Kaz liked to avoid them whenever he had the choice. Mia was nowhere to be seen as he slowly made his way downstairs and out into the surprisingly warm day, with the sun peeking out from behind the clouds here and there.
Kaz loosened his tie just a little to get a breath of fresh air (not really fresh, in Ketterdam even the water in the canals was fresher than the air) and continued down the street. He knew that all the businesses in the Financial District would be full of clerks, accountants, assistants, and managers, and there probably wouldn’t be a single decent seat available, so he just kept walking until he reached the bridge connecting the Financial District to the historic centre of the city. Going there at this time of day would have been suicide, as the streets were full of tourists, as were the restaurants and cafes, so Kaz continued on to Zenstbridge, where there was a nice little cafe with reasonable prices and good coffee, well-hidden to be safe from the tourists. He ordered a coffee to go and headed back, considering this walk to be a long enough break to get back to work. He bought a sandwich from the bakery on the corner, intending to take it to the office and eat it while he worked on his computer.
As he turned the corner, his phone started ringing, and Kaz, as he tried to fish it out of his pocket, wasn’t paying much attention to where he was going. Jesper had been sending him funny videos all morning (he was the only one who thought they were funny), and Kaz wanted to give him some hard time now (just because Jesper wasn’t at work didn’t mean no one else was), but he didn’t get a chance to answer the call because he bumped into someone coming from the other direction. His coffee had fallen to the ground and managed to splatter all over the stranger’s clothes.
“Saints, I’m so sorry,” Kaz blurted out, completely taken aback.
His phone was still ringing, but he ignored it and stared at the young woman in sunglasses, dressed in a long cream sweater, not so cream anymore because of coffee stains, and black leggings. Kaz was suddenly glad for the long line at the bakery, because his coffee had cooled a little in the meantime, so it wasn’t hot. However, the woman didn’t look relieved at all, instead she was probably cursing as far as Kaz could tell, but he didn’t understand a word of what she said. What language was that? Definitely not Zemeni, he knew Zemeni curses quite well thanks to Jesper. No, definitely not Zemeni, because her skin was a different shade too, still dark, but just different.
“Why aren’t you looking where you’re going?!” she finally snapped at him angrily in accented Kerch.
“I’m really sorry. I didn’t see you. Can I help you somehow?”
He offered her the napkins he’d been given with his sandwich, and she snatched them from his hand, trying her best to fix the damage Kaz’s black coffee had done. It didn’t work much, and her frustration was growing.
“That’s really amazing,” she sighed, sounding as if she wasn’t having the best day, just like Kaz’s. “Why don’t you use a lid?”
“You mean the plastic thing? No thanks.”
“If you had a lid, nothing would have happened.”
“Look, I said I was sorry. I wasn’t waiting here to spill coffee on the first person who walked by,” Kaz snapped.
He needed that coffee and now he had to go back for more, which would mean wasting a lot of break time. And kruge.
“It would be very creepy if you did that,” the woman said. “But we’re in Ketterdam, Saints know what you people are capable of.”
“You don’t think very highly of Kerch people.”
“I guess not.”
She looked at him as if she expected him to take offense, but that would have required a lot more than just pathetically slandering Kerch people.
“That’s actually quite wise,” he shrugged, not missing the hint of a smile tugging at her lips that she hid very well. “What can I do for you to repay my debt?”
She snorted. “Your debt? That’s very Kerch of you.”
“I’m sorry to have to inform you that I’m Kerch through and through,” he said, a little irritated.
After all, she was in Ketterdam, who did she expect to meet here? Just some blondes from Fjerda? If she hated Kerch so much, she should have stayed where she came from. Kaz cocked his head, wondering where to place her accent. Ravka, perhaps?
“I think I passed a clothes shop,” she thought aloud, turning her head to where she had come from. “I guess I’d just go in there and buy something.”
“Let me pay for ruining your sweater,” Kaz insisted.
Not that he wanted to spend more time with her, quite the opposite, but the manners his parents had instilled in him sometimes couldn’t be quieted. Why they had chosen to show up at the worst possible moment was a mystery to Kaz. Wouldn’t it be better to rush to get another coffee and then get back to work when his lunch break was about to end and he was still hungry and lacking a much-needed caffeine? Without it, he would be grumpy for the rest of the day.
“There’s no need.”
She looked around, a little confused about the direction, and Kaz realised that she probably didn’t know much about the city.
Just leave her here and go, it’s none of your business.
“I’ll show you the way,” he sighed. “I think I know which shop you were talking about.”
She gave him a look that he couldn’t decipher because of her big, fancy sunglasses. Who did she think she was? Some celebrity? That was probably why she was so annoying. She thought too highly of herself, and she thought she was too good for the average Kerch people.
“Fine,” she said, her voice sounding almost as unhappy as Kaz’s. At least the hostility was on both sides.
“This way,” Kaz pointed in the direction she had come from.
The woman didn’t immediately follow him, first bending down, picking up his empty coffee cup, and throwing it into the first dustbin they came across. Kaz walked silently, glancing at her here and there. The sunglasses were large enough to cover most of her face, except for part of her nose and lips. Her black hair in a braid reached down her back to her waist, swaying with each light step. The way she moved was smooth, as if she was hovering a few inches above the pavement.
“It’s not far,” Kaz assured her, and she just nodded in response.
Finally, the shop appeared in front of them, and Kaz felt a surge of relief. Soon, this would all be over and his day would return to its usual tracks. Kaz knew about the shop, but he’d never looked closely at the assortment they offered. It was a boutique of smart clothes, no baggy jeans or loose T-shirts, and that meant only one thing. Astronomical prices. Kaz swallowed, imagining how much this would drain his bank account.
You stupid farm boy. Your manners will be pretty expensive this time.
After all the years spent in the city, some old habits found their way back from the depths he had tried to bury them. If he was a true Ketterdam man, he wouldn’t care about some stranger’s clothes, even if he was the one who ruined them, he’d just walk away and leave her to deal with it. Still, Kaz stood in front of the door, hesitating. He couldn’t afford to buy any of what they had inside, because he didn’t have much money to spare. However, he had already promised to replace the sweater, so he couldn’t get away with it now.
The woman walked around him and entered the shop first, not waiting for him and disappearing into the back. Kaz sighed and followed her. He found her examining a long, purple sweater with a loose collar. She took it in her hand, examined it from both sides, then ran her fingers over the smooth material.
“This one’s fine.”
“Do you want to… try it on?” Kaz asked stupidly.
He hated shopping, and he hated buying clothes most of all. His friend always had to drag him from shop to shop and help him choose, otherwise he would wear the same clothes every day. He kept buying the same thing two or three times anyway, because why should he try something new when he was happy with what he already knew?
“No, I’ll just put it on,” she said.
She tore off the price tag and barcode, handed it to Kaz, and went into the fitting room. Kaz stood there, the tag in his hand, staring intently at the fitting room door that closed behind her.
“Can I help you with something?” Only the shop assistant’s voice snapped him out of his trance.
“Yeah, sure. I… want to buy this.” He handed the tag to the shop assistant, a petite and short woman with a freckled face and very long fake nails. She cocked her head and raised her fake eyebrows. Kaz just shrugged. To keep from collapsing, he didn’t look at the price and paid for the new sweater with his card.
“I’m sure your girlfriend would look great in this,” the shop assistant said, and Kaz almost had a heart attack.
“Oh… yeah.”
He waited for the strange woman by the door, wanting the earth to swallow him up. Luckily, it didn’t take long for her to change, and when she emerged from the fitting room, she wasn’t wearing sunglasses. She had no makeup on, so she should have looked bland next to the shop assistant, whose eyelids sparkled with gold, but the opposite was true. Her skin seemed smooth, her nose straight, and the size perfectly matched her face. What caught Kaz’s attention most were her eyes, large brown with long, dark lashes that resembled a fan. She was still holding a dirty cream sweater in her hand, but Kaz could tell that the new one suited her better. Maybe it was the colour, maybe it was just the fact that he could finally look her in the eye. She was young, probably his age, petite but not fragile.
“Can we go, honey?” she said, her lips twitching at the last word.
Of course she had heard what the shop assistant had said, and Kaz felt his face heat up uncomfortably. He hated awkward moments like this, especially with people he didn’t know. If Jesper had been here, they could have laughed about it later, but Kaz knew this would sting for a long time.
“Yes, honey, let’s go get some coffee.”
She chuckled, linked her arm with him and they left the shop behind. If he thought she would let him go once they were on the street, she didn’t, as if she was afraid he would run away and leave her alone.
“So, where do you get the best coffee in the city?” she asked instead.
“Nowhere near, I’m afraid, but the one I had before was decent.”
“I can’t say. Maybe my sweater knows more… Okay, lead me. We need to replace that coffee I ruined for you.”
Kaz blinked. “What? You don’t have to do that.”
“You got me new clothes, and now I have to get you new coffee. I bet you can be really annoying without caffeine.”
Kaz snorted. She was right, but he didn’t want to admit it. They passed a dust bin, and she got rid of her cream sweater without even looking at it. Kaz’s phone started ringing again, and it was only then that he remembered that someone was calling him. He checked who it was and put the phone back in his pocket where he let it ring.
“Aren’t you going to pick it up?” the woman asked.
Kaz shook his head. “He’ll get bored soon and give up.”
“Then why don’t you dismiss it?”
“That would only encourage him to call again and again, because he’d think I had time. If I don’t pick up or dismiss the call, he’ll think I’m busy.”
“Who’s this persistent person?”
“My roommate, and persistent is a very appropriate word.”
They were now within sight of the cafe, arms still linked, so it almost looked like two friends on a pleasant walk. Or maybe more than just friends, because Kaz had never been this intimate with his friends, even though he’d known them for years. Everyone knew he wasn’t a very affectionate person, so they usually left him alone, except on special occasions like birthdays, funerals (the one time when Nina’s cat died), promotions, or when Nina’s favourite place had a special waffle day. Yes, it was mostly Nina who started it, because she loved to tease him, and what could be better than just giving him a hug or pinching his face all of a sudden, like she was an old lady, and he was just a little, stupid boy.
“Wait here,” the stranger said, leaving him outside the cafe.
Through the window, he could see her stopping at the counter and talking to the barista, a man in short sleeves that showed off his muscular arms. From the way he was looking at her, Kaz could tell he was being flirty. The woman, whose name Kaz didn’t know, was acting nonchalant, as if she hadn’t even noticed his behaviour. The barista took his time finishing her order so he could spend more time with her. Kaz rolled his eyes. It was such a cheap move. Did the man think he would get anything just because he had big arms? His brain was probably about the size of a walnut. Finally, the woman took two cups and went back outside.
“Why the frown?” she asked.
Kaz looked away from the barista, who had clearly been staring at her bottom until she was out.
“Don’t forget, I need caffeine,” Kaz said, accepting the cup she handed him.
He froze as he took the first sip of his much-anticipated coffee.
“What’s this?”
“I improved your usual order,” she said confidently.
“How do you know what my usual order is?” Kaz asked, staring at the contents of his cup. It wasn’t pitch black like he was used to, but much lighter with cream on top of it.
“It was black coffee that ruined my sweater,” she said. “The most boring thing you could ever drink.”
“It has cream on the top,” he said in horror. “I’m not sure I want it.”
“Give it a chance.”
Kaz sniffed. It smelled somehow familiar, but he couldn’t quite place it. He took the smallest sip he could. She watched him the whole time, her face etched with anticipation. It wasn’t as bitter as Kaz preferred, but somehow sweeter, with a hint of cinnamon, that was the smell, he was sure of it, but there was something else. Kaz took another sip, trying to figure out what this drink was all about. He never wanted anything to leave unresolved, he just needed a solution, and his friends knew that about him. The woman watched him with an amused smile, sipping her own drink, which resembled Kaz’s and was very likely the same.
“What is it?”
He was almost halfway through the drink when he had to admit that there was no way to solve this.
“I actually asked the barista to make my own recipe. It has a little pepper and a dash of chili.”
“Chilli? Really?” Kaz held the next sip in his mouth longer, savouring all the flavours.
She was right, there was something spicier there that he hadn’t noticed before. Chili? He had never thought of putting chili in his coffee, but as Jesper had said, Kaz only knew coffee as black as his soul.
“Everyone needs a little something sweet and spicy in their lives sometimes,” she said.
“Do I look that boring to you?” Kaz asked, trying not to sound offended, but he really was.
He was perfectly content with his simple black coffee, which he drank far too much of every day except on the weekends, when he tried his best to resist the urge to constantly soak himself in caffeine. There was nothing fancy about it, nothing complicated, so he didn’t need anything else in his life. He certainly didn’t need the sweet-but-not-too-sweet, spicy-but-not-too-spicy thing she’d ordered for him, no matter how delicious it was.
“I didn’t say that,” she replied with an amused smile that wouldn’t leave her lips. “Anyway, thanks for the sweater, but I have to go now.”
“Right, thank you for… you really call this coffee?”
“It’s got coffee in it, so why not?” she shrugged, smiling slightly at him before putting on her sunglasses and heading towards Zentsbridge.
Kaz stood there like an idiot with an empty coffee cup and a sandwich in his hand, watching her light steps carry her away until she was not only out of his sight, but out of his life.
“Oh shit.”
Kaz checked the time and cursed again. His break was already too long and he would be back at the office late, which meant he would have to stay there longer. Not that he had ever done this before, in fact it was a fairly common thing for him, but he had other plans for the night.