<div style="text-align: justify;">When Vitali asked her to tell him the answers to a few questions he had, she nodded and turned her attention to her old friend. The idea of him asking questions made Mariya a little uncomfortable. She felt like he could ask anything at all, and she would have to give some answer. Whether or not this answer would be the truth, of course, would depend heavily on the questions he had. <br/><br/>As he held the door open, Mariya nodded in a way of thanking him and stepped out. It would be strange to just stand there, after all, him holding the door and her standing up in place without crossing it. <br/><br/>Despite herself, Mariya gasped softly when Vitali asked her if she still considered him family, or liked him in another way. Feeling her cheeks warm a little, she kept silence for a few moments. Well, did she? It was hard to tell, to be honest. She had entertained the idea, as a hypothesis, that things might have changed between them. Or change in the future. But it was just a thought, and she didn’t really know about her actual feelings. <br/><br/>“I’m not sure, Viti. I think… some little part of me would like to?”. She was honest with him, because she didn’t really know for sure. “I mean… one part of me thinks that it would terribly strange, like falling in love with my own brother. And the other part thinks that.. well… you were the first person outside family who cared about me. It’s a little confusing”. Shaking her head and sighing, she ran her fingers through her hair. “I probably just really miss you, don’t worry… I… I don’t think… I don’t know”. <br/><br/>After these last words, Mariya sighed in frustration. She rubbed her eyes, as she often did as a child when she was upset. “I just wish everything was still simple”, she murmured, almost as though she was venting.</div>