<div style="text-align: justify;">Mariya couldn't keep herself from smiling when Vitali rubbed her shoulder. She had missed those moments while living in London. While living there, specially in the first few months and after losing her father, Mariya had felt really lonely. More than once, she had missed Vitali dearly and wished she had him near for a conversation, or just sitting next to him and looking ahead silently. It was the sense of companionship he had always brought her simply by his presence that she hoped to recover now that she was back. She chuckled at his comments about London and shook her head. "I don't know. I mean, I spent all of my time working, so I didn't really have the time to see anything... decadent. I know as much about it as you do". With a chuckle, she tried to pinch her friend's arm. "And you were obviously thinking bad things about me, confess", she joked.<br/><br/>Being away from Vitali for so long, Mariya could only hope that he was, deep down inside, still the same person he used to be. Him being brainwashed would not only make her life harder, it would be a deep personal sorrow for Mariya. She would hate to see her friend believing everything the Communist Party tried to shove down people's throats. That was something she had information about, as her superiors were always paying attention to what happened in Soviet Union. But they obviously couldn't provide information from specific people. This would be up to her to find out.<br/><br/>When Vitali said she made it sound like he had said she had killed someone, Mariya laughed again. "I may have, you never know. I did have to go through a learning process on the whole cooking thing", she joked. "But you can rest assured, I know enough not to cause any deaths now".<br/><br/>After this joke, Mariya fell silent for a moment more. She walked looking at the ground for a few moments, before looking up at her friend. "Is anything bothering you?", she asked quietly. As they had been friends for such a long time, there were still memories in Mariya's mind about her friend's usual demeanor, and he seemed a little different, even from his behavior in the previous day. "If there is, I would like us to talk about it", she completed, falling silent again and waiting on Vitali to either accept or reject her offer.</div>