<div style="text-align: justify;">Hearing Vitali burst out laughing took Mariya back to their years as children for a moment. It was a simpler time, and one Mariya had to admit she missed. Back then, nothing had changed yet. She still had her parents, and her relationship with Vitali was simply a friendship with no complications. Now, unfortunately, there were many complications to be had. Shaking her head and sighing, Mariya tried not to think of complications at the moment, and instead focus on the moment she was sharing with her friend. <br/><br/>Showing a bright smile, Mariya poked Vitali’s arm after he said he had thought of bad things he would have liked to do to her. “You are a shameless man!”, she exclaimed in a mock dramatic way. <br/><br/>When Vitali said she seemed different, Mariya turned more serious. She didn’t have a guilty expression, just more serious and maybe even slightly sad. “I wish I could say that, Viti”, she replied softly. “But things are changing all the time. Something must have changed, both in me and you. But if you want to know if what I feel about you - the fact that you’re family - has changed… the answer is no”. <br/><br/>She sighed again before continuing. “It would be strange to expect me not to adapt in the least to the place I was living in. I mean, it’s a very different culture, a different language, different people, different currency...It’s hard to say it’s better, and it’s hard to say it’s worse. But I’m still… me. I just need some time to get used to being a grown up here”. <br/><br/>Mariya was being 100% sincere in her words. It was hard to think about things having changed too much in her friendship with Vitali, other than the obvious. Of course she wanted to get information out of him, but she still cared for her old friend. It would be hard to balance that, but Mariya really hoped she could.<br/><br/>“Is there anything you would like to ask me? Anything to make this… reconnecting easier?”, she offered, hoping to ease Vitali’s suspicions.</div>