Perhaps there was no one who had missed that time more than he had. It was indeed a simpler time for the two of them, and he wanted it back, but he didn't think that it was coming back anytime soon. He wasn't working under any false illusions about what had happened. Time had marched on, and that made things change. He wasn't going to lie to himself and say that everything was exactly the same as it always had been, because he knew entirely too well that it hadn't.<br/><br/>"Tell me, Mariya, the answers to a few questions I have." As he said this, he held the door open, hoping that she might very well have walked out with him, and in the process continue their conversation. He wanted to come out and ask if there were some ulterior motive, but he couldn't do that yet. Vitali didn't want to bring himself to admit that she had been acting strangely toward him.<br/><br/>However, he felt that he should have maybe asked something that wouldn't have been so controversial at first. The more unusual queries could come a little bit later. That would have made it easier for her to swallow them, and perhaps easier for him to ask.<br/><br/>Admittedly, he figured that if something was up with her that she would have been unlikely to admit it anyway. He doubted that someone in her position would have actually admitted to trying to snoop on anything with him. Still, he swallowed and instead focused on a different question directed toward her.<br/><br/>"Do you still consider me just family, or do you like me in that way?" Vitali figured it was a good place to start, because that could have just been laughed off it if were untrue. There was a chance she was attracted to him, which would have made him feel incredibly ill at ease, but it would have helped him to understand what was going on.<br/><br/>As he stood there, his arm was extended holding the door, clad in brown leather with various flight patches playing host across the sleeve. If she hadn't elected to come sometime soon, though, she might very well have started to let the bugs into the place.<br/><br/>Vitali knew that other patrons certainly wouldn't have liked that.