11 Relations Between Them

“You're mad at me, aren't you?” Rafał asked, although he knew the answer perfectly well. Anita didn't say anything, but it was her silence that spoke the most.

Rafał felt anxious. He didn't like when Anita was angry with him. The girl was too important to him, in too many ways. He didn't like it even more when he didn't understand where her anger was coming from, because he couldn't correct his mistake then. And that's how it was now.

They were in his hotel room, which they had just entered. It was not an apartment, a simple, small single room, no living room, no fruit basket and fresh flowers, with the only convenience in the form of a bathroom with a shower, sink and toilet. On the beige wall hung a cheap picture from a bookstore, showing a basket of roses. There was a dense curtain in the window with no curtains or blinds. An ordinary, small and modest room in an ordinary small and modest hotel.

But Rafał did not need the comforts of space. A bed where he could sleep and a desk where he could work taking notes about his acting and the comments he heard that day were luxury enough for him.

Anita put her capacious handbag on the desk and took out the medications and creams that doctors had prescribed for Brylski. It wasn't much, and they were almost exclusively measures to improve his overall condition, such as vitamins. Rafał's condition was not very serious, but it required strengthening and some care. The sun-damaged blood vessels also had to be repaired by acting from the inside and outside.

Anita took it all out without a word and when she finished, she pushed back the only chair in this room from the desk. She sat on it, crossing her legs and folded her arms. She looked at Rafał with the severity of the teacher who had just caught her student behaving badly.

Under the influence of this look, Brylski felt exactly as if he were that student caught being rude.

“You should be careful what you say and to whom” Anita instructed him, throwing lightning bolts of her blue eyes at him. Rafał almost cringed with guilt. “How many times do I have to remind you of this?”

So that was what Anita was about? About his conversation with Radosz? Why? After all, it was an absolutely ordinary conversation about work and… and more.

“I have not spoken to the media or to anyone like that” Rafał defended himself, feeling that Anita's anger was groundless and unfair. “Radosz is an investor in this series...”

"Exactly," his friend pointed out. “Radosz is an investor. He's your boss, not your beer buddy. After all, you know how your words can be read. You said it yourself.”

His words ... Which? Were those that went beyond the limits of purely professional conversation? So Anita was furious that Rafał said to Radosz that he was handsome? So she thought that was such a serious offense on his part?

Was there really something wrong with the fact that he told Radosz that he found him handsome? No, definitely not. Rafał did not try to win anyone's favor. These words resulted from the conversation. Yes, maybe the whole conversation turned out a bit weird, but does every conversation he has to be so stiff and formal? Can it not go slightly beyond its risk? After all, he did not lie. He only told the truth, and that shouldn't be misread by anyone.

"But..." he wanted to explain himself, but met resistance from his friend.

"I know you chose to trust people, but you can't do it indiscriminately." Radosz is not your friend. You just met. You have no idea what his plans for you might be. You really need to be careful who you trust. Did you for...”

Anita was silent in mid-word, as if she had bitten her tongue. She turned pale. She looked like she wanted to back her words, but it was too late.

Rafał bit his lower lip. Half a word was enough for his heart to start very anxiously, almost painfully.

It should not be like this. It was all in the past now...

Has he forgotten? He wanted to forget so much, really, but some things you just can't get out of your mind.

The air felt strangely heavy.

No, it can't be like that. The past cannot still work that much on Rafał. After all, he had to live, move forward, not stay in that darkness.

"I'm sorry," Anita muttered, embarrassed and terrified of her inattention.

She looked at Rafał with concern, as if uncertainly awaiting his reaction. Caring and vigilant. A real friend who knew all his painful secrets and nightmarish passages. Now, by accident, she cost him pain. She had said a word too much and brought back the memory of one of them. If she could, she would bite her tongue off.

“No problem” Rafał smiled brightly, as if he wanted to assure her with all his heart that nothing happened. He cannot absorb the darkness. Although they both realized that certain memories are better left unrecoverable, there will be times when mere coincidence will bring them back. Just like now. "I know you worry about me, but if I see a potential threat in every human being, I think I'll go crazy. Anita...”

Brylski spoke her name like a plea. Like a small, innocent child who seeks his sister's approval. But it was the desperate voice of his heart, which wanted so badly to live, just to live like all normal people, not like some freak of nature. Anita was always there for him, she was a help just like a caring, loving older sister.

It's funny because Anita was two years younger than him. Despite this, she has always been a support for him. Maybe because she knew his entire story and even witnessed it, and despite that, she never judged him, on the contrary, she boldly stood up for him when he needed it the most?

Rafał knew that when it came to Anita, he was a bit selfish. Okay, very selfish because he knew the girl liked him more than she should like her brother, but he only saw her as a sister and she knew it. Perhaps in her heart Anita had some hope for something more, some fantasy, but for now she accepted that Rafał did not have such affection for her and accompanied him only as the most sincere, most loyal friend, sister and sometimes even mother.

“It's okay, I know” growled Janiszek. She hid her tenderness under the roughness. That was her strength. It was thanks to this that she was such an excellent older sister that Rafał could always rely on.

Anita was not really angry anymore. Rather, she felt guilty that she had brought back unpleasant memories. She didn't do it on purpose, yet she felt as if she had hit an innocent child.

For a moment, before her eyes, a picture of a little boy with green eyes and golden red curls appeared, so much like a little angel. But there was a grown man in front of her. She should treat him like that man, not a boy.