At some point Armin came back home from the hospital. Besides constantly clutching his side and walking with a cane he would eventually return to his old self, or so Ana said. But deep down something changed inside both of them. Chloe could tell by their demeanor. The energy and enthusiasm for work that had permeated Armin had gone, leaving only tiredness and a sunken expression. Even as he recovered he remained glued to the telephone, often talking in mutters or grunts. Ana too adopted a worried expression on her face. Lines began to form a permanent frown. She would often converse in soft tones with her husband so that Chloe couldn’t hear, but this did nothing to ease her suspicion.

Chloe eventually found that the business was not doing well. “The Mingazneft’ representative told me this week that ‘In all my days I’ve never seen anything as sour as Artabanian crude.’” Armin would complain. “If they won’t even buy it then who will we sell it to? It’s going to cost a fortune to build the sort of refineries we need to make this stuff profitable, and by that time the end product will cost too much to be competitive.”

In addition the competition in Antassim had recently hit a huge reserve and was now bankrolled by a very wealthy donor from across the ocean. Competition was going to be tight, as well as money in the Naptya household.

~

Yuri continued to visit. Often he would ask how Ana and Armin were doing and would help out whenever he could. At school Chloe found herself quickly becoming a part of Yuri’s group of friends, and soon they became her friends as well. But within a year's time these mutual friends began to tease them.

“So, is she your girlfriend or something?” one of them asked at lunch.

This perplexed Yuri. “What do you mean?”

“I always see you two together. Are you going out or something?”

Yuri’s face wrinkled in confusion. “No, it’s not like that. We’re just friends.”

“Yeah sure.” another one said. Yuri’s face became flustered. “S-shut up!”

“You ever kissed her? I bet you have.” His friend laughed.

“No! Stop it! I would never do anything like that with her!”

“Do what with who?” Chloe took Yuri by surprise as she sat down with her lunch. Yuri jumped out of his seat. “N-n-nothing, Chloe. This doesn’t involve you.”

“Oh really?” This irked Chloe. “Tell me. What is it?”

“I told you it’s no…”

“Are you two going out?” one of their friends interrupted.

“No…” Chloe stammered. “We’re just friends.”

“Yeah.” Yuri chimed in. They both laughed. “Could you imagine? It would be so gross!”

Chloe stopped laughing and stayed silent the rest of the time.

As they rode the bus home from school Yuri said to her “Ha! Wasn’t that funny how they actually thought we were dating?”

Chloe gazed down. “Hmph. Yes I guess so.”

“I mean it’s not like we’re close, right?” We’re just friends. What do you think?”

“Yeah.”

After a moment of silence Chloe said. “But it wouldn’t be that big of a deal would it?”

“What do you mean?”

Chloe gazed out the window of the bus. “I mean if you liked me. It wouldn’t really matter what others think, would it?”

Yuri gave her a confused stare. “Whuh..?”

“I mean if we ever did go out. You wouldn’t care what anyone else thinks?”

Yuri’s stare turned to a look of disgust. “Ew! No! It would be so weird…”

Chloe glared daggers at him. “Oh, I guess I really am disgusting, huh? Do I really weird you out that much?”

“No! That’s not it at all… Look, can we just not talk about it?”

“Why? I was just curious.”

“I just don’t want to talk about it.” Yuri frowned.

They both sat in silence the rest of the way back.

Chloe felt more than a little hurt the rest of the day, though she didn’t know why. She knew Yuri was just a friend without a doubt, but even at the slightest suggestion of something else he pushed her away. The more she thought about it the less sense it made.

~

The year drew to a close. Soon winter solstice was upon everyone in the vast plains of Artabania, and with that came celebration. The days grew shorter and the nights longer. It was said in the old folklore that in this time evil spirits would come out and if you were not careful bad luck might befall you. That did not deter a celebration of a different sort however.

On a dark evening after work Ana sat thumbing through mail while Armin slept in his recliner. Perhaps the darkening days did have and effect because Armin’s spirits grew dim with each passing day. Financial stresses took their toll on the household, and both Ana and Armin had great difficulty coping.

Suddenly Ana walked into the living room and tossed a letter into Armin’s lap. “Did you know Ervin is throwing a huge party?” she said.

Armin woke from his half asleep state. “Whuh… really? Why?”

Ana shrugged. “I don’t know. He’s always sort of done things his own way.”

Chloe heard all of this and poked her head out of her room. “Wait, I didn’t think you had any children.”

Armin laughed. It was the first time Chloe had seen him laugh in a while. “Oh, I don’t. Ervin is my nephew. He’s the youngest of my brother’s four children.”

This was a shocking revelation to Chloe. She never knew Armin had any siblings, let alone a nephew. He had never talked about them before.

“It’s on the twenty-first, on the solstice.” Ana said.

Armin reclined in his chair. “Hmm. An unusual thing to do in this time of year. I hope nothing bad happens to him.” He chuckled.

“Yes,” Ana said. “But to tell you the truth you could use a little cheer, you old grump. Armin gave a smile at the suggestion. “Yes, I suppose you’re right.”

“There’s going to be a huge festival. The while town is invited.” Ana continued.

“Good grief! How much money does this guy make? I remember when I was his age we both could barely afford to buy a house.”

“I don’t know. Apparently he’s doing quite well for himself.”

Armin turned to Chloe. “Well how ‘bout that. It’s a nice surprise, eh?” Chloe didn’t know what to say. She was still processing the fact that Armin had a brother. “Hey, see if your friend won’t come. I’m going to see if any of my workers will want to, since they are technically a part of this community.”

~

Only a few days remained before the Solstice. It was also the last day of school before everyone was let out to be with their families. All the students put on their light jackets and excitedly stumbled out the door to get home. Chloe and Yuri took their usual seats on the bus next to each other. Yuri then unzipped his backpack and pulled out a package. “Hey ‘ya go!” he said handing it to Chloe.

Chloe looked it over. What’s this for?”

“Happy New Year!”

“You give gifts on the New Year?”

“Where I come from, yes.”

“That’s kinda weird.”

Yuri shrugged. “Oh, I guess it’s just something we do.” He looked at the package. “Open it!” Chloe carefully unwrapped the package to reveal a journal and pen. “I thought about what to get you, so I bought you something you could use for anything. “ Yuri opened the journal. “See? You can write your thoughts down whenever you’re feeling down. I got you that ‘cause you always seem like you’ve got a lot on your mind.”

Chloe smiled. “Aww, thank you so much.” She then looked at him and asked. “So what are you doing for these next two weeks?”

“Nothing. Just gonna be at home.”

“Really? You’re not doing anything for the Solstice?”

Yuri gave her a perplexed look. “Why would I?”

Chloe frowned. “Yuri, you’ve been here for two years! How could you not know about the Solstice!?”

“I dunno! All you guys do is go home for a couple of weeks. I always thought it was for the New Years or maybe Christmas.”

“Christmas?”

“Never mind.”

Chloe cleared her throat. “Anyway, there’s going to be a huge celebration on the twenty-first. The whole town is coming. You wanna come?”

Yuri thought about this for a bit. “Sure. I guess I could. I’ll ask my dad.”