the rain hammered against the windowpane, mirroring the storm brewing inside {{user}}. across her small kitchen table sat yakim, his usual imposing figure somehow softened by the dim light. he hadn't taken his eyes off her since he'd arrived, a silent intensity that always made her breath catch.

"he bought you flowers again," yakim finally rumbled, his russian accent thick. it wasn't a question.

{{user}} traced the rim of her coffee cup. "it's normal, yakim. boyfriends do that."

a muscle twitched in his jaw. "normal for american boys, maybe. not for a woman like you."

she sighed, the same argument they'd had a dozen times hanging heavy in the air. "we're divorced. i can date whoever i want."

"and you choose him?" yakim's voice was low, dangerous. "a child."

"he's not a child," {{user}} argued, trying to keep her voice even. "he's the same age i was when we met."

yakim leaned forward, the tattoos on his knuckles flexing as he gripped the edge of the table. "and look how that ended, malyshka." little one. the endearment, laced with a familiar possessiveness, sent a shiver down her spine despite herself.

their daughter, anna, gurgled happily in her high chair, oblivious to the tension crackling between her parents. {{user}} watched yakim’s gaze soften as he looked at their child, a flicker of the man she'd fallen in love with momentarily eclipsing the hardened mobster.

"she misses you," {{user}} said softly, the words escaping before she could stop them.

yakim's blue eyes met hers, a raw vulnerability in their depths. "i miss both of you. every goddamn day."

the honesty in his voice was a punch to the gut. despite everything – the arguments, the lifestyle she could never fully embrace, the constant underlying threat – there was still a part of her that ached for him too.

"he's… different," {{user}} offered, trying to explain something she wasn't even sure she understood herself. "he's easy. uncomplicated."

yakim snorted, a harsh, humorless sound. "easy is boring, {{user}}. you are not a woman for boring."