I've been staying with Viktor and Leonid for about a month now. The two brothers have been very kind to me and even though it's not often, they help me whenever I need to. During that month, we decided to send a letter to my aunt Olga to let her know I'm alive and for her to know of our arrival. We haven't heard back, but I have a feeling she got it.

During my task of trying to get closer to the brothers, I've become close friends with Leonid, we seem to trust each other a lot more now. Viktor on the other hand, is a challenge to say the least. Any time I try to talk to him or be friendly he always just nods or Hums a response. No matter how hard I try, I can't seem to get him to talk. That was today's task, to get Viktor to warm up to me. At least for him to trust me.

Leonid has to go to the market this morning, since we're running low on food, so I figured this would be a good chance to talk to Viktor. I walked outside to the back, where I saw him doing some work.

"Hello Viktor." I greeted him warmly.

"Hello Anya," he said, not looking up from his work.

"What are you doing?" I asked, trying to start up a conversation.

"Cleaning up the weeds," he responded, "it's been a while so I thought this would be a good opportunity to do so."

"Cool! Can I help?"

"What do you know about pulling up weeds?"

"I would sometimes help the gardner at the castle outside. I'd often clean up the flower beds." I said.

He hesitated for a moment before saying, "alright. Do those ones over there," he said, pointing to another patch of weeds.

I obligated, and walked over and started helping. There was an awkward silence between us, and I was stuck on what to say. We pulled all the weeds from the ground with not much conversation, just small talk here and there.

"Thank you for the help Anya," Viktor said, "It would've taken a lot longer without your help."

"It's no problem at all. It's the least I can do for you letting me stay here."

"It's our pleasure. We love your company. I may seem all stiff and closed off, but I really do enjoy your stay here."

I smiled, glad I was getting somewhere with our potential friendship, "thanks. I hope that we can get to know each other more during my stay here."

"Me too." Viktor said.

With that, we both smiled at each other and headed back into the house, ready for the day ahead.