The apartment felt far too quiet after Yu left and when Yu still hadn't returned by dinner time, Babushka Nina moved Vladimir over to her apartment next door.
Babushka Nina's small flat was usually comforting in the evenings, filled with the soft domestic sounds of an old woman who had lived alone with her granddaughter long enough to make silence gentle instead of lonely. The radiator clanked unevenly in the corner while the scent of berry tea and lavender drifted through the warm room. Nina herself sat rocking slowly in her chair near the lamp, knitting needles clicking together rhythmically as she hummed an old Russian lullaby beneath her breath.
But Vladimir sat motionless on the couch as though none of it reached him.
