The Third Truth

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It felt so good to get the words out of my mouth. I broke into a hysterical laughter when I did. Russia was blushing badly and it felt like I was floating. The words were weighing me down like stones, and now I felt free like a bird.

"I do too," he hugged me and we stayed like that for a minute.

"I can't believe I said that." I whispered.

"I can." He smiled. "It was very brave of you to say that."

"I wanted to beat you to it." I responded. The room felt warmer, or maybe it came from the kitchen. He took a piece of mint gum from his pocket and chewed on it and then immediately spat it back into the wrapper. It was old, I guess. We watched the scene for a bit longer till Ukraine came in and leaned on Russia's back.

"Dinner is ready," he announced.

"Okay."

"Did you guys kiss or something?" He asked without remorse.

"Uh, no." Russia pushed him away and stood up.

"Then why is your face red?"

"Because it's always red," he snapped. "It's my flag colour."

"Uh huh," Ukraine nodded slowly. He didn't engage further in conversation but was smiling. I followed the two brothers out and into the dining room, where almost everyone was seated. I washed my hands under scalding water, and went back, with my hands throbbing from the heat. Russian Empire was looking at the food with a mixture of revulsion and abhorrence. He was wearing a fancy navy blue blazer this time. Again, they prayed and soon everyone was eating. The dish was fried eggplants and zucchini with tomatoes topped with squash caviar. There were also cabbage pies on a dish. Russian Empire saw that there was no choice and he half heartedly ate the eggplants. I could see USSR smirk next to me. The meal was mostly unremarkable, except for when Belarus 'accidentally' dropped caviar on Ukraine's head when he reached for a cabbage pie.

"Беларусь!" He whined. USSR wiped the stuff off his head, while Belarus looked smug. When we finished, Ukraine and Belarus washed the dishes and that left me, Russia, USSR and Russian Empire all alone in silence. And Kazakhstan, but he was staring into his cup, trying to catch the carrots he dumped in it. His little game ended when his glass tipped over and spilled across the tablecloth.

"Oops," he said, guilty. He ate his carrots and left to wash his cup. A light aluminium tray with fruit substituted the main course now, and I absently chewed on a slice of honeydew. Russia picked off strawberries regularly. Russian Empire drummed his fingers slowly and had a sour expression on his face. We were sitting the exact same way when did the first time we dined. USSR seemed to be bored, but he didn't want to be the first to leave, so he kept looking around and then down at his hands, before his eyes travelled back to us. On our other side, Russian Empire was dropping obvious hints to try to catch USSR's attention without words. Eventually, he sighed and spoke.

"USSR, do you have tea?"

"Just tea?" The other replied, seemingly still in trance.

"Unless you have something else."

"Tea without something is not good."He heaved himself off of his chair and went for the kettle. "I would only drink plain tea in the morning."

"Well, your poor substitution here needs something to go with it," Russian Empire flicked his wrist towards the tray of fruit. He somehow acquired a thick gold bracelet and strapped it onto his right wrist, along with the several expensive rings. They looked too nice to be just fashionable. He must've been really popular when he was younger. I counted five on his right hand. They were diamond encrusted, each a different style, and there was even one with a ruby on it. I paid attention to USSR's hands when he came back with the kettle. I never actually looked closely at his hands before. He had two on his right hand and a thin golden one on his left. One was obviously for Russia's mother. The other two were probably from when he was in his twenties. Unlike his father, USSR didn't like jewellery, and wouldn't wear it without a reason.

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