Nina leaned back in her chair, exhausted. It was hard to tell whether her back or her head ached more. A gentle knock on the office door interrupted her thoughts.
“Nina Sergeyevna, may I come in?”
She looked up, surprised.
“Rita, why are you still here?”
The young woman smiled sheepishly.
“I couldn’t just leave you here alone. What if you needed coffee?”
Nina smiled in appreciation.
“That’s kind of you, but you didn’t have to stay. You should have gone home and gotten some rest.”
Rita sighed.
“You know there’s no one waiting for me at home. I always feel better here at work.”
Nina had met Rita in a way that most people wouldn’t have considered taking her in. Her car had broken down on the outskirts of the city, and her phone had died at the worst possible moment. She had been returning from an exhausting business trip, hungry and worn out. After several unsuccessful attempts to restart her car or turn on her phone, she had given up and stepped out into the freezing air.
After standing by the roadside for fifteen minutes, unable to hail a taxi, she had decided to walk to the nearest gas station or store. That was when she had noticed a lone figure walking along the road’s edge, completely oblivious to her surroundings.
“Miss!”
The woman didn’t react and continued walking. Nina caught up and gently tugged her arm.
“Why are you walking in the middle of the road?”
The woman finally stopped but didn’t meet Nina’s gaze. She simply stood there, as if she hadn’t even heard the question, before attempting to walk away again. But Nina wasn’t about to let her go so easily. She took her by the hand and guided her into the car, at least getting her out of the cold.
“Are you alright? Do you need help?”
That was when the young woman turned to her, her face crumpling as tears began to fall.
Rita had told her everything that night. She had grown up in an orphanage, received state housing, completed technical school, and thought she had found love. But her boyfriend had thrown her out, bringing another woman into the apartment.
“But the apartment was yours!” Nina had exclaimed.
“He transferred everything to his name,” Rita had whispered.
Nina sighed.
“Where do such naïve people come from?” she muttered, then caught herself. “Of course… from orphanages.”
Miraculously, Nina’s car had started just then, and she had driven Rita home with her.
“Dad, look, I brought someone with me!”
Her father, Sergey Andreevich, had appeared in the hallway.
“Who is this? A snow maiden?” he had joked.
“Almost,” Nina had replied. “If I hadn’t found her, she’d have turned into an icicle out there.”
Sergey had immediately sprung into action, ushering their guest into the kitchen. By the time Nina had changed out of her travel clothes, he had already set the table.
Nina had never considered herself particularly kind or given to impulsive acts of generosity, yet something about Rita had made her want to help.
“You really have no one?” she had asked over dinner.
Rita had shrugged.
“I have a half-sister,” she had admitted. “I saw her once when I was little. There’s even a picture. She was sixteen, and I was two. We have the same father but different mothers. I think she visited us once, but when I was five, my parents died. I was sent to the orphanage, and I have no idea if she even remembers me.”
“Have you tried looking for her?”
“No. What would I even say? ‘Now that I’m in trouble, I’ve decided to find you and rely on you for help?’”
Nina had smiled involuntarily.
Rita had flushed.
“I’m sorry. Thank you for dinner. I should go.”
Sergey had exchanged a glance with Nina.
“Rita, sit down,” Nina had insisted. “Where will you go? Stay here tonight, and we’ll figure things out in the morning.”
Rita had hesitated, but finally, she had nodded in gratitude. Later, when Nina checked on her, she noticed a small photograph on the nightstand. The same one Rita had mentioned—a young woman holding a laughing child, both of them smiling warmly.
The next day, Nina had spoken with a lawyer from her firm. Not only had he helped Rita get her apartment back, but he had also successfully sued her ex-boyfriend for damages. Afterward, Nina had invited her to work as her secretary. Rita had learned quickly and had become Nina’s most trusted assistant.
Now, as they stood in the office together, Rita teased her.
“Genka from finance follows you around like a shadow, and Valerka from security too. And you don’t even look at them!”
Nina laughed.
“Why should I? I already know them. Valerka is a hopeless flirt, and Genka… well, he only has numbers in his head.”
“True. He seems like the type who secretly runs marathons in his spare time.”
Nina chuckled but then glanced at the time.
“I need to head home. The neighbor probably left already, which means Dad is alone.”
After breaking his leg in two places last year, her father’s mobility had been severely limited. He had lost interest in almost everything, barely eating and spending hours staring out the window.
“Rita, I need a favor. Can you find a companion or a caregiver for my father?”
Rita looked concerned.
“Is he getting worse?”
“Not exactly. He’s just… lost his spark. I worry about him constantly, but I can’t always be there.”
“Understood. I’ll start looking tomorrow.”
A few days later, Rita arrived at Nina’s office with an update.
“I interviewed twenty candidates and narrowed it down to three. When can you meet them?”
Nina scheduled the interviews for later that day. As she spoke with each candidate, one woman caught her attention. She seemed slightly older than Nina and visibly nervous, fiddling with her bracelet.
Nina frowned.
“I’ve seen that bracelet before… but where?”
Something clicked in her mind.
“Come by tomorrow to meet my father,” she said. “Let’s see how you two get along before we decide anything.”
Later, Nina urgently sent Rita to the store for apples—an excuse to get her out of the office. Then, she hurried to Rita’s desk, searching the drawers until she found the photograph.
The bracelet in the picture was identical to the one the woman had been wearing.
Could it be? Had Rita’s long-lost sister just walked into their lives without recognizing her?
Nina’s father listened to the story and, for the first time in months, looked interested.
“We have to find out,” he said with conviction.
The next day, the woman, Darya, shared her story.
“I was married, then divorced, and never had children. I moved here because my father once lived in this city. He had a daughter, much younger than me. I last saw her at his funeral, but she was so little she wouldn’t remember me. My mother refused to let me take her in, and I regret not insisting. She passed away a few years ago, stubborn as ever, refusing medical help when she got sick.”
Nina and her father exchanged glances, but before they could say anything, the door burst open.
“Why aren’t we decorating the Christmas tree?” Rita announced.
Darya turned pale.
“Rita… your full name wouldn’t be Rita Pavlovna, would it?”
Rita froze. The box of ornaments slipped from her hands.
“How do you know my father’s name was Pavel?”
Darya’s eyes filled with tears.
“Because he was my father too.”
Rita gasped.
“You’re Dasha?”
Tears streamed down Darya’s face.
Nina and her father stepped back, giving them space.
“We’ll set the table,” Nina whispered to him.
As they worked, her father chuckled.
“I suppose that makes me your assistant?”
Nina laughed.
“You’re not getting out of peeling potatoes, Dad!”
He sighed dramatically.
“What a tyrant I raised!”
Nina felt a warmth spread through her chest. For the first time in a long while, everything felt right. Rita had found her sister, her father had found new purpose, and in that moment, the world felt just a little bit brighter.