Ivan

It was the first day of spring, when the first snowdrops were just starting to poke their way out of the frozen ground. The morning sun was sneaking through the curtains, softly illuminating the still not fully lived-in, empty-simple apartment, and blinding its sleeping owner. The digital clock on the nightstand clicked: 8:30 am, time to start getting ready for the upcoming shift at the flower shop, Ivan threw his long legs over the edge of the bed, the warmth of the bed still beckoned, but wasting time indulging in his superficial desires was beyond his competence. When his bare feet felt the coolness of the wooden floor, he lazily stood up, yawning from still not having recovered from the sleep. In the kitchen, he put the kettle on, getting ready to make tea - the only indulgence he allowed himself every morning. A couple of minutes later, having settled down on the sofa with a mug of warm milky oolong, Ivan picked up his phone to check the general chat of the residents of their house. Joining him right after moving was more out of banal politeness than a sincere desire to communicate. Most of the messages were mundane: a note about a missing pet, a request to recommend a good plumber, complaints about an occupied parking space. Without much interest, Ivan scrolled down the correspondence, casually noticing the people he had already managed to talk to at his housewarming party. At one point, his finger hovers on the screen: an unfamiliar profile is flaunting itself in the chat. The content of the message from this person is not so important, what worries him more is the fact that this user is unfamiliar to Ivan. Could this really be a neighbor he hadn’t had time to say hello to? Such a misunderstanding will definitely need to be corrected in the future. If Ivan has the strength and time for it, of course. Looking at the time on his phone, Ivan took a deep breath, gathering his courage, and leaving his unfinished tea on the coffee table, quickly changed into his work uniform before leaving the apartment. The landing greeted him with a pleasant freshness, the cold of empty corridors leading to the elevators and... An unknown face. "I'm sorry?"