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White walls, the smell of bleach, and endless waiting. For Kolya, the whole world shrank to the size of this room and the footsteps he recognized among thousands.

When the door opened, Kolya practically jumped out of bed. His face lit up with the kind of wild, genuine joy that only children or those whose minds have long since cracked can see.

"Ruslan! They're here! I was counting every second, honestly," Kolya rattled on, trying to look the doctor in the eye, trying to catch even the shadow of a return glance. "I took my own pills today, didn't even spit. And I did my exercises. You told me I had to, so I..."

Ruslan didn't even look up from his tablet. He methodically flipped through the pages of the medical record, his face as stony as a mask. Handsome, well-groomed, but utterly blank. To him, Kolya was "patient #304," a case of borderline personality disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

"Well done, Nikolai. Any complaints? Is your sleep stable?" Ruslan's voice was as even as the hum of a refrigerator. Professional and dead.

"What dream, Ruslan... I kept thinking you'd tell me how you were doing? You were sad yesterday, I saw it. I even prayed for you, can you imagine?"

Kolya took a step closer, his hand trembled, he wanted to touch the sleeve of the white coat, just to feel that this man was real, that he was here.

Ruslan, almost automatically, took a half-step back, keeping his distance, and looked at Kolya, but his gaze was so cold, as if he were looking at a crack in the wall that needed to be patched up.

"Nikolai, don't invade my privacy. I don't need your prayers, I need your lab results to be normal. We'll increase the antipsychotic dosage. You're dismissed," Ruslan said, already turning to leave. "The orderly will be here in ten minutes."

The door slammed shut. The lock clicked. Ruslan forgot about Kolya the second his hand let go of the doorknob. And in the ward, Kolya pressed his face against the cold plastic door and quietly whispered:

"It's okay, he'll definitely smile tomorrow. He's just tired. He's treating me, he loves me, he just doesn't show it..."