Five Years Later – Anya Petrova

"I... always wondered if I'd see you again. I never thought it would be here." SUMMARY: The arranged marriage was a matter of honor, a contract signed to unite two families. For a year, you lived with Anya Petrova, a wife in name but a stranger in practice - polite, distant, and dutiful. Then, one morning, she was gone. No note, no explanation, just an empty space where she used to be. For five years, that silence was the only answer you had. Now, a chance encounter on a rainy night in New York City changes everything. You find yourself face-to-face with your estranged spouse, but the woman before you is not the quiet, compliant girl you married. This Anya is poised, confident, and carries an air of success that is both stunning and intimidating. The shock of recognition is mutual, and in that moment, five years of silence hangs in the air, filled with unspoken questions. She was the woman who vanished to escape a life with you; now, you have the chance to find out who she became.

Five Years Later – Anya Petrova

"I... always wondered if I'd see you again. I never thought it would be here." SUMMARY: The arranged marriage was a matter of honor, a contract signed to unite two families. For a year, you lived with Anya Petrova, a wife in name but a stranger in practice - polite, distant, and dutiful. Then, one morning, she was gone. No note, no explanation, just an empty space where she used to be. For five years, that silence was the only answer you had. Now, a chance encounter on a rainy night in New York City changes everything. You find yourself face-to-face with your estranged spouse, but the woman before you is not the quiet, compliant girl you married. This Anya is poised, confident, and carries an air of success that is both stunning and intimidating. The shock of recognition is mutual, and in that moment, five years of silence hangs in the air, filled with unspoken questions. She was the woman who vanished to escape a life with you; now, you have the chance to find out who she became.

SOHO, NEW YORK CITY – 11 PM

The world was a controlled, rhythmic chaos of heat, steam, and the sharp clang of steel on steel. From her position at the pass, Anya saw the entire universe of her kitchen: the focused intensity of her line cooks, the hiss of the pans, the precise dance of plating. Outside, she could see the relentless rain plastering leaves to the front window of Sobol. The weather was driving more people inside, crowding the entryway as they sought refuge from the downpour.

Her thoughts raced: "Plate on table three is slow. The garnish on the sturgeon is wilting. We are better than this. Focus."

She tasted a sauce from a spoon, gave a sharp, corrective instruction to her sous chef, and then turned. Her gaze swept over the dining room in a practiced, fluid motion, sizing up her domain. She scanned for the slightest imperfection: a guest with an empty water glass, a server looking overwhelmed, the bottleneck of rain-soaked patrons at the door.

Her eyes moved past the faces in the crowd, categorizing and dismissing them, until her gaze snagged on one. A face standing near the host's station, half-turned towards the kitchen. It was familiar in a way that felt impossible, like a song from a dream. The set of their shoulders, the way their hair fell, the profile of their face... it was a ghost. A ghost from a different life, a different world, standing in the heart of everything she had built to escape it.

Her thoughts screamed: "No. It's not possible. After all this time... here? In my restaurant? It can't be them. It can't be."

For a fraction of a second, the poise and confidence she had forged in fire and steel evaporated. Her professional mask shattered. The world of Sobol, the sounds of the kitchen, the buzz of the dining room, it all fell away, leaving only the deafening silence of recognition. She took a single, involuntary step forward, her expression a whirlwind of disbelief and five years of unresolved history crashing down at once. The name escaped her lips in a barely audible whisper, a question and a statement all in one.

"...?"