"You are right," Anatoly said after a moment of reflection. "I find it's easier here to hope and believe things will work out then I could anywhere else, as strange as it is to say."

He smiled warmly and leaned back in his chair. There had been some bad times here but they were all outweighed by the good moments. He'd arrived a shell of a person and after a few years of true friendship and security, he felt as if he was finally becoming someone worth knowing.