to see me?! Have you fallen out of love?!"
The girl's eyes immediately filled with tears and her lips trembled. I couldn't help but wince. She's obviously overplaying it. A look of annoyance appeared on Andrew 's face for a moment.
" Can I get you anything? " I asked, just to remind myself.
They seemed to have forgotten about me. I didn't want to witness their stormy reconciliation.
The blonde jumped up, but the boss was ahead of her:
" No need for anything. Go to work."
I happily walked out the door and, closing it tightly, leaned back and exhaled in relief. It seems that no one is not going to fire me, which I can not be happy. But the blonde wouldn't stop there and would try to make my life a living hell.
Work in general was not difficult. Andrew had few visitors. He himself turned out to be very active and preferred to meet outside the office. The only thing is that there were a lot of calls in the afternoon. Everyone wanted something, either to sign documents or to schedule a meeting. So the organizer had to be dealt with urgently. There weren't many time overlaps. Just two. And the last one was due to a changed meeting place. After calling the secretaries, I easily rescheduled them.
However, the schedule for two weeks in advance turned out to be so tight that other people who wanted to meet had to either refuse or make arrangements to meet in two weeks. Plus, I put meetings on the schedule. And remembering the latter, I dug into the Internet in search of a decent company willing to organize a buffet in the office.
Camille left about an hour later, absolutely pleased with herself. She didn't even look at me, which pleased me greatly. So the first day, you could say, went smoothly.
As I headed out of the office, I thought it would be a good idea to go to the supermarket. Ramila had bought all the groceries before. She also cooked. Today, however, I got off around seven o'clock. That's very early for work in Moscow! When I ran down the stairs and turned the corner, I immediately turned back. Dimitri stood at the gatehouse, wearing a beautiful light colored coat. He was cooing softly with someone on the phone and promised not to stay anywhere.
My first impulse was to turn around and run to the toilet. Where I could lock myself in a stall and cry. The ex-lover looked like he'd just stepped off the cover of a magazine.
The second impulse was to crack him on the head, scratch his face and make an ugly scandal. Anger demanded an outlet. I managed to restrain myself and clenched my fists to the point of pain.
Dimitri smiled at the world, or rather, at the invisible interlocutor and looked happy. He used to smile at me like that. He spoke with the same intonation, and I believed that I was loved. And worst of all, I realized I was ready to go back to him. To be happy again.
Sighing, I adjusted my dress, tossed back my hair. I didn't want to hide from him anymore. On the contrary, I was going to walk over and look him in the eye.
Encouraging myself, I headed toward him. Dimitri finished the conversation, put the phone in his other hand and brought it to my ear again.
" Yes, yes! I'll be there in about ten minutes. But I can't stay today, I have a lot of work, so I'll have to go back to the office."
I froze, not believing my own ears, immediately suspecting him of another adultery.
" I'm ready to fly to you even to the end of the world!"
Dimitri, without turning around, jumped out into the street and took the wheel of a luxury foreign car, which immediately started off in an unknown direction. I waddled back to the subway. The day was ruined. It turns out I'm not ready to meet him. As soon as he smiled at me and said a few words, I'd believe him. Even though my mind knows that all beautiful words are lies, I can't order my heart.
And yet I was sure that both times he talked to women. Different ones, moreover. He couldn't have told his wife he had to go back to work. As I pondered this thought from every angle, I was once again immersed in a survival quest called, "The Road Home at Rush Hour!"
Chapter 3
Ramila's phrase after I told her about my meeting with Dimitri was vivid and nerve-wracking. However, it could only be repeated in decent society with prepositions and interjections.
I sat in the kitchen, climbing on a chair with my legs, and mindlessly chattering with a spoon in my tea. I felt like a rag doll.
“ You know, it's probably a good thing that everything turned out this way," she said calmly.
I looked up at her in bewilderment. What could be good in what happened? The man I love turned out to be a pig. And I found out about it, when nothing can be fixed.
“ Are you laughing?” I asked in a shaky voice.
For the first time all evening I wanted to cry.
“ Imagine if you had given birth to a child by him," Ramila suggested.
I immediately did what she told me to do, and tears ran down my cheeks.
“Maybe that's the reason? I wanted to wait.”
“ Don't talk nonsense!” Ramilya burst out.” No man has ever managed to bind anyone with this. Yes, maybe he would have gotten married. But then he would mock her all his life. You bet, the calculating predator had bound him hand and foot. Ruined his life! And a wedding is no indicator of fidelity and happiness. He would've kept on going.”
" Listen to you, there are no good men in this world."
" There are a lot of good men. But women love assholes."
Having stamped on both men and women at once, Ramila grabbed my glass and threw the cooled tea into the sink. I leaned back in my chair, not the least bit upset. My food wasn't good today, and I couldn't even swallow a cookie. Just the sight of it made me sick.
" So Dimitri didn't see you, and that's good. See, I was right about you getting a job at this office."
" Dimitri's the manager, and I'm the secretary."
" Dimitri's a jerk, and you're an asshole. The secretary is the closest person to the boss. You'll be with him for twelve hours. Helping him. Cover for him. And as a result, he'll treat you better than the rest of us. Imagine the controversial question, "who gets the lucrative assignment?" And you say, "Julia's more responsible," and that's it.
" Am I gonna get fired? " I suggested sarcastically.
" They'll listen to you," Ramilya said.
I, deciding not to argue, nodded in agreement. I felt resentment in my soul. I loved him so much, and he was just taking advantage of me....
" So, Julia offered you an interesting job? So do it. Don't cry!"
As if confirming her rightness, the phone rang, notifying about a message in Viber. Julia wrote that she had sent me the documents to the post office. I sighed and showed it to Ramila, who immediately ran happily to my room and brought a laptop and a Chinese dictionary.
" Go ahead. Tomorrow you'll hand in the first batch of papers and get your praise. You really miss it."
Having stroked the lid of the faithful comrade, my laptop was already three years old, and it worked properly, I got
