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!"
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.”