He reached out his crooked hand towards me, and I recoiled in horror.

"Don't touch her," another guy said. “This is Chichin's fiancee.

I started. God, I never dreamed of such glory.

- Chicha, is he going to get married? - startled the third, the youngest of them, in a greasy overalls. - Here is a bug! And he didn't say anything! I just saw him this morning. Rushed like a scalded.

I stopped, turned sharply to him, immediately forgetting both fear and disgust.

- Where did you see him?

“Shut up,” the bastard cut him off. “Maybe he gave the shit out of her.” Look, you're setting up the boy.

He shook with rattling laughter and immediately coughed. I impetuously leaned over to their makeshift table, grabbed a bottle and, stepping aside, raised my hand menacingly:

- Tell me, where did you see Romka? Or I'll pour your swill now ...

- Eee! All three jumped up in fear. - Come on? Crazy?

- Where did you see him? Alive!

The boy blinked his eyes and, stuttering slightly, began to frequent:

- So on this ... on sorting.

- Where is it?

- At the station. We unloaded the wagons there at night, in sorting. We stood later, in the morning, on the platform, smoking with the peasants, well, Chicha ran through there. I was late for the train. Hey, give me the flask!

On wooden legs, I walked out onto the road. Romka left the city? Secretly, without even saying a word to me? I was overcome with stupidity. My chest was painful and tight. I trudged along in a fog, not understanding the path. It seems that she even cried aloud, frightened passers-by.

All today's nightmare has not crippled me as much as Romka's flight. I am not a feeble-minded and not a naive girl for a long time, so as not to understand what trouble Romka has dragged us into with his careless trick. And I know perfectly well what those people can do to take their own or punish them. And, of course, I'm scared, I'm scared to the point of cold sweat and convulsions. However, at the very least, I held on, but it was Romka's betrayal that simply broke and crushed me.

I went to the station. At the suburban ticket office I bought a train ticket to the Gorka station - Romka's parents lived there. What for? I do not know. It is unlikely, of course, that he was hiding with mom and dad, but I just didn’t know where else to put myself, where to go ...

All the way I was in some strange stupor. I even got the feeling that everything was not happening to me, that this was just a bad dream that would soon be dispelled.

If…

At about six in the evening I got off at the station and along the path, through the meadow, went to the house of Romka's parents. There was such serenity here - greenery all around, the smell of grass, silence. No noise, no fuss, no one. In the distance, cows were grazing in the meadow, but even they seemed to be sleeping standing up. However, against the background of this pastoral, the horror that tormented me inside seemed even sharper and more sinister.

The house of Romkin's parents was at the very end of the street. High wooden gates reliably hid the yard from prying eyes. It was quite possible to hide there. Only something told me that Romka was not there.

I didn’t even have time to knock, I just came closer, as their dog burst into barking. And almost immediately the shaggy head of Romka's younger brother appeared from the fence. And then his mother came out.

They greeted me cordially, although they were obviously surprised at my appearance. They immediately brought me into the house, began to fuss, even hugged me a little. Yes, the bride...

And then Romkin's mother finally killed me with the news:

So Roma left. So where did you decide...

Have we decided? - I did not understand.

- Well, yes.

– What did we decide?

- Well, how? That it would be better for him to work for two or three months on a shift. Immediately get good money so that you get married by the fall. So he said. He says you have been discussing this for a long time, but now you have decided that it is time.

I sat in complete prostration, not understanding one thing: how could I be so ignorant of the person with whom I lived side by side for almost a year? Am I really that unobservant and stupid? Well, it’s impossible to pretend to be a good loving guy for so long ...

“Well,” his mother continued, putting steaming potatoes on my plate, “he stopped by here, somewhere around noon. He collected some of his things, took money from us for the first time, well, in order to get there, to settle down. He said that yesterday he paid for the apartment at your place three months in advance. For you to have a place to live. But why do you need that apartment? Romka's mother sighed with a slight reproach. - You pay such money for no reason. Live in your own home...

I didn't listen to her anymore. No, I'm definitely an idiot. I always considered Romka to be a simple, good and unsophisticated, even stupid guy that anyone would warm up. Such an adult child. And he's so thoughtful, it turns out, maybe. He even cheated on his parents - he paid in advance, how!

And with a watch, how cleverly he came up with. Another time, I would even applaud his resourcefulness. Only now I wanted to lie down, fall asleep and never wake up again, just not to know how mean people close to me can be.

I stayed overnight with Romkin's parents, but the next day I returned to the city by the first train. I didn’t even want to think about what was waiting for me there and how I would get out of all this. I decided: they will come, those two, - I will tell them everything as it is. Let them look for him. I'm certainly not going to shield Romka. Now there is no. He betrayed me. And in the most low, soulless and vile way.

Of course, I was not going to live further in our rented apartment either. After all, I had only to pack my things and leave here forever, start a new life and try to forget everything.

I packed all my belongings in two boxes and a trunk, I didn’t touch Romka’s things. While getting ready, I found a Valentine card, a plush rabbit and a mug with a heart and the inscription Marina - his gifts. She cried like a sentimental fool. But she didn't take anything.

It remains to figure out where to go with these boxes. Actually, our apartment was paid until the end of June. I can't be here, but what about things? After hesitating, I decided to let them be kept here until I find a new home for them and for myself.

It was possible to look for a room on the ads, it is now simply done. I even had a recent issue of “From Hand to Hand” lying around somewhere. Or even go to Zarechensk. To see my mother, to lick the wounds in the parental nest.

I suddenly liked this idea, although my hometown had never attracted me. Vice versa! After each session, I came up with a thousand reasons, just not to go there on vacation. And then suddenly I caught fire with half a turn.

However, it is clear that this is not the case in Zarechensk. I just needed to go anywhere. Get out of here immediately. At least for the next two months. Because the familiar walls, the yard, the street, the neighbors - all this pricked my eyes and did not let me forget for a second that Romka had cruelly betrayed me ...

I decided to go to my parents. Then she got up from her chair, took a backpack, looked around. My God, but until recently I was quite happy here. It's impossible to believe...

While I was fiddling with the keys, Nina Timofeevna, an old woman from the apartment opposite, looked out at the noise in the entrance.

“Marinochka, some suspicious people knocked on your door yesterday,” she said in a half-whisper. - They came twice. Evening and night. I thought they would take out the door, so they hammered at night. I threatened to call the police... They asked Roma.

“Thanks,” I muttered, nodding. Well, of course, they came, how could it be otherwise ... And they will probably come again soon.

I went out into the street, feeling the nervous tension building up in leaps and bounds. I quickly looked around and didn't see anyone suspicious. The courtyard, bathed in the morning sun, seemed sleepy and quiet. It is in the evenings that life is seething here, and before lunch it is dead time. Unless someone takes the dog out or walks with the stroller.

I usually don't look at cars, but then I noticed that there were several cars parked here and there around the yard. One nestled near the third entrance - a broken-down dirty-red Niva, but it can be discounted. There was no one inside either. And she looks too dead, serious people don’t drive like that.

The second - near our entrance - is generally rusty and without wheels. I remember it here from the winter. Also past. But a little to the side were three more foreign cars. That's what got me worried.

I crossed the platform without taking my eyes off them. It seems that I didn’t notice anyone there either, but the windows were tinted, you can’t say for sure. And most importantly, anxiety was scratching in my soul so clearly that I even made a deceitful maneuver - I went into a grocery store on the first floor of a neighboring house and, clinging to the slope of the window, secretly watched these foreign cars for a quarter of an hour.

The saleswoman at first tangled with stupid questions, nagging, they say, you can’t stand here, buy or leave, but without being distracted, I lied that I was following the cheating fiancé. And she suddenly felt inspired, sympathized, even expressed a few strong words to the groom.

However, I did not see any activity next to foreign cars. It looks like she really blew on the water out of fear. Then I left the store and, without delay, rushed to the station. There I stood in line at the box office and took a ticket to Zarechensk for tonight.

You could breathe. True, the train was almost ten hours away. But I decided that I would not risk it. I'd rather sit here until the evening, in the waiting room. There are a lot of people here, and the police are walking somewhere ...

But it only took me three hours. Then I wanted everything at once: to drink, and to eat, and to go to the toilet.

Tightly peering at everyone I met, I made my way to the exit. Some train had just arrived, and the crowd poured into the underpass, sweeping me off my feet. I barely made it out of the station building onto the busy square. Nearby, along the road, in a long chain stood kiosks with newspapers, drinks, tobacco, hot dogs. I ran to the nearest stall, leaned over to the tiny window, holding out the money:

– Give me a bottle of mineral water and a Snickers, please.

Terribly nervous, I took the bottle, chocolate bar and change, turned back and ... dumbfounded. Literally ten meters away was the old red Niva, wormed its way among the taxi drivers. I didn’t see the number, but from somewhere there was a certainty that this was the same car that was near the house in the morning. A chill crept up my back.

So calm down, I told myself. Matches are different. Are there enough red fields in the city? This is me already winding myself up with fear and seeing danger everywhere.