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Annotation:

Jan, what is it? Nika speaks up. Why did we stop?

My chest tightens to the point of aching when I see a beautiful face and a mop of black hair. As if shell-shocked, I shift my eyes to the sign of the building in which the girl from my past is hiding. I should leave, pretend not to notice, but instead I show Nike to the door. I take her by the hand and lead her to the beauty salon.

"I don't need a stylist, especially in a place like this," she says mockingly.

- And you pretend to be needed.

From one thought that now I will see Alena and look into her eyes, a hot wave runs down my back. A familiar aching feeling in my chest, like a thorn in my heart. It didn't disappear. As, it turns out, the desire to possess.

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1 chapter

Allen, thanks for coming. This is very important for me,” says Nellie, pointing to the chair next to her.

He recruits Efimova and arranges with her to select the best makeup artists for me and Vika.

“Always at your service,” I smile back and sit down in the indicated place.

- So, I agreed with Nina. Now you’ll go, make beauty with Vika, then we’ll take a picture, and you and I will fall into Lenar’s restaurant. They have a buffet today: the boss had a wedding yesterday. We’ll unwind a little and chat, otherwise we don’t even have time to talk properly with this race.

“All right, my general. I can hardly contain my laughter.

I still laugh when Nellie rolls her eyes theatrically.

“By the way, how are Weasel and Harry doing?” she asks.

- Nastya whined for a long time that she was missing everything again, because there was no one else to leave the little snotty freak to, except for her. But they don't get bored.

I take out my phone from my bag, open the gallery and show Nelly a photo where Andryusha, stripped to his underpants, sits at the table and draws with paints. Before him is a blank sheet of paper, but his body and hands are smeared with black gouache, and his face is so pleased that it is impossible not to smile. Real devil.

“God,” Nolik laughs out loud when he sees the photo. “That’s right, a family of geniuses. Weasel sings, Harry draws, you put on ice dancing. You also need to come up with some kind of hobby to match you.

- Are you a designer? I ask, raising my eyebrows questioningly.

Nellie snorts defiantly.

- Lenar betrayed me? You won't hide anything from you. She returns the phone to me and asks me to forward this photo.

After receiving the picture, Nellie chuckles again, looking at our little Harry, and then calls someone. I shift into a chair closer to the window so as not to miss the appearance of Vicki, who is about to pick me up in a taxi.

Do you know who will be in the restaurant today? - Nolik starts playfully, having completed another conversation at work.

“I guess,” I smile back.

- Heinrich asks about you every time when I appear at Lenar's office. Captured the overseas prince, heartbreaker. But I'm not even surprised. Your external data is just a bomb. Customers often ask where I dug up such a diamond. And it's not about dresses. And Ramzina is still trying to find out your contacts from me in order to offer to shoot material for her site. Want?

I cringe at the words "prince" and "heartbreaker", but I don't show it.

“Actually, I work in a different field. I'm barely getting to you. I sleep four hours a day. Where else can I get a job?

I twist some cute trinket in my hands, similar to a hairpin or boutonniere, but when I see a horse price tag on it, I put it back on the coffee table.

- Well, you must admit that Neiman is an enviable groom. In addition, a close friend of Lenar and a serious man, Nelli lists. - Frivolous, if anything, there are no surroundings of my husband ...

- Don't be so upset. Last week Heinrich came to Moscow with his sister and niece for an examination. We went on a date with him, and spent the whole next day with the children walking in the park.

- Wow! What wonderful news,” Nellie blossoms. “You look great with him, really. You are a burning brunette, he is a green-eyed blond ... By the way, there will be no one in the restaurant today. The whole beau monde is going. I suppose daughter Ivashchenko will not miss the chance to demonstrate her charms. - Nolik sticks out her chest, hinting that Angelica is fine with volumes and there is something to surprise. - She has been staring at Heinrich for a long time, knocking out wedges. And I don't want this upstart to get it! He wants a normal woman.

- Normal, huh? - I click my tongue. - It's definitely not for me. I get to my feet, noticing Vika through the window, who is getting out of the taxi. - Okay, Nolik, we're going to the salon. We'll be back soon. Don't burn your ear, business lady, - I nod at the phone she holds in her hand.

Nelly smirks maliciously in response and makes a funny face.

“Then it’s better to let me go blind from your beauty.” Everything. I'm waiting.

She blows me a kiss, answering someone's call again.

The mood is excellent. I love such calm and serene days. Even on the street the sun is hot - not a single cloud in the sky. The weather this time is clearly in favor of having a day of relaxation and walking around your favorite places.

I greet Vika, and after exchanging a couple of phrases, we load into the back seat of a blue sedan, which smells pleasantly of strawberry gum.

— Well, how do you like the new collection? True fly? Vika admires. I love trying on wedding dresses. It seems to be my calling.

“Yes, the dresses are very beautiful,” I agree.

- And you for a long time or again raid? We're having a party this weekend. Maybe join? she suggests.

- No, it won't work. I stretch my lips into a smile. - I'm on the run. I barely escaped from work, I had to take a vacation at my own expense.

Vika and I are Nellie's friend when a new collection of wedding dresses arrives in her salon. Before the start of sales, I carve out a couple of days and fly to St. Petersburg to shoot material for booklets and a website on the Internet, and then return to Moscow.

- I always want to get married after these photo shoots. It would be for someone else, - Vika suddenly admits.

“Do you know what the coach tells me? Do not attack to get married, if only you do not get lost with your husband.

Well, she's definitely right about something.

Vika purses her lips skeptically, and we briefly delve into discussions about the pros and cons of family life. We agree that until old age you can safely walk in unmarried ladies. Unless, of course, you meet a mind-blowing love, like Nelly and Lenar, who really treat each other with great warmth and tenderness. Then the abyss is not scary.

The taxi driver interrupts the discussion, saying that we have arrived. He endows us with generous compliments, assuring us that someone will definitely ring such pretty ones and that in old age we will not die of loneliness.

We go outside with smiles on our faces and head to the salon. I stay at the entrance for a while, taking a call from Dimka and getting very angry with my brother that I rarely reflected back. But now there is no time to sort things out. I promise to call him in an hour, if nothing urgent, and I also go into the building.

Vika is already sitting in a chair at one of the make-up artists, and a blonde of small stature is waiting for me, tapping her manicured fingers on the table. New. I haven't seen her here before. The girl introduces herself as Natasha, looks at my face for a long time with a thoughtful and curious look, and then picks up a palette with shadows.

A soft brush begins to flutter, conjures over the eyelids, outlines the line of the cheekbones, tickles the skin. I love it when they make me beautiful. But today it is impossible to relax. Maybe it's because of the chatter of a new visitor who came in a few minutes ago and endlessly remarks to her master. Or because of Dima's call and our recent quarrel. Don't know. I feel out of my element. As if not with a brush they drive over the face, but with a burning match.

Natasha notices my tension as she puts the finishing touches.

- I'm almost everything. May I take a photo of you for my portfolio? she asks as she continues her work. - I sometimes post pictures on the Internet, and you have a very bright, memorable appearance. I want you in my collection.

— To the collection? I answer with a smile. - Can.

The stiffness does not go away, because the sensation of fire on the skin does not decrease, but, on the contrary, only increases.

I look around and, seeing a ghost from the past, I automatically reach out to rub my eyes. Natasha, noticing this gesture, stops me and asks me not to touch my face.

Blinking frequently, I look at Janis, who is sitting on the couch next to the reception desk and scanning me with a gaze. His jaws are tightly clenched. Even dark eyebrows, slightly frowning, move to the bridge of the nose when Ian and I meet eyes. In mine, perhaps, confusion and confusion, in his - a storm and hell. I'm speechless and my mouth dries up. The flame covers the heart, and it misses a beat when I understand that this is not a glitch - Bagdasarov is really sitting in front of me.

"Is everything all right, Alena?" - Natasha touches me on the shoulder when I do not respond for a long time. The hearing is blocked by a ringing, as after a shell shock.

I have forbidden myself to think about Janis ever since we parted ways. But fragmentary memories, like poisonous snakes, still crawled and stung painfully in the heart. Without asking permission. It seemed that I defeated them all, but now they seem to have risen again and plunge their sharp teeth into me again, filling me with longing, which is rapidly spreading through my veins.

I grip the hem of my skirt with my fingers when Natasha calls again:

- Alyona?

“Yes, everything is in order,” I automatically nod in response, not recognizing my shrunken voice.

Natasha takes several pictures on her phone from different angles, and Jan continues to look at me, leaning back on the sofa and spreading his legs wide.

From what I see in the depths of my dark eyes, I want to turn into a small dot and ask Janis to turn away, disappear, pretend that he didn’t notice me, because ... I don’t want to stir up anything.

- I'm ready. - The luxurious blonde, who pestered the master with her nit-picking, approaches Bagdasarov, touching the elastic styling with her small palms. - Looks nice. Yes?

Janis finally dies and rises to his feet.

“Let’s go,” he says to his girlfriend in an orderly tone, not even looking at her.

I squeeze my eyelids to the stars below them when Bagdasarov and his companion leave the salon, and I feel how it becomes easier to breathe because they no longer burn me with a dark look.

Making an effort, I get up and go to the window, watching a beautiful couple getting into a car parked on the sidewalk. Yang looks up for a second, picking up the phone. We meet eyes again, and then Bagdasarov gets into a white sedan. They drive away from the cabin, and I feel like I'm sinking again.