— Are you waiting for someone? — Her voice sounded even, without a trace of excitement.
Taras looked up, and his face showed neither surprise nor confusion. He simply smiled.
— You, of course.
— Me?
— Olesya felt the ground slipping out from under her feet. — Or maybe Zhanna?
— All men are the same, — Anna lowered her voice to a whisper, as if sharing a secret. — Every single one of them!
At some point, they get bored, and they start looking for… new sensations.
— Ulyana caught her Renat with some girl yesterday! Ten years of marriage — and all down the drain! — Anna indignantly put her cup on the table and stared at her friend, waiting for a reaction.
Olesya shook her head.
She loved Anna, but sometimes her friend got too carried away with other people’s problems. Olesya didn’t know Ulyana and Renat very well – they’d met at get-togethers a couple of times.
– Poor Ulyana… And what, did she catch them right in the bedroom? – Olesya stirred her cold tea with a spoon, feeling strangely awkward.
– No!
I saw them by chance in a restaurant. Imagine – walking hand in hand, and this girl is so young! A student, a first-year student, I think, – Anna moved closer.
– Ulyana had suspected something for a long time. It was as if Renat had changed – he started staying late at work, surrounded himself with secrets. And the weekends – always some kind of business meetings!
On Sunday, can you imagine?
Olesya nodded absentmindedly, thinking about her own. Taras also started staying late more often… But he really does have a lot of work. He was recently promoted.
– All men are like that, – Anna lowered her voice again.
– Every single one of them! At some point they get bored and look for… new experiences.
“Don’t talk nonsense,” Olesya objected weakly. “Taras is not like that.”
Anna leaned back in her chair and raised an eyebrow skeptically.
“Really?
Are you sure?”
Olesya felt a wave of irritation rising inside her.
“Absolutely. We’ve been together for ten years. We have two beautiful children.”
“So what?
Ulyana and Renat also have a child. That didn’t stop them.
“Taras loves me,” Olesya said firmly, but somewhere deep in her soul a treacherous shadow of doubt crept in.
Anna grinned, as if she had read her friend’s thoughts.
“Let’s check your husband?” she suggested. “Then you’ll find out if he’s faithful to you!”
– What nonsense?
– Olesya frowned. – I’m not going to spy on my own husband.
– And who’s talking about spying? – Anna leaned forward.
– There’s an easier way. Let’s create a fake account of some hottie, write to him, see how he reacts…
– No! – Olesya decisively pushed the cup away.
– It’s… unfair. And anyway – I trust him.
– Well, well, – Anna nodded indulgently. – Ulyana trusted him too.
The first signs of doubt seeped into Olesya’s consciousness like water through a cracked dam.
Little things she hadn’t paid attention to before suddenly took on an ominous meaning.
Taras really did start staying late at work more often. Sometimes she tried to call him in the evening, but he didn’t pick up. “A meeting,” he would explain briefly later.
The story doesn’t end here — it continues on the next page.
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