her favorite game: first bring her to a frenzy, hysterical, then tease her instincts, cause insurmountable lust, and then humiliate her, hurt her, and finally fuck her so that this sweet and obedient holy innocence turns into an unprincipled slut ready for all and all forgiving. But no. Now is not the time. Need to pull yourself together. First of all - the establishment of strong family ties. He was too important was the financial and business support of her dad, otherwise everything will go to ashes.

“I brought you a present,” he said in a low tone, leaning toward her delicate ear. From his breath, goose bumps ran down her skin.

“Thank you,” she swallowed loudly.

- You will still have the opportunity to thank me. I hope you will not disappoint me. Let's move to the exit. We're late.

***

The feast of the parents, as always, did not foretell anything curious. Mom was distracted by phone calls - she generally liked to create an imitation of vigorous activity, so she discussed in detail every step from visiting a beauty salon to the menu and the interior of a restaurant where a business meeting was to take place. “Details are the main thing in any business,” she loved to repeat, before she started a whole epic about some kind of even insignificant deal. We must pay tribute to her - her memory was excellent, and she did not suffer absent-mindedness, always being able to focus on the most important thing. Maybe it was only because of her phenomenal involvement that her elite toy store had not yet collapsed - she never got bored to personally send invitations for exclusive sales, invent various promotions that even the meanest and indifferent customer could not resist, and, of course, with enviable regularity ring round the chosen circle of persons allowed to its unique goods. Even my father often shrugged, genuinely wondering how she managed to keep afloat such an unprofitable enterprise. He had long suspected that the “market” in the face of a handful of their acquaintances had long been fed up with her handmade china dolls and laced music boxes with carousels.

Roman, Luda's older brother, who imagines himself to be a brilliant rock guitarist, has, as always, lately been in a dull melancholy and has not missed a single case in order to understand his unhappy share and creative crisis. It still somehow rolled with his father when Roman was a student. In those days, he repeatedly restored his son to the university after his next protracted musical tour, paid him for tutors, and later settled his problems at work and with the police. Roman once thought of himself as a cool rake, to whom the future seemed cloudless and rosy, like every other heir to a decent state, however, over time, hopes melted away like smoke, because it turned out that the right to inheritance still needed to be earned. Neither his own business, nor the business in his father's footsteps, nor even music led to the desired goal, because the young man somehow did not get used to work from his youth, leaving everything at the expense of his father’s connections. On top of that, he still got involved with drugs, which finally undermined his authority in the eyes of both parents, who were accustomed to consider everyone and everything from the point of view of prospects and benefits. Roma has long come to terms with his role as a loser, so he no longer arranged family skirmishes, recognizing any struggle as useless and hitting sentimentality. Dad also waved his hand at him and tried as much as possible not to start talking about normal work.To recommend his son to any of his acquaintances in a warm place he already simply didn’t turn his tongue, and organizing a business for him obviously meant throwing money down the drain. Luda only heard with her ear that brother, it seems, again participated in some rock-group and sometimes performed in clubs, but considering that he had already turned thirty, and he did not achieve wide popularity, apparently were bad.

Of course, prudent, businesslike, independent and responsible Alexander, whom his father had accidentally encountered for the first time when buying a car, immediately caught his attention. Managers could not prepare him a car with the necessary equipment at a specified time, and he made a scandal out of it, because the delay violated all his plans. To his surprise, the owner of the car dealership himself contacted him, and the very next day he already had the car. He was then immediately struck by the youth of this guy, whose confident manners and ability to conduct business did not at all combine with his age. My father recognized himself as a youth in him - he was also so purposeful, self-reliant, and also clearly understood that everything in this life must be answered by oneself, without seriously relying on anyone without relaxing for a second. They seemed to find soul mates in each other and, despite the great difference in age, became friends. However, his father rather felt like a patron of a promising young man, although the latter did not need any patronage at all. As Lyuda found out during several years of close contact with Sasha, he didn’t really need anyone. He only took from people what he needed - without gratitude, without constraint, without obligations.

The whole conversation at the table as always revolved around Sasha, and he brilliantly held everyone's attention whether it was politics, business, family values, hunting, sports, or even love. The head of the family devoted all his attention to the future son-in-law, whom he openly admired at every opportunity, while the latter kept himself restrained, prudent and noble. The impeccability of his behavior and the prudence of each of his words really could not inspire respect. He skillfully avoided awkward moments, did not react to provocations, easily conceded in insignificant disputes, delicately responded to humor, but in those questions where it was necessary to show character, he became politely tough and persistently irreconcilable. Everything in his behavior to the last detail seemed flawless, verified and so natural that it was simply impossible to suspect him of insincerity!

As Luda’s father revived more and more under the influence of Sasha’s charm, Luda’s heart became more and more filled with ice. This hypocrite could not be trusted, and papa probably already does business with him! Soon, as always, they will be removed to the office and, having hidden there behind clubs of tobacco smoke, will discuss the joint business, some loans and God knows what else. She did not know even half of what they had talked about; no one introduced her to the course of their affairs. Only because of awareness and it was not required. She was supposed to smile, nicely and jokingly, to have small talk, to give a fool, to serve as an adornment of the society and her future spouse. One day, during a regular quarrel, her father directly told her that millions of girls dream of being in her place, and instead of gratitude, she only knows that he is a sufferer. Since then, she has left any attempts to establish contact with her father - she just lived in his house according to his rules, went to classes, attended family dinners, was going to marry the one whom her parents had chosen for her.

- How are things at the university, Milka? - Luda's brother interrupted his thoughts. Sometimes they even did not exchange a word with him for months.

“It's okay,” she shrugged indifferently.

- How long do you still have to study?

- Two and a half years.

- And what's next?

- And then ..., - Luda sighed shortly, - I will look for work by profession.

- Is it a psychologist? To mess with other people's problems?

“It’s better to solve someone’s problems than to create them all around,” she said coldly and turned away.

The brother fell silent, and Luda felt with all her skin how her father was watching them talking. He always listened carefully and looked at everything that happened at the table. For a while he chewed lazily and only occasionally grinned at some of his observations.

“And remind me, when is your wedding there?” - he gave ... Read more →