their. But from the face of this girl, he realized that she also recognized him. Just passing by now seemed to him an expression of tactlessness and even boreness. A store of enthusiasm and good mood with which he was charged in the morning made him come closer and say hello to a friend he met suddenly.

- Maria? Hi ... unexpected meeting, huh? - Sergey himself was amazed when he called her "Maria". What happened? Perhaps the sensations from the meeting were so unexpected that they literally took him by surprise, especially since he, in general, just wanted to go further, but circumstances pushed him to approach her. He was a little embarrassed by her appearance, which struck him so pleasantly and did not fit in any way with the very “Masha” whose image surfaced in his head. The collisions of sensations between memories and a real one slowly settled down in his head.

“Hello, Serge,” Masha answered without hesitation and with a smile, as if her answer had been prepared, and was only expecting Sergei to come. - How are you?

- Yes, I'm good. And how are you? Great just looking. - Sergey made a pause, revealingly, but carefully looked at her with a look that brought only to her belt, so as not to seem indiscreet, and immediately raised his eyes back to her face. - Do you ... go to fitness? It's just that you have changed a lot. - Sergey tried to be more careful in expressing his emotions and genuine admiration. Masha read it easily from his gestures and gaze. Light lustful sparks flickered in his eyes, and an undisguised smile showed him a truly huge surprise.

- Yes. As she left our company, she went. Well, I got involved, now I do it regularly, and after that, I pulled up my food, added jogging. - Masha amicably responded to Sergei, not hesitating to her sticky look, which she did not take from his face.

Mary began to feel burning inside. At first, light, barely perceptible. But it grew and gradually began to spread throughout her body. The chest ... then the burning sensation began to descend lower, to the stomach, it spilled with caustic burning acid, causing discomfort, and then began to drain on the legs. Acid-salty, resinous smoke poisoned her from the inside, penetrating into every cell of her body. This nasty feeling of hopelessness and fear stirred in her again, as if feeling these poisonous feelings, crawled out on their scent from the farthest corners of consciousness, where Masha tried to throw them and forget about the existence of Sergey forever.

Everything is new. All year and a half down the drain. All this time, that Masha tried to forget him, to distract himself, to take care of herself and look at the world anew ... to start loving life again, to start loving the world, people, to find the strength to wake up every morning and go to work, to the gym. All this time in her eyes turned to ashes, like paper smoldering in the wind. All this colossal work on oneself, in order to believe in oneself, and try to find one's happiness ... All this is now, with the sand wall soaked with moisture, crumbling before it. She tried to substitute her hands to stop this destruction, but lumps of sand just broke on her fingers and sprinkled on the ground. It was as if these one and a half years had not happened ... as if she had just left the company that she worked with Sergey yesterday. A lump hit her throat, as if she pressed her tears to her eyes, which she tried to hold and look at Sergei, as if nothing had happened.

- Aah ... well, that's right. I now go to the hall, but I cannot deal with food in any way until the end.

“Yes, yes, this is the most difficult,” Masha cheerfully supported, trying to look natural.

- Now where are you working? - Sergey asked, every now and then pulling a package with a couple of small purchases in his hand.

- In the insurance company, not directly to the dream job, but so far I like everything.

- Ah ... well, this is the most important thing.

Sergey kept looking at her bare navel every now and then, but quickly looked up at her. Sergey wanted to let go of a couple of remarks about her gorgeous figure, but he was modest and decided to end the conversation. In fact, it was the same Masha, the same voice, facial expressions ... but her body went into a wild dissonance with the way that froze in his memory. Her body was incredibly attractive and they wanted to enjoy the eyes, which Sergei could not do now, so as not to seem shameless insolent. Therefore, he was a little uncomfortable, why he hurried to end the conversation.

“Okay, I will go,” he wanted to address her by name, but he did not have time to choose the form of appeal, “Masha” or “Maria”, so he simply did not say anything, “there is still more work.” Good to see you.

- Yes, and I love you. Okay, come on ... maybe we’ll still cross, - she didn’t know why she added Masha, why, she pricked herself a little in her thoughts.

- Yes, perhaps Sergei smiled and went to the parking lot, where he left his car.

For the rest of the day, Sergei thought about Masha. Her body didn’t really startle his imagination, but at the same time, Masha herself couldn’t get somewhere deeper, closer to his heart, for him she still remained the same Masha, just now she could well become one of the objects his sexual fantasies ... but no more. He still did not see her as part of his life.

Masha, in contrast to Sergey, came home ... broken and tired, as if she had continuously suffered all these one and a half years. She realized that feelings for Sergey were not gone. That all this time her memory scrupulously kept all the memories of their rare moments of communication at the last work, the dreams of their life together, which Masha loved to indulge in silent evenings. But she did such a huge work on herself, which she was definitely proud of, and this work in an instant ... in such a short moment became futile ... in a single moment, all the efforts to throw Sergei out of her head went down the drain. She just plopped down on the couch, not taking off her beige shoes. She closed her eyes and, second by second, replayed their meeting today. “What is the difference? Everything came back, now at least imagine - do not imagine ... the result is the same ”- she thought with a feeling of deep disappointment. “All this time ... I just imitated my happiness, as if I was well ... I was cheerful at work, with colleagues, friends ... as if I liked everything ... but in fact, it was played up so skillfully that it seems even she believed it herself. And the reality is here it is ”- Masha did not stop and seemed to be tormenting herself specifically.

Of course, she noticed that sticky look, how Sergei looked at her body. She realized what admiration Sergey had for her new image, new hairstyle, sexy clothes, her new body built by workouts in the fitness room. Masha understood that she could try to start communicating with Sergey and, perhaps, he would not push her as several years ago. But also, Masha understood that having received hers, having enjoyed her body, Sergey, most likely, would leave her. And then ... then it will be a real catastrophe, which it will be much harder to survive than now, when they had no relationship. But the dream of being close to him was so sweet and alluring that Masha had already almost agreed with her mind about trying to get close to Sergei. “Maybe it won't work out anyway. Maybe even my body will not force him to start meeting with me ... and if he makes ... whatever happens there, ”but Masha herself was afraid of these thoughts, because she understood that for Sergey she still remained the same Masha and barely whether he will love her only for the body. Lust and physical passion will gradually disappear from his head ... and after that, he will also leave. So Masha believed.

After an hour of lying on the couch and diving deep into her own thoughts, which randomly interfered in her head, she suddenly remembered one photo.She took this photo when Sergey left his working computer unlocked and moved away for a while. The page with the automotive forum, which he periodically read, remained open on the monitor. Masha wanted to remember his nickname, even without knowing why .... Read more →