Revenge – served cold

I breathed through my teeth and dropped the call. I collapsed onto my pillow and tried to sleep. It didn't work, though; anger was more energizing than anything else.

After turning around for about ten minutes and realizing that she couldn't fall asleep, she got up and went to the kitchen.

In fact, Mila had woken me up only half an hour earlier than my alarm clock, but that half hour was exactly what I needed to sleep. I had been missing half an hour all week.

To my surprise, Ramila was already in the kitchen, absent-mindedly stirring coffee in a coffee pot. She looked as if she hadn't been to bed at all.

" Can't sleep? " I asked glumly.

I usually got up first, showered, and then met her in the kitchen.

" You could say that. I keep thinking, what exactly Dimitri was counting on when he went on a walk?"

" Does it make any difference? " I inquired with demonstrative indifference.

" Of course! " Ramilya assured me eagerly.

I sat down on the chair and raised my eyebrows in surprise. It seemed that my friend could not calm down and continued to think about her plan of revenge.

" What does it matter to us what he was counting on? I doubt we'll be able to get him to talk about it. "

" Why would we ask him anything? We could just follow him."

I was lucky I was able to sit up. If I'd stood up, I'd have fallen. Ramila seems to have had a lot of crazy ideas this morning. And she loves them.

I didn't share them. As far as I was concerned, the idea was impossible, moreover, on the verge of fantasy. But Ramila seemed to like it more and more every minute. I had to touch her forehead defiantly.

" Don't fuss," Ramila waved my hand away.

" Didn't you sleep well? Why do you suddenly have such strange ideas in the morning? And in general, how do you envision it? Are we going to ride the subway after him? And beforehand, to specify – at what station to get off? "

Dimitri traveled around the city by car, and we took the subway. Of course, we could take a cab, but traffic jams can eat up a fortune, and we can't even talk about our modest means.

" How we do it is another matter," Ramilya snorted.

I sighed and, pushing her away from the stove, took the pot off the fire. Ramila was so excited that she stopped watching the drink. It looked like the coffee was nasty and overcooked, but it didn't even run off. I don't know how she does it. Mine escapes almost immediately. All my attempts to make an Americano end up with washing the stove, the pot, and sometimes the floors, and I have to drink instant coffee to realize my inadequacy.

I poured the coffee into cups and sat Ramila in a chair. I didn't understand why she was having this conversation at all.

" Let's start at the beginning," I suggested. " Why are you going to follow him? "

" Think about it, Dimitri has been using women all his life to achieve his plans. So his next woman is much richer than the one he's married to. And if he hasn't moved in with her and divorced her yet, it can only mean that their relationship hasn't reached the stage of living together yet."

" So? " I asked dumbly.

Hearing about another of Dimitri's girlfriends hurt. I would have been more than happy to end this conversation. Only then, developed a detailed and illogical plan, will sit in the nearest bushes from the office with theater binoculars.

" And the fact that now is exactly the moment when you can intervene and spoil his "raspberry"."

" You think?"

" Oh, Rina, you never cease to amaze me! Now he's not going out with a girl, he's going out with his legal wife. Plus he works for her father's company. One mistake and he's"

" Unemployed, but with his own apartment," I finished.

It was a sore subject. I never dared to tell my parents the truth. And they're always asking how I live and want me to take pictures of the apartment. So far I've managed to avoid this conversation, but I'm afraid it won't last long.

Ramilya is certainly getting carried away and, at the moment, her thought is more like the plot of a detective novel. But she is right about one thing, it is a good moment to reveal Dimitri's affairs. However, there was still an open question: " how to find out who that woman was?

" Do you have an idea yet? "

" Not yet, but I'm sure I'll think of something."

***

All the way to the office, I thought about our conversation with Ramila.

In fact, my friend was right; if we didn't intervene now, there was no way to get revenge. There was one more problem, I wasn't sure I needed this. Immersed in my thoughts, I made it to the office almost without adventure. All I got was another foot stomp and an elbow to the stomach.

I got out of the flow of people and walked toward the office. When I hesitated, I almost ran into a lone picketer. I understand when people strive for something important, but here the sign said: "save aliens from space."

I was floored and frozen in place. I can't even imagine what humanity has to do to accomplish this? The man holding the placard gave me a look of superiority and set his jaw stubbornly. I belatedly jerked into the crosswalk, the traffic light blinked mockingly and switched to red. It told me it would take a hundred and eighty seconds to stop.

I had to run the last couple of dozen meters to the office. When I reached the entrance hall, I slowed down to find my phone ringing in my bag. Only when I stopped, I noticed Dimitri standing in front of the guards. He was talking to someone on the phone. Judging by the way he was writing, the conversation was unpleasant. If I hadn't stopped, I might have hit him. He'd be surprised to see me.

I didn't have time to jump out into the street, and I wasn't ready for him. I dropped the bag I'd been rummaging through for my phone, its contents scattering on the floor. Feeling like I was going to burst into tears, I started to pick it up.

" You're Miss Tidy today, aren't you?"

Julia sat down next to me. I gave her a quick glance and continued taking everything into the bag.

" Almost," I muttered.

Julia laughed and started helping me pack. I was more grateful to her for blocking Dimitri from me. The former "man of my life" didn't recognize me. Just slid an indifferent glance and went to the elevator. I tried to reassure myself that it was because of the color of my hair, the dye was uneven, and it turned out to be a kind of melting. Well, it was still better than my natural mousy color.

" What's your hurry? And why do you look like that? " Julia asked.

" Because you don't know what will happen if I'm late?"

Out of the corner of my eye I watched Dimitri enter the elevator. He looked like a Greek god, if the gods of Olympus really existed, and they were stylists for glossy magazines. Dark hair, slightly disheveled by the wind, long black coat, impeccable suit. And there's nothing to say about the right facial features and statuesque figure.

" Oh-oh, don't tell me you've fallen victim to our handsome man? " Julia grinned contemptuously.

" Yes, a victim on the altar," I muttered.

" He'd chosen another unfortunate woman as his victim. And she's so in love with him that she doesn't even want to see the obvious."

" The obvious?" I wondered.