Vera the Mistress

Oleg was the best in computer science at the University. In the late nineties, computers were available to ordinary citizens like spaceships. And having learned that the computer wants their happiness, his mother and his grandmother called Oleg's father and asked for half of the sum of money. He listened to the offer, bought and brought to them a real computer, a gift for his son's birthday by himself.

The only condition that the computer was at the mother’s and grandmother’s flat (Maxim's former apartment), Oleg was happy as a young dolphin. Now he disappeared for days in the family home. Mother Olya and grandmother Zina was crying with emotions of happiness, his father came once a week to visit his son and always found him at home, on the spot. Moreover, Anatoliy, his best friend, who was finishing medical school, came to work on the computer with Oleg every day. And women, instead of one, now had a double joy. They loved Tolik as if he was their son and grandson.

Chapter 9

Vera spoke to Oleg rather coldly, for the first time in a long period of their relationship.

– Cat, hi, why are you so sad?

– Oleg, I called you a lot of times the day before yesterday and yesterday. I decided not to bother you today. My friend picked me up from the hospital yesterday and brought me home.

"From the hospital?" What happened? he pretended to be so surprised that even Vera, who was in love with him, did not believe him this time.

"Stop being ridiculous. I was taken to the hospital to see your friend, your wife. Didn't you know? You didn't get a call? Or did you decide not to bother me? I will die so I will die, – self-pity covered the girl with such force that she hung up for the first time.

As she washed away her angry tears with mascara in the bathroom, she didn't pay attention to the screen when the sound of the bell echoed across the tile.

"I've already told you. Is something unclear?

"Excuse me, is this Vera?"

The voice on the other end of the line was agitated and trembling. Obviously, the woman had been preparing for this conversation for a long time. And today I decided to dial the desired number.

"Who are you and what do you want?"

– Vera, my name is Larisa, Larisa Belozerskaya… I'm Oleg's ex-girlfriend. Oleg MaksimovichBryantsev. I want to talk to you. Can I meet you?

"I've already met his wife, thank you and goodbye," the current mistress sighed heavily and was about to hang up when she heard the next scream:

”I know that you are not able to have children. Ara brought you as a sacrifice to her gods!”

Vera's hands began to shake, and the tremor was so strong that the switched-on phone fell on the snow-white tile. The phone was still calling her name.

Vera leaned the broken screen against her face and answered:

"Come to my house. I'll text you the address.

– Vera, you are in touch, thank God. I'm sorry, but I know your address. I also lived in this apartment for several years.

Larisa Belozerskaya rang the doorbell exactly thirty minutes later. A tall, slender woman in her thirties looked chic. Dark, long hair, light brown eyes, a perfect face minimally touched with makeup, on the lips a nude fashionable shade of lipstick and a light train of expensive perfume, a black turtleneck, jeans, jewelry only a watch of a famous Swiss brand and a diamond ring on the ring finger.

It was these details that Vera noted as Lyalya, short variant of the name Larisa, took off her outer clothing and left her bag in the corridor, followed the hostess to the kitchen.

– Tea? Coffee? – Vera barely uttered the words, such a crazy weight, fatigue, physical and moral pain fell on her, that she was becoming smaller and grayer in front of the gorgeous Lyalya.

"Thank you, if you can, I’ll just have a glass of water."

Belozerskaya immediately went to the main point. To a story about yourself.

She met Oleg accidentally, at the birthday of a rich mutual friend, they instantly liked each other, and Larisa found out that Oleg was married to Ara a few months later. She told me about the house in Thailand, about how wonderful they were traveling in Europe, and then her lover rented this apartment for her.

Vera had a terrible headache, and she could hear all the words remotely. She remembered how, as a child, her mother used to wear a rabbit fur hat in the winter so that Vera wouldn't get cold in her ears. The cap was warm and large, the gray fur tickled Vera's face, and the strings under her chin pressed against her neck. She said that nothing could be heard in this hat, and when her mother called her home from the ice slides, Vera pretended that she did not hear her mother's screams and promises to be punished for such a bad behavior.

Even now Vera was sitting in front of Larisa, and the words of her former lover reached her through the child's fur hat, although she heard and understood every word. The invisible strings were tight around her neck, and she drew in her breath noisily and heavily.

"Vera, are you ill?" she heard Larisa's words clearly and clearly.

"No, no, it's all right. Just recently I was in the clinic, probably, this is still the effect of drugs and anesthesia.

"That's why I came to you. You see, I was in this clinic, too. The fact is that I got pregnant from Oleg. He met this with hostility, took me to the clinic for an abortion under the careful guidance of Anatoly Ivanovich. Yes, Yes. That. I was terribly worried, I wanted to keep the baby. But then my friend who works in this clinic told me that Oleg had already brought his mistress here for an abortion a few years ago. She died on the operating table. According to the documents, the cause of death was an allergy to anesthesia. Unfortunately, this happens, doctors also make mistakes, not checking the patient for tolerance. But the strangest thing is that my friend told me that during the operation, instead of Oleg, ArinaBryantseva, Oleg's wife, was sitting under the door. The staff signed a non-disclosure agreement, but when my friend saw me on the abortion list, she immediately called me on my mobile. I was really scared, I'll admit it. After getting Oleg fairly drunk, I began to ask him about his past mistress, at first he refused, then told me that he had a young girl, a visiting student from a poor family. They dated for several months, and then Natasha got pregnant. He always called her Natasha. I don't remember her last name. Yes, Natalia Tikhonova. He took her to have an abortion at a friend's clinic, but she died. Oleg began to cry, saying that Ara can't have children, that he is a traitor, and the last bastard. He also said that he loved his wife like a goddess, like a shrine, and would never have a child with a mistress. Then the next morning he woke up, sobered up, obviously remembering our dialogue in places, behaved aggressively for the first time. I've never seen Oleg so angry. But after he left, Arina called me.

Larisa swallowed and gulped down a glass of water. Her hands began to shake visibly. She took a deep breath and continued.

– Ara came right here, to this apartment, to my nest with Oleg, as it seemed to me. She went to the sofa without taking off her shoes and lit a cigarette. This is an amazing woman, in her presence I felt like an insect that she can easily crush. All my thoughts, desires, plans disappeared. His head was clear and bright. All I had in my head was Ara's thoughts. She didn't say anything, but I knew everything she was telling me. She wanted a baby. My child. My and Oleg's child.But not to love, not to educate.Ara wanted a sacrifice. My child must be sacrificed to her gods so that she can become pregnant. I clearly understood this. Vera, don't ask me how. Just ask Oleg who Natasha Tikhonova was and why she died on the operating table. I now have a family, a husband, a child and a business, I haven't seen Oleg for a long time, but yesterday a friend from the clinic called me and told me about you. Vera, run away from them. These three: Oleg, Arina, and Anatoly are terrible people. I'm afraid of them, and I want to warn you to stay away from them.

Vera closed the door behind Larisa and sat down on the floor. Forty minutes later, the doorbell rang. Rising with difficulty, Vera looked through the peephole and opened the door. There were two persons standing there. Two out of three.

Chapter 10

Oleg was always mentally weak and very dependent. As a child, he was afraid of upsetting his mother and grandmother, upsetting the class teacher at school, upsetting the headman and dean at the Institute, and later angering his wife. Oleg was soft, weak-willed, and very driven. He tried to choose girls who were softer and much younger, and the older he got, the younger his companions were. Next to the modest and quiet gray mice, he was a macho, handsome man who was sure of himself one hundred percent. Only once in his life he had made a mistake and committed himself to a woman much stronger, brighter, and more confident, ArinaZlatykh. She was a star. Ara always was a star.

Having settled down to work for the firm of ArinaPetrovnaZlatykh, Oleg lost sleep and peace. He had visions; he could not eat, drink, or live. And when he was completely in a loop, Arina went down to the floor of programmers and invited him for coffee. Meetings with Ara were an obsession, a mystique. He was drowning in black eyes, not even understanding sometimes their meetings were in a dream or in reality.

ArinaPetrovna always and everywhere moved with a strange man, her deputy. Suleiman Kaysarov was the shadow of the boss, her adviser, and her right hand. In the huge ZlatykhCorporation, which occupied several floors of an elite office building, everyone knew Suleiman and was afraid not only of his words but also of his look. If he approached someone's office or called them, they knew that things were bad, that the employee had cheated or stolen important data to sell to competitors in the IT industry. Everyone in the firm knew that for a huge salary, bonuses, and official employment, only two qualities are required: loyalty and professionalism.

Oleg was the only person who was left alone with Arina without her deputy. They could talk for hours about technology, upcoming exhibitions, and programs. Gradually, the fear of the domineering beauty began to give way to other feelings. The guy now came to her every morning with a report, they drank coffee and could not talk enough.

Oleg and Arina were standing at passport control in Sheremetyevo. The direct flight from Moscow to New York was delayed for two hours due to heavy snowfall, so they slowly stood in line for the standard procedure of checking documents, received stamps in the passport that they were leaving the country, showed open visas and slowly entered the Duty-Free zone. Unbeknownst to them, they held hands and wandered from boutique to boutique in anticipation of the flight. The working trip abroad coincided so well with Valentine's day that Arina opened a visa for Oleg without even asking, and added him to the list of speakers from Moscow. The guy was excited, it was the first time he was flying abroad with a girl. Or not a girl? Boss? And the apartment in the hotel? Joint? He would like to share it. He felt that he had fallen in love with his boss like a boy, even though he had never kissed her before and had never dared to ask her out.