in the house. But it was just a golden retriever.»
«Goldy is her name,» cut in Larisa, rummaging into the candy.
«Yep,» Nina continued. «Her owner put something like a cap with devil’s horns on her head. Oh, he is such a cute old guy. You know, with a walking stick, neat clothes. Very nice man.»
«He asked me,» yawning, Larisa interrupted her. «And others asked me, „Aren’t you cold?“»
«Oh, what time is it?» The woman gasped. «Go to sleep, go to sleep.»
«But the candy…» The tired girl became capricious, and Nina took her in her arms, and brought Larisa into her room.
Vlad looked at the sweets, then at the plastic cups, and took up his notebook and calculator again.
When Nina finally came back to the room, he was asleep, with his head on his arms, half lying on the coffee table, and the plastic caps with candy in them surrounding him.
The woman took his notebook, and shook her head. «Oh, Vlad, Vlad…»
She gently woke him and helped him get in bed. Even falling asleep, Vlad still murmured about the calculation, and Nina lay next to him, pressing his head to her chest. «Sh-sh-sh. Enough, honey,» she whispered with all her tenderness. «Sleep, sleep, my beloved man.»
His closeness revived her memories and Nina thought about their first date.
That day Vlad unexpectedly asked her to marry him and invited her to a soccer game.
It was a great surprise to Nina. Vlad was her true love, the love from the first sight, but Vlad neither courted nor flirted with her before. He only paid attention to study, and the girl was sure Vlad even did not notice her existence.
That day a professor offended her, and Nina was crying in the University’s corridor. Then Vlad came to her and made his proposal.
«Would you marry me?» he asked casually, and the girl could not believe her ears. Vlad hugged her. «I’d like to go out with you. Right now. Would you come?»
She nodded, and did not even think that it was strange. It was her chance, and Nina rushed into this adventure, like jumping into the water.
It was also the last day of October, and the first snowflakes parachuted from the gray sky. It was very cold even for Moscow, but the frost could not cool down the true soccer fans gathered at the stadium. The stormy reactions of Vlad amazed the girl, because in most situations he was very reserved.
She did not understand all the details of the game, and only followed her beloved man.
If he was getting upset, she felt tears in her eyes. When he shouted, cheering on their team, she was screaming too.
And when the visitors scored a goal and the stadium fell into a deep gloomy silence, the girl sensed such hatred for the player who did it that it surprised her.