«I know,» she replied calmly. «I didn’t ask you to divorce.»
«I love my wife…»
«Good. So you shouldn’t tell her what happened.»
«No!» he screamed with despair. «That’s no good.»
«Why?» She turned to him. «We didn’t hurt anybody.»
Her glittering icy-gray eyes mixed up his thoughts.
«Marina, dear.» He went close. «It was an awful misunderstanding. Honest.»
She looked at him with surprise. «What do you mean?»
«I came here, because I wanted to tell you to lay off me,» he confessed.
«Lay off…» she repeated. Her eyes roved over his face.
«Yes.» David was afraid she did not understand. «Your love is too noticeable. Please, leave me alone. Just let me be, okay?»
She hissed like a cat, like a snake, like a boiling teakettle! David thought she wanted to spit in his face.
With unexpected power Marina grabbed him and tossed him out of her apartment.
On the steps David barely kept his feet. His coat flew out after him and fell on his head. He took it off and saw a few students nearby gawking at him. They recognized him and burst into an insolent laugh.
David rushed to his car.
* * * * *
He drove home, ran to the bathroom, and thoroughly washed his face with cold water. Strolling into the living room, he fell into the armchair, and pressed his hands to his cheeks.
«Honey?» The worried voice of his wife gave him a start. «What happened?»
David wildly glanced at her, and, at the same time, noticed a police car stop in front of the house. Jeff Menard came out, approached his door, and knocked.
«What if Marina reported that I raped her?» Recalling her ’pirate story’, David felt his heart stop beating for a second. Pallid as a ghost, he slowly got up. Looking at her husband with concern, Megan opened the door, and David gazed at the entering police officer like a hunted deer looks at the oncoming dogs.
«Dr. VanStein?» Jeff addressed him, and the frightened David could not even breathe.
«You’re working with the Russians, aren’t you?»
David’s legs gave way under him.
«Can I borrow your English-Russian dictionary, please?» asked Jeff. «The library has none. Just for two days?»
As in a trance, David went to the bookshelf, took down the dictionary, and handed it to Jeff.
«Just two days,» repeated the policeman.
«It’s okay, take your time.» David breathed out slowly recovering his wits. «I have another one in the lab.»
Jeff left, and Megan came close to her husband. «What’s going on?»
Laughing, he hugged her. Hilarity overtook the professor. «Nothing!» he exclaimed, relieved. «I just realized, how much I love you. You can’t believe, how important you are to me!»