Vlad had two tickets for the evening soccer game. He had planned to invite another girl, but no one else existed for him now, just Nina. Still holding her, Vlad whispered tenderly kissing her soft, sweet-smelling ear, «I’d like to go out with you. Right now. Would you come?»
She nodded, and did not even ask where they would go. Hugging each other, they walked to the exit not looking back, so they did not see the professor and the other students watching them in amazement.
* * * * *
At the end of the day David and Marina were the last people in the laboratory.
They did not exchange a word about what had happened between them in her apartment, but David could not forget about it and felt uncomfortable all the time he was alone with Marina.
«It was not my fault,» thought the professor, remembering how she instantly took control of the students during the demonstration. «She’s a real lamia. She can captivate anyone. It was not my fault! Or was it?»
«I’ll bet,» he said aloud, and surprised himself. «If you had come to the U.S.A. three hundred years ago, you could have been burned as a witch.»
Marina looked at him, and grave sorrow and melancholy, as well as hopeless depression, could be seen in her face.
«What have I said!» A painful feeling struck David’s heart, as if a merciless boxer punched him into his chest. «She’s just a lonely, deeply unlucky girl beat up many times by her Fate. Oh poor young thing! Why did I say it?»
«Sorry,» he mumbled not knowing how to explain his expression.
Not answering, the girl took her bag and left. David waited for a while, then went out of the laboratory, too.
His car was parked next to the building and he drove home.
Passing by the students’ parking lot, he saw Marina striding to her car. The weather was awful, and she was struggling through the icy wind and heavy rain as she did through her difficult life – not looking back, not asking for help, without any support.
David wished to offer her a lift, but he knew she would have refused this, so he did not even stop.
Ruslan heard a siren. It was ten o’clock, and he went outside. On the porch, he stopped for a moment. Taking a deep breath into his lungs, he looked around enjoying the feeling of the full measure of life and the charisma of this ambrosial morning.
The winter was gone, and the new aromas filling the air caused the young man to feel excited and smile dreamily like a drunk. Blowing into his inflamed face, the strong, but tender springtime breeze could not cool him down. He felt hot shivering run over his body.