“Did you eat anything? Let’s go have lunch and then see what you’ve done with the logo.”
I put on my jacket, and we went to the “Home cooking.” During lunch, Arthur said:
“Let’s have dinner together?”
“You’re not going to stay on the job?”
“No, today I will be with you. I think now nothing can stop it. If you agree, of course.”
“I agree. I feel happy.”
“Then it’s settled.”
Happiness overwhelmed me. I loved and felt loved, desirable. I don’t remember how we came out after lunch to the street and returned to the office. Everything happened as if in a dream. I held onto Arthur’s arm and felt its warmth. We were in his office. He hugged and kissed me, then helped remove his jacket. We had to “take ourselves in hand” and get back to work.
“Show, what have you done with the logo?”
“Yes, the papers on the desk. Look how many variants I tried. Until I came to this,” I showed Arthur all versions of the sketches for the logo as well as the house and the person that painted yesterday and singled out the latest version of the logo.
“I think you did a good job. As an option, maybe. Come on; we’ll show your sketches to Maxim,” Arthur said. “I go now to him to find out whether he is ready to see it.”
Arthur came out the room, then came back and said,
“Take the sheets, and went.”
We went to Maxim and sat down to the table. I put my sketches in front of him. Maxim watched them carefully, slowly; a few minutes passed before he took a sheet, where was the last option.
“The latter is the most concise. Let’s come back to this tomorrow. Alexandra, do I keep this sketch?” Maxim asked.
“Yes, of course, Maxim Vitalyevich,” I answered.
We went from the cabinet of Maxim and only approached to the room of Arthur, as Arthur, remembering something, turned to Irina, sitting at the reception desk,
“Irina, please, do a copy of the key from the office for me.”
“Today?”
“You can do it tomorrow.”
“Well, I’ll do, Arthur Borisovich.”
When we entered his office, Arthur said:
“Imagine; yesterday, when Maxim and I were coming out from work, I couldn’t find my key. Max closed the door his key. I have no ideas, where could it disappear? Later, I couldn’t find it either in the office no in the car no at home.”
“When the key could disappear?”
“The day before yesterday I closed our office with my key. It means, I lost it yesterday. I usually keep it in the pocket of the suit. Okay, maybe it will reveal itself… Do you want me to show you our photos from various holidays? You will see how to develop the company.”
“Of course, yes.”
Arthur turned on the laptop, and we began to look at photos. At first, I saw only Max and Arthur. After a few months, as it turned out, Armen Georgievich started to work with them. They lured him out of the company, where all three worked before.
Then there was a girl named Oksana. She came to work on the vacancy of an office manager for the firm. Following a full-time employee became the accountant Galina Semyonovna that Armen Georgievich has led; he worked with her once. Oksana married less than six months and resigned from the company. After that, Galina Semyonovna has led Irina to the vacant place of the office manager.
Five people: Maxim, Arthur, Armen Georgievich, Galina Semyonovna, and Irina, celebrated the first birthday of the company. Irina just started working with them. The apartment that Maxim had inherited from his grandmother was their office at that time. Two months later Maxim and Arthur hired sale managers and employees for the installation of security systems. The apartment was already small for everyone, and they rented this office and moved into it.
Looking at the photos, I saw Arthur mostly, listening to his story and tried to feel what he felt. We did not notice how fast time flew. Maxim looked us in the room,
“Are you going to come home? All gone.”
It was seven o’clock in the evening, almost. We quickly gathered and went out with Maxim. Saying good-bye in the parking lot with him, we went to dinner.
Arthur took us to a small cozy restaurant, where I chose sea bass in salt and refused to garnish. Arthur ordered another for me to fish white wine and cheeses, and for itself – meat and grilled vegetables and mineral water. Later, we took tea and at my request, chocolate fondant is a cake with ice cream; cupcake has inside a hot chocolate. I tried it for the first time on vacation with my parents. Then I was in awe of it! And today we ate it, looking at each other with loving eyes. I didn’t know if he liked such desserts… I felt happy as a child with the family and loved ones.
It was an unforgettable evening… after the restaurant, we went to my house and together went up to me. Barely entering the apartment, we hugged and stood in the hallway, merged in a kiss. It got hot; I freed myself from his embrace,
“Let’s come in.”
Arthur helped me off with my coat, and, leaving shoes in the hallway, we went into the living room. My heart pounded; I didn’t know how to behave, what me to do. I showed him the apartment and then spent it in my room and turned on the light in it. There was the drawing on the desk that I painted it in the park recently, with a guy and a girl on a swing. That day, Arthur drove to the park and watched as I finished the job. And then there, in the park, we had an evening together and have so much told each other….
Arthur approached the desk and looked at my drawing. Staying at the doorway, I watched him. I liked every feature of his appearance. I fell in love and felt happy. “The mind manages objects, and senses rule the mind”2 – I remembered the words of the famous doctor, academician Amosov that my mom once read to me. Amosov wrote this words in one of his books, remembering the experiment to create artificial intelligence.
Mom, dad, sorry, I can’t introduce them to Arthur, tell them how happy I am, and share my joy with them…. Arthur sat down at my desk. Taking the picture in his hands, he examined it, then laid, turned to me on the chair, and looked at me. What magic occurs between a man and a woman when they fall in love? Senses control the mind….
I approached him; he drew me to itself, put to itself on knees, and hugged.
“Sasha, you’re beautiful,” he quietly said. “I love you. I want you to be with me; I want us to be together.”
“And I love you.”
I clung to him, hugged his neck. He kissed my temple, my cheek, behind his ear, touched his lips to my neck. The chain prevented; I tried to unbutton it to take off; Arthur helped me. I helped him remove his jacket; I wanted to kiss him….
That night, we said each other many tender words of love; we loved each other, feel each other every cell of itself body. The magic of love, when every touch of a loved one causes indescribable delight, and everyone is trying to do the other to feel good, and then the boundary between “thou and I” disappears: there is only “we,” and the pleasure wave after wave permeates both of us….
We fell asleep only in the morning, hugging each other.
Chapter 11. Absolute. Incident
I woke up hearing an unfamiliar melody. It turned out that the alarm clock in the phone Arthur rang. Reaching out to a bedside