“Would you betray yourself and your interests for the sake of the convenience of a loved one?”

“A difficult question… Fortunately, I wasn’t  faced with such a choice. But for the sake of the well-being of my beloved, I am ready for a lot.”

(from Rina's interview with ‘Megapolis’ magazine)

When Nikolai woke up, at first he didn't understand where and why he was, or what day or hour he was at. He looked for his phone to find out the time, and when he couldn't find it, he remembered that he had left it in the kitchen. Others followed this memory and lined up in a clear, albeit surreal picture. For some reason, not everything that happened to Nikolai during the day seemed to be the tip of unreality, but the fact that he was lying almost naked in the bed of a famous singer. If journalists had suddenly flooded in here, they would have drawn the appropriate conclusions.

It's a good thing that before the trip he dropped by home and took a change of underwear with him in case he didn't come back by night. And while the little-known paramedic, who carefully hid kindness and responsiveness behind a stern look and an angry tone, treated and bandaged his wounds, another woman and her granddaughter were running small errands. It seems that the little girl brought his bag from the car so that he changed into dry underwear.

Nikolai carefully sat up and sat down. The ‘patched’ wounds responded with pain, fortunately, thanks to the muted analgesic. He swung his legs off the bed and sat for a while, listening to himself. The weakness was felt, and Nikolai didn’t dare to bend down for the bag pushed under the bed to take a clean T-shirt. So he just wrapped himself in a blanket and went in search of Rina.

He found her not in the kitchen, which was filled with appetising aromas, but in the bathroom. Rina was rinsing something in the washbasin and, busy with business, didn’t notice his presence. And for some reason Nikolai didn’t immediately call out to her.

She picked up her black hair and pinned it in a careless knot at the back of her head, but one strand escaped from her hairstyle and fell on her neck. And Nikolai, who was watching Rina, suddenly wanted to remove a curl - just to fleetingly touch the matte-white skin. This desire turned out to be so strong that he hurriedly took his eyes away from her neck, glanced lower and realized that he admired the weightless fragility of Rina: a narrow back, sharp shoulder blades and a waist so thin that it seemed it could be wrapped in two palms. A wide blue T-shirt didn’t hide the elegance of the girl, but on the contrary, emphasized. And tight tight jeans, on the contrary, outlined all the exciting curves so clearly that Nikolai involuntarily sighed noisily. Rina heard him and looked around. They looked at each other for a couple of seconds, confused in awkward silence, like in a spider's web, and then Rina asked:

“Why did you wake up?”

She moved away a little, opening the washbasin, and Nikolai was surprised to find that Rina was washing his T-shirt.

“Couldn't miss... such a sight,” he grinned, nodding at the sink. “It's not every day that a famous singer washes your clothes.”

Rina sighed and looked back at the T-shirt.

“Stains don’t wash off.”

“Don't worry. I have a spare one.”

“Thank God,” she said, and wiped her forehead with a wet hand with a soapy wrist. “Your jeans and sneakers are in the yard. When they dry, I'll bring them,” Rina muttered deliberately grumpily, carefully averting her gaze, and then, catching herself, rinsed and wiped her hands.

“Are you hungry? I've made soup,” she offered with the same nonchalance.

The situation was really awkward, and not even because they were unfamiliar, but because Rina was clearly afraid of questions.

“I didn't know that celebrities are so caring and skillful,” Nikolai said without irony, with sincere surprise.

This little ‘bird’ smashed all his ideas about celebrities to smithereens.

“What do you think, I was born and raised on the stage?” Rina sighed and, following him out of the bathroom, quietly added: “I'm from an orphanage. But don't ask me how I got there.”

“I won't,” he promised, although he wanted to ask her a lot. About too much.

“Let's go to the kitchen, since you got up, even though you were strictly ordered to lie in bed. Svetlana will be coming soon, so eat - and go back to bed again, or…”

“Or?” Nikolai asked slyly.

“And then it will be! I will scold! Both of us,” Rina answered in the same tone as him and finally smiled.

However, she immediately hid her smile, fussing about the household. She cut large slices of porous rustic bread, made a salad of fresh vegetables and, taking out two deep bowls, filled them with breathtakingly delicious-smelling soup.

“Chicken with noodles,” she explained in a tone as if it was self-evident what the soup should be. “I bought chicken at the market yesterday. Noodles, sorry, not homemade, but store-bought.”

“Well, obviously better than instant noodles, which I sometimes have dinner with,” Nikolai grinned.

Rina looked up at him in surprise, her lips twitched, as if she wanted to ask something, but at the last moment restrained herself.

While she was putting plates on the table, he noticed his phone. Rina also took care to charge it. And while Nikolai was checking the messages, trying to hold the sliding blanket with his good hand, Rina had already pushed him a plate of salad and a bowl of soup.

“Where's your T-shirt?” she asked when Nikolai once again dropped the bedspread and hurriedly tried to pull it on himself.

No, he was not ashamed of his figure, on the contrary, but sitting in his underpants at the table in front of an unfamiliar girl also seemed not the best option. However, if you remember in what form she met him the day before and in which she went to the morning ‘bathing’, they are even.

“In the bag under the bed.”

Rina went into the room, but looked back at the door:

“By the way, your wife called.”

“Whose wife?” Nikolai was amazed and belatedly remembered his own joke.

“Yours, not mine?” Rina calmly replied when she returned. “She's on her way.”

Nikolai almost dropped his bag in surprise. But Rina interpreted his reaction in her own way and muttered guiltily:

“You asked me not to answer her, but I'm... sorry. The situation is too freelance, I needed to inform your loved ones about what happened. And so… I talked to her. I don't think she'll make a scandal. I tried to explain everything as truthfully as possible.”

“Did you just admit that you are a famous singer?” Nikolai asked, barely suppressing a smile.

“No,” Rina replied and turned to the window, pretending to look at the apple tree. “She said that there was an accident, it's a long way to the hospital, and we have our own paramedic in the village. And that you were put temporarily in my house. Something like that. I don't think I scared her too much.…”

“How can I tell you! Not much,” he mimicked and laughed. “Is the wife's name Vika by any chance?”

“Vika.”

“This is my assistant. Secretary, administrator - whatever you want, call it that. And I'm afraid to imagine what you said to her, since she dropped everything and rushed here.”

Rina exclaimed, put her palms to her mouth and stared at him with such fright, as if she had made an irreparable mistake.

“And then your wife…”

“I don't have a wife. I was joking! I'll call Vika now and calm her down.”

Nikolai dialed the assistant's number and when he heard her alarmed and at the same time delighted exclamation, he hurriedly said:

“Vik, I'm fine.”

“But she told me…” she was confused. There was a noise in the background, as if Vika was on the road, and the words also floated through the interference. “Kolya, what was that? Where have you gone and who is this girl who told me that you are almost dying?”

He laughed softly and squinted at the completely confused Rina, who had heard the conversation.

“Not everything is so fatal. I hurt my arm and side a little. It's not scary, I'll live. I'll be back soon, so don't be scared.”

“It's too late, chief! I'm already on the road, I'll be there in two hours.”

The connection was cut off, as if Vika was in a tunnel, and Nikolai, having disconnected the call, looked guiltily at Rina.

“She's on her way. Failed to deploy back.”

“It was me... who called her. It was awkward somehow. But I was really scared!”

“It's okay. Vika won't give you away. She knows how to keep her mouth shut, otherwise she wouldn't have worked for me.”

Rina visibly relaxed, even smiled again, but then caught herself:

“The soup is getting cold!”

She cooked very tasty food. Not a celebrity, but a storehouse of pleasant surprises! Watching videos of her performances, Nikolai could not even think that Rina was so earthly. No, she communicated with the audience, smiled, thanked from the stage and answered some lines between songs, but Nikolai believed that all this ‘closeness with the people’ was nothing but part of the image. Like, for example, long dresses in folk style, flowers in loose black hair and bracelets on thin wrists. Her audience is too huge, Rina is too fond of fame. Even as a fiance, she chose not a simple guy, but a well-known oligarch.

Nikolai stole a glance at the girl sitting across from him, who, looking down at her plate, was slowly bringing a spoon to her mouth. How different this girl was from the queen who performed on stage! And even more so - from that dangerous and powerful goddess, as he saw her in the morning on the river. A picture appeared in his memory again, which, apparently, will remain with him forever: with her face thrown back to the sky, with her hair fluttering in the wind, Rina sings a strange song. Not singing, but as if conjuring the elements. However, it was. He saw it himself. And how the tornado crashed, and how the huge water bubble blew away. And how the sky, which had been dark before, suddenly brightened, as if Rina had summoned the sun with her powerful voice and song-spell. She was at that moment the element, the sky, the wind, the sun, the river, turned back. And maybe if he hadn't admired her, if he hadn't stood rooted to the spot with admiration and, at the same time, animal fear of such power and absolute beauty, he wouldn't have missed the moment of danger, and would have jumped into the river a little earlier.

“What?” she asked suddenly, throwing him off his train of thought.

Only then did Nikolai realize that he had been sitting for a long time with a spoon raised to his mouth and staring at Rina.

“What kind of concert was that on the shore?” he beat off the pitch.

But she blinked and immediately returned the ‘ball’ to him:

“I was singing! I go to the river every morning to sing scales.”

“Birds fell and fish died from your scales,” Nikolai retorted, barely restraining a smile.

Rina squinted at him and innocently asked:

“So I made a mistake with a B-flat note?”

He could have supported this game of ‘ping-pong’, and it would have been fun to watch to what level Rina was able to reach in her wit (and something told him that she would have become a worthy rival), but Nikolai cut off the ‘game’ so abruptly, as if he caught a sonorous jumping on I'll put a ball in the palm of my hand on the table.

“Did you close the portal, as you did in Tivastopol?”

She jerked as if from a slap in the face and almost dropped the spoon on the floor. Panic splashed in her dark eyes, and Rina involuntarily looked back at the door, as if trying to figure out how to put the ‘guest’ outside or escape herself.

“What are you talking about?” she asked dully, suddenly losing her enthusiasm.

“About the disappeared island where you met your friends.”

“Who are you? Who are you, Nikolai, really?” Rina whispered, scared pale.

“Detective, I already told you. Violet told me about the island: she came to the office on purpose the next day. She and Vsevolod are crazy about your disappearance, but they didn't mention Tivastopol on their first visit to me. It is understandable - not everyone will believe in such a thing. But Violet and Vsevolod are seriously afraid that you accidentally opened the portal and disappeared into it.”

“And you believed all this?” Rina made a vague gesture with her hand, but his words seemed to calm her down a little.

“I believed you, Rina. I believed it. And not only because your friend's story was confirmed, but also because I myself am closely connected with similar... shit.”

All the time he was telling Rina about the garrison, from which the inhabitants had disappeared, and the strange task, she listened to him without interrupting, but also without raising her eyes.

Nikolai kept silent only about the fact that he himself is from the military dynasty and was born in that town. Well, about the fact that he was almost imprisoned. She has enough impressions without that.

“That's my assignment, Rina,” he finished. “But my boss, Gennadiy Sergeevich, suddenly died in the yard of your house. And before that, it seems, I managed to give you an envelope with printouts.”

“He didn't tell me anything,” Rina objected. “I wasn't lying when I said that I found your acquaintance already dead.”

“Then how did you get the envelope? From whom?”

Instead of answering, she got up, collected the dirty dishes from the table and put them in the sink.

“You'd better get back to bed,” Svetlana will arrive soon and is unlikely to be happy that you, contrary to her instructions, are sitting here.

“I feel quite fine,” Nikolai lied, because the bandaged hand had been burning and throbbing with pain for a long time.

The effect of the analgesic is over, and what will happen next is a big question.

“Better lie down,” Rina asked, turning on the faucet to wash the dishes.

Feeling defeated because his move failed, Nikolai sighed and got up from the table.

“Thanks for lunch! You're an amazing cook.”

She nodded without turning around and drowned out his words with the clink of plates. Nikolai took the bedspread and the bag and went back to the bedroom. Well, at least he tried! Rina isn’t obliged to tell him her secrets or help him.

She entered the bedroom when he finally ‘settled down’, finding a position to less disturb the aching side. Rina put two mugs of fragrant tea on the bedside table, pulled a chair to the bed and, sitting down, took one of the cups. Nikolai squinted at the second one: he preferred coffee, besides, he didn't want to change the position, but he couldn't refuse. Rina didn't seem to notice his attempts to get settled again. Looking down at the cup, she said without any transition:

“I fell in love, even though I thought before that my love was music and the stage. But he did his best to win me over. I was so fascinated by him that if he had told me to leave the stage, I would have done so. But, fortunately, he did not demand this, on the contrary, he liked to meet with a famous singer, and the fact that the media wrote about our couple.”

Rina paused, smiling sadly at the memories. She didn't give a name, but Nikolai already understood that it was about Dimitri Lebedev.

“He came to my dressing room after one of the concerts,” Rina continued. “He brought such a huge bouquet that he himself could not be seen because of it. I am allergic to many flowers, so I ask that they not be given to me. But that bouquet was made especially for me and did not cause a headache. This impressed me even more than the size of the bouquet. I also liked the fact that Dimitri came only to express his admiration for my performance. He really liked the way I sing! Then it turned out that, despite his connections and acquaintances, he did not immediately decide to get to know me. And such shyness from a person for whom there are no obstacles seemed especially touching. But then I didn't even know who was in front of me. I just saw a nice young man in love with my talent. That evening he just gave me a bouquet, expressed his admiration and promised to come to my next concert. I laughed because the performance was scheduled in Surgut in a day. Would he really have flown there after me?”

“And he flew…”

“Yes. By private jet. And again he came backstage and offered to take a walk. I agreed because I was intrigued. By that time, I was so immersed in recordings, interviews and concerts that I completely forgot that I was not only a popular singer, but also a young woman. My friends got married, had children, and I was ‘married’ on stage. Songs became my ‘children’, and the audience became my love. But returning to the hotel rooms, I fell asleep in bed alone. And it's good if in bed, and not on a plane, in a trailer or on a couch in the studio! And he courted me like a princess. When I couldn't attend a concert, I would call and wish good luck, and then I would send a gift to the dressing room. The media trumpeted about our ‘romance’ even before we officially became a couple. We went out a lot, and he liked to appear with me on the covers of magazines. I, on the contrary, dreamed of solitude, thought to leave the stage to marry Dima and have a child. Typical dreams of a woman in love! Dima charmed even my friends, he seemed simple to them, ‘without show-offs’, as Volodya put it.”

“The perfect story of perfect love,” Nikolai muttered, for some reason feeling incomprehensible anger. Not at Rina, but at Lebedev.

“And so it was. Until some point. I just didn't know the other side of Dimitri. He was attentive, caring and gentle with me. But with others… It was only later that I realized that he was quick to punish for the slightest mistakes. He could easily expel the secretary for the wrong kind of coffee or fire the waiter for wine of the wrong temperature. Punish the courier, and at the same time bankrupt the flower shop for bringing me roses of a different shade.”

“In general, he tyrannized everyone around, and you didn't notice it. But then you saw the light and therefore ran away?”

“Not really…”

Rina turned the empty cup in her hands and looked up at Nikolai with eyes full of despair.

“One day I told him about the island and my abilities. Dimitri found the story... funny. I decided he didn't believe me. But after a while he came to me very upset and scared.”

“Dimitri Lebedev - and scared?” Nikolai doubted.

“It seemed so to me! He was very nervous, and canceled a trip to the restaurant to which we were invited. I just sent a gift and an apology. Of course, Dima's mood was transmitted to me. He didn't want to say anything, but eventually gave up. It turns out that he was blackmailed by the massacre of me. It was about some very expensive lands that Dima bought at a low price. He was pressured not only to stop construction, but also to cede land. Dimitri tried to settle the matter peacefully, but they threatened to kidnap me... telling all this, he began to cry. He cried, you know?”

Nikolai just grunted and carefully changed his position. His side and arm hurt more and more, but he was afraid to give himself away, because then Rina would hardly continue the story.

“He said he was afraid for me, and burst into tears. It was scary to see him broken. I wasn’t afraid for myself, but for him. I still loved him blindly back then…”

Rina smiled sadly and after a short pause continued:

“He calmed down quickly and said that he had decided to give up the land, even if it would bring him huge financial losses and cost his reputation. But he'll manage somehow. The main thing is that everything is fine with me. But when he left the room, he said in his heart that he would give a lot for these bastards to sink through the ground. And then…”

Rina took a deep breath and, taking air into her lungs, blurted out on exhalation:

“And then I also made a decision. I found out the name of the one who threatened my fiance, I found out about the planned dinner at the restaurant. And the fact that one of the businessmen turned out to be a fan of mine only played into my hands. I arranged through the administrator for a private concert and during the performance… opened the portal. Three businessmen really ‘failed’, as Lebedev wished, in another parallel. They haven't been found yet. And they won't find it anymore.”

Rina wiped her tears and smiled defiantly - not at Nikolai, but at her thoughts.

“And then I found out that it was the other way around. It was Dimitri who wanted to get the land that his competitors legally acquired. No one blackmailed Lebedev, no one threatened him. After the businessmen disappeared, Dimitri got what he wanted. That evening, when the deal took place, he came to me with a gift - the keys to an apartment in a fashionable residential complex. He said it was his gratitude for my help. And then I was horrified and desperate to realize what I had done. Dimitri, of course, knew what I was thinking. Therefore, I took out another ‘gift’ - an envelope with photos. In those pictures were the daughters of Violet and Volodya, and another friend of mine during a walk with her little son. Dimitri’s message was clear: if I continue to ‘help’ him, then there will be gifts and other benefits for me. And if not… He smiled terribly and slowly tore the photos in half.”

“Scum!” Nikolai blurted out, and he forgot about the pain and leaned towards Rina.

“And a day later I got a call,” she continued, as if she hadn't noticed his outburst. “The man did not introduce himself, but called himself my savior. This ‘savior’ methodically told about Tivastopol, the island and added that he guessed where the three businessmen had disappeared. Then he said that Dimitri would turn my life into hell, and I would do whatever he wanted, because he was quick to kill. This man even knew that Dimitri was blackmailing me!”

“I knew or guessed,” Nikolai muttered. “But in any case, I imagined what Lebedev really was like.”

“Maybe. So, this man offered to help me.”

“In exchange for?..”

“In exchange for a response, of course. I was afraid that I would be required to open the portal again and send someone unwanted there. But this man first decided to arrange an escape for me. He was going to tell the rest later, only promising that his task would not harm others. I accepted the help and agreed to his terms. This person warned that I could be tracked through calls to friends, so for everyone I have to disappear. He also helped to purchase this house using false documents, and bought a simple phone issued in someone else's name. Before escaping, I transferred my personal money to an account from which the managers had to pay all penalties. And here I am. That's the story, Nikolai. I'm a monster.”

“The monster is the one who manipulated you,” he objected, but Rina only smiled wryly and took the cups to take them to the kitchen. “And this man never gave his name?” Nikolai stopped her with a question.

“No.”

“When was the last time you talked to him?”

“Shortly before your arrival. Since then, his phone has been disconnected.”

“Hmm… show me his number,” Nikolai asked, feeling a bad feeling.

When Rina brought him a simple mobile phone, he found the right number in his smartphone and showed her both phones.

“Do you know this person?!”

“This is Gennadiy Sergeevich, the one who died in your yard,” Nikolai replied calmly. “The colonel who gave me the assignment.”

“What the hell,” moaned Rina. “This is just not enough! I'm scared shitless of the military after the island.”

“What's so... scary about them?” Nikolai asked, discouraged.

“And that's it!” Rina typed, took the cups and went to the kitchen.

He watched her go with a confused look, but said nothing.

Rina was gone for a long time, but she returned with an envelope and handed it to Nikolai. 

“This is all that Gennadiy Sergeevich managed to convey to me. It looks like your friend was hanging around here, and he lied to you that he didn't know anything: neither where I was hiding, nor that some kind of devilry was going on here.”

Nikolai grunted, then pulled out and skimmed through the printouts.

“It's about some other place,” Rina explained.

“Yeah. About the military camp, which I have already told you about. Perhaps Gennadiy Sergeevich was coming to you to give you a new task. But he didn't have time.”

“Did he want me to close the portal there too?!”

“Can you?” Nikolai answered the question with a question and couldn’t restrain a grin.

If every time he has to fight with the creatures while Rina is ‘singing’, then he risks being devoured alive. Gennadiy Sergeevich befriended him!

“Pfr-r!” Rina snorted ridiculously. “I don't think I have enough strength for another portal! I hardly closed this one securely either. Without concerts, music, and the energy that the audience charged me with, I am nothing. A perforated ball. What did your acquaintance expect?”

“I don't know,” Nikolai muttered, flipping through the printouts again. “He didn't explain anything to me either. He handed over dusty folders and saluted goodbye. I suspect that he has pulled off a multi-pass, over which he has yet to break his head. Gennadiy Sergeevich definitely knew about your abilities and where and how you got them. He got secret materials for me and gave me the coordinates of another town with an anomaly. I did some research, compared the data and found out that something similar ‘wakes up’ in several places at once. But while I was puzzling over this task, Gennadiy Sergeevich, through your friends, gave me another one - the search for you. A funny thing is looming, Rina. Gennadiy Sergeevich helps you escape and sends you here. I am instructed to find places with a similar anomaly. At the same time, he gets a dog that needs help and turns to your friends for help. Of all the dog handlers he chose Volkov! Vsevolod himself has already told me this. At one of the classes, Gennadiy Sergeevich hands my phone to friends who are concerned about your disappearance and recommends me as a private detective. I learned about your ability to open portals from Violet. After that, I got information about the disappeared island, which, by the way, was sent to me by Gennadiy Sergeevich's people. He himself, shortly before his death, sent me the coordinates of the place where you are hiding…”

“Don't tell me he faked his own death, too!”

“I don’t. That would be too much. Most likely, he planned to gather us here and give instructions to both at once. But, unfortunately, he died. So his rebus remained unsolved.”

Rina sighed noisily, then reached for one of the printouts and muttered:

“I wonder why he circled this paragraph in red?”

“Which one?” Nikolai asked listlessly. The wounds ached unbearably, and it became more and more difficult to ponder over the riddles.

It seems that it did not hurt him so much even when the shock after the ‘bathing’ passed, and the paramedic with her magic suitcase had not yet arrived.

“This is the paragraph about the recruit who escaped into the forest!”

“Ah,” Nikolai responded without enthusiasm, surrendering to the pain.

Rina looked up at him with a worried look.

“Is it really bad?”

“Yes, somehow…” he confessed and immediately regretted it, because she began to cry funny, fussed and rushed to look for a piece of paper with a phone that Svetlana had left them.

“Rina, stop flitting around. Sit down and calm down. I won't die.”

“You don't understand! You don't understand how dangerous the wounds left by these creatures are! There, on the island…”

“We're not on an island, Rina,” Nikolai interrupted. “And I am a strong man, on whom everything heals like a dog.”

“Volodya also said that!”

“And what?” Nikolai chuckled. “Vsevolod now has a beautiful wife and two wonderful daughters. And also a dog school and a kennel. I don't know what happened to Vsevolod on the island, but he returned from there alive.”

Fortunately, Rina didn’t have to calm down further, because Svetlana arrived very conveniently. Rina brought her in and turned around to go out into the corridor.

“Don't run away!” The paramedic stopped her. “I don't come to you every day. Tomorrow you will do his bandages yourself, so stand by and remember. And don't try to faint!”

“Oh,” Rina squeaked softly and stared so scared that Nikolai laughed soundlessly.

The surrealism of the situation exceeded all acceptable norms.

“Don't worry, I'll leave tomorrow,” he whispered when Svetlana went to wash her hands.

“Where are you going to go?” Rina hissed.

“Home."

“Only if your assistant can drive a car!”

“I don't think she can.”

“You see!” Rina exclaimed with unexpected triumph and looked back at Svetlana who entered the room.

The paramedic completed the dressing and left them a bundle with everything they needed. Rina came out to see her off, and Nikolai closed his eyes. The pain was blissfully subsiding, the body was filled with long-awaited peace. The well-being was affected not only by blood loss, but also by the fact that Nikolai worked for a long time without rest. It seems that he recently dreamed of going to the lake for a day to reboot? So he went! And bathed, and some creatures ‘fished’, and slept off. As a nice bonus to the rest - a private ‘concert’ of the famous singer and homemade soup. As unpleasant - ‘darned’ side and arm. An ambiguous program!

“What are you smiling at? What did she inject you with?” Rina asked.

Nikolai opened his eyes and saw that she was again holding cups in her hands, and she had a flat box under her arm.

“So… Your soup remembered.”

“Wow, how tired you are of custard noodles…” Rina seriously sympathized and put the cups on the bedside table.

“We've already had tea!” Nikolai was surprised.

“But without sweets,” she calmly retorted and opened the box. “You need sweets!”

“Is that what Svetlana said?”

“That's what I said,” Rina snapped. “Chocolate raises the mood, pain goes away and wounds heal!”

“It also causes acne, caries and excess weight,” Nikolai finished in tone with her and grinned.

“If you suffer from all this, then I'll bring you a carrot.”

He laughed softly. He liked Rina more and more: funny and not at all like a cold and capricious ‘star’ girl. A beautiful girl, he must say. Too much…

“That's how you get captured by a famous singer, and she decides to ‘recycle’ all the sweets received from fans,” he joked.

“What did you think? I alone don’t need so many pimples, caries and excess weight!” Rina retorted and handed him the box.

And again he drank tea, ate sweets and wondered at the strangeness of the situation. Rina also undertook to entertain him with stories: either she really went wild in seclusion and missed communication, or out of gratitude for salvation. Who will understand them, the celebrities.

And she told it in an interesting and simple way, as if she was sharing the most ordinary stories at a friendly party. She admitted that initially her repertoire was planned to be different. Rina even sang some song with a meaningless set of words, causing Nikolai to smile.

“Volodya criticized me for this song too! And so hard that I beat him!”

“You?!” Nikolai exclaimed incredulously, remembering that Volkov was about the same height as himself.

Rina will pass quietly under Vsevolod's arm! How could she beat such a tall and strong man?

“Well, yes. I was very angry then. But Volodya was right.”

Rina also told how she once sang a new hit of a Korean band: she made a lyrical ballad out of a rhythmic song, recorded a home video and posted it on her blog. Someone marked the soloist, and he wrote to Rina, ridiculously alternating Korean phrases with Russian. That's how Rina met Rim Chin Hwa.

“Last year I went to South Korea, and we met in person.Chin invited me home and introduced me to his family. Can you imagine, his wife is Russian! And his son is already ten years old. Such a handsome kid… And so serious for his age! He dreams of becoming not a singer, like his father, but a paleontologist. The boy has a whole encyclopedia in his head!” Rina suddenly sighed sadly and quietly continued: “Chin and I planned to record a song as a duet. Even the lyrics were composed, and Eva, his wife, translated the song into English - with a swing to the international market. It would be a hit, definitely! But... alas.”

“Maybe all is not lost?” Nikolai cautiously remarked. “Your hit will thunder all over the world, it will break all the charts!”

But Rina gave him such an unhappy look that he stopped. He wanted to ask if he should notify her friend in Korea that she was alive and well, but was distracted by the noise of a car approaching.

“Your assistant has arrived,” Rina said, getting up.

Nikolai, following a fleeting impulse, grabbed her hand.

“Don't be afraid,” he said softly. “I won't give away your personal secrets. But some questions are general, we can discuss with Vika. She's aware of my assignment. And we're in the same boat.”

Rina looked at him for a long time. And after she nodded, he unclenched his fingers, reluctantly releasing her wrist.