The car braked sharply. Ruslan swore as he was once again pulled from his thoughts about a new project. He needed to prepare himself to avoid falling flat on his face. His bosses had high hopes for him. As the head of a major company, Ruslan could not afford to slip up. Before he could recover, he saw a girl lying on the road.
«Did you hit her?» Ruslan asked the driver, frightened.
«No, of course not. She slipped and fell right in front of the car. I managed to stop in time. I swear. It’s all on the dashcam!»
Ruslan didn’t listen to any more excuses. Jumping out of the car, he rushed to make sure the girl was alright. He was too busy to spend precious time on her, but he couldn’t lose his humanity completely.
«Do you need help?» Ruslan asked.
The stranger, who had managed to sit up, looked up at him with tearful eyes, and his heart pounded fiercely, quickening its rhythm.
«Ulyana?» Ruslan rushed to help the girl stand. He wanted to make sure she was really alright, that the car hadn’t touched her, and that she had no serious injuries.
His first love. The girl whom fate had cruelly separated from him. Or perhaps she had run away herself? That’s what Ruslan thought. She hadn’t come to say goodbye, and he had so much left to say. Now, none of it mattered. Certainly not now.
«Let’s get in the car. The driver will take you to the hospital.»
«I’m fine…» Ulyana hurried to justify herself. «Ruslan, really. Everything’s fine. It’s just that the road was icy, slippery… My suitcase…»
Only now did the man notice the suitcase lying aside. He let go of Ulyana, making sure she could stand on her feet, and picked up the suitcase. Throwing the load into the trunk, Ruslan nodded for the woman not to argue and to get in the car.
«I’m in a hurry. I’m late for a plane. Oleg will take you home. Or wherever you were rushing to?»
«I wasn’t rushing anywhere,» Ulyana shook her head. «I was just walking aimlessly. My landlord kicked me out without returning part of the payment. I’ll have to make do until the advance. But it’s okay. I’ll manage. Really. You can drop me off anywhere. I don’t know where to go anyway.»
«Are you out of your mind? Drop you off on the street? So you can freeze? It’s not even summer!»
Ruslan clasped Ulyana’s chilled hands with his trembling ones, excitement completely overcoming his usual calm. He hadn’t even thought that a chance meeting could be so emotional.
«What do you suggest? I have no other option. I’ll figure something out. I’ll call some friends… classmates. Maybe someone will help.»
«I’ll help. Here.»
Ruslan took the keys from his coat pocket and placed them in the hand of his first and last love.
«Stay in my apartment for now. Oleg will take you there and show you how everything is set up.»
«Why are you helping me? You left me in the past… you ran away and didn’t even say goodbye. So why now?»
«Ran away and didn’t say goodbye?» Ruslan’s voice sounded surprised.
So that’s what she had thought all this time! Perhaps the message didn’t reach her? Or did someone make sure their paths would never cross again? Returning from his internship, Ruslan had tried to find Ulyana, but she had disappeared. She left no contacts. Not a single hint of where to find her.
«Believe me, it wasn’t like that at all. I looked for you. At first, I searched, but the searches didn’t yield any results. Ulyana, just go to my apartment. Stay there. I’ll try to return as soon as possible. And I promise you—we’ll talk about everything! Give me… a week. I’m sure I’ll be able to reach agreements with partners by then. Just please, don’t disappear now and wait for me. We really have a lot to talk about.»
Ruslan feared she would refuse. That he would return to the apartment, and she wouldn’t be there, but the girl smiled and nodded.
«Don’t worry about anything. I’ll definitely wait for you,» Ulyana nodded confidently.
It was evident that she hadn’t forgotten him… hadn’t stopped loving him, even though four and a half years had passed. When colleagues asked Ruslan why the city’s most eligible bachelor wasn’t in a relationship, he joked and said that the woman who could melt his heart hadn’t been born yet. In reality, he was searching for her… Ulyana. Once long ago, he had promised to give her his heart, and he had done so. She hadn’t forgotten. Hadn’t forgotten him…
Ruslan was running late for his flight, so he didn’t have time to talk properly with Ulyana. Taking a promise from her that she would wait for his return, he instructed Oleg to drive the girl to the apartment, show her everything, and give her money so that Ulyana wouldn’t lack anything.
As the head of a major company, he had no right to show weakness, so he had to suppress all his emotions and focus on work. The business trip was expected to be lengthy, but Ruslan decided that, despite everything, he would achieve the necessary agreements within a week, for it was so important to him to return and keep his promise. He bit his elbows because he hadn’t even taken Ulyana’s number. He was so intoxicated by the meeting, and the rush… everything flew out of his head, and now he just wanted one thing—to return and make sure that she had waited.
The week turned out to be too difficult, but Ruslan, as he had promised, coped with everything. The man was so eager to get home that he didn’t even call a driver but stopped the first taxi he encountered at the airport and rushed home. He already imagined the meeting with Ulyana, preparing his speech. He scolded himself for not even stopping for flowers, but that could be corrected later… He would definitely overwhelm her with flowers if only she gave him the chance to make up for what had happened in the past. However, the thought that she had decided to leave him after all still troubled him.
Imagine his surprise when strangers opened the door!
«Who are you? What are you doing in my apartment?»
Ruslan was alarmed. He thought—had Ulyana brought her friends, since he knew nothing about her all these years. She could have changed. But only this thought instantly vanished. He could tell by the eyes—she hadn’t changed.
«What do you mean who? Tenants. We rented the apartment for a month!» the man exclaimed indignantly. «You’re disturbing our peace right now. Do you even know what time it is?»
«How could you rent my apartment? What kind of joke is this? Explain yourselves right now!»
«We rented it from a nice woman, Alla Grigorievna. She said her son was away on a business trip for a month, maybe longer.»
The man seemed to understand what had happened, so he followed up with explanations by asserting his rights:
«We actually paid! If you returned earlier, then sort it out with your mother! We’re not going anywhere.»
Ruslan was too angry to think rationally right now. He was ready to explode. And the tenants were the first to catch his ire. It was inconceivable! How dare his mother settle someone in his apartment? And when had she made a duplicate of his keys? The man was beside himself with rage.
«How much did you pay?»
Hearing the amount, Ruslan took out money from his wallet and ordered the tenants to clear out before he called the police.
«But where will we go in the middle of the night?» the woman sobbed. «That’s no way to treat people.»
«Thank your stars I returned your money. Where you go is none of my concern. You should have thought about that when you signed a contract not with the property owner, if you signed anything at all. Don’t test my patience!»
Ruslan’s voice sounded convincing, so the tenants didn’t argue any further. The man bitterly thought that Ulyana had also been driven out of the apartment, but surely the situation there was different. But how dare his mother settle someone in his apartment, if Ulyana was living there? Or had she left as soon as Oleg brought her? His head was spinning. Ruslan was so angry that he couldn’t think clearly. As soon as the tenants left his apartment, the man drove to his mother’s. He didn’t care that it was night, and she was asleep. It was important to get answers to his questions here and now. If his mother had taken the initiative to rent out his apartment without asking his permission, then she had better be good enough to answer why she had done it. And most importantly—what about Ulyana?!
«I drove that girl out and rented your apartment while you were away. And who are you to blame your own mother? Did that girl mean so much to you? Then you were a spineless rag, and you are now. Life taught her nothing. I should have not just deleted your messages, but written to her that you never want to see her again and fell in love with someone else. Maybe she wouldn’t be clinging now!»
Alla Grigorievna bit her tongue, realizing she had said too much. Ruslan looked at his mother but didn’t understand—why had she needed to do that? She knew how much he loved Ulyana. Knew it and knew how he suffered when they parted, when their paths diverged. He had been looking for the girl all this time, but Ulya had moved out from the old lady’s room she rented, and friends didn’t say where. She had no relatives. Her brother had swindled her out of her inheritance and left her on the street. Ruslan didn’t know where Ulyana was registered. He had too few clues to find his beloved, and now that it had happened, he had lost her again.
«You do understand that I won’t forgive you, mom?» Ruslan asked dryly.
«Where will you go? Mother is the only one! You’ll crawl back on your knees when you want to howl from longing! And I don’t regret doing exactly that back then. With that country girl, you would never have achieved such heights. And now you don’t need her.»
Ruslan wanted to say a lot to his mother, but out of respect for her for giving birth to him and raising him, he didn’t. At that very moment, he decided that he would help his mother financially, but he would never speak to her again. She had destroyed his life, thinking she had done the right thing. But would he be able to find Ulyana again and regain her trust?
Ruslan didn’t sleep all night, sitting on the couch. He kept waiting, not understanding what for. In the morning, the driver came to take him to the office. He was supposed to hand over the signed documentation to the general, but Ruslan felt that everything had lost its meaning. He had never thought before that he could lose his head from love, but it had happened. And when those crystal-blue eyes looked at him again with hope, he was completely submerged in their depth.
«Ruslan Sergeyevich, when I brought the girl, I took her phone number just in case. Well, you knew her a long time ago, and I was afraid—maybe she would clean out the apartment and run away. So I demanded that she call me. I said it was in case something needed to be clarified with her. So I have her number. You can easily find her,» Oleg shared when he was driving his boss from work.
«Why didn’t you say something earlier, Oleg?»
Ruslan had never thanked Oleg as much as he did now. He hugged the man and promised him a good bonus. And an unplanned vacation, so he could spend more time with his family. Ruslan wanted to rejoice, sing, and whirl in dance from the feelings that overwhelmed his soul. After calming down a bit, he dialed Ulyana’s number.
The girl didn’t answer right away, her voice sounding tired. She was delighted to hear Ruslan’s voice and immediately agreed to meet him.
The cafe owner, where the girl worked, allowed her to live in the administrator’s office for some time, and although sleeping on a bench wasn’t very comfortable, it was better than nothing. Seeing Ulyana smiling at him, Ruslan hugged her without a word and promised that no one would interfere with them again. The man explained how things really were. He had sent a message because his departure was urgent, he had waited for her at the platform, but she never showed up, and now he understood why.
«If you’re not ready to reciprocate my feelings now, I’ll understand,» Ruslan said with a trembling voice.
«Why would you say that, silly? Of course, I’m ready! I’ve been waiting for you all this time… I didn’t know when you would return, but I believed it would happen.»
Ruslan took Ulyana to his place, and within a few days, they filed an application at the registry office. Although the man insisted that he could fully support the family, Ulyana did not give up her job. She wanted to be useful too, and not sit all day within four walls. But she did manage to get a leave from her boss, because she wanted to spend more time with her loved one and catch up on lost years.
