She felt that she had become a burden to everyone, including her son, grandson, and granddaughter. She knew that all her subordinates in her vast office referred to her as «the old woman.» She involuntarily walked over to the mirror:
«Am I really that old? Seventy, but I look fantastic,» she twirled around, examining herself from every angle. «My figure is in perfect shape, and my face is beautiful. My doctor has probably already earned enough money for a good car from me.»
The men no longer paid attention to her. They gave her compliments all day about how beautiful she looked, but there was no excitement in their eyes, not even a trace of love. My Fyodor has been gone for a quarter of a century. He was fifteen years older than me. I was twenty, and he was thirty-five. Back then, I worked for him and dreamed of a career, but never imagined becoming his wife. Fifty years have passed since then, and twenty-five since his death, but I never remarried.
He was happy before he passed, even though he knew his days were numbered. A grandson was born to him. He left everything to me and ordered that I take care of his business until his son and grandson became worthy heirs. So, I have been safeguarding and growing his business all this time. My son is a bit upset that I’m still in charge here. Of course, he and his son could manage without me. But in my life, besides this business, nothing else remains.
I’ll go home, not to the cottage, but to my one-room apartment, which I kept as a memory of my youth.»
«Anna Ivanovna,» came the voice of the secretary over the intercom. «Ryabov is here to see you.»
«Let him in.»
A light knock on the door, and one of her superiors entered:
«Anna Ivanovna, you look stunning!» he said in a steady voice, making an effort to express admiration on his face, immediately adding, «Here are the papers from the client…»
«Go to Valery Fyodorovich!» she waved her hand irritably. «Let him deal with it.»
«Okay,» he said, disappearing behind the door.
«Tomorrow is Saturday. I’ll tell my son that I don’t exist for anyone this weekend.»
She took out her phone and called her son:
«Valera, I’m disappearing for the weekend.»
«What do you mean?»
«Can’t I live for myself for just two days?»
«Mom, what are you planning?» her son’s voice carried a touch of warmth.
«Valera, I’ll just rest. I’m turning off my phone.»
«Mom…»
«Son, everything will be fine!»
«Free until Monday!» she ordered the driver.
She grabbed a bag of groceries and headed to her apartment.
She climbed to the second floor, unlocked her one-room apartment where she had lived in her youth. Once a year, she would visit here. Over fifty years, the apartment had been renovated several times, but it still felt like a piece of her youth. Even the clothes in the closet were from the fashion of her younger days. Once a month, a woman would come by to check that everything was in order.
She put the groceries in the fridge and made herself tea with sandwiches.
Afterward, she took a bath in the simple tub and went to bed. Who says rich people don’t get tired? They sure do.
In the morning, she woke up, smiled, remembering her youth. She drank coffee and started getting ready.
She opened the closet. There hung dresses that she had liked in the past. Not expensive, not fashionable, but her favorites. She dressed. Her gold jewelry still lay on the nightstand. Smiling, she looked in the mirror:
«I don’t look like a tough boss at all. I’m just going for a walk. I want someone to notice me, not as a boss, but as a woman. And so what if I’m seventy! I’m still eighteen at heart…» she laughed involuntarily. «Well, not eighteen, forty-five.»
She decided to walk not toward the center, but where she used to stroll in her youth. If she ever passed through here, it was only on her way between one of her businesses and another, always seeing everything from the car window, talking on the phone.
She reached the park. She remembered how often she used to walk here with classmates, and later with older boys. Eating ice cream…
She turned around and saw a kiosk. She approached and began to look it over:
«Oh, oh, oh! There doesn’t seem to be any good ice cream here. Which one should I choose?»
«Two ice creams, please!» a male voice said nearby.
«What kind do you want?»
«What’s the tastiest?»
«This one,» the vendor pointed. «But it’s expensive.»
«I’ll take it!»
The vendor handed over the change and gave two servings.
«Thank you!» the man said and… offered one to Anna. «Please, enjoy!»
For a full minute, Anna Ivanovna professionally examined the man, as if he were another candidate for a high position in her empire:
«He looks about sixty or so, ten years younger than me. Not very handsome. Judging by his appearance, he’s never worked in a high position, probably a regular machinist. Not married. Married men don’t offer ice cream to women on the street,» she thought, pulling herself together. «But I did want to find an adventure for myself…»
«Thank you! This is my favorite,» she smiled at the man. «But it’s expensive.»
«I earn enough to treat a beautiful woman,» he said, suddenly asking, «What’s your name?»
«Anna.»
«I’m Boris,» he said. «Are you in a hurry?»
«No. Why did you ask that?»
«All day, work, work…»
«Same here,» Anna nodded.
«Then, can we just take a walk on Saturday and have some ice cream?»
«We can.»
«Then, should we switch to ‘you’?» he said casually.
They walked, eating the ice cream, which Anna didn’t like at all, and honestly, it was too sweet for her age. She ate it in small bites. The hot weather helped, and the ice cream melted.
«Oh, it melted! I’m getting messy!» she exclaimed, tossing it in the trash.
The man, having bitten off a large piece, threw the rest in the same trash. To ease the awkwardness, he asked:
«Ani, where do you work?»
«Ah, no! He thinks I’m younger than I am,» Anna thought, panicking. «What do I say? I need to give a plausible answer. I’ll just say something plausible. Our office has more than a thousand employees.»
«I work in the office of our holding.»
«At the old lady’s?»
«What old lady?» Anna didn’t immediately understand who he meant.
«The holding is run by the old lady, Karpo-va’s wife.»
«Oh, right,» she thought, wanting to scream, «What do you mean old lady?»
«When he died, she took everything over. She seems to be doing everything right. Her son helps her.»
«Boris, she’s not that old,» Anna said, trying to change the subject. «Where do you work?»
«At a metalworking plant, as a miller. Our factory belongs to her too,» he added unnecessarily. «I’m already old. I’ll turn sixty next year. I thought I’d retire at sixty, but they extended our youth, so I have six more years of work.»
«And what about your wife?»
«I’ve been married twice. Now my kids from the first marriage are grown, and I live alone. I have an apartment, though just one room, but it’s mine. I have a car, a ‘Zhiguli’ seven, but it still runs.»
«I also have a one-room apartment,» Anna said, trying to steer the conversation away from dangerous ground.
«Let’s go have some kebabs,» he pointed to the barbecue vendors. «They’re delicious here.»
«Oh, God! Is he going to offer me everything I can’t eat?»
«Boris, I don’t eat fatty meat.»
«Then let’s just walk, he said, holding out his hand. «We’ll stop by a café along the way.»
«Let’s go!» she took his arm. «But somewhere far from these cafés.»
Anna walked, not afraid that she was holding hands with a complete stranger. What was there to fear when you’re seventy? She felt good, though one thought slightly soured her mood:
«This is probably my last love adventure, and it will end when this interesting man finds out how old I am. Or when he learns what position I hold in society, then it will seem like I bought his affection.»
He was talking about his work. Anna enjoyed listening, nodding along, and fearing that he would stop, and she would have to talk about her work and her life. She didn’t want to lie.
She also noticed that her companion kept glancing at the signs for food stalls. Finally, unable to resist, he suggested:
«Ani, let’s stop and eat something!» He said it so casually, yet so eagerly, as if he were her husband.
«Boris, I live not far from here! Let’s go to my place! I’ll order something, and we’ll have lunch.»
«Okay,» he said, then added proudly. «Ani, order whatever you want! I have money.»
«Great!» she took out her phone. «But don’t look at what I order.»
She ordered food and drinks from the best restaurant, not looking at the prices. She never bothered with prices.
«They’ll deliver in no more than an hour!» she added, taking his arm. «We need to hurry a bit; they’ll deliver early.»
They entered the apartment.
«Come to the kitchen! The bathroom is there!»
Anna said quickly, then rushed to her room. She shoved her expensive suit into the closet, which didn’t match her humble appearance today. She gathered her gold jewelry in a handful, shoved it into her purse, and then into the closet.
The doorbell rang. The delivery had arrived.
They began unpacking and setting the table, and Boris happily realized that tonight, he wasn’t going home. And he desperately wanted to stay until morning with this mysterious woman in a cheap dress but who had ordered food from a restaurant worth about his monthly salary.
«Ani, let me transfer you money for this,» he nodded at the table.
«Tomorrow, you’ll buy me a cake for breakfast,» the woman boldly replied.
«Deal.»
What did they expect from the weekend? Romance? And they got it in full. But, deep down, something higher than romance was growing in both of them.
The weekend ended, and it was time to part.
«Ani,» her friend said firmly. «Marry me. We’ll live together. I earn well, and I have a car. We’ll make it!»
«Boris, I can’t answer you right away,» she said, tears welling in her eyes.
«I understand. Let’s think it over. I’ll come by on Saturday.»
«Okay.»
He left, and Anna Ivanovna fell onto the bed, crying:
«I’ve played with fire! I’ve fallen in love! What have I done? What will I tell him? I’m that old lady. I’m seventy. When he retires, I’ll be almost eighty. Sure, I can pay him for his love, but I don’t want that.»
A week passed.
Anna Ivanovna was firmly determined never to meet Boris again. But she told the woman who checked on her apartment to be there in the morning.
She waited for her call, hoping that her friend wouldn’t come, that it would be a silly, meaningless adventure.
Her phone rang. She grabbed it:
«Yes.»
«Anna Ivanovna, he came with flowers. I told him, as you asked, that you’re asking for his forgiveness and that he shouldn’t come again. He nodded and left, looking very sad.»
«Thank you!» she hung up the phone, and tears poured from her eyes.
The supervisor handed out the pay slips. Boris looked at his, shook his head in surprise:
«Again, my salary is double what it was before. This has been happening for three months now. I’m embarrassed in front of my friends. All the good work is mine. The normers have forgotten I exist. I used to complete 200% of the work, always complaining, but now I’m doing 400%, and they don’t even notice it. I’ll ask the shop manager.»
«Serguei Petrovich, thanks for the salary! But something’s not right.»
«Boris, I don’t understand either. I tried to ask management, they say everything’s fine,» the shop manager smiled smugly. «Looks like the old lady is looking out for you.»
«What old lady?»
«What old lady? Anna Ivanovna Karpova,» the manager slapped him on the shoulder. «So everything’s good!»
Boris watched him leave, dumbfounded:
«Anna Ivanovna… Ani…»
The secretary opened the office door and said in surprise:
«Anna Ivanovna, you received flowers,» and handed her a bouquet of white roses.
«Who brought them?»
«The security said some man came and left right away.»
Anna Ivanovna shrugged, wondering who could have brought them. Then she saw the note. Her heart raced. She opened it:
«Ani, we need to meet and talk. You never answered my proposal. Boris
