Intertwined Fates. Ariana Bazhenova

slowly and carefully, then stood up and left the office.

      When I found myself in an empty, bright corridor and exhaled with relief, a pleasant feeling spread in my chest. I heard and observed for myself how cruel she could be, how any inappropriate word could irritate her. But now I felt how carefully and gently she looked at me, how warmly she spoke to me, trying to create the illusion of an equal dialogue and at the same time not allowing me to forget that she was a leader and an authority that needed to be taken into account.

      A thought flashed through my head: «And here is the mentor I wanted to find this morning. I think she gave me the answer to the question of what to do with strength – practice and practice again.» As soon as I thought about it, determination appeared in my eyes – I feel that my dreams can soon become reality. It’s time to change my life.

      But at that moment I did not find the strength to openly admit to myself that one of my main desires was to be with a man who was already married.

      The hardest thing was to fight with myself – after all, the forces are equal.

      Nevertheless, under the crust of moral torment, I felt something else – as if I was right in my attraction to him and had every right to it. The only question is, why? I went down to the office and walked briskly to my desk.

      – So how did it go? – my colleagues asked with interest, seeing my mysterious smile.

      – Well, Schwein offered me a project…

      Usually, a visit to Eva Schwein’s office was perceived as a call to the carpet. And now I was intoxicated with joy from the realization that I had not only avoided wrath, but also received an interesting project at my disposal, because she believed in my strength.

      However, this was not the only pleasant event of the day. Having quietly put three liqueur candies, gifts from Moscow, and notes on the project into my bag, I went to the cherished blue door with a joyful premonition. Opening the door for me at the bell, a young man in a white coat did not ask me about anything and shouted into the lab room: «Lev, to you!»

      I smiled sheepishly and went to the worn leather sofa in his office. There was Lev – with a light, quick movement, he jumped up and sat down next to me.

      – How much time do we have for discussion? «I don’t want to distract you from your work too much,» I asked as peacefully as possible, continuing to show him my respect for his large workload and busy schedule.

      «About half an hour, then I have to work, sorry,» he smiled amiably now, and there was no trace of the previous harshness in his tone.

      «Okay, let’s get started. I’ve prepared the information for my blocks and thrown together a presentation. Here, look.»

      I opened the bright blue slides on my expensive smartphone, the design of which I had spent a long time last week carefully working out the details. Leo, with unceremonious confidence, took the smartphone from my hands and pulled it towards himself.

      «It’s more convenient this way,» he explained calmly.

      He began to flip through the slides, froze, and carefully ran his finger along a thin crack in the corner of the screen. I laughed as I told him how I once dropped the smartphone from my hands, it flew past, hit the door, and crashed into the wall.

      – What a beautiful presentation. You’re doing great! – he noted contentedly. It was obvious that he enjoyed giving praise – from the heights of his experience, and also because of his open, emotional nature. – I wouldn’t bother so much, I’d make a white background, black text, and that’s it.

      – Oh, come on! Thank you! I tried, – my face was covered in a thick blush. – Do you want to see what a cool diagram of the brain I drew? Scroll to the last slide.

      He stopped his gaze on the carefully drawn diagram of the brain that I explained in a simplified form the features of the psyche. The topic of neuropsychology was one of the most exciting for me, because it combined matter and spirit, body and soul. Leo looked at my drawing, silently picked up a notebook and began to make schematic sketches. – I would draw a diagram of the brain like we studied at the university, – he drew a thin line, – the new cortex is here…

      I leaned over, fascinated, to watch his graceful, thin fingers draw a careless diagram. Discussing a suddenly discovered common interesting topic of brain development, we lost the original thread of the conversation – the analysis of the project. And at the same time, the count of time.

      As is well known, those in love and happy do not watch the clock. Time is truly an illusion, it can freeze, stretch long and sweetly, like honey, or fly swiftly like a fired bullet. In my presence, Leo never once looked at his watch – only when we simultaneously leaned back on the sofa, laughing heartily about something and looking at each other, I stole a glance at the dial and noted that instead of half an hour, an hour had already flown by. I stretched lazily and began to collect the sheets of paper with notes, and, feeling in my pocket for three candies that had survived the flight from Moscow with me, my eyes sparkled with joy:

      – And I have a small present for you. These are for you, – I handed him the sweets, wrapped in red wrappers, slightly worn from the long journey. Winking, I continued: – Just be careful, they have liqueur, don’t eat them at work. I secretly smuggled them past the security at the checkpoint.

      – What are you doing! How could you! – he exclaimed and laughed. – What have you done? I’m going to get drunk, burst into Eva Schwein’s office and cause a scandal.

      – Just don’t tell her it’s because of me!

      We looked at each other and laughed selflessly again, as if by accident moving even closer to each other. I carefully wiped away a tear from the corner of my eye that had appeared from laughter. Usually, I was characterized by calmness and a certain phlegmaticness, restraint, but Leo’s bright emotions immediately found a response in me. I felt as if a bright energy of attraction and joy was sparkling between us.

      Noting with warmth how he put three candies on his notebook, I got up from the couch and went to the exit. From formal meetings filled with tension and misunderstanding, our discussions finally began to acquire a shade of spiritual relaxation – as I used to scroll through in my thoughts before going to bed, as if catching pictures from the outside, coming from somewhere in the future. At this hour, we, two people tired from work, could forget about current problems and immerse ourselves in an interesting conversation with each other or funny stories.

      Frankly and provocatively, with undisguised interest in each other, we sat in his cramped walk-through office in full view of everyone, although between us there was only conversation, and nothing more.

      – I need to go, I still have to do calculations before diagnosing the code, – he sighed a little tiredly and got up from the couch.

      – Probably, it is so interesting, – I tilted my head to the side, thinking. – It’s a pity that for me it is all an empty phrase. But I would like to know how you carry out all the stages of code creation, right up to the finished program. After all, I establish contacts with the media to promote your developments. How will I write competent articles and select sites for interviews if I don’t understand anything about your work? – I spread my hands in confusion.

      Indeed, what was happening in the labs seemed like real magic to me. Here, in the corporation, they subjugated the laws of logic – and created programs that made life easier for thousands of people. Isn’t that magic?

      – So let’s go, I’ll show you!

      He beamed and threw a white coat over my shoulders over my strict business gray checkered suit. We stepped into the lab room: light poured from wide windows under the ceiling, the white space was crisscrossed with cabinets and long tables with many devices and modern