I heard that sound somewhere recently. The clatter of train wheels—on the train I was taking to this godforsaken city, where they sent me as a young and promising specialist to help the guys at the branch.
I’d heard that clatter before. But now it wasn’t the wheels making noise— it was the pounding of my addled heart. It was so loud because a second ago, as I walked into the meeting room, among my other new colleagues, I recognized a familiar voice. It was coming from a person whose face I couldn’t see under the hood pulled over his eyes, the black coat. I couldn’t see him, but I recognized him.
Last summer. We ran into each other last summer—at my friends’ dacha. A talented, gifted, and unscrupulous guy. I didn’t like him right away. Even because I couldn’t stop staring at him. I thought… I thought he wouldn’t notice…