“Gleb, honey, eat up. We must leave,” whispered Larisa. She tilted her head to the right, and the lock of her fair hair covered her face. Gleb nipped off a large piece of the toast with marmalade and began chewing it theatrically, with delight.

“Look, I am in a hurry. I am chewing, very fast,” he laughed and sipped his coffee.

Half an hour later they went down the stairs, left the building, and went to the theatre.

“Larisa, please, forgive me, if something went wrong last night,” Gleb took the girl by the arm and they stopped. He was looking at her earnestly, with a question in his eyes. “I will never forgive myself, if the unforeseen happens to you and you get pregnant.”

“Gleb, trust me, it’s not your problem. The last night was great. Moreover, I’d like to repeat it.” Larisa quickly kissed him and took a step back.

Now he could see her eyes. For a moment, Gleb saw in them not just fear, but a cry for help, but everything quickly disappeared. And now, beautiful eyes filled with tenderness were already looking at him.

«Come on, we have to go,» the girl pulled him with her, and they moved further along the sidewalk to the bus stop.

Gleb let Larisa into the building of the theatre several seconds before himself, because he did not want anyone to think that they had come together. Tatiana Roshin was the first one to meet him in the theatre. She was standing near the dressing-room, obviously waiting for him.

“Gleb, sweetheart, we really need to talk,” she started, but did not finish, seeing Svetlov’s happy countenance.

“Yes, of course,” answered Gleb with a light smile and motioned her to enter the dressing-room.

Inside, Tatiana embraced Gleb at once and pressed herself closer to him.

“No hard feelings. I am not to blame for what happened yesterday. George is my childhood friend, we grew up on the same street, but we haven’t seen each other for ages. I did not expect him to play such a trick on me. This is all a lie. We are childhood friends, and we haven’t got any common children. Do you believe me?” The girl looked into Gleb’s eyes ingratiatingly.

“Tatiana, this all does not matter. What is important is that our wedding is in only days away,” Svetlov leaned towards Roshin and dropped her a kiss.

Everything was not as simple as he wanted it to be. Today, in the morning he realized that there are things in this world miraculously changing everything around him. Only yesterday he was determined to do Fedorov a bad turn and marry his lover Roshin. He quite liked her, so he decided they would be able to live together.

When he woke up today, he felt indecently happy and suddenly realized how beautiful the fallen multicolored leaves under his feet were, how warm the morning autumn sun was, how blue the sky was, and how pleasant the smell of coffee and scones at breakfast was. It dawned upon Gleb that he was not quite ready now to lose something more than a free man’s status by marrying a girl he had never loved. He finally understood that he might lose his appetite for life! And he loved life in all its manifestations. On the other hand, he had promised her to become her husband. Gleb Svetlov considered himself a man of honor, he could not explain what made him think so, but ever since had been a child, he had been going out of his way to keep his promises. So now Gleb was facing a choice: to break his promise to Tatiana or to fulfill it and marry the girl he did not love.

“We shall get married,” he said firmly. Blue eyes gleaming with steel, and a fine line between his eyebrows. Svetlov stepped back slightly, opened the door and went out into the corridor.