The relationship more or less took a stable character, she saw Oleg almost every day during his breaks, they had lunch, sometimes managed to stay in her flat, sometimes just chatted in the restaurant. A couple of times a week he stayed overnight and these were the happiest days and nights in the whole world.

Vera looked at the sleeping lover with tenderness and reverence. She stroked his hands and hair, hugged him and touched his skin. Trying not to look at the wedding ring on her right hand, she looked at her hand, at her empty ring finger, and dreamed, dreamed, dreamed…

– Hello, Vera. Hello, can you hear me?

Vera froze holding the phone at the kitchen window. She knew that voice; she would have recognized it from hundred thousand of voices. She had heard that voice from his phone for almost nine months, when she made him coffee, when she vacationed with him abroad, when she lay in bed with him, and each time two snakes somewhere deep inside raised their heads and hissed furiously.

There was no point in hanging up; Vera knew it was Her.

– Yes. Hello, I can hear you.

– This is Arina, Oleg's wife. Can we meet and talk?

Vera was sitting at a table in a restaurant and nervously surfing her page in Instagram. She caught herself thinking she could not concentrate at celebs’ lives, pop idols, gossips and similar kind of social network rubbish plus particularly today she was more than average annoyed with pictures of the ugly off-springs from her not less irritating overweight classmates. Her photo from Courchevel received a huge number of likes and positive comments. At first she was pleased, even flattered that so many acquaintances from her town were jealous of her luxurious and posh life, but it didn’t bring any relief. The tormented soul was suffering the great stress down the night before the conversation with His wife.

"Good afternoon, Vera. My name is Arina. I’m sure you know.

She was beautiful woman in her mid-thirties, a striking brunette sitting at the other side of the table. She was really beautiful, the features of her face were regular and black bob of hair accentuated high cheekbones and almond-shaped eyes while pear-shaped diamonds glittered on long fingers. Arina represented wealth and luxury. The white blouse revealed a chic cleavage that was barely contained by lace and sexy as hell bra.

Vera had never felt so pathetic in her life. She did not understand why Oleg started dating her. She was totally outclassed by His wife.

– Good day, Vera! Nice to meet you! – Arina’s so sincere and radiant smile dashed Vera a bit. In other situation, she would have admired the woman and tried to win her trust. But it wasn’t the case.

Suddenly Vera felt acute pain in her lower belly it hurt so much that she thought about her period. Ah, no, it was a week ago, there were no problems after the abortion, and the tests were excellent. But a twinge of pain cuffed Vera.

"Is there something wrong?" Arina raised an eyebrow, feigning sympathy.

– No… Vera, barely breathing, got up from the table and hobbled to the toilet with her legs half-bent.

Down below there was dark and cool air. The concept of light on the walls made the lighting near the toilet mysterious, even mystical. Vera vomited the tomato juice and vodka and took a deep breath. Her heart was pounding. After flushing the water, she went to wash basin and turned on the tap. The water running down the wash basin turned red. For a split second her face, hands and body were covered with blood

– Ahhh! Vera yelled, stepped back and leaned against the wall. Empty bathroom answered with an echo. There was nobody to help around.