Henri Mallet - Customer loyalty

When the taxi drove away, a solitary figure detached itself from the wall of the building. The man was walking towards his car slowly and shaking his head slightly.

« What a show! What an impromptu! What talents ,» reflected Fedorov with a satisfied smile. He had just gone out of the theatre when a man who called himself George ran up to Roshin.

After that, Mikhail was standing still and, enraptured, watched the show in front of his eyes. It should be pointed out that if the major had not warned him beforehand, he was ready to believe that Tatyana Roshin and Georgy really have a daughter whom she abandoned.

It was already past midnight. The streets of Moscow were empty, occasionally cars would pass by the inconspicuous van parked at the side of Gorky street. Two men were sitting inside, monitoring the equipment which the van was stuffed with.

“How are our doves doing? Still cooing?” Major Lazarev questioned while entering the van. He silently closed the door behind him.

One of the employees took off his headphones and winked at Anatoly with a satisfied look, «they have complete order there. They are totally fine. Larisa is really something! What a woman! She has already gutted Svetlov twice,» the man made an indecent gesture and laughed.

«The recording has been going on from the moment they entered the apartment, so everything is recorded. Now they are asleep, everything is quiet there.»

«Keep on monitoring. I’ll go and make an order to let Roshin free. If she turns up here, by no means let her enter the apartment.»

Major Lazarev went out of the van and, using the street phone, called the officer responsible for Roshin. «That’s all. You can let her go.»

“Okay, doing this. George is asking if he can still portray Tatiana’s lover and sleep with her.” A satisfied laugh came from the receiver.

“George has done a good job today. Isn’t he tired? What about Roshin?”

“Oh, they are all normal here, she already kisses and hugs him herself.”

“Let them do what they will. A special thanks to George from me.” Lazarev hung up the receiver and headed for his car.

Anatoly was driving along the streets of Moscow. The city never sleeps – the lights are flashing, buzzes with watering machines, and people are bustling around from one pub to the next. The motor of his brand-new «Pobeda» was rumbling quietly. The fallen leaves were flying from under the car wheels, dancing and then slowly resting back on the ground. There was a scent of autumn in the air and the temperature plummeted as dusk turned to night, causing people to hurry to their warm homes. The withered, and in some places still green grass, was covered with an intricate pattern of frost in the mornings, but this quickly melted as the days were quite warm and sunny.

Anatoly loved all seasons in his own way, but early autumn brought a unique touch of melancholy into his soul. It was the time when the setting sun in the evenings made all things crimson, and blue grey shadow enveloped the city with autumn sadness. The dancing of multicolored leaves and the flocks of birds heading south brought back memories, emotions, and an undeniable desire to escape from oneself. Anatoly wished to leave behind the all-consuming feeling of solitude which constantly pulled at his heart.

He was lonely, poignantly lonely. He spent all his free time working or training. At times the major tried to persuade himself that he was actually free, not lonely. He was free from love-affairs, the stress of starting a family, or any potential emotional baggage, but sometimes he had to admit that it was far from the truth.

He drove to his apartment building, parked his car, went up to his floor, unlocked the door and entered the hall, in which his steps resounded loudly.

Anatoly Lazarev went up to the fridge and opened it, «oh, I completely forgot to buy groceries.»

He opened the pantry, «so, what we have,» critically examining the contents, took out a large package of pasta and tinned meat.

He was lucky to have stocked up enough tinned meat. He habitually poured some water into the saucepan and put it on the stove. While the pasta was being cooked, Anatoly opened the tin and dropped the contents out onto the frying pan.

“Well, pasta and tinned meat are not so bad,” he said out loud, “I promise to buy some food tomorrow.”

Anatoly laughed, “Here you are, major, you’ve already started talking to yourself, congratulations!”

Gleb opened his eyes and stretched out lusciously on the wide and comfortable bed covered with silky sheets. The room was gleaming with sunlight, reflected in the edges of the beautiful crystal vase standing on the window sill. The air was permeated with the fragrance of fresh coffee, toasts and something else, wonderful and impossible to identify. Svetlov was savoring this pleasant trance between sleep and wokeness and he closed his eyes again. He heard the quiet footsteps, a rustle, and at once a warm palm touched his hand and he felt a kiss upon his lips. The young man opened one eye and stared at the girl in front of him. He gradually began recollecting what had happened in the evening, at night and even this morning. He groaned slightly and sat up in bed.

«Holy Mozes! What have I done that.»

«And what exactly have you done?» he heard the answer and the question at the same time.

Gleb finally woke up and saw Larisa Panko in front of him in an inconceivable lace translucent peignoir, which very favorably emphasized all the advantages of her figure. Blond, silky hair fell in waves over chiseled shoulders.

«You had a pleasant time and relieved stress in a traditional and rather ancient method,» Larisa cooed with a light, inviting smile. Her eyes the colors of gold sparkled invitingly.

Gleb peered at them, but saw there only desire and bliss.

“I’ve spent a blissful night. I think you liked our games, too.” Her hand slipped under the blanket, anticipating the further consequences of quite a predictable climax.

“Never regret something which happened if you were happy at that moment. Do you agree?” Larisa’s eyes were now very close to Gleb’s face and all her features became blurred. A wave of desire surged through him.

Later, when they were sitting in the kitchen, enjoying the breakfast cooked by Larisa beforehand, Gleb suddenly realized that he was smiling and couldn’t help it. He felt so good, there was such lightness inside, that he did not want to know anything about either the past or the future. He felt good here and now and he did not want to leave. He was experiencing true bliss.

“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.

Fedorov saw Tatiana and Gleb enter the dressing-room together, but Svetlov soon came out alone and he didn’t look happy, one might even say that he was extremely puzzled.

“Gleb, come in, we need to talk”, Mikhail motioned to the open door of his office.

“ The boss is going to knock some sense into me now ”, grumbled Svetlov to himself, but, putting on the most benevolent of smiles, he entered the open door.

“Gleb, I know I have no right to interfere with your private life, but you are too young and inexperienced. I’m afraid that you are still not familiar with some of life’s copybook maxims. Sit down and listen to what I’m going to say. You are too young; you’ve still got all your life to live. I respect your talent and your intellect, but I’d like to warn you about the consequences of the hasty marriage to the woman you don’t love. Whether you will be able to live together or not is not the most important thing in life. If you get sick of each other you’ll just run apart, it’s no big deal. But, just imagine… if you have a baby. A family is not only a man and a woman who eat and sleep together. The purpose of a family is procreation. And this is the meaning of life, which is still beyond your reach.” Fedorov put all his actor’s talent and soul into this eloquent speech. He was looking at Svetlov, trying to understand whether he had managed to knock some sense into him.