My first scooter experience went well. Initially, I was a little worried about my health, but in the end everything was fine. While scooter-riding, D casually asked me if I was on social networks and had friends.
Once we were done riding scooters, we exchanged phone numbers.
She had to go for an internship at a beauty salon where she recently got a job in a senior management position. I decided to accompany her and talk more at the same time.
D was a lawyer by training, and between the words she mentioned that in one of the firms where she once wanted to get a job, the boss told her in plain text that their team had deliberately sent a person to jail in order to get his money or something like that. She immediately condemned the act and said that she decided not to work there.
Coming closer and closer to her place of work, I did not get alarmed by the fact that when a dead pigeon lay on the road in front of us, the girl first said how poor he was, and then she began to laugh – she quickly commented that it was so sad, and yet she is amused. I thought she was just very cheerful – she was very positive and sweet all the time.
Not far from the beauty salon, we said goodbye, and she said that we would talk later.
I had flashbacks about Katya who also gave me her phone number, but then refused to write me and meet. Going home, I no longer thought about getting acquainted with someone else, since that would be wrong from a moral point of view.
When I opened WhatsApp at home, I was pleasantly surprised to see a voice message from D. She said that it was necessary to come to the beauty salon in a black and white uniform, and not in a dress, as she did, and therefore the manager sent her for a walk. Well… things happen…
I continued to work on translating my book, which you are reading now, into English and on adding important details that I missed. In the course of my work, I corresponded a little with D.
She was not a photo model, but a pretty, sweet girl nonetheless. Most importantly, she seemed to be a rather sincere and open person. Well, as for some of her shortcomings and problems, I was ready to accept them, realizing that it is difficult to find an ideal person in all spheres on the planet of the first category.
I remembered about the Pareto principle and about the fact that on the day I met D, I just wanted to take a walk in the park that I decided not to go to any more specifically for meeting girls, as I spend a lot of time and energy trying to ask one-two girls if they wanted to get to know me.
On Friday, June nineteenth, D sent me a voicemail saying how a thirty-eight-year-old man approached her to meet her. She mentioned that he was very strange and was following her. She was not very comfortable in the park, and she mentioned how she herself might need to get acquainted with someone so that to be protected. Her voice did not betray any alarm, but rather the opposite.
I thought to myself how I did not want to approach anyone else, but D did not refuse to meet another man.
On the same day, after a couple of other messages, D invited me to a restaurant. I told her earlier that I had money problems, especially after the coronavirus and self-isolation, and she asked again if I was okay with her idea. I understood that a restaurant is expensive, and D and I did not really get to know each other yet, but I wanted to get the experience of visiting a restaurant, and so I agreed. We agreed to meet at 5:30 pm in the park as she had some things to take care of.
D was a little late. I could not help but smell the scent from her freshly washed hair. It seemed that they were still wet. Then I forgot that she said that she lived outside Moscow, and it took her about 20 minutes to get to the park.
Even before our second meeting, I was thinking that I need to tell her about my life so that she knows and can make a decision whether I suit her or not. I thought that I should immediately mention that I am looking for a girlfriend in order to have a serious relationship; it is not easy for me to be alone without love, and so I would not tell such a story if it was not true, as I perfectly understand what most people will think about me.
At the place where the newlyweds leave locks, D expressed her disapproval of marriages of convenience. She was only for a love marriage. Then I asked her about the 38-year-old man and how his inadequacy was expressed – so that I can learn from his mistakes.
We sat down by the pond and continued our conversation. On this day, I almost did not stutter, having done work regarding my mistakes. D noticed this.
I told her my story with stuttering, from the sad events that happened when I was five, and to me forgiving my father for his old drunken act. I got the impression that she did not really believe in the simplicity of the truth of stuttering. Perhaps the fact that I sometimes stuttered because of my stubbornness to get everything out of my head played a role in this.
I think I touched on the topic of Thiaoouba and talked a little about reincarnation. She jokingly rejected the idea of reincarnation. She herself said several times that we live only once. But she told about her dream where she saw Jesus, and mentioned that she believed in him. I found it interesting, as I saw that we had something in common. Because of this, she began to interest me even more. Then she mentioned that she knew quite a bit about psychology…
After some time, she took me to a cafe to deprive me of my “restaurant virginity”.
I ordered myself a Caesar salad, which I once bought for the CEO in the office where I worked as a courier. She chose fish, and we decided to try pear tea.
While talking about movies and TV shows, we came across the topic of Auras and capitalism. I told her that if Aura could be photographed in every clinic, and it would immediately diagnose the physical and mental state of a person, it would leave many people without work – why money is the main mistake of our society. She thought about it and agreed.
We ate and the bill was brought to us. Seeing the familiar figure of 2020 rubles, I immediately remembered ZOZO and how the previous time I saw this number, I was deceived by the book publisher. But, if we take this number as a sign of danger, what could be dangerous in this situation? The girl was pretty sweet and said things that I mostly agreed with. Yes, she called me to a cafe herself at my expense, but it was the beginning of summer, and we had just emerged from the two-month self-isolation – it is not a crime to go once to a restaurant. In addition, in Russia it is accepted for some reason that man pays for a woman in such establishments, and she mentioned earlier in the voice message that usually guys themselves invite girls to cafes, but due to various nuances she decided to ask herself. As for the Cafe Siren' (“Cafe Lilac” in literal translation), in which we were, I knew about its existence for a long time. In fact, the cafe has been around since 1956. There can be no problems here.
I paid by credit card for our dinner, and D told me about the meaning of the blue plastic cup, in which people usually leave money to tip the waiters. She said that usually it is about a hundred rubles. The minimum banknote in my wallet was five hundred rubles. Naturally, I could not tip that much, but I also did not want to leave nothing at all as this was my first time in a restaurant. Then I found the only 2 coins in my wallet – the same 20 rubles that I got from the vending machine with water 2 days ago when buying kvass. Yet another ZO…
I left 20 rubles as a tip, and D and I went for a walk.
I think that it was then that D began to speak in a way that showed that she was not interested in a relationship with me – if I was interested in a girl, I would not be telling her “when you find a boyfriend…”, or something like that. I think that I was a little upset because of this realization, but at the same time I was glad that I was getting at least some kind of life experience, and I was not just wandering alone among a city populated by millions of people.
During the conversation, it became clear that she loves money and material things. She mentioned how she could buy clothes for 20,000 rubles so that they would just hang in the closet. She also loved to travel and visited different countries.