Twilight wrapped the city in a grayish haze. The wind, as if in anxious excitement, flitted through the streets, tearing the last leaves from the trees and restlessly scattering them across the sidewalks. This only heightened Arina’s inner tension as she walked alone down the nearly deserted street.
Her soul felt dark and heavy. Thoughts raced and jumped from past to future, refusing to focus on anything concrete. It seemed as if her mind had become a broken kaleidoscope, where images replaced each other chaotically and senselessly. And only one thought sounded dull and stubbornly, like an old clock: “I’m nobody’s need, life is empty, and I myself am unhappy.”
But suddenly, into this flow of gloomy reflections, another idea burst in, as if coming to help: “Everything can still be changed. Everything will be alright.” Perhaps it was a survival instinct awakening at just the right moment. After all, the truth is that the human brain remains a mystery, and predicting its reaction is almost impossible.
Arina suddenly noticed a faint light in the distance. Squinting, she made out the sign of a small café. Without hesitation, she headed there — it seemed that this little light might bring a bit of warmth to her broken heart. Her legs quickened on their own, and soon the girl could read the establishment’s name: “By the Stove.”
“A strange name,” flashed through her mind.
However, she suddenly wanted a hot herbal tea, like at her grandmother’s village house. She wanted to warm her hands by the stove, slowly sip tea, and chat idly about nothing. She wanted to hear the peaceful purring of the cat Murlyka somewhere nearby, as if confirming his name. She wanted once again to feel the coziness and calm that had long since left her life.
Unable to resist this desire, Arina entered the café and chose a table by the window. The dim, narrow hall unexpectedly reminded her of a home setting. Even the thoughts that had been darting through her head became a little less chaotic, more measured.
When the tea was brought, Arina warmed a little. She tried to distract herself by looking out the window: people hurried about their business, cars moved along the streets. But she felt as if she were left outside this life. Everything happening no longer concerned her. What did not happen in her fate would never happen.
She was thirty-five years old. Her job brought no joy, her salary was small. And here came the last blow — a person she trusted betrayed her right before her eyes. After three years she had considered happy. Yes, they met rarely, but each meeting was full of romance. Arina believed they were moving toward a shared future. Thoughts of a wedding, a dress, a ring visited her more and more often. But instead — the destruction of all hopes. Only emptiness, cold, and loneliness remained.
The aroma of the tea brought her back to reality. Arina took a few sips, feeling the warmth spreading through her body. Her head became lighter, and her thoughts began to lose their sharpness. She relaxed, leaned back in her chair, and closed her eyes.
Before her inner vision appeared the image of a fifteen-year-old girl running with wide-open arms toward her beloved — the neighbor boy Gleb. He was tall, blond, with blue eyes and a slim build. Arina had always been known for her openness, cheerfulness, love of beauty and sincerity. That was why Gleb had so deeply impressed her young heart.
Under the influence of the scent of tea, memories turned into a series of pictures from the past. Every summer her parents sent her to her grandmother in the village. For a curious girl, it was a real adventure: watching insects, flowers, animals, the growth of plants.
One day, playing with a ball, Arina threw it over the fence. She had to go to the neighbors. When she knocked, a boy about fourteen came out — wide light shorts, a half-open plaid shirt, and dazzling white sneakers. His name was Gleb. Thus began their story.
Friendship grew into attachment, then into first love. They awaited summer, exchanged letters, called each other. Every meeting was like a holiday. They dreamed of always being together.
But time made its adjustments. Gleb went to study in the capital. Studies and work absorbed him. Communication became rarer, then almost stopped. He understood he could not yet be a support for Arina. And she kept waiting, believing, dreaming. Until she found out he had gone abroad for an internship. The connection was finally severed.
The sound of broken dishes suddenly tore Arina from her memories. She realized she had dropped her cup. She did not know how long she had been lost in thought. The café was almost empty except for the waiters, and silence reigned around.
Stepping outside, she immediately felt the piercing wind strike her face, as if reminding her of reality. The memories only intensified the pain. Arina slowly moved toward home, struggling against the gusts of wind. The city was indifferent to her suffering.
Right at the entrance she noticed the silhouettes of two people sitting on a bench. “They’re probably worse off than me,” flashed through her mind. These two, frozen and lonely, stirred Arina’s sympathy. “Poor things… nowhere to go, hungry and alone…”
Hesitating a little, Arina decisively approached the two figures on the bench. Upon closer inspection, it became clear — it was a man and a child. Their faces were hidden in half-light, but Arina felt no fear or doubt. Something inside told her she was doing the right thing.
“Good evening. My name is Arina. I live here, in this building. If you are left without a roof over your heads, you are welcome to come with me.”
“That’s really unexpected,” the man replied quietly. “And I’m a little embarrassed to admit it, but… we really have no other way out.”
“Then my offer couldn’t have come at a better time,” Arina said gently.
“Please accept my thanks,” he said, rising from the bench. “Allow me to introduce myself: I’m Gleb, and this is my son Pavel.”
Arina’s heart involuntarily tightened. She looked at the boy, and pity filled her soul again.
“Come inside quickly, warm up, eat something,” she tried to smile, though her voice trembled slightly.
Opening the door, Arina made a wide gesture, inviting the guests inside. They slowly stepped over the threshold.
After the fuss with tea, cozy blankets, and a place to sleep, Arina finally reached her bed. The household cares temporarily distracted her from the pain in her heart. But as soon as she was alone, memories surged back with renewed strength.
More than everything that had happened, she was troubled by a strange coincidence. For years she had tried to forget her past — that first love, that very Gleb, those youthful feelings and promises. And today — vivid, almost physically tangible images from childhood, as if time had not passed, as if it had all been yesterday. And now a new person with the same name, which meant so much to her.
Arina tossed and turned for a long time, trying to escape the thoughts, but they held on tightly. Eventually fatigue prevailed, and she fell into a restless sleep.
Morning brought with it lingering anxiety. “What strange feelings,” Arina thought, tidying her tousled hair. As she woke up, reality became clearer. Throwing on a robe that stubbornly slipped off one shoulder, she headed to the kitchen.
Already on approach, she smelled fresh coffee and pastries with vanilla and cinnamon. Voices came from behind the door — a man’s and a child’s.
Arina slowly approached, somewhat afraid to disturb the guests. Curiosity tormented her. How would these two look in the morning light? What were they doing in her kitchen? Mentally, she was already painting a picture of a cozy European café.
Finally, gathering her courage, she entered. And froze in place. She couldn’t utter a single word. Her gaze darted between the guests, and her expression was probably the most amazed one imaginable.
Before her, at the kitchen table, sat a boy — an exact copy of her young Gleb, just as he was in old photographs. And beside him — an adult man whose wide-open blue eyes were insanely familiar to her. The eyes of her first and only love.
“That simply can’t be!” flashed through her mind.
Arina shook her head, trying to comprehend what was happening. Before her was the very same Gleb. His face, his gaze, his soul. Only now he was grown-up, neatly dressed, with a tidy haircut. And yet, behind this outward restraint, she recognized her love.
Gradually, the features of his face became clearer, and the very familiar contours she had remembered all her life emerged. Stunned, Arina sank to the floor, feeling her legs give way. Her heart was ready to burst out of her chest.
Gleb rushed to her, hugged her, holding her so tightly as if afraid to lose her again.
“It’s me, Arinushka. I’m back. I’m with you.”
Some time passed before she could utter anything coherent:
“Is it really you? Why now? How?” she whispered, gasping with excitement.
Much had changed in Gleb’s life since their separation. He had graduated from university, done an internship abroad, secured a good job, built a career. Everything seemed fine. But inside remained pain — pain of lost happiness, lost connection with Arina.
The breakup left a deep wound. He didn’t understand why it all happened, why they lost each other. These questions tormented him for years.
He married several times, but each time realized: this was not it. After the third divorce, he had a son, Pavel — a light in his lonely life. Returning to his homeland, Gleb began building a new life but continued feeling emptiness deep inside.
One day, walking near their old meeting place — by the fallen oak on the riverbank — Gleb remembered everything: first kisses, first whispered confessions, the warmth of her hands. Then he realized: if he did not do something now, it would be too late.
That’s where a crazy idea was born — to check if that same Arina, whom he once loved, still existed. He decided to pretend to be homeless with a child. After all, if she pitied them and accepted them, maybe not all was lost.
And so it happened. Fate rarely gives second chances, but sometimes — it does. And Gleb took it.
And now she — happy, smiling, with open arms — runs to him, just like many years ago.