I don’t understand what you do at all,” Nina grumbled as she and Andrei, wrapped in a grey, fluffy blanket, watched a series on an old laptop.
“I’ve told you—I’m a sysadmin,” the young man smiled.
“To me, a sysadmin is someone who fixes printers in offices,” Nina persisted.
“No, printers are not my thing, but if there’s a problem with the internet, then yes, that’s me. Shall we watch the series?” he laughed, trying to steer away from a direct answer.
“Let’s, let’s! Wait! Do you fix computers?”
“Alright, chatterbox, watch out!” Andrei reached for her and began to tickle her, but accidentally elbowed a mug that was on the armrest. Tea spilled right onto the laptop on the floor…
“Andriyusha, you’re a programmer! How are you going to manage without a computer?” Nina was upset and scared, seemingly more than Andrei himself—who took the incident completely calmly.
“It’s nothing…” the guy carelessly waved his hand—”I’ll figure something out tomorrow. But I’m not a programmer. I am a sysadmin.”
“Alright, let it be,” she brushed it off. “But how can you live without a computer?” Nina asked. “Do you want me to lend you my laptop for now?”
“You know what, you’re right! Not about lending me the laptop, but about moving in with me along with it!”
“I guess I agree, but I have one condition—we’ll split the rent equally. I don’t want you spending all your salary on rent.”
Nina saw that the rental apartment needed repairs, and Andrei drove an old foreign car, but none of that mattered to her.
That same evening, the young couple moved the girl’s belongings to Andrei’s apartment.
Nina felt good with him, but she always sensed that the guy was hiding something and was afraid to admit something. No, there was nothing overt, but his particular attitude towards money. Middle-income people don’t behave like that; they are more frugal.
That evening, Andrei came home cheerful, holding some flat box in his hands. Upon seeing the name, Nina exclaimed:
“A MacBook! Andrei, what! It costs as much as a car!”
Andrei dismissed it:
“Nonsense, Nin! No expenses. Remember, I told you I wanted to participate in a contest?” the girl shook her head negatively. “Didn’t I tell you? I must have forgotten. A company online held a ‘Sysadmin of the Year’ contest, I applied back then. Answered some questions, which were quite elementary, and then forgot about it. But today they called: ‘Come and collect your prize.’ So, everything’s free.”
Another time, Nina noticed in Andrei’s hands, instead of his old “Samsung,” a new, expensive phone.
“Andriyusha, where did this come from?” she asked worriedly.
Again Andrei’s careless dismissal:
“Nonsense, Nin, I smashed my old one today, so I bought the first one I saw.”
“And could ‘the first one you saw’ have been cheaper? Andrei, I know it’s a very expensive phone.”
“Nin, what are you nagging about? It’s not expensive, only twenty thousand. But it has everything, it’s so convenient, look here,” and Andrei enthusiastically began to tell the girl about his new purchase.
Meanwhile, Nina, who never bought phones above the so-called budget class, listened to him distractedly, thinking:
“Still, something is not right here. We don’t have the money for such expensive purchases. Andrei hasn’t told me something.”
A few days later, as Nina admired the sunset from the balcony, an expensive foreign car drove into the courtyard. A striking woman of age was at the wheel, and the reflection of the setting sun made it difficult to see who was sitting next to her. The car stopped near their entrance, and through the glints on the glass, Nina saw the silhouette of the passenger quickly peck his nose into the cheek of the woman driving and out of the car stepped… Andrei. And everything suddenly fell into place. That’s where the expensive purchases came from, that’s where the carefree attitude towards money came from.
Nina had heard stories about wealthy older women who take a young favorite under their wing. It flatters their vanity, perhaps not just vanity. Such ladies seem to take the young man under their wing, care for him, give him expensive gifts, and money for expenses… Nina felt weak. Her Andrei, with that old woman? She didn’t care that she looked good, nowadays you can buy anything with money, but this woman was clearly over fifty! The girl had already decided to tell Andrei right there and then that it was over between them, but she stopped herself. First, she needed to ask the guy himself, to gather information. Maybe it wasn’t as she thought.
“Hi Andrei,” Nina greeted the guy in the hallway—”how are you? How was your day?”
“Thanks, babe, I’m great,” the guy hugged the girl, but she pulled away—”and how about you?”
“It was fine. Until I saw some woman drop you off.”
“Oh, that? That’s Alla Sergeyevna—a regular client. I was actually working at her company today, so she gave me a ride.”
“A client? And do you kiss all your clients on the cheek?”
Andrei stared at the girl in amazement for a few seconds and then burst out laughing:
“Is that what this is about? Are you jealous? Nin, that’s Alla Sergeyevna! She’s like a second mother to me!”
The girl felt relieved and hugged her beloved, but a worm of doubt still gnawed at her soul. And then Nina remembered. In the courtyard of the house where she used to live, a group of men always gathered. They played chess, swapped stories—just a typical neighborhood group. And there was a man in this group nicknamed Vaska-the-Reference. Rumors went that for a small fee, he could find any information.
Why not—she decided and the next morning cautiously approached the group of men.
“Vasily?” she politely addressed a man of indeterminate age.
What Vasily am I to you? I’ve always been Vaska for everyone. Speak, what do you need?
“Vaska, can we step aside? I have a matter for you,” moving slightly to the side, the girl briefly laid out her request to Vasily. “Can you help?” she asked hopefully.
Vaska watched Andrei for almost a week, fully confident that he was doing everything unnoticed and professionally, but that evening, Andrei suddenly approached him and invited him to a nearby café.
“Vaska, we need to talk,” Andrei addressed the man, causing him to flinch.
But how did you…
“Vaska, why are you like a child? You’ve been trailing me for a week and think I didn’t notice? Did Nina ask you to follow me?”
“May I not answer that question?”
“Sure. There’s no one else anyway. Let’s sit down and talk, man to man.”
In the café, over some very tasty kebab, Andrei told Vasily everything, after which he asked:
“Vaska, are we agreed?”
“Of course, Andriyukha!”
“Alright! Then we’ll see you at seven in the restaurant. Don’t be late!”
Nina was surprised when, hearing the doorbell and opening the door, she saw Vasily standing on the threshold.
“Nin… I came to say that I couldn’t gather any information about Andrei. Here’s your advance. I’m returning it,” with these words, the man handed her several thousand-ruble bills.
“But how did you find me—I didn’t tell you my address.”
“Well, I couldn’t find out anything about Andrei, but about you—easy,” Vasily threw over his shoulder as he approached the elevator.
“That’s it! Definitely, this Alla Sergeyevna bought Vaska off! He couldn’t find out, yeah right! They must have tracked him and bought him off completely! And Andrei’s a traitor! That’s it! I’m leaving! Not a minute longer will I stay here!” with these thoughts, the girl began packing her things.
Andrei appeared unexpectedly—engrossed in her bitter thoughts, the girl didn’t hear the creak of the front door, nor did she see Andrei enter the room, her train of thought was only interrupted by Andrei’s voice:
“Are you packing? That’s great, you’re right—we’re moving tomorrow, but now’s not the time. Get dressed, we’re going to the restaurant.”
“That’s where I’ll tell you everything, that’s where I’ll set you straight!” the girl thought vengefully, but aloud she asked, “What’s the occasion?”
“Nina, I’m asking you, don’t ask about anything, you’ll find out everything soon, just be patient.”
In the restaurant, a table was waiting for them, where Alla Sergeyevna was already sitting in the company of some man. Andrei led Nina to them:
“Mom, Dad, meet, this is my Nina.”
Mom? Dad?—the girl couldn’t recover from her astonishment
“Nin, take a seat. It’s going to be a long listen,” Andrei began to tell the girl that he indeed works in his company, just not as a craftsman. A few years ago, he and his mother opened this firm together, and business unexpectedly took off. Business was constantly expanding and incomes were growing. At that time, a circle of admirers, eager for his money, began to form around Andrei. But he himself wanted to be with a girl who needed him, not his wealth. And then the guy came up with this test—to pretend to be poor and see how his chosen one would behave. Nina passed this test. “Now that you know everything, I want to ask for your hand,” kneeling down, the guy finished his speech.
At that moment, the doors swung open and another person entered the hall
“Well, can we congratulate the young couple now? Bitter?”—a cheerful voice of Vaska-the-Reference rang out.
A month later, they filed an application at the registry office, got married in three months, and a year later their wonderful little girl Sonya was born…