pretending to read! Mrs. Gorgeous! All beauties like you are cunning and two-faced! I do not believe you! I hate you!” Bagila was silent, trembling at every one of Mancia’s movement. She did not begin to talk about the fact that she behaved quietly only because she was afraid to disturb her mood now it was impossible to explain anything to Mancia. Mancia, fixing her furious gaze on Bagila, stood for a while, then, biting her lip until it bled, she left, slam- ming the door loudly. Bagila breathed a sigh of relief and picked up the book again, even though she knew she wouldn’t read it. From the page, Mancia’s eyes full of rage and anger looked at her. She closed the book. On Sunday, Bagila had to involuntarily fulfil her promise to Serbota, and Bagila spent two hours with him. “Lika,” she exclaimed cheerfully, entering the apartment. Malika was feeding the children in the kitchen. Hearing Bagila, she nimbly jumped down from her chair and hurried to meet her. “Why so fast? What, you quarrelled?” “Oh, Li-ka-a!” Bagila laughed, shaking her head. “How stupid men are! Do you know what he said to me?!” She giggled a little. Malika, warning her, moved her chin towards Sargel’s office. Bagila, as if saying “Oh, I completely forgot about him,” covered her mouth with her palm. On tiptoe, they went to Bagila’s room. “And what did he say?” Malika, with a curiosity inherent in a woman, bombarded Bagila with questions, as soon as they closed the door behind them. “We didn’t say a single word until we reached the park and then we sat in silence in the restaurant. Only on the way back, once we reached the house, he suddenly says: ‘Let’s get married, Bagila.’” She giggled again, and Malika began to laugh with her. “Oh, so funny, my stomach hurts. He teaches at the university, writes his Ph.D. thesis, and he himself is like a child! Even schoolchildren don’t talk like that anymore! Where did he manage to preserve himself so well? Hmm, ‘let’s get married!’ Oh wow, he made me laugh!” “Though, what’s wrong with that?” Malika re- marked. “He’s not the worst option. And if we talk about his naivety, then, quite possibly, it comes from his purity. Don’t you think so?” “Maybe, but… he’s in the thick of life. He hears, sees, reads and, despite this,

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