Meeting

The doorbell rang. Mom at that moment was talking enthusiastically with her future daughter-in-law, and dad was discussing the last hockey match with his brother. Thinking about something else, Victor got up from his seat and went to the door. For some reason, the young man hoped that she, Anastasia, was standing outside the door. But when he opened the door, the corridor was empty. Victor even walked down the corridor and down several flights of stairs. It was very strange. When Victor returned to the room, no one rushed to meet him to ask, who actually came? Moreover, brother, mother, father, future daughter-in-law - everyone ignored him. Even when he asked a question, no one answered him. At that moment, the doorbell rang a second time. Those at the table again ignored the call. Victor had no choice but to get up from his seat again and open the front door, but this time there was no one behind the door. Returning to his place at the table, the young man found that his plate had disappeared, cutlery had also disappeared, even the chair on which he had been sitting a minute ago had gone somewhere. Victor was about to be indignant, when suddenly the doorbell rang for the third time.
“But I won’t go to open it,” Victor said loudly, and, moving another chair to the table, resolutely armed himself with a spoon and reached for the salad bowl.
The doorbell continued to ring.
“Son,” mom looked at Victor in surprise, “what’s going on?” Are you mad at us? Why don't you want to talk to us? This is the third time I've asked you a question, but you are silent. Are you not well?
- Mom, what are you talking about, - Victor was surprised, - for some reason you are ignoring me today! This call, but how much can you?
- What a call, son, - mom turned her head to the front door, - I can't hear anything.
- How, - Victor was alarmed, - How can you not hear this? Well, the doorbell is ringing again! Can't you hear?
“Here, now I hear,” my mother smiled, “it’s probably your brother’s friends who came!” I'll go and open!
“Mom, don’t, I’m on my own,” my brother protested, but my mother was already walking towards the door.
There was a sound of the door being opened, someone entered the apartment. Mom talked to someone, and then asked Victor to come up.
“Son,” Mom turned to Victor, “there is such a thing. The girl brought a letter for my aunt, your great aunt. But grandma…” Mom wiped away her tears. - here, this girl, - mother stepped aside, - she brought a letter for her grandmother.
- Yes, you go into the room, - mother turned to the guest, - I will introduce you to my family.
- No, - the girl took a step forward, - sorry, I don't have much time.
The voice of the guest seemed familiar to the young man, to make sure of his guess, Victor decided and came closer. Anastasia really stood in front of the young man, the girl he had been dreaming of since the moment his memory returned to him. Victor imagined a meeting with this girl so many times, but did not think that the meeting would happen so ... everyday!
“Hello, Nastya,” Victor stammered, “you ...
“Oh,” the girl laughed, “my button! I have a button on your shirt! I'm not mistaken, is this my button?
“Anastasia,” my mother laughed, “you are going into the room!” Let's talk there!
“I don’t really have much time,” Nastya looked at her watch, “but I can come in to say hello. Where is your grandmother? Unfortunately, I send the letter late.
The girl was upset when she found out that Victor's great-aunt was no longer in the world. The letter she wanted to deliver was from a friend of her grandmother. It so happened that a few years ago the whole family, including the girl's grandmother, left for South Korea, the family had Korean roots. When the girl wanted to return, the coronavirus epidemic began, when the epidemic ended, the girl went to the hospital. And only now she was able to fulfill the wish of her grandmother, and even then, unfortunately, not completely.
The conversation flowed slowly, when suddenly Anastasia cried out
— Oh, it seems I am in this portrait! May I take a closer look?
The portrait that the girl was talking about hung next to the portrait of Victor.
“Yes, of course, look,” Mom smiled.
- Yes, it's me, - Anastasia came close to the portrait, trying to examine something, - why do you have this portrait hanging?
“Because this group portrait depicts my son’s entire class, he was in first grade at the time. Here he is, Victor, sitting in the front row, and you are sitting next to him.
Are we classmates? - the girl was surprised, - But why don't I remember you?
— Do you remember me? - my brother intervened in the conversation, - then you were very small, you studied in the first grade, and I was in the fifth.
“Yes,” Nastya clapped her hands, “I remember you!” Strange, right? I don’t remember my classmate, but I remember you!
I'm sorry, but I have to go!
- I'm seeing you off, - Victor rushed to the door, - Wait, Nastya.
- Fine. - the girl took the bag, - It was very nice to remember my childhood.
The girl almost ran out the door, Victor rushed after.
- Nastya, wait! Please wait! Did you recognize me?!
No, I don't remember you!
- Nastya, have you really not forgiven me so far, after all, so many years have passed? I was small thenkim and stupid.
- What are you speaking about?
"Don't you remember?" After school, we went to the park, it was opposite the school. We played secrets, I lost and, according to the rules of the game, I had to write a scary story. I made up a story, but it turned out so creepy that you all got scared. I was also afraid, although I myself composed this story.
This horror movie had a particularly strong effect on you! You said you saw this story in your dream and couldn't sleep after that! My friends started laughing at you, and I was confused! You cried and left. When I came to your house a few days later to apologize, it turned out that you and your family had moved. Your parents took the documents from the school. All these years this story haunted me. I wanted to apologize, but I couldn't find you.
- You are confusing something, I don’t remember anything like that. Excuse me, - the girl had tears in her eyes, - I have to go!
- Nastya, I beg you, do not leave! Don't you want to ask where I got your button from? We met during the period when I was a slave in the kitchen and I had the seal of invisibility on me. I wanted to talk to you, but you didn't see me!
— Are you delirious? - Nastya stopped, - What are you talking about?
“I just want to say that I have been looking for you all my life to apologize. Please give me a chance.
“Well, okay, I remember you, or rather, I recognized you when I saw you in the portrait, but what difference does that make?
What can I do to make you forgive me?
The girl did not like to be angry for a long time, so she smiled and hesitated a little, said
- OK! Buy me, buy me ice cream! Seoul has all sorts of ice cream, but I haven't found one like it here in Vladivostok!
- With pleasure! What kind of ice cream do you like? Strawberry or chocolate?
- Strawberry Chocolate!
Victor struggled to get through the girl's resentment, he went forward, casting aside his pride, he was ready for anything to earn forgiveness, and in the end he achieved his goal.
The girl really had some urgent business, but when the business was over, Victor suggested that she go to where the square once was. However, it turned out that this place now belongs to a sports club and you can’t just go there. However, this did not upset the young people very much.
They just walked to the Sports Harbor, smiled at the spring and the sun, and talked.
Nastya talked about herself. Victor listened and eagerly absorbed everything she told. Among other things, he learned that more than two months ago, almost when Victor saw Anastasia's face in a glass pyramid, she was admitted to the hospital. This is what happened, the girl was with friends at a ski resort. She was skiing pretty well, but as she went down the icy slope, she ran into an obstacle. A strange animal, unlike anything seen before, stood in the way of the girl, stood and simply looked at Anastasia. Realizing that a little more and crash into the animal, Nastya first tried to slow down, and when she failed, go around the animal. This maneuver led to the fact that she moved off the track. And then some kind of devilry began, the girl did not even notice how she ended up in a strange place. Moreover, suddenly she felt herself sinking into the snow. It was incredibly scary! She did not spend much time in the snow gap, but it seemed to her that time stretched out for years. She screamed and cried, tried to clear the snow and climb up, but she did not succeed. Friends discovered that Nastya had disappeared, and soon rescuers came along the track and rescued the girl from ice captivity. Anastasia was so ill that she had to be hospitalized.
- Nastya, how are you now, do you feel well?
- Yes, everything is fine now!
“May I ask what kind of animal was that that got in your way?”
- I don't know. When I told the rescuers what I saw, they showed me the footage from the cameras. According to the record, there was no animal. At some point, I just left the main track.
— But how could it be, maybe the cameras weren’t quite working properly?
- I asked the same question to the rescuers, but I found out that the cameras are checked and adjusted every day.
What a terrible and strange story.
- Yes. Now I want to ask a question, how did my button get to you?
“Yes, I’ll be happy to tell you,” Victor was about to tell Anastasia a story about a restaurant for ghosts, about the seal of invisibility, and how this green button fell into his hands, but suddenly changed his mind, he imagined what he would think about him Nastya, when he tells her this story. — You must have dropped it at our house when you came to visit with your grandmother. Do you remember?
“No,” the girl laughed again, “I don’t remember!”
"Don't you remember at all?"
Well, if only a little!
Victor was happy, the dam of coldness was finally broken. Nastya laughed, Victor laughed too. The young man did not remember the last time he was so happy.
The week that the restaurant manager gave Victor to rest flew by like one day. Every day Victor met with Anastasia. The more they talked, the more he wanted to talk to her, listen to her. Im salesIt was comfortable to be silent together.
Anastasia had already asked Victor several times where he worked, the young man laughed it off, the last thing he wanted was for the girl to take him for a crazy person. Once Victor realized that the time had come. He decided that as soon as he returned to work, he would immediately put the manager on notice that he was leaving.