"What's going on here?" Alex's voice broke into my almost perfect world.

I jumped up and hid behind Andrew, who turned toward the audience. For some reason, Alex didn't look startled, more like angry. Clenching his fists, he stepped toward us.

"You took the keys from him," Andrew clarified in slight bewilderment.

"Yes," I confirmed. Looking closely, I saw a blue keychain and understood everything: he took it from the neighbor.

"Come on, the keys," Andrew demanded, stretching out his hand.

"Mr.Rebrov?" Alex was surprised.

The former even somehow retreated, not believing his eyes. Taking advantage of the fact that the attention of the "guest" had switched to Andrew, I quickly pulled up my pants and put on a sweater. My cheeks were burning. Alex and I had broken up, of course, but the fact that he caught me in that state was unpleasant.

"Why did you come here?" I asked indignantly, burning with shame.

“I came to talk, but I can see that you're no longer impressed by spiritual food.”

I laughed. He came to talk! He's got nowhere else to go! I suppose he was hoping to convince me that I'd misunderstood, as if what had happened in the restaurant could be understood in any other way!

It's over between us! – I reminded him of the obvious.

"Yes, I can see that," Alex grinned.

"Good, if you can see it! Give me the keys and get out! " Andrew held out his hand again. " “I'll fire you.’

The threat had an effect: Alex threw the keys on the floor and rushed to the exit. All I had to do was blink.

“Fire me? “I specified.

“Yes, in any case. I won't tolerate my girlfriend's ex-boyfriend around. “

“A?”

“Why are you even dressed up? Although… Come here....”

At the last moment, I twisted out of his arms and bounced away. For some reason, I had the feeling that Andrew knew that Alex was coming: he appeared just in time to interfere with our reconciliation.

"What is it?" Andrew asked.

"Go away," I demanded, putting my hand out in front of me to stop him from coming near me.

"What?"

Andrew didn't seem to believe what he was hearing. He stepped even closer, and I took another step back. But there was nowhere else to retreat: there was a windowsill behind me, and I leaned against it.

"Go away at once!" I commanded.

I needed to think. I had to think about what had happened. Right now, the men around me were just getting in the way. I felt like I was being used and brainwashed, so I wouldn't understand.

"Are you sure?" he said.

"Yes!"

I jumped out of my seat and pushed him out the door. It was only after I had locked the door that I could finally cry, sinking to the floor in the hallway.

If you think the worst thing in your life has already happened, you have to wait a little longer to see how wrong you are. As I wiped tears from my cheeks, sitting on the floor in the hallway, thinking about how betrayal was the worst thing in my life. Just yesterday I had a family and a loved one, and today I'm alone in an empty apartment.

Realizing that I am terribly afraid of loneliness, a titanic effort decided not to forgive. I'd rather immerse myself in work – there's always something to do at school. I'll take another class, start leading a club, and forget Alex.

I started to pack his things so that I wouldn't change my mind. I brought garbage bags from the kitchen (I couldn't give him his brand-new suitcase!) and began to empty his closet. Somewhere I read that this is a necessary stage in the breakup, they say, then it will be easier. Well, it's all lies!

I was ready to get hysterical over every shirt. There were memories associated with all of them. If memory could be formatted like a hard drive, I would have done it.

I couldn't even get half of it done, and I fell asleep in the middle of the mess.

In the morning, I felt even worse than yesterday. My leg hurt even worse, my face was swollen, and my eyes were puffy. I couldn't go to work tomorrow in such a state; I'd better tell them I was sick and take a few days off. I didn't want to sit alone in the apartment, but it was better that way than to catch the interested looks of my colleagues and listen to their whispers. At the same time, I remembered my phone, which I hadn't even seen yesterday. It was left in the bag brought by Andrew, and I had completely forgotten about it. It took a decent amount of time to find the phone. The apartment was a mess.