He remembered how a few days ago they said goodbye ... He, of course, shared with her his plans to meet Sergei and Vasily.
On the evening before his departure, Marina was sad and pensive. Usually she tried to hide her bad mood from him, if it happened, but this time she was so depressed that there was no way to hide it from him.
- Well, if you want, let's go together, - Vladimir could not resist. Not that he really planned to do it, but at least discuss the possibility. He knew the more would be said, the better. But she, hiding her eyes, shook her head.
- Why?
- I can’t... pretend that I am indifferent to him.
- Why pretend that you are indifferent to him?
Marina looked up at him with amazement.
- What do you want yourself? - Vladimir asked, sitting down next to her.
“Everything,” she said shortly.
A lump rose to his throat from this deadly frank confession. Feeling that the blow was too sharp and unexpected even for such a strong person as Vladimir, she immediately embraced him affectionately by the neck, laid her head on his shoulder, and hot tears ran down his chest.
- I can't, Volodya! He calls me all the time, just like the mountains call us...
- How?
- You yourself know how. I cannot resist him when he calls me. He's stronger than me... He's got too much... too much... I don't know what to call it...
“It's called passion,” he prompted mechanically.
- When I read Genesis, and it says: 'Now Adam knew Eve his wife', - I perceived this word “knew”... well, just as some kind of designation, and now suddenly its absolute meaning was revealed to me... I want to know him deeper...
Vladimir could not restrain an involuntary shiver and hugged her tightly.
- Don't be afraid! It will never happen, because... I will never see him again. This is the only way for me. Seeing and resisting is impossible.
- Why? Help me to understand... Are you not happy with me? Or am I doing something wrong? What - me and my love are not enough for you?!?
- You are different. I love you very much, you are my happiness... You kiss me so tenderly and affectionately...
- And he? - Vladimir involuntarily burst out.
Overcoming pain, the explorer defeated a lover in him. In this sense, Marina was just a wonder - she opened herself without the risk of becoming uninteresting, because there was still so much unspoken, unknown inside.
Suddenly, without any warning, Marina gripped his lips with such force that he involuntarily got up from his place, but she had already let him go, quickly looked into his dim eyes:
- Like this!
- Crazy! - Vladimir whispered, again embracing her, and that evening they did not speak anymore...