The fact that she was head over hills in love with him was known to everyone but him. She seemed to deliberately spread information about it, so that the rumors could actually reach him over time. She was too shy or scared to say it to his face. Perhaps both ashamed and afraid did she feel about it at once.
Her name was Ksenia. She was a beautiful and successful young lady with good but slightly old-fashioned manners that is why she was convinced that a man had to make the first step. Denys was a cool guy, a little tedious, not a nerd, but not a dare-devil either, a smart and modest person. He stubbornly did not notice any signs of attention from Ksenia. To tell the truth, Denys always had a hard time when it came to girls. He was more interested in computers and computer strategy games. ‘The Cossacks’ game was popular back then, he could talk about it forever, so there was no time left for the love adventures.
And there were us, friends of Ksenia’s and Denys’s – one company, so to say, and the New Year approaching inexorably. Every one of us had some hopes and dreams and believed that everything could come true in the New Year. Including Ksenia, who firmly decided that she would finally have a boyfriend in the coming year. And what’s more, it had to happen not just in the next year, but at the very New Year’s Eve. And it had to be not just any guy, but a quite specific person – Denys. So not only did she hope, but she had the whole plan in mind.
Every one of us had a specific role in this plan. Everything should have looked more or less like this: our company is going to the same New Year party. We sit at the table in such a way that Ksenia and Denys find themselves sitting next to each other. She is wearing a stunning dress, and we all take turns saying how kind, smart and talented Ksenia is. She also brings some dishes, and everyone agrees that the meal is delicious, because Ksenia is also a wonderful hostess. We laugh, eat, drink, then turn on the music and dance for a little while making sure that Ksenia and Denys stay alone at the table during a slow song, so it seemed logical that the guy would invite the girl to dance.
There were also some aces up our sleeves. For example, Taras, a guy from our company who could not hold his tongue. There was a joke that if you needed to spread the news around the city as fast as possible you would have to secretly tell Taras about it, stressing that – God forbid! – he leaked a word. In a few minutes, the whole city would be humming about this news. Taras was better than billboards in it. So while they were smoking on the balcony his part of the plan was to induce Denys to pay attention to Ksenia, a beautiful and single girl, who was actually looking at him with interest.
So everything was thoughtfully elaborated and prepared. Not just Ksenia but all of us believed that her dream would come true on New Year’s Eve, that a miracle would happen. And so the New Year’s night began. Everything went according to the plan: seating, praising Ksenia, balcony advising and creating a situation for dancing. Everything worked like a clock, but apparently did not work out – Denys remained indifferent. At some point, Ksenia herself invited him to dance, twined her arms around his neck like a liana, but the blind guy seemed not to realize anything. She even tried to start a conversation about ‘The Cossacks’ to win the favor of the boy at least in such a way, but all her efforts remained of no avail. That evening Ksenia was a goddess, but her target was an atheist.
Denys left first, yet before 3 a.m. He evidently wanted to play his computer game at home. Ksenia burst out crying and ruined our holiday. I even unwittingly thought I could comfort her, but had the brains not to destroy our friendship with intrigues at the last moment.
It has been more than ten years now: Ksenia has her own family, Denys has long been married too – both of them are happy in their marriages. By the way, Denys still seems not to realize anything, silly!
A miracle did not happen on that New Year’s Eve. But in the end everything turned out to be fine: both characters of this story were happy, just had to wait a bit more. Miracles happen, dreams come true, just do not make any deadlines. And everything will be great!
Andriy Lyubka