narrows his eyes in surprise.
LIDA: you're Laughing at me, aren't you?
GRISHA: Yes, no. I just suddenly thought about how many people in your life can be a casual gesture of refusal, managed to send to the other world in this way, that in a moment from you… Well, well?
LIDA: well, well? This is actually the whole reason.
Gregory can withstand a small pause of incomprehension. He tries to show support with his facial expressions, but it comes out rather clumsily.
LIDA: and what…, have you refused many girls in your life?
GRISHA: Yes, not exactly to many, but… maybe three… four… ten…
LIDA: Wow… One of the most popular, among our brother, if not a secret?
GRISHA: you See… I can't explain it even to myself, let alone to you. It somehow went from childhood on its own. Girls have been chasing me for as long as I can remember. This sometimes caused aggression in the children. Hence the squabbles, slander on the ground to start. And these "pleasantries" still accompany me through life. Constantly blackened, constantly under attack, constantly under the gun of the disliked and not heard… There are still more good people, I understand that, but… psychologically, it was too hard for me. One could not cope with this oppression.
LIDA: But I understand you have a lot of admirers, don't you? Didn't you choose any of them for yourself?
GRISHA: Somehow it didn't happen. I've met a lot of people, tried something, but… it doesn't work. It's all empty, and I can't do that.
LIDA: I Understand…
GRISHA: But what you said is strange. I find you quite an attractive girl. Interesting, with charm and inner fire. These girls are usually snapped up first.
LIDA: Well… but they didn't catch me.
GRISHA: So maybe the time just didn't come? Who got to pick up – a lot of mind is not necessary, but so that a really worthy person's life failed… for this, I think it's worth waiting.
Grisha pauses for a moment.
GRISHA: Am I wrong?
Lida shrugs.
LIDA: all right. Frankness for frankness.
The girl pauses and sits back.
LIDA: I was born into a fairly wealthy family. I've never known anything to be denied. I am an only daughter and of course I was spoiled. I didn't have many friends, because my parents protected me from the so-called lower classes of society. And with those who were on the same level with me-it was not always interesting. Although the classmates were developed, they were engaged in them from childhood, invested a lot of money in education, but… All those friends of mine – it was my parents ' choice, not my choice. I lived like a bird in a Golden cage. I was patient until I was thirty. So I was introduced to my fiance – that was the last straw. I suddenly realized that I was not living my life, but my parents ' life. I live a certain model that was not planned by me. And it made me so sick… I ran away. I had enough money to get away from the family estate, and I even made a new passport, changing all the details so that no one would find it. Tripled on a simple job and learned life as most people know it. To put it mildly, I wasn't thrilled. I then realized how my parents had crippled me. They did not prepare me for the realities of life, and everything happens! If my colleagues had been in my position, they wouldn't have lasted a week. But my inner core has come to the rescue more than once in times of despair.
GRISHA: But … it seems that he also gave up, since I met you here…
LIDA: Dal, Grisha. But not immediately.
Lida heaves a sigh and looks away.
LIDA: I managed to get settled in life by the time I ran out of funds. A rented apartment, more or less stable and not the lowest paid job. Some kind of relationship, as if even friends, though… girlfriends… is there a female friendship?.. However, there is. Up to a certain point.
GRISHA: it Seems that at this particular moment in your life there was an interesting man.
LIDA: Yes, you're right. Appeared. But, alas, not for long. Imagine, these friends of mine, they are almost all married, and before a man who began to show me signs of attention, they began to "twist their tail". Ah and the guy that… weak creature. Always chooses accessibility in favor of worthy qualities.
GRISHA: Almost always.
LIDA: Really?
GRISHA: I know it's hard to believe, but for a hundred men, three or four men are about the same.
LIDA: Men? Among men?
GRISHA: I didn't miss the point. There is a huge difference between the two terms.
LIDA (with a pleasant, engaging interest): I know this, but I have never met anyone who raised this issue before.
GRISHA: Just against the background of the vast majority, men find themselves in the shadows. And they usually don't want to show themselves. They live and live for themselves. They have different moral values, they are different people in essence. Quite different. But they don't need to show themselves. They are already found by those who must find them.
LIDA (after listening): How interesting you are. I listen, and like a smart book I read.
GRISHA: are you Kidding me?
LIDA: Oh, no, that's not sarcasm. I just suddenly realized that… That it looks like I met a man for the first time, the one who is among these three or four percent. And it's really quite different from the males I've met so far. You're right, Grisha… Looks like you're very right…
Grisha and Lida look at each other with cautious eyes, perfectly aware of what is happening between them now.
GREGORY (hesitantly): I… killed, I'm sorry. You settled on that man.
LIDA: Yes, you understood everything correctly, so
