I don’t know where to begin. There is so much I want to say, and yet I’m afraid. If I start with some triviality, I won’t reach the main point. If I begin with the main thing, I’ll forget the details. And yet I must speak, I must cross this line. Perhaps I shouldn’t tell the backstory at all—how it all started, what led to this moment. Or maybe I should—then it would all make sense. Should I say how good it once was? Or maybe how good it will be? And still the outcome is the same. What’s the point of recalling or singing praises? To soften the blow? It won’t help.

 

And what if there come reproaches, questions, interrogations? Then I’ll have to explain what happens next… Why?

 

With every thought, her confidence in a successful conversation melted away. She felt as if someone had given her this confidence. But how? Who? She couldn’t remember. And what exactly was this confidence?

 

She wanted so much to be free. And now she had to speak, yet her thoughts were stuck in her head like cars in a capital-city traffic jam: standing still, honking, each one trying to push forward first. And the main thought stood amidst the chaos, flashing its lights and wailing like an ambulance that is being awaited—and if you don’t clear a path for it, someone will die.

 

And all of this pulsed and pressed in her temples.

 

— I want to leave. I feel cramped, and I don’t feel free. Let me go, please.

 

It came out suddenly, without introductions or explanations. So defenseless that her eyes squeezed shut in anticipation of the unknown.

 

But he calmly said:

 

— You are free.

 

The phrase seemed very familiar to her and yet unexpected. As if she had once heard it from one person, but now it was spoken by someone entirely different—someone from whom she would never have expected to hear it. She was stunned. And suddenly she understood the depth of those two words.

 

— Should I move out for now?..

 

— That is your choice. You have everything you need. I cannot influence it.

 

His calmness and certainty made her realize that, in fact, everything that needed to happen had already happened. And tomorrow would begin with a beautiful morning—like in a fairy tale, when the light conquers the night.

 

How wonderful it is to watch the sky change color while sitting in a cozy chair on a warm terrace. An aromatic coffee in your hands, a crisp toast on the saucer…