Оглавление
Bakhtiyar Sakupov. Paris Nights and Other Impressions of Places and People: A Collection of Stories
Chapter 1. Jean and “She”
Chapter 2. Betrayal
Chapter 3. Ice-Cream Man
Chapter 4. The Golden Woman
Chapter 5. One Rainy Day
Chapter 6. A Wonderful Christmas
Chapter 7. Dull Life
Chapter 8. Fox Hunting
Chapter 9. A Road to the Fairyland
Chapter 10. A Grapevine
Chapter 11. A Wanderer
Chapter 12. The Best Friend
Chapter 13. Orientation for Love
Chapter 14. A Summer Daydream
Chapter 15. Another Rule
Chapter 16. Favorite Size
Chapter 17. A Shift
Chapter 18. Gamers
Chapter 19. Entire Happiness
Epilogue
Отрывок из книги
Jean belonged to that category of people who managed to become adults and escaped the youthful age with its passions, delights, heart dramas and other fascinations, which he considered obviously doubtful. In spite of the fact that he was born and had grown up in one of the most beautiful towns in Paris, the suburb of Bougival, where even Turgenev was inspired to write his new masterpieces, Jean was skeptical about everything that, according to him, “didn’t exist”.
At what moment of his life he suddenly decided that “love” is a myth, undeserving of his precious attention, was a mystery. But the fact remained the fact. Love was an abstract thing for Jean; it was from the field of a fiction, a parallel reality. Certainly, he belonged to those who outlived similar feelings, slightly scornfully, with a sneer.
.....
He was late for a quarter of an hour. But when speaking about the project, he lacked focus and was absent-minded, and his thoughts constantly returned to that moment when the stranger looked at him. Deo gratias, Jean had enough ingenuity to refer to indisposition when he noticed that the meeting is becoming a failure. Nobody doubted that he had caught a virus.
One shouldn’t think that in the world of business, all people are sticks and stones, especially if there’s potential profit. That’s why Jean was given time for recovery and a second chance.
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