When a pregnant orphan visited her fiancé’s grave, she found a strange phone — and after turning it on, she lost consciousness.

Olesya stepped heavily down from the bus.

So, she had finally arrived in the city where Andrey was born.

The entire journey, she had quietly wiped away her tears. Her life had ended along with Andryusha’s. But in two months, she would have a daughter.

Their daughter.

The daughter of Olesya and Andrey.

That was the only thing keeping her from taking the final step. They had met two years after Olesya left the orphanage.

She was studying at a technical college and working night shifts at a factory. Of course, that wasn’t really allowed, but sometimes necessity left no choice. Andrey had come to their factory to install new equipment.

Olesya knew that some wealthy businessman had bought the factory and was modernizing everything. People seemed happy about the changes because working with outdated machinery had become dangerous, but they were nervous too. A new broom sweeps clean, as they say.

Olesya was worried as well.

One night, Andrey stayed at the factory. He needed to monitor the machine calibration. The local mechanics still hadn’t figured everything out, so he was essentially conducting training sessions.

Olesya’s machine became the test case.

After everything had been adjusted, Andrey came over to her several more times, embarrassing her terribly, but by the end of the shift, he disappeared.

Honestly, Olesya breathed a sigh of relief.

There was something strange about the way she reacted to him.

When her shift ended, she hurried outside. She would go home and finally get some sleep.

She didn’t have classes that day, which meant long-awaited rest.

“Miss! Miss! Olesya!”

She stopped.

A car was slowly driving alongside her.

“Were you calling me?”

Andrey was sitting inside.

“Well, of course. Get in. I’ll give you a ride.”

Olesya frowned.

“What if we’re not going the same way?”

He laughed.

“I assure you, that’s impossible.”

Even now, Olesya couldn’t explain why she got into the car with someone who was basically a stranger.

They drove around until noon.

Olesya didn’t feel sleepy at all. That evening, when she opened her eyes and looked out the window, she immediately saw a familiar car.

Andrey was asleep inside, and a huge bouquet of flowers rested on his lap.

From that day on, they were practically inseparable.

Three months later, Olesya became pregnant.

Andrey proposed to her.

“As soon as I finish my work here, we’ll go to my city. I’ll introduce you to my mom and brother. They’re wonderful.”

“No. You need to tell them about us first. Can you imagine us showing up out of nowhere? ‘Here’s my fiancée—and by the way, she’s pregnant.'”

“That’s nonsense.”

“It’s not nonsense.”

Olesya would pout, and eventually he would always agree.

In reality, she knew very well how people in normal—and especially wealthy—families often viewed orphanage children.

She desperately wanted the first wave of judgment to pass before meeting them.

Let Andrey think she was a coward.

It didn’t matter.

He had left three months earlier.

She waited.

She waited as though she couldn’t breathe without him.

But Andrey disappeared.

He didn’t call.

He didn’t come back.

Everyone kept telling her the same thing: he had simply abandoned her.

But Olesya didn’t believe it.

Two months later, when she had run out of tears, she was processing paperwork in the accounting office when she accidentally overheard a conversation.

The worker who had come to install the new equipment…

The same man…

Had died.

Everything went dark before her eyes.

Then she seemed to fall into a void.

She regained consciousness in the chief accountant’s office.

The elderly woman looked at her sympathetically.

“Are you the girl he was seeing?”

“Yes.”

Olesya sat up.

“Please…”

She burst into tears.

“What happened?”

The woman waved her hand sadly.

“It was some completely senseless accident. He had already arrived home. He got out of his car, and some thugs attacked him. There were three of them.”

“I heard they caught all of them. But that doesn’t make it any easier. The man is still gone.”

Olesya sat with her head bowed.

Her mind felt empty.

Only her chest hurt unbearably.

Finally, she managed to look up.

“Do you know where he’s buried?”

“Yes. I attended the funeral on behalf of the factory. I’ll tell you everything and even draw you a map so you can find the grave.”

“Will you visit his relatives?”

Olesya shook her head.

“I don’t know. Probably not.”

“Why?”

The woman sighed again and picked up a sheet of paper.

Olesya walked slowly through the cemetery.

A light rain began to fall.

She was exhausted, but she kept moving toward the place where Andrey was waiting for her.

She knew he was waiting.

She needed to talk to him.

To say goodbye.

To ask for forgiveness.

After all, he had only gone home to prepare his family for meeting her.

Because of her.

She had thought only of herself.

She wanted to protect herself from negativity.

And look how it had turned out.

The rain grew heavier.

Olesya began to shiver.

She would probably get sick.

The thought barely registered.

Finally, she saw what she had been looking for.

Just as the accountant had said, it was impossible to miss.

First, the grave was relatively new.

Second, it was almost hidden beneath flowers.

And beside it stood an ancient mausoleum.

At least, she assumed that’s what the strange stone structure was called.

Apparently, Andrey’s ancestors had once been buried there, long ago.

Nobody used such burial sites anymore, but the mausoleum was maintained so it wouldn’t crumble.

A photograph of her Andryusha hung on the large cross.

“Hello, my love. So we’ve finally met again.”

Olesya collapsed to her knees before the grave and sobbed.

She had no idea how long she cried.

When the tears finally subsided, she felt completely drained.

She was shaking from the cold.

She was hungry too, though somehow she hadn’t expected that.

“I need to find a hotel.”

The young woman searched her pockets.

Her phone was gone.

She sighed and closed her eyes.

She had no strength left.

Something ripped across the sky with a loud crack.

Until then, it had only been raining.

Now a torrent of water poured down.

She rushed to the mausoleum door, pulled on it, and it opened with a creak.

“Forgive me. Please forgive me. I’ll just warm up for a little while.”

She sat directly on the ground.

She left the door slightly open for at least a little light.

Otherwise, the place felt terrifying.

In the complete silence, something nearby vibrated and buzzed.

Olesya jumped and looked around fearfully.

A beautiful—and obviously expensive—phone was spinning on the floor.

She picked it up.

Immediately, she remembered television programs about the dead calling the living.

“Hello.”

Her voice sounded so hoarse that it frightened even her.

Silence answered.

“Hello?”

“Hello. That’s my phone. I lost it somewhere yesterday.”

“Yes, I just found it.”

“Where are you? Will you return it? I’ll pay you. There’s a lot of important information on it.”

“I’m at the cemetery.”

“The cemetery? Damn. I stopped by yesterday to take measurements and left my phone on the mausoleum door. Where exactly are you?”

“I… there’s some kind of mausoleum. I’m inside it.”

Another pause.

“I don’t understand. You’re inside the mausoleum?”

“Yes. I’m very cold. I don’t feel well.”

Olesya dropped the phone and closed her eyes.

Someone was shaking her hard.

“Miss! Miss! Wake up!”

She opened her eyes with difficulty.

“Andryusha… Andryushenka… You’re alive? I knew it was all a mistake.”

The man crouching in front of her suddenly stopped looking like Andrey and asked sternly:

“Are you Olesya?”

She desperately shook her head.

“Andrey was just here!”

The man pulled her to her feet.

“Can you walk?”

Then his gaze dropped lower.

He saw that she was pregnant.

“Damn. Damn. Damn.”

Olesya slowly began to collapse.

She was shaking so violently that Dmitry became frightened.

He had never imagined it.

The heavenly Olesya his brother had talked about so much while driving home…

Actually existed.

Or rather, he had never thought it was serious.

Andrey had always been the romantic type.

But now here was Olesya.

And she had come to his grave.

Dima lifted the girl into his arms and carried her to his car.

As soon as he settled her inside, he grabbed his phone.

“Mom, I found Andrey’s girlfriend at his grave.”

“So he wasn’t joking?”

“And she’s pregnant.”

“Pregnant? By Andrey?”

“Apparently.”

“Bring her here. I need to find out everything.”

“Mom, she’s unconscious. She seems severely chilled and sick.”

“Take her to Sergey Sergeyevich’s clinic. I’ll call him right now and come myself.”

Nina Nikolaevna had always been a woman of iron character.

How could she have been otherwise?

Her husband had died young, leaving her a half-ruined business and two sons.

Most women would have collapsed under the grief.

Instead, she rolled up her sleeves and fought for her sons’ future.

Of course she suffered.

Of course she cried.

But only when nobody could see her—at night.

Andrey’s death had hit her hard.

But now Dima was helping with the business, and she could finally ease some of the burden.

Still, her strength prevailed.

Nina managed to hide her grief.

She had lost a great deal of weight.

She looked ten years older.

Yet she stood firm, like a stone monument.

Olesya was immediately admitted to a hospital ward.

Dima stayed behind to wait for his mother.

It was strange.

He had heard his brother enthusiastically praise countless girls before, so this time he hadn’t taken Andrey seriously.

But he should have.

Now Dima understood.

This time there had been more tenderness than boasting in Andrey’s words.

Back then, Dima had told him:

“Watch the road. Get here first, then tell me about your Olesya.”

His brother had agreed and hung up.

Dima never got the chance to speak with him again.

Nina Nikolaevna arrived surrounded by nurses.

Dima even smiled.

His mother had a way of appearing that made everyone around her feel like subjects before a queen.

“Where’s Sergey?”

“I’m here, Ninochka.”

A man in a white coat hurried toward them.

Dima knew that Sergey Sergeyevich had been in love with his mother his entire life.

Sometimes he felt sorry for the kind, intelligent man.

“Here’s the situation. She doesn’t have severe hypothermia. Most likely it’s a nervous breakdown. I think she’ll be fine.”

“Seryozha.”

“Yes, Ninochka?”

“The girl is pregnant. She appears healthy. She doesn’t drink or smoke.”

Nina Nikolaevna looked at Dima and then at the doctor.

“Can we see her?”

“Only briefly.”

Olesya looked nervously at the people entering the room.

“Hello. I’m Andrey’s mother.”

The girl smiled weakly.

“You look so much like him.”

“Please don’t think anything bad. I wasn’t coming to see you. I don’t need anything. I only wanted to say goodbye to Andryusha.”

Nina sat down.

Dima stood beside her.

“Tell me about you and my son.”

When Olesya finished her story, Nina stood, paced the room, and turned back to her.

“Tell me, why didn’t you go with him? That would have been the right thing to do.”

Olesya shook her head.

“You see, I grew up in an orphanage. I’ve met too many people who believe orphanages only raise criminals and damaged people.”

“I didn’t know how you’d treat me.”

“I got scared.”

“And I knew Andrey would never lie to me.”

Nina shook her head.

“Nonsense. I’ve never had such prejudices. You simply met the wrong people.”

“Get some rest. Recover. I’ll come by tomorrow morning and bring you whatever you need.”

“You don’t have to. My bag is in a storage locker. I only lost my phone.”

They collected her belongings from the locker.

Nina looked at her son.

“Dima, forgive me, but we need to look through her things.”

“Yes, Mom. I understand.”

She pulled out a folder of documents.

“Good. She has her prenatal records. That’s responsible.”

“And what’s this?”

A small packet contained several photographs and a piece of paper.

The photos showed Olesya and Andrey together.

Nina had never seen these pictures before.

And her Andryusha looked happy.

Truly happy.

She looked at Dima with tears in her eyes.

“I must make sure this girl never lacks for anything and has every opportunity to raise my grandchild.”

Dima smiled.

“We must, Mom.”

Two years passed.

“Karinochka, come here to Grandma!”

Nina crouched down, trying to catch her granddaughter.

But the little girl was already toddling toward her as fast as her tiny legs could carry her.

Nina lifted her into her arms.

“My little queen.”

Nearby, Olesya smiled.

She now lived near the city center.

She had a good nanny, and Olesya was studying law.

“Olesya, I need to talk to you.”

The young woman tensed.

Nina had never spoken a harsh word to her, but Olesya was still afraid of her.

“Yes, Nina Nikolaevna?”

“I have only one question. How much longer are you two going to torture each other?”

“Dima’s wasting away. He doesn’t sleep. He doesn’t eat.”

“And all that’s left of you are those big eyes.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Are people forbidden to be happy now?”

Olesya blushed.

“Olesya, you’re not fifteen, and I’m not sixteen. So let’s talk like adults. What’s the problem? Don’t you love Dima?”

“I do.”

“And he loves you.”

“But…”

Olesya looked up.

“I can’t. Andrey…”

Nina cut her off sharply.

“Andrey is gone. He will never come back.”

“I’m grateful to you for making my son happy.”

“But the living belong with the living.”

“Think about what I’ve said.”

Nina Nikolaevna left.

Olesya picked up her phone.

She stared at it for a long time.

Then she found Dima’s contact and typed:

**”I agree.”**