CHAPTER 8. I WOULDN’T WANT TO MEET THAT NANNY GOAT AGAIN

Now he had to become an adult film actor in a film destined never to be shown, yet give the performance of a lifetime.

The third storyline featured long-out-of-sight Lyudmila. The performance covered the final period of their relationship. Everything went smoothly until the very end.

Finally, the actress looked into his eyes and said:

“I’m real.”

He froze. Didn’t know how to react—or if he even could.

She waited, then went on:

“I thought I’d never be with him again. Thank you. You were both him and not him. He didn’t lose his mind right away. At first, I believed. Then I gave up. Now I believe again. You’re a miracle.”

It was incredible: the president’s actual ex-wife lay beside him—and he was still alive afterward.

He waited, then asked:

“What happens now?”

“Everything will be fine. Head over heart. I know about your mission. I wish you luck… and happiness.”

He left as if from confession.

But the evening brought punishment.

For speaking. For responding. For letting the actress outperform him—and risk exposing the project.

For endangering the work.

Or perhaps not for any of that at all—but simply to make him doubt whether Lyudmila had been real.