Me:

“When I was 16 years old I liked one girl from school - Lilya Barysheva. I liked her modesty, femininity. Freckles on her face. What about her eyes? I do not know, because my short sighted eyes could not see hers.

In school we were taught about romantic love in literature. But Lilya and I were closer…You know what I mean…Once we were sitting in a cinema right next to each other, our shoulders were touching and we were holding our breath .I was afraid that our classmates would notice us sitting still. I always wanted to talk to her and go to her house, but I could not dare.

I saw boys hanging out with girls, how boys were touching them, grabbing girls’ butts. But I dreamed of romantic love, like in films and books. And if a girl was sitting next to me, I would become shy, scared, would not know how to behave, and would usually get up and find another place.

Parents of all children put me as an example: “Andrei is so quiet, modest, and studies, and helps parents at home.” These words would usually make me furious - I was lonely, alienated. And I saw only one way out - to focus on sciences, labor and wait for romantic love.“