GREAT NARCISSUS

2024 Author: Harry Day | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 15:43

The door slammed. The lion is gone.

Galya buried her face in her hands. It seemed like she was caught in a sandstorm. Small grains cut the eyes, grind on the teeth, scratch the larynx and try to get deeper. It's difficult to breathe. Throat constricts. But I can't cry. There is no strength even for tears.

And only a little - for memories:

They met at a conference. Galya reported on the project, shone with happiness - the startup paid off, and the profit was growing. She flew off the stage, as if with wings behind her back, smiled, accepted congratulations.

He walked over and introduced himself: "Lion".

She fluttered with a charismatic voice and look. Frozen: "Looks like handsome Bradley Cooper! And dressed like at a party at Buckingham Palace."

She wanted to touch it - if it was just a hologram of an actor from the movie Fields of Darkness.

And he - kissed Gale's hand and, as if in a warm breeze, dipped in compliments. Her heart went from gait to gallop.

Further - a tornado of emotions and events. The lion gave flowers, gifts, whispered words of love and circled in tenderness. I admired her beauty, hair and long legs. He was proud: "Smart girl - she launched such a project!"

They discussed work, books and movies. They talked and laughed vyingly.

He thrilled with quotes from her favorite films and encouraged her in her career: "Galchonok, you need to grow further."

It turned out that Leo also loves red wine, shrimp, and Lazur cheese. And everything is Spanish. Fell in love with her dream of a little white house near the sea in Malaga: "My bird, we will definitely have it!"

There was also an endlessness of similar thoughts, interests, desires. Her soul purred: "This is HE!"

Lev moved to Gala.

She woke up in the middle of the night from the feeling of weightlessness and incredible beauty nearby. The heart was dancing tango. And the soul fluffed in his care.

He didn't even allow me to work from home: "Tomorrow is the deadline? So what !? I want to watch a movie with you. Turn off your laptop!"

And he did not let go on business trips: "Let your idler boss go."

He talked amusingly about his stupid colleagues, and Galya admired Lev's genius - the whole firm rests on him. And she was indignant that for 5 years the envious boss had not raised him. And the man grinned and scoffed - they say, she was lucky with her career, although she does not shine with intelligence. The girl did not understand such jokes and was silent.

The lion demanded attention.

Although he praised that there are friends, but when Galya was going to them, he sighed: "Why do you need these losers? We'd better watch a movie." And she stayed at home.

"That's good, you won't scare anyone in a cafe with your horse face", - Lev once smiled, and in response to bewilderment added: "Ha-ha, I was joking. You are prettier than Rocinante."

Then the man “joked” more often: “you snore like a horse after a gallop”, “my short-legged pony”, “empty-headed donkey”.

Galya gnawed at herself that she did not understand his virtuoso humor. At first I was lost. Then she snorted: "Nuuu, Leo, stop it!" Then she was indignant: "It is unpleasant for me, it is insulting." In response, I heard: "I am loving. But look how beautiful, smart, talented I am! It's not for nothing that I have the name of the king of beasts." Galya agreed, although she already knew that according to his passport he was Leonid.

He continued to praise: "You see how lucky you are with me! And also - I am caring and attentive."

And he himself, without even hiding, corresponded in the messenger, as Galina noticed - with some brunette.

And he offended Galya again: ugly, without a sense of humor, with primitive thoughts. Further - it is rougher. At times - as if spitting out tongues of flame. Burned. Crippled.

And then he said: "Nuuu, why are you crying? I love you. Even so ugly and narrow-minded. Except me, nobody needs you."

And again he smiled at the correspondence in the smartphone.

Galina did not understand what was happening. She looked in the mirror: "Indeed - dark circles under the eyes, gray skin, hair - like withered leaves. Looks like a worm. It is not surprising that he communicates with some young lady …"

And at work, punctures began: I violated the deadlines, messed up with the edits. I didn’t take an advance payment, and the customers threw them. The boss was angry: "If you don't pay, you will make up your own losses."

Everything went awry, Lev sneered more, and her hands dropped.

Once I noticed that he received a message from a brunette: "Kisses. I'm waiting."

I could not stand it:

- Leo, who is this? Are you having an affair?

- Don't make it up. This is an employee. She, of course, outwardly - like Irina Shayk and smart, like a Nobel laureate. Not that you are primitive. But I love you. And I don't need others.

Galya agreed: "Leo is gorgeous, everyone's dream and would not be with me if he did not love."

I felt ashamed for my suspicions.

And he - again buried himself in the smartphone.

Once on the table I saw air tickets to Cyprus. Him and some Tatiana. She asked. He said he was going on a business trip with a colleague. And he began to pack his suitcase. Only the best. To the question: "Are you going to see the Queen of England?" - hissed: "What, should I go like a bum?"

Then he locked himself in the bathroom and talked loudly with "sissy" Tanechka.

To the question: "maybe" kisya "is not only a colleague? - growled: "Hysteric! What did you invent !? I put the whole world at your gnarled legs, and you do not trust me !?"

I took my suitcase and left. Although the plane is tomorrow.

Galya buried her face in her palms: "Why is he like this? Although … What have I become during these 5 months? Into a faded rag. A loser. It is her own fault. And how could she think badly about Leo? After all, he dreamed of our house in Spain …"

She felt like a mulberry that fell from a tree in the yard and half of their high-rise building walked along it. Smeared on the asphalt. Only a slimy ink stain remained …

Something like this looks like a relationship with a "grandiose narcissist".

Leo chose for himself a successful, emotional Galya. He charmed her with her behavior, convinced him that he shared her tastes and interests.

"Nourished" her admiration, love, care.

When these emotions were not enough, he began to laugh, ironic, insult, devalue - provoked the girl to new reactions: indignation, resentment, anger and the like. Later - to jealousy.

❗The actions of narcissists are unconscious.

He extolled himself - even Leonid changed the name into Leo. Praised, demanded delight and worship. He spoke of love, although he could experience maximum love.

❗Narcissists do not feel empathy and cannot empathize.

He said that he wanted her career growth, but in every possible way prevented her from finishing her work at home and did not let her go on business trips. Allegedly, he encouraged meetings with friends, but tried not to have them.

He underestimated Galina's self-esteem and instilled guilt in her for communicating with a "brunette". I was convinced that she was stupid, her success in her career was an accident and no one needed her.

When he "drank" Galya, crippled him morally, began to lose interest in her …

Have you ever come across such personalities? Or maybe they were met in film-books?