Friend rental service. Bridesmaid - for rent

A girlfriend for hire is a type of escort service that is becoming increasingly popular in the United States. Men are willing to pay a significant amount to get not just impersonal sex, but also romantic walks, watching TV while cuddling on the couch, and a morning kiss. With one important condition: then the girl will disappear from his life and appear no earlier than he calls the agency and calls her again. A commodity-money approach combined with a carefully measured dose of romance - why is there such a demand for this? The “temporary girls” themselves know the answer.

"His wife doesn't like TV"

Jenna, from New York's Lower East Side, spent most of her client's paid evening cozied up on the couch with him, clicking buttons on the remote control. The man wanted to watch Star Wars.

"He's such a movie buff, and his wife doesn't like to watch movies with him," explains the 25-year-old "rental girlfriend." She does not hide the fact that sex is also included in her services, but clients want an “extended package” and are willing to pay for an almost home-like cozy evening and a hot night. A lover of cuddles on the sofa, for example, left his temporary lover two and a half thousand dollars.

Of course, Jenna’s services are not exclusive: she also has other visitors, but they are an order of magnitude smaller than those of classic call girls. And she has an important privilege: she can choose a client herself and refuse in case of antipathy - otherwise how can she create comfort and portray sincerity? By the way, the target audience of “girls for rent” is not prone to special requests: they, as a rule, are interested in the most traditional, “vanilla” sex.

The beginning of a trend

Such services spread after the popular TV series The Girlfriend Experience introduced them to the world. The main character, student Christine Reed, was played by Riley Keough (by the way, the actress is the granddaughter of Elvis Presley). In the story, a student leads a double life: she interns at a prestigious law firm in Chicago and provides escort services.

Frame: the film “Girl for Rent”

The film also talks about what it means to be a temporary girlfriend. It is not enough to provide intimate services - if necessary, you need to accompany the client to a business lunch and maintain a conversation, or go to a gala event and look decent in a designer evening dress.

Sincerity that benefits everyone

“The client’s physiological needs are important, but it is also necessary to satisfy his emotional and psychological needs. Your job is to treat a man as if he is the most important person in the world to you,” says another “temporary,” Alyssa. She is in her early 20s and works at the legal brothel Sheri's Ranch in Nevada.

Many “girlfriends for rent” managed to fully plunge into the sex industry before becoming such a modern version of a geisha. So, Jenna started out as a cam girl - a girl who undresses in front of a webcam for those who want to watch how she caresses herself.

Jess Brayton moved from the Midwest to Washington in 2008 after losing her job in finance. Unable to get a job anywhere, the young woman, who was then just over 30 years old, out of desperation went to an “interview” with an escort agency. She didn’t like the work: sometimes there were up to 10 calls a day. She couldn't choose her client or how much time she spent with him. I earned several hundred dollars from each meeting, but a significant part of the money went to the agency.

“I had no friends. There was no life at all. There was no time left for anything else,” recalls the American.

Having switched exclusively to the “girlfriend for the evening” format, Jess began to earn up to 20 thousand a month, communicating with two or three regular clients. But most importantly, Brighton gained the opportunity to get to know her “boyfriends” better, who, as a rule, are very wealthy and successful. Thanks to their kind attitude, the girl received a lot of absolutely free business advice, acquired the necessary connections, and in 2014 left the sex industry completely, opening her own business. She is now a relationship consultant.

Almost love

“Girlfriends for Rent” say that sex is a fairly modest part of their work. The main thing is communication and leisure.

“Clients loved going out with me,” Brighton recalls. According to her, the men were pleased that at business meetings Jess was not just stupidly silent, but, thanks to her experience in finance, could insert her two cents into the conversation. She was even introduced to business partners as a new employee.

Jenna, who was watching Star Wars with a client, also happened to play hide and seek with a real estate client in his penthouse - the man was in the mood to fool around.

“These guys are fun,” says the girl. “But yes, I get paid, and yes, there is usually sex.”

Sheri's Ranch resident Alyssa agrees that bed isn't the only part of a good time in her typical client's mind. She says that sometimes men “book” her for the whole week and expect her to be there all the time, like a real girlfriend. The ranch has plenty of opportunities for walking and a spa, and clients want to share all these pleasures with her.

Photo: Sheris Ranch Facebook page

“Everything you would like to do with a cute neighbor,” Alyssa describes her possibilities in her profile on the Sheri's Ranch website.

Some clients have been dating her for years, she said.

“They like that I can listen and not judge. Some of them are widowers and just want to feel like someone is taking care of them,” the girl explains.

Sometimes a grateful clientele pampers temporary girlfriends as if they were truly beloved women. So, Jess Brighton expected the worst after a man blindfolded her and took her somewhere, but ended up on board his private plane: the client found out that it was the girl’s birthday and decided to celebrate it in Paris. The woman was touched and appreciated the romantic gesture, enjoying, as she admitted, every moment of the holiday.

“The hardest thing is to feel that you are connected to something, but to know that you exist in a person’s life only when he wants. You have to disappear on demand,” Jess says.

Be that as it may, Brighton was satisfied with her work: she provided herself with a good pension. Alyssa is also thinking about the future: “I save a decent amount every month. My goal is to open a dance studio in my hometown.”

For lovers of platonics

Brooklyn-based songwriter Marcia does something a little different on the side. An advertisement for her services can be found on the website WhatsYourPrice.com: the girl charges $500 an hour to... just talk. You can meet her, for example, in a bar and enjoy a conversation on any topic over a glass of wine. She's in her early 30s. He says there is no end to single men. Some of them, according to Marcia, are shy and do not know how to communicate with the opposite sex; her job is to bring the shy guy out of his shell and get him talking.

“A lot of men just want to have a drink with a beautiful woman,” Marcia says. “It’s a myth that they all just want sex.”

Hug business

Are there “soulful” sex services for women? Not yet, but platonic boyfriends are suggested. There is a quality cuddling agency in New York with about 40 experienced men and women on staff. Among the regular clients, for example, is 41-year-old Saskia Fredericks. A woman misses a man in the house who can just lie next to her on the sofa, hug her and... nothing more.

Russians had just come to terms with “husbands, wives and dads for an hour” when a new service appeared on the service market in the Russian capital - “friend for rent.”

To pour out my soul, hang out shopping, discuss a new film - this and much more is ready to be shouldered by a “rental friend”. They say that in Japan you can rent a whole family: wife and children. And in America, a “wife for hire” can not only prepare sandwiches, but for complete pleasure, “cut” for a late return home.

What's happening to us? Worn out by work and the race for a successful life, do we lose true friends and suffer wildly from a lack of communication? Or is the new service quite adequate to the needs of the times and there is nothing terrible about it?

Our correspondent tried to rent a friend and find answers to these questions.

The legend is this: I composed a play. About love and stuff. I want to read it out loud. With feeling. The trouble is that no one wants to listen to me. I need a “friend” who will listen to my performance with pleasure, express admiration, and suggest a theater that will immediately stage my masterpiece. Well, besides this, I need to prove to my real friends that I am also a human being, that is, in front of a man. Although these are minor things. The main thing is the play.

With such a legend, I go in search of a pseudo-friend on the Internet. The website rentafriend.ru promises to help you make a decision, confess your love, feel supported, buy a car, open your own business, go to the movies, find a soul mate and even change your life!

In general, everything is simple. The meeting is scheduled at a cafe. Communication with a “friend” will not cost much, only 500 rubles per hour. True, for some reason the communication time is limited: no more than two hours. The "friend for hire" is probably working alone. There is another option - chat on ICQ. “The first 15 minutes of communication are free. Then the cost of a consultation is 600 rubles for no more than two hours.” The conditions of the meeting are agreed upon immediately: over 18 years of age, do not drink alcohol, anonymity is guaranteed.

“A friend for rent” called me in the evening, when I had already changed my mind about pouring out my soul, resolving difficulties with guys, reading a play and turning into a pleasant flirt, which I honestly admitted to him.

Well, what are you doing, - a pleasant male voice regretted.

Well, it's strange to rent a friend...

It’s wrong to think that “renting a friend” is something terrible, the interlocutor advises. - This is a certain turn. Nowadays anything is on sale. You can buy a woman, that's love for money. “A friend for rent” is easier communication than, for example, in a psychologist’s office.

Helping for nothing is volunteering,” he carefully added. “Besides, there were people in my life who let me down very badly, I tried to help them, but they didn’t even say thank you.”

Do you agree to everything?

Except for intimacy, the “friend” sternly warned.

I want you to listen to my play! Attentively!

I won't spit at the ceiling! “Creativity is wonderful,” he responded readily. I said thank you and promised to think about it.

Alexander Romanov is a teacher by profession, and by vocation he is the director of a bureau of creative support and assistance in non-standard situations. His agency has been offering various “human services” for ten years, for example, saving people from boring meetings, enhancing the reputation of an unlucky employee, creating the appearance of vigorous activity, etc. Four years ago, the “creative bureau” introduced the “friend for rent” service.

One day, people began to contact us with various requests of this kind,” says Alexander Romanov, “and we realized that this service could be in demand, and began to develop it.

It turns out that it is mostly women who need a “friend for rent”, and sometimes, however, married couples as well.

Recently, a married couple approached us who wanted to hold a wedding,” recalls Alexander. - The fact is that they came from another city, and in order to demonstrate to others and relatives that they have many friends and acquaintances in this city, including among the glamorous segments of the population, they asked us to organize friends for rent, who their friends would be portrayed at the wedding.

Alexander divided girls who need a “friend for rent” into two categories. Women in the first category ask for a “friend to go shopping with.” They are married and in their thirties. Their husbands, due to certain circumstances (for example, running a business), cannot find time to go to boutiques. Moreover, such girls rent “friends” not because they do not have real girlfriends or friends.

It’s just that, in their opinion, friends are always envious, so they will never objectively say whether this thing is suitable or not,” says Alexander. - Well, this is how man is created: if a friend buys an expensive thing that suits her, it can be very unpleasant for another girl. Therefore, those ladies who think so invite “friends for rent”. They are objective, they will tell you everything, they are always friendly, pleasant conversationalists, they will help you choose something, they are well versed in fashion, and they keep up with the times. The second category of girls recently arrived in Moscow, are working at a new job, they don’t have new friends yet, but they want to go to the theater.

By profession, “friends for hire” are by no means actors or psychologists. Alexander Romanov, on principle, does not use the services of either one or the other.

Actors overact all the time,” he shares. - I invite ordinary people, it could be a student, a doctor, an engineer, but due to their artistic abilities (they love pranks, unusual situations, they know how to improvise), they like this work.

“Friends for rent” must be highly educated, outwardly pleasant (not necessarily handsome and beautiful), charming and simply pleasant people who can change on the fly.

How much does such a “friend” cost, I think with horror.

This service is not only for wealthy people, Alexander admits, “a friend for rent” does not cost millions. I don't want to give a specific number because our services are varied.

According to the director of the creative support bureau, the demand for this service is growing.

I asked him why this service turned out to be so popular in our country?

Now our society has become more liberated,” says Alexander Romanov, director of the agency. - We are becoming more tolerant of various types of services. Of course, for us, former Soviet people, all this is alien. What's it like to rent a friend? It is immoral! You can't rent a friend, a friend is a friend!

But if we have become so liberated, then why can’t we find real friends for nothing?

Of course it is possible. But only if you live in some Uryupinsk,” Alexander is convinced. - Moscow is too harsh and tough a city, it does not allow people to do as you say. Try meeting people on the street and see where they send you.

how do you like this

Dmitry Bykov, writer:

I think this is a manifestation of progress, because people began to think that they can buy everything. If in fact it is possible to buy exemption from the army, that is, to buy oneself off from civil duties, if for money one can come to an agreement with the traffic police, that is, with the law, naturally, a person begins to understand that one can buy an interlocutor, a friend, a confessor, and an adviser. . This is completely normal. Please note that human communication is in no shortage now; on the Internet it blooms and smells. There is simply such a law: modern man values ​​only what he paid for. A nutritionist I knew once, when asked why his diet costs so much money, answered very precisely: a cheap diet will not work. Having paid little, a person will not be able to limit himself in food, and if he pays a lot, he will follow these instructions. So it is here. You only believe the advice you paid for. Appreciate the friendship you bought. A person begins to understand that if money is invested in something, then it is serious, and if it is free, it is most likely a scam. You will see, we will live to see a time when free sex will be suspicious, when it will seem to you that the girl is doing it for a reason, but to film you, to blackmail you. And if it’s for money, then everything is fair (laughs - editor’s note).

Yuri Kublanovsky, poet:

I would say that such a service is very symptomatic. When high values ​​are devalued, when they are replaced by glamor, propaganda of prosperity and the thirst for success, when dubious figures of show business and mass culture are given to us as exemplars, whom young people in the provinces begin to imitate, then a heart-to-heart conversation can be bought for money. In this case, a heart-to-heart conversation becomes a business. It seems to me that this is another round of social immorality.

There are already people growing up who will never read The Brothers Karamazov, Anna Karenina... For whom any cultural, mental, spiritual effort is unnecessary if it does not bring profit. Personally, I can't imagine anyone who needs a friend to borrow.

“You just can’t make the right decision for yourself? Confess your love? Should I speak out? You need a friend to borrow!” - reports the site, designed in the aesthetics of the early 2000s. The idea of ​​the site has been successfully tested all over the world for a long time and has especially taken root in Japan, where loneliness is not ashamed, but they cope with it with invention and the use of the latest technologies. Robots (from Tamagotchi to Aibo dogs) and various kinds of communication services for money were the first to appear there. The idea is clear: the world is accelerating and becoming more complex, and there is no time left for the simplest thing - the joy of human communication.

“Lonely? - asks Kirill. - I also have very few friends. Do you know what helped me solve the problem? Interest clubs. Seriously! - continues my new friend. “For example, I hung out at the Honda Civic club for a long time, great simple guys, plus I can still help people with advice on cars.”

I try to seem determined to change my fate, and Kirill already has a suitable story from his own life in store for my most difficult case: “I met my wife thanks to a dating site, yes, yes. I actually came in with the desire to find a black girl for sex, well, that was my fantasy, but I found a wife, can you imagine? The main thing, Lena, is to be open to this world!” - Kirill sums up one of the common mantras. He has just enough such rules, simplified Carnegian wisdom, to give his boring chatter a little scientificity.

I listened carefully to Kirill for two hours (that’s how much we were allotted for a thousand rubles), by the end of the conversation I was already finishing his sentences (the hookah had a relaxing effect on my interlocutor) and decided to ask about the project. It turns out that the idea was dictated solely by altruistic considerations: “You see, I have accumulated experience that I want to share. After all, things didn’t work out for me with girls for a long time, and in general I had no luck in life, but I coped with it. Why not help people?

I want to try out the whole package of services, I distract Kirill from talking about another conflict with his wife and ask a question of a business nature: “I have a protracted creative crisis. It is necessary to write, but it is not written. I do not know what to do". After a moment's reflection, a friend for hire solves my problem: "The system is all you need." It seems that he begins to look at me as a kindred spirit, and I begin to count the minutes until the end of the meeting - I take out my phone in the hope that our time is coming to an end. “In Moscow, I suppose the first thing you bought was an iPhone? Yes, this is the right decision if you want to appear Muscovite.” Yeah, I answer, whatever you can do. “Just don’t try too hard, the best things in life happen without obvious effort on your part.” Kirill leaves for a while, without failing to bestow upon me yet another piece of worldly wisdom: “By the way, sometimes the most unexpected ideas come to you in the toilet. Remember this at the moment of the next stupor.” This is my chance to quickly pay the bill and get ready. True, there is too little time to retreat:

“You know what,” the returning friend says, slyly squinting, “I’m ready to talk with you for another half hour. For free". But I had already firmly decided that enough was enough - I was refusing the gift of fate, although, as I was assured throughout these two hours, I needed to be as open as possible to its gifts. Finally, Kirill gives me another piece of advice, this time for free: “If you’re sad, listen to this song, it’s guaranteed to lift your spirits.” He shows me a video clip from his laptop, and I pack up and leave. I leave with the thought that if your name is Lena, you arrived in Moscow two months ago, you are yearning for simple human communication, you can’t find a guy and cope with a protracted creative crisis - it’s better to keep the last thousand rubles with you, and a funny video from YouTube from a friend for rent I can give you absolutely

A problem that both children and adults are increasingly facing - a lack of communication - is being solved by a new service. Along with “husbands for an hour” who will help you nail a nail or fix an iron, the service of renting a friend is gaining popularity. The pleasure is not free and causes a lot of controversy.

At first glance, it seems that Sasha and Tanya have been friends for many years. In fact, they only met today.

“It feels like you’re going shopping with a friend. Suggests what to buy, where to go. A person can navigate the city, and it’s very convenient,” Tatyana Ivanova shares her impressions.

The girl recently moved to Novosibirsk from another city - she has not yet been able to find friends. Therefore, I decided to use a new service - rent a friend.

Antoine de Saint-Exupery wrote that people no longer have enough time and desire to learn anything: “They buy things ready-made in stores. But there are no such shops where friends would trade.” And now, half a century later, they appeared. No one to have a heart-to-heart talk with? Should we go to the cinema or go shopping together? Just take a walk along the city streets? So maybe you just don't have any friends? No problem, now you can easily rent them. And don’t believe it if they say that friendship is not for sale. As the project organizers say, this is a mutual exchange. Trading time for money. Friends for rent will listen and give advice.

Alexandra is the same friend for hire who will listen to you carefully, but will not talk about her problems. Will support any proposal. In general, not a friend - a dream. Here are just all the whims for your money: the tariff is 500 rubles per hour. Taxi, cinema, cafe - additional expenses will also have to be paid. The acquaintance begins with the signing of the contract.

“In any case, it will be a public meeting place. And the meeting must be over by 11 p.m.,” notes Alexandra Shilo, organizer of the “Friend for Rent” project.

Tatyana just wanted to talk it out - her nephew was interested in computer games. Rental friend Igor gives the woman advice - he is a psychologist by training. Only the reception is conducted not in the office, but in the fresh air. He says that he can find a common language and make friends with anyone.

“I would single out two categories at once: either young people have general social phobia, it’s difficult for me to find friends. Adults are rare, mostly women who, for example, have children,” says Igor Mochalov.

The “Friend for Rent” service was invented in Germany, and very quickly it became in demand in other European countries. More than 600 thousand people from all over the world are registered on the site, where they offer friendship for money. The reason for this popularity, sociologists say, is loneliness, especially among residents of megacities. There is not enough time for live communication, and real friends have been replaced by virtual ones.

“An ordinary city dweller begins to experience discomfort after 2-3 days of absence of human communication. And the discomfort increases very sharply after 2-3 weeks of no communication,” explains leading researcher at the Institute of Physiology and Fundamental Medicine, professor at NSU Alexander Sevastyanov.

“When I came, I only had friends from India, but now I have some from other countries. There are Russians, there are Chinese, there are Arabs,” says student from India Juned Ahmed.

Ahmed, a student from India, managed to overcome communication difficulties thanks to volunteering. After moving to Novosibirsk, he began helping other foreign students, many of whom later became his true friends. Therefore, he is skeptical about the idea of ​​rental, and psychologists also believe that when you hire a friend for money, you are deceiving, first of all, yourself.

“People who offer their services are unlikely to want to communicate for free, and they are unlikely to like calls in the middle of the night if they are offered to communicate just like that, without money,” says Alexander Fedorov, head of the department of clinical psychology at NSU.

In Novosibirsk, a city of one and a half million people, only about 10 people a month now seek salvation from loneliness. However, the creators of the project are confident that in the near future there will be many more people willing to buy friendship.

At first glance, this seems like complete nonsense, of course. At first you think: what can you have in common with 23-year-old theater student Vika, whose profile says that she “loves meeting new people and sharing interests.” Who studies during the day, works as an assistant in a dog boutique in the Harrods department store during the day, studies during the day, works packing vegetables at a food depot during the day, and also walks other people's dogs, looks after other people's children, and is hired either at Benetton or at a restaurant. No, that is, this is a completely normal life for a student in London. But what does this have to do with you? You've had completely different concerns for a long time now.

“You come from Moscow to London on a business trip,” says Vika, who herself came to London from Latvia. — Walking alone to bars and museums with a guidebook under your arm is somehow stupid. And so - you go to the London branch of the site, choose the friend you like.”

You pay the site 16 pounds (for a month of use), pay a “friend” (everyone has their own tariff, but it’s approximately 10-20 pounds per hour) - the “friend” will take you not to the first eatery you come across for confused tourists, but to a good place, he’ll tell you about other good places.

“Or a person has come, say, to live in London and still doesn’t understand everything well. — Vika and I are walking in the park. “I can help you choose a kindergarten, yoga courses, order football tickets, recommend which supermarket you should buy groceries from and which you shouldn’t.” A person like you and me will not go to the information desk with the letter “i” (city information service - ed.), will not ask all this! Besides, he hardly has time to surf the websites himself and look for the necessary information.”

The founder of rentafriend.com, Scott Rosenbaum, who first opened his business in the States and Canada, and only then his site appeared in China, Chile, Italy, India, etc., had a very simple idea: people today often work in the wrong places, where they grew up, but often live not where they work. Such people sometimes simply do not have the opportunity to create a social circle. Rosenbaum’s idea worked: the site, which opened in the States early last year, now has about 300 thousand paid “friends” around the world.

On rentafriend.com, judging by the photographs, there are, of course, types that you should stay away from in real life, but mostly these are the usual pretty faces that you see in London in the subway, parks, exhibitions and shops. Different ages, occupations and professions: ballerinas, financiers, students, translators, journalists, lawyers.

And it doesn’t bother you, I tell Vika, that you are a paid friend, that you, roughly speaking, sell your friendly disposition for money? An acquaintance of mine was recently fired from his job at the university in Paris, where he taught, just because he did something similar. On his website, artists left information about themselves, who also offered to join us for money (to go to a museum, cinema, restaurant, give an individual lecture) in one or another city in the world. This professor was kicked out for unethical behavior. His website, in the opinion of the university administration, was too reminiscent of an escort agency, although in essence, and this was clear to everyone, it was not one.

“Once,” says Vika, sipping coffee, for which, according to the terms of the site, I must pay, “when I was still living in Kent, I saw an advertisement: a man needed a Russian person to practice his language. For £10 an hour. He was quite old. He studied using old Soviet textbooks, and therefore spoke Russian very well. An amazing experience: when you see how sensitively another person treats your native language - and you yourself try to speak better. Once a week we would just sit with him and talk. It was probably my best work."

“In real life, for example, you sit on the platform, waiting for the train,” continues Vika. - You start chatting with someone. Where are you going? And where are you going? And then you run about your business and will never meet again. What I mean is, why not meet new people, learn something new and interesting this way, for money?”

“And I also thought,” said Vika, who in London had long been taught to look for applications for any of her knowledge, “I’ve lived in London for a long time, I know how things work here, I know the language. I love meeting people. Why not make money with these modest skills of mine? But I wouldn’t call it “friendship,” says Vika. “I would call it, say, some kind of personal advisor on a wide range of issues.” And your husband, I ask Vika, what does he think about this? "Husband? “Vicky’s husband is an Irish-Jamaican photographer who temporarily works as a telephone operator in the district government,” says: why not? Nothing special. However, it is written in my profile that I am looking for girlfriends. A couple of young people wrote to me, but these letters were somehow slippery. As far as I understand, they thought it was a regular dating site. But that's not true."

I was Vika’s first client and paid her her first salary. But Mariam, a 32-year-old London lawyer, already had several clients, and in two months she earned about 300 pounds. Mariam knows 5 foreign languages, and for her this site is also an opportunity to arrange language training for herself (for which she is not paying). But it’s true, she also does this in New York, where many “friends” are not only ready to keep her company, but also to pick up dry cleaning and run for a sandwich.

They hire anyone as a friend, says Mariam. “Girls who are bored wandering around the shops alone, looking for a dress that’s appropriate to wear to a christening,” she told me over the phone from New York. “It’s not like my company, but thanks to them, I now know a lot of things.” It would never have occurred to me, for example, to just go into some Louis Vuitton boutique and see how these things differ from others, why there is such a fuss around this LV.”

Mariam is also hired by adult American women. “This is generally the story with America. They’re just used to going to the movies on weekends since childhood, and their husbands, you know... Now they’ve come out in the States - I’ve already gone to them twice with strange women. One of them told me that her husband adores the Coens. But he will never go to the cinema to see it, he hates cinemas. He says there are only rednecks there now.”

“I often turn off my meter,” said Maryam, “if I really like a person. Or I ask you to just pay for me. But I don’t take money. I recently met a girl, we went to a cafe, chatted, then went and bought books, then took a walk. As a result, we are now not “friends”, but friends. After the advent of social networks, dating on the Internet has become a completely normal thing. People even get married later.”

So why do you need a “friend for rent”? Me, working where I don’t live, and living where I wasn’t born. Because my two-year-old daughter, whom I couldn’t find a good nanny for in my new city of London, now has one. This is Vika.