— “Larisa, leave the kids alone—why do you always have to cling to them?” Vyacheslav Semyonovich snapped at his wife. “They are building their own lives! Especially since Sasha lost her parents not long ago! Don’t meddle with them!”
— “I nearly forgot to ask you, right? You can’t possibly save enough money for us to completely renovate the house!”
— “What don’t you like about our home? I don’t understand! Two years ago we redid every room and the kitchen completely! What more do you need?”
— “But have you seen our neighbors? Have you seen the renovation the kids did for them? Their place isn’t just an apartment now—it’s a palace! And what about us, are we any worse?” Larisa Pavlovna retorted to her husband.
— “Then why should we adjust our lives to theirs? We have our own family, they have theirs! If their children managed such a renovation, then either there was a reason or they just earn well… I don’t know! And besides, what difference does it make? We’re not them.”
— “Oh, come on! I’m tired of always playing second fiddle among relatives and neighbors! Do you know how hurtful that is? And what would you know? You’ve always been indifferent to other people’s opinions—you’re above that!”
— “Exactly! Above it all!”
— “But I want us to be better than everyone else, even if just once in our life! At least in one way!”
— “Larisa, no one cares about how our home looks or how we live! Do you understand? No one! Do you ever bring any of the neighbors here? No! Then what’s the point of all this?” Vyacheslav Semyonovich didn’t understand his wife. “And besides, relatives hardly come to us anymore, because everyone has their own life! They don’t have time for this, and you…”
— “Well, if our home is exactly the way I want it, I will invite them! And the relatives will come!”
— “Oh, and don’t forget to charge for the tours afterwards!” he waved his hand dismissively at his wife.
— “I won’t forget! And I won’t share any of it with you!” she decided to snap.
— “I see… You old woman… you’ve completely lost it, haven’t you?” he added.
— “Oh, go on, Slava! It’s just that you never understand me and never have…,” Larisa Pavlovna said, trying to force a few non-existent tears out.
The next day, after Vyacheslav Semyonovich left for work, his wife was the first to call her daughter-in-law:
— “Sashenka, hello, my beautiful one!”
— “Hello, Larisa Pavlovna…” the young woman replied, hesitating a bit—she had never before heard such a greeting from her mother-in-law.
— “Oh, must I be called ‘Larisa Pavlovna’ right away? You should be calling me ‘Mom’ by now, dear!”
— “Really?” Alexandra was even more surprised. “But as for me, let’s just keep things as they were, and I only ever had one mom! Don’t try to take her place…”
— “Alright, alright! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to hurt you with that…”
— “You didn’t hurt me, just: don’t!” Sasha replied.
— “Are you and Kirill planning anything for this evening?”
— “Uh… nothing really… Kirill is going to the site after lunch—some kind of malfunction occurred there, and he needs to fix it, I think… And he won’t be back until late at night, a bit after three!”
— “Really? How convenient!”
— “Convenient?” the girl didn’t understand these exclamations.
— “Yes! Because Slava won’t be home today either! He’s on duty for the next 24 hours! So I thought, why not have a ladies’ night?”
— “Are you serious?”
— “Of course, Sasha! We hardly ever spend time together, just the two of us, so I figured we should make up for it!”
— “That’s a very flattering offer, but… I think I’ll pass, Larisa Pavlovna!”
— “Oh, don’t be like that, dear! Are you really going to sit at home all evening alone, without your husband? That’s just…”
— “I’m perfectly fine by myself; if I get bored, I can always call a friend! But tonight I don’t plan on that because I’ll be taking my documents home to work on them!”
— “Really? Working at home on top of working at your job? You really don’t take care of yourself, Sashenka!”
— “Thanks again for the offer, Larisa Pavlovna, but maybe another time, alright?”
— “Well, as you say! If anything, the offer still stands for you, dear! Our doors are always open!”
— “Thank you… Well, I should get back to work—there’s still so much to do…” she said hesitantly.
— “Yes, yes! Of course, off you go! Bye-bye!”
— “Goodbye!”
Sasha hung up the phone and stared at it for a minute, not quite understanding what had just happened. Usually her mother-in-law showed absolutely no interest in her, but now… Yet she didn’t want to dwell on it for long, so she got back to work.
Meanwhile, Larisa Pavlovna was angry at her daughter-in-law because such a good opportunity had just slipped away. She had wanted to completely shame her today, and then convince her that the in-laws’ apartment desperately needed a major renovation. But fate had other plans, so she decided to act through her son. The main thing was that her husband, Vyacheslav Semyonovich, must not interfere with her manipulations. And, if no one got in her way, not only would she get a new renovation at her own expense thanks to the daughter-in-law’s tragedy, but she’d also buy her a car to make the neighbors envious.
A week after that conversation, Larisa Pavlovna went to her son’s workplace during his lunch break; she had deliberately inquired a couple of days earlier when he usually took his breaks.
She didn’t want to call Kirill home because her husband was off that day and would surely contradict her, and Kirill always listened more to his father. So Larisa Pavlovna made sure that no obstacles were in her way that day.
As soon as she approached her son’s office, where he worked as an engineer, she called him:
— “Kiriyush, hi, son! Aren’t you on your lunch break by any chance?”
— “Hi, Mom! I’ll be off in about ten minutes, what’s up?” he replied.
— “Well, I’m just nearby your work and thought we could go out somewhere together!”
— “You’d better bring me something homemade, then!” he smiled.
— “Well, I hadn’t planned to be here today, so we can only go somewhere!” she began to excuse herself.
— “Got it, Mom! I just forgot about the lunch that Sasha put together for me yesterday, and all those cafes here…”
— “I understand you, dear! Well then, let’s just pick somewhere with home-style cooking?”
— “That could work! But there’s nothing like that around here! We’d have to go somewhere else!”
— “Get in, and we’ll figure something out!”
About five minutes after their conversation, Kirill left the office, they got into his car, and drove to a small restaurant he had spotted as he was leaving the building.
— “So, what brought you here? There aren’t any stores or anything around here!” Kirill asked his mother.
— “Well, I… I went to visit a friend, she lives not too far away, and I thought we could meet up right away! Besides, you’re not dropping by often these days, either because you’re at work or with Sasha…” she lied to him.
— “She’s more or less back on her feet after that accident, after the funeral, after all that fuss with the documents and inheritance, but I still want to spend more time with her…” Kirill said sadly. “Only lately, she seems to want to be alone more…”
— “Give her time, son, that was a tragedy after all…”
— “I know, Mom, I just really want to help her!”
— “And how do you plan to help her here? You can’t fix anything, and it’s impossible, in principle!”
They drove to the restaurant almost in silence, exchanging only mundane phrases. Once there, they placed their order and after a moment of silence Larisa Pavlovna suddenly exclaimed:
— “Kiriyush, I’ve got it!”
— “What?” he didn’t understand. “What did you come up with?”
— “How to help Sasha! It might be a bit radical, but this way you can help her get rid of some of those sad memories, and it’ll help us and your father immediately!”
— “Are you serious, Mom?” Kirill asked, his doubt turning into indignation.
— “Of course I’m serious, dear! I’m not just saying this for no reason!”
— “It seems to me that you’re not in your right mind, Mom, and spouting complete nonsense!”
— “Why would you say that? What’s wrong with my suggestion? It seems to me the most sensible solution for your situation! What don’t you like about it? And with the money you’d get from selling the apartment, you could help us give the house a major renovation—after all, you know how we live! Your father’s salary and pension barely cover anything! And… if you’d like, we could buy Sasha a car so she doesn’t have to ride the bus to work, since it’s so scary when she comes home late along those dark streets! You don’t need a second apartment! Your matchmakers blessed you with this happiness, so there’s no need for any mortgages or loans! See? Everyone wins!” she babbled excitedly, not letting Kirill get a word in until she had spilled everything that was on her mind.
— “So what does that mean, then…?”
— “What do you mean, what does it mean?” she didn’t understand.
— “It means that…”
— “You’ve decided to secure your own future at the expense of Sasha’s sorrow?”
— “Is that what you’re saying, Mom?” Kirill asked, his doubt gradually turning into anger.
— “Of course not, dear! Just think about it—everyone would come out ahead, you and us! And we’re your parents, as your son you’re supposed to help us; we raised you!” she began to speak quickly again.
— “So that’s it? Am I supposed to have helped you more? I spent almost all my early salaries on you and dad, on the house, even traded my dad’s car! And now you’re singing these songs! I don’t owe you anything!”
— “Kirill, why are you taking it all so personally? I’m just trying to do what’s best!” she protested quickly.
— “No way, Mom, we’re not going to sell the apartment of my wife’s parents just to satisfy your ego!” her son declared categorically. “If you’re so eager for that renovation—which you’ve already exhausted your father with—then go out and work for it yourself! You haven’t earned a penny in your life, yet you’re always trying to dip into other people’s pockets!”
— “That’s not true, Kirill!”
— “Not true? Then tell me, what is it true?” he demanded mockingly.
— “I just want… I’m tired… I…”
— “What do you want? What are you tired of? Is it that someone has what you don’t? Or that you can’t manipulate others for your own benefit as you’d like? Huh?” he attacked his mother.
— “Why are you doing this, son? I’m your mother…”
— “You know, sometimes I feel like you’re not even my real mother!” he said, trying to calm down a bit. “It’s moments like these! Because what you just proposed could only have been thought up by some random old woman who couldn’t care less about her son and his wife!”
— “No! Kiriyush! That’s not true at all!”
But her son wouldn’t listen anymore. He called over the waiter, paid for the order, and was about to leave the restaurant when he stopped and said directly to his mother:
— “Sasha already has a car! I already bought it for her! But if you were such a loving and caring mother instead of someone who only wants to profit from everyone, you would have known this long ago!” he said and left.
After that conversation, Kirill didn’t speak to his mother for over a year—he ignored all her calls and messages, and even advised his wife to do the same. Although he never told Sasha exactly what his mother had been planning, she listened to his advice regardless.
They communicated only with Kirill’s father, Vyacheslav Semyonovich, because he was a good man—fair, honest, and never tried to take any advantage from his son.
Kirill only started communicating with his mother again after she fell ill, but it wasn’t like before; to him, she had become more of a stranger than a family member. However, that didn’t mean he wouldn’t help her in a real time of need—not the kind needed just to show off to everyone around…