Marina was quite content with her relationship. She and Andrey had been married for sixteen years; they had a wonderful son, Kirill. And everything would have been wonderful… if not for one incident.
One day at lunch with his wife and son, Andrey called his wife “Lena.”
“Len, pass the salt, please!” he blurted without looking at Marina. His attention was glued to his phone. Kirill even choked in surprise.
“Dad, are you getting senile or what? Mom’s name is Marina! Who’s this Lena in your head?!”
Andrey didn’t immediately grasp what the problem was. A few seconds later it dawned on him.
“Oh, it’s a name from a dream. Imagine, I dreamed that Mom wasn’t Marina but Lena. And I wasn’t Andrey, I was Ivan!” He started laughing.
“And what was my name in that dream?” Kirill asked, eyeing his father skeptically.
“You… you weren’t there at all. In the dream I was single and happy, with no baggage!” Andrey shot back, trying to turn it into a crude joke. But the family didn’t find it funny.
Silence fell over the table.
Kirill quickly finished eating and stood up.
“What have you done, Andrey?!” Marina asked, looking at her husband with condemnation. She hurt for her son.
“What’s the big deal?” Andrey asked, pretending not to understand his mistake.
“You packed too much meaning into those words, crossing everything out, devaluing our son’s life! It sounded like you regretted becoming a father fourteen years ago.”
“Oh, come on! He’s like every teenager—takes everything too personally. In the morning it’ll all be fine.”
Andrey waved it off, acting like the problem wasn’t worth discussing.
A couple of weeks later, Marina noticed the name “Lena” in her husband’s phone notifications.
Marina didn’t confront him. She waited. She still hoped it was a colleague or a client, something work-related, nothing serious… But inside she understood—their family’s story was ending. And if her fears were confirmed, then she would be the one to put a bold period at the end. Not her husband.
That’s why Marina went to a lawyer.
“Are you sure you want a divorce?” the attorney asked, leafing through papers with a serious expression.
“I’m sure I want to be protected if my husband leaves. I have a son. He has to be raised and set on his feet. And my husband… he’s stopped taking an interest in him. Lately he’s either wrapped up in his own business or off in the clouds… Somewhere far from us, down here on earth… He refused our son an expensive birthday present, even though I know he has the money. Or should have had it…”
“Then we act. You need to gather all the documents for the real estate and property, and also try to keep records of your husband’s spending from the joint budget and, ideally, establish what he’s spending on. All within the law, of course.”
“Of course. We’ll manage without dirty tricks. I’m an honest woman.”
Marina took care of her personal savings and affairs and started keeping a spreadsheet of expenses. Andrey didn’t notice the change; he was busy. He was working late, exhausted; he had no time for his son, no time for the theater or visiting his mother-in-law. Marina didn’t pressure him. She watched. A wise wife, she didn’t start a scene, not even when their son’s fifteenth birthday passed without his father.
“Mom, you and Dad are having problems, aren’t you?” Kirill broached adult topics the evening after the party.
“What makes you think that?”
“Dad went on a business trip on my birthday, even though he never used to miss family celebrations. And also…”
“What?”
“He didn’t give you flowers. He always did, saying, ‘Thank you for our son.’ Is he mad at me? Is he sick of me?”
“No, son! He loves you, that much is certain. It’s just that sometimes it isn’t the circumstances for us; we become hostages to circumstances. It’s hard to understand—you just have to accept it.”
The next evening Kirill brought his mother a small bouquet.
“Here, this is for you. Thanks for me,” he smiled and hugged her. Marina couldn’t hold back her tears.
“Thank you, son. For being you.”
“We have each other. That’s what matters.”
When Andrey came home, he saw the bouquet and asked about it. Marina told him what their son had done.
“I see…” And a little later a courier brought her flowers. It looked strange, unnatural, not from the heart. As if to say: here’s your bouquet… if that’s what you want.
“What’s the occasion?” she asked as she accepted the bouquet. She understood the flowers were from her husband.
“Just thought I hadn’t made you happy in a while. You deserve more. You’re so calm. You don’t make scenes…”
“Is there something to make a scene about?”
While Marina put the flowers in a vase, her husband stayed silent. The question went unanswered.
Ironically, the flowers were yellow. Tulips. Like in the song about parting…
The bouquet from her husband changed nothing. With each day, the gulf between the spouses widened.
At the end of spring, after returning from a long business trip, Andrey finally decided to talk:
“Marina… we need to have a serious conversation.”
She set her phone aside.
“I’m listening.”
He sighed heavily:
“I couldn’t bring myself to say it for a long time, but you deserve the truth. I… I’ve fallen in love with someone else. We’ve been together for a while now, several months. This isn’t a fling—it’s serious. I’m leaving.”
He looked at her, waiting for a reaction. But she only nodded. She was always puzzled by why so many wives try so hard to hold on to their husbands. What for? He’s belonged to someone else for a long time. Let him go to her—no need to deceive himself or her.
“With this Lena?” Marina merely clarified.
“Um… how do you know?”
“Hard not to figure it out. The girl from your dream. Funny…” she gave a bitter smile.
“So you’re letting me go?”
“Yeah. I knew you’d say this. I was ready.”
“In what sense?”
“This…”
Marina stood up, went to the closet, and took out a folder. Papers appeared on the table.
“Here are your transfers to a certain Yelena S., from the joint family budget. Here’s the statement for the credit card issued in my name. The one we got so you could use it… And you… you bought the latest hyped-up iPhone on it, and, as far as I can tell, you gifted expensive watches to Lena too. You took her to restaurants at our family’s expense, rented an apartment for your meetings… also from the budget, stealing money from your own son and wife. This is called using marital funds without the other owner’s consent. Here are the documents for the dacha, the car, the apartment that we acquired during the marriage—I’m already prepared for the property division process. I’ve already issued a power of attorney for my representation in court. And believe me, the lawyer is good at this kind of case.
“And if you’re set on leaving—go. Just keep in mind you’re not getting out of this clean. I’ll recover everything that’s due to me and our son, plus what was taken out of the family’s pocket. Let Lena get her precious iPhone ready for the fact that our son will be the one using it. He wanted a new one—for his birthday. Only Daddy decided to give presents to someone else… And the diamonds and that watch will have to go to the pawnshop. I know a place with a decent rate—I’ll send you the address.”
Andrey sat there, mouth open. He hadn’t seen this coming.
“You… you were spying on me?”
“I was protecting the family. Perfectly fair. And by the way, if you want some advice, I’m certain Lena isn’t right for you. She can’t even manage to milk a married man discreetly—what happens when you end up with nothing? She’ll take your last socks; you’ll be bankrupt…”
“You… bitch, Marina! I never even thought…”
She smiled:
“Too late for compliments.”
Before long, Marina and her son moved into a new apartment she bought with the money from the property division. Andrey had to sell his share to pay the court-ordered settlement to his wife. He would now have to live with his mother. Still, he hoped to come back to Marina… he called her, swore that Lena was gone, that he was having a hard time, that he’d been a fool.
“I was a fool too,” Marina replied calmly. “But I got smarter. I wish the same for you.”
For fairness’ sake, it should be noted that Lena didn’t disappear. Andrey broke up with her himself, because it’s one thing to step out now and then, and quite another to be constantly with a Lena who knows only how to ask for presents and smile prettily. Andrey didn’t want to marry her.
He would have liked to get his family back, but it was too late.
Now Marina woke without anxiety, without wondering which name her beloved would call her. She would raise her ideal man herself. Her son, Kirill, would be a good, faithful husband to his future bride—Marina was sure of it.
Her life no longer depended on someone else’s moods. And that was the best feeling she’d had in years. As for clinging to a man’s pants? No way… there’s more space in the closet without them.