Mom, Svetlana told me everything,” Victor tried to speak calmly, but it was a huge struggle for him. “I warned you.” However, Nina Vasilievna could sense her son’s true mood even through the phone.
“Your Svetlana is exaggerating!” the woman tried to defend herself. “Nothing terrible happened.” “I asked you to stay away from Svetka!” Victor’s tone grew increasingly nervous. “Do I have to change my job to avoid business trips, just to protect my family?” “So I’m no longer family to you?” Nina Vasilievna asked, hurt. “Are my relatives strangers to you now?”
“Don’t turn the situation upside down! Your manipulations don’t work on me anymore.” Victor paused briefly.
“Anyway, sort this out today, so Svetka can live in peace,” the man said firmly.
“Vitya, it’s impossible!” Nina Vasilievna raised her voice. “You know Kolya…”
“I know, Mom! That’s why I’m telling you to solve this problem today! Otherwise, I’ll come from the business trip myself to sort things out,” Victor declared confidently. “And come what may.”
“Vitya, but…”
“I’ve said everything,” Victor decisively interrupted his mother and hung up, leaving the woman in deep thought.
Nina Vasilievna knew her son well, so she took his words about possibly coming very seriously. She absent-mindedly wondered what to do next and mentally cursed her daughter-in-law with the choicest swear words.
“The delicate princess couldn’t endure a few days,” grumbled the woman as she dressed to leave the house.
Reluctantly, the woman left the apartment and walked towards the house where her daughter-in-law lived, which was three blocks away. Nina Vasilievna had no idea how to fulfill her son’s demands.
She paid no mind when a police car with sirens and flashing lights drove past her. Nina Vasilievna didn’t even notice that they were heading in the same direction. Only when she saw the police car near the entrance she was heading to did she become alert.
The woman stopped, deciding to watch what was happening from a distance. However, she couldn’t remain uninvolved for long. Her daughter-in-law Svetlana, clearly very distressed, was quickly walking towards the entrance. Slowing down when she saw her mother-in-law, Svetlana’s look told Nina Vasilievna that nothing good awaited her.
“Vitya, what do you mean, ‘stay away’?” Nina Vasilievna complained when her son once again decided to argue with her about his personal life.
Yes, you understood correctly. Nina Vasilievna was always firmly convinced that she alone knew exactly how everyone should live. Her younger daughter, Olga, never argued with her mother.
“Why stress and waste nerves?” she told her brother. “At least I’m always treated to goodies.”
Yes, for obedience and submission, Nina Vasilievna generously rewarded her daughter with pocket money and pleasant trifles.
Victor was completely different. From an early age, he was accustomed to defending his point of view on any issue, which caused him quite a few problems at school. Nina Vasilievna stubbornly never lost hope of, so to speak, bending her son to her will. But Victor did not give in.
“And who did he turn out like?” the mother wondered.
Their late father was a typical henpecked husband.
“That’s why dad died so early,” Victor joked grimly. “You crushed him with your heel.”
When Victor decided to get married, he simply presented his mother and sister with a fait accompli.
“This Svetlana isn’t right for you!” Nina Vasilievna declared then. “Don’t get involved with her!” She had long eyed the daughter of her old friend as a bride for her son. Victor even went on several dates with his mother’s chosen candidate, Tatyana. But that was the end of it.
“I know better who’s right for me and who isn’t,” Victor replied at the time and did things his way.
Olga obediently married the son of another friend of her mother’s, for which she received an apartment left as an inheritance by their late grandmother.
“If you had married Tanya, I would have given you a second apartment,” Nina Vasilievna told her son.
Yes, the woman had a second inherited property, which she saved for her son and rented out for now.
“Thanks, we’ll manage,” Victor calmly said then.
And he and Svetlana moved into rented accommodation and began saving for their first mortgage payment.
Nina Vasilievna also paid attention to Svetlana. Since the latter had managed to become her daughter-in-law (that’s how she spoke of Svetlana to everyone), it was time to explain who was boss in the house. And Nina Vasilievna dropped in on her daughter-in-law uninvited when Victor was at work.
“I’ll bring you different curtains,” she declared almost without preamble. “These don’t match. And overall, you chose the wrong apartment, the neighborhood isn’t good. My friend is just about to rent hers out—you’ll move there.”
Besides the mentioned orders, Nina Vasilievna made several more. Svetlana silently listened to her mother-in-law and calmly showed her out. That evening, Victor called his mother.
“Mom, aren’t you tired of meddling with advice that no one asked you for?” her son expressed. “Wasn’t I enough for you? Now you decided to bother Svetka.”
“And why didn’t your Svetlana tell me anything personally?” Nina Vasilievna sneered.
“Svetlana is well-mannered and not used to arguing with someone else’s parents,” Victor replied. “That’s what I’m here for, to handle issues with you.”
From that day on, Nina Vasilievna harbored a terrible grudge against her daughter-in-law. She passionately wanted to prick or hurt Svetlana. But Victor was always on guard and defended his wife, which drove Nina Vasilievna mad.
“Mom, can’t you live your own life and leave us alone?” her son kept asking. “Aren’t Olga and her husband enough for you to worry about?”
“Vitya, I just want what’s best for you!” Nina Vasilievna tried to convince him, but Victor remained unyielding.
The woman herself was not even thinking of giving up.
“Why haven’t you had a child yet?” she reproached her son two years after the wedding. “Olga is already expecting her second.”
“Mom, don’t meddle in our affairs,” Victor firmly said. “Svetlana and I will decide for ourselves.”
Victor’s job involved frequent business trips. In her husband’s absence, Svetlana tried not to contact his mother. However, Nina Vasilievna left her daughter-in-law no choice.
One day she appeared at the young couple’s apartment accompanied by an unfamiliar man and woman.
“This is my brother, Nikolai, and his wife Vera,” Nina Vasilievna reported. “They came to visit. They’ll stay with you.” Nikolai and Vera cheerfully carried their things inside, ignoring Svetlana’s attempts to object.
“Where’s the store here?” Nikolai asked.
“Right near the house, out of the entrance and to the left,” the mother-in-law answered instead of her daughter-in-law, and the uninvited guests left.
“By what right did you bring your guests to my home?” asked a puzzled Svetlana.
“By the right that my son lives here too,” answered Nina Vasilievna. “My family will settle here, and no one cares about your opinion.”
Nina Vasilievna left as soon as Nikolai and Vera returned from the store, where they went for liquor. Yes, both spouses suffered from this harmful habit, and Nikolai, especially when drunk, often showed a violent temperament.
“Sort this girl out properly,” Nina Vasilievna quietly instructed him.
After her mother-in-law left, Svetlana tried to evict the unwelcome guests herself, but Nikolai fiercely growled at her.
“We’ll live here as long as necessary! And there’s nothing you can do about it.”
“But I’ll call the police,” Svetlana declared.
“And what? How long will they hold me? I’ll get out, and you’ll be very sorry,” the relative declared. “I know your address now—there won’t be a live place left of you. So better not yap at me here.”
Svetlana called her husband and told him everything. And Victor advised her to leave the house for a while to avoid trouble. He himself ordered his mother to take her guests away from their apartment with Svetlana.
Nina Vasilievna did not expect her son was ready to interrupt his business trip. Victor’s tone was decisive, and Nina Vasilievna understood that this time, revenge on Svetlana would not work out. She would have to somehow extract her brother from her daughter-in-law’s apartment. She called Nikolai and realized from his voice that he had already drunk. That meant he would be even less cooperative.
What happened on the very first day of the relative’s arrival was also unexpected for Nina Vasilievna herself.
After drinking, Nikolai and Vera turned the music up loud and then began to loudly argue. The neighbors, not used to such behavior from Victor and Svetlana, started banging on the walls. One, the strongest, began pounding on the door.
When Nikolai opened it, the neighbor expressed everything he thought about their and Vera’s behavior in not the most literary terms.
The drunken relative of Nina Vasilievna’s got worked up and attacked the neighbor with fists. The neighbor’s wife unfortunately looked out from their apartment, and Nikolai Vasilievich burst in and caused a real riot. Frightened witnesses called the police. The arriving officers were openly told by Svetlana how the rowdy tenants ended up in her apartment and who brought them. She did not forget to mention the threats from Nikolai Vasilievich towards her.
Svetlana’s neighbors filed a complaint against both Nikolai and his sister, who was recognized as an accomplice. Now both of them were obliged to compensate the victims for the damage caused.
Nikolai Vasilievich was detained for two days, and Vera moved in with Nina Vasilievna, where she began to actively reproach her relative for provoking Nikolai into the riot. Nina Vasilievna herself had to give statements. Only then did the woman begin to realize what she had done.
Svetlana stubbornly did not answer calls from her mother-in-law, and Nina Vasilievna began calling her son to convince his wife to drop the charges against her.
“Not even thinking about it,” Victor calmly replied. “I warned you.” Nina Vasilievna had no money for compensation payments, and she hurried to her daughter and son-in-law for help.
“Mom, where would we get such money?” Olga shrugged. “We have a small child. Soon there will be a second. No, sorry. Figure it out yourself.”
This was the rare case when Nina Vasilievna was not ready to give advice to others. She had no idea what to do herself.
Some people dig their own holes with their own hands, while others strive to achieve real wealth. The heroine of the next real story was able to radically change her life thanks to courage, education, and luck.