Victoria opened the door to her apartment and froze on the threshold. Two suitcases stood in the hallway, and voices drifted in from the living room. Slowly, she slipped the bag from her shoulder, trying to understand who had barged into her home.
“Oh, there she is!” came the familiar voice of Nelly Pavlovna. “So you finally decided to show up. Where have you been until nine o’clock at night, may I ask?”
Victoria walked into the living room. Her mother-in-law was sitting majestically in Victoria’s favorite armchair, while her sister-in-law, Diana, was casually arranging clothes inside the wardrobe as though she had lived there for years.
“Nelly Pavlovna,” Victoria said slowly, “what exactly are you doing here? And why is Diana touching my clothes?”
“I’m going to keep an eye on you from now on,” her mother-in-law snapped. “Sergei asked me to. You don’t answer your phone, and you disappear who knows where. Do you think we don’t understand what you get up to here while your husband is away?”
Victoria leaned against the doorframe and folded her arms. This was going to be an interesting evening.
“Let me make sure I understand,” she said in an almost gentle voice. “Have you just accused me of something specific, or is this merely the warm-up before the main performance?”
Nelly Pavlovna rose from the chair.
“Don’t pretend to be so innocent! You turn off your phone, you’re never home, and Sergei is so worried he can’t sleep at night. Meanwhile, you’re probably entertaining men here!”
“Remarkable,” Victoria said with a faint smile. “So when I don’t answer calls late at night because I’m working with documents and switch everything off so I can concentrate, that automatically means I’m unfaithful? What an imagination. You should write novels.”
“Don’t you dare speak to me like that!” her mother-in-law declared. “I am your husband’s mother!”
“And I am the owner of this apartment,” Victoria replied calmly. “And I still don’t understand what gives you the right to be here. Diana, put my blouse back. It’s silk. You can’t crumple it like that.”
Diana froze with the blouse in her hands, glancing nervously from her mother to Victoria. She clearly felt uncomfortable being caught in the middle of the confrontation.
“You think you can order us around now?” Nelly Pavlovna gasped indignantly. “Sergei gave me the keys himself! He personally asked me to come!”
“Wonderful. Let’s clarify something.” Victoria took out her phone and turned it over in her hand. “Sergei asked you to check on me. Checking on someone means coming inside, making sure everything is all right, and then leaving. It does not mean arriving with luggage and rummaging through my wardrobe.”
“You don’t understand!” her mother-in-law cried. “You’re here alone! A woman shouldn’t be left alone! Anything could happen! And Diana has nowhere to stay until the renovations at her place are finished!”
Victoria nodded slowly. So that was what this was really about.
“Ah, now I understand,” she said. “Sergei asked you to check on me, and you decided to use the opportunity to move your daughter in. Two problems solved at once. Very efficient.”
“We’re trying to take care of you, and you—”
“Take care of me?” Victoria gave a short, humorless laugh. “You entered my home without warning, accused me of cheating on my husband, and now you’re attempting to move your daughter into my apartment. That isn’t care. There are other words for it.”
Diana quietly returned the blouse to the wardrobe. She looked as though she wanted the floor to open beneath her.
“Victoria, perhaps we could discuss this calmly…” she began.
“Be quiet!” her mother interrupted. “Stay out of this! I’ll deal with this woman myself!”
“This woman?” Victoria raised an eyebrow. “Is that what I am now? Interesting progression. What comes next? ‘That creature’? ‘That little schemer’?”
“You are a schemer!” Nelly Pavlovna burst out. “You trapped my son, put the apartment in your own name, and now you’re running around behind his back!”
Victoria straightened. A hard light appeared in her eyes, but her voice remained steady.
“This apartment became mine when I was twenty-two, three years before I ever met your son. You know that perfectly well. You simply choose to forget whenever the truth becomes inconvenient.”
Her mother-in-law opened her mouth, but Victoria did not allow her to interrupt.
“And one more thing. Sergei called me at eleven last night. I work until midnight because I have deadlines. I put my phone on silent because otherwise someone tries to distract me every few minutes. It isn’t a conspiracy. It’s called discipline. You might consider trying it.”
“You… you’ve completely lost your sense of decency! Is that any way to speak to an older person?”
“Respect works both ways,” Victoria replied with a shrug. “You forced your way into my home, called me unfaithful, and now you expect to be treated with reverence? That’s an interesting kind of logic.”
Nelly Pavlovna snatched up her handbag, assuming the dramatic expression of a deeply offended woman.
“Fine! I’m leaving! But Diana is staying. She’ll keep watch over you and report everything to Sergei!”
“Keep watch over me?” Victoria smiled. “Report on me? How delightful. Unfortunately, Diana is leaving too. Right now.”
“I’m not going anywhere!” Diana protested, finally finding her voice. “I have nowhere else to stay! And Sergei said—”
“Sergei asked his mother to check on me. He did not invite his sister to move in. There is a significant difference.” Victoria lifted her phone. “Why don’t we call him and clear this up?”
“No!” her mother-in-law said quickly. “He’s working. There’s no need to disturb him!”
“How touching that you care so deeply about his working hours,” Victoria replied. “Apparently, disturbing him is acceptable when it benefits your plans, but not when we need to establish the truth. Convenient.”
Nelly Pavlovna marched toward the front door, then turned around before leaving.
“Sergei will hear exactly how you treat his family!”
“Please make sure he does. Just don’t forget to mention that you called his wife unfaithful without a shred of evidence. I’m sure he’ll find that particularly interesting.”
The door slammed shut.
Victoria turned toward Diana, who was still standing awkwardly in the middle of the room.
“Well, Diana. Now we can speak calmly.” Victoria sat down on the sofa. “You do understand that this is unacceptable, don’t you?”
“She told me to come,” Diana said, spreading her hands helplessly. “She said Sergei had asked her, and that you had agreed. I didn’t know…”
“You didn’t know that entering someone else’s home without permission was wrong? How old are you, Diana? Twenty-six? Twenty-seven?”
“Twenty-eight,” Diana answered quietly.
“Exactly. Old enough to think for yourself,” Victoria said firmly, though without anger. “You’re an adult woman. Had you needed somewhere to stay during the renovations, you could have called and asked me. Like a normal human being. You don’t arrive with suitcases, walk inside uninvited, and begin taking over someone else’s home.”
Diana lowered her eyes.
“I understand. But where am I supposed to go now?”
“To a friend’s place. To someone you know. A hotel. Your mother’s home. There are plenty of possibilities. But you are not staying here.” Victoria stood up. “Pack your things. You have ten minutes.”
“Please!” Diana exclaimed, throwing up her hands. “Let me stay just for tonight! It’s already late. Where am I supposed to go?”
“You should have thought about that before packing your suitcases.” Victoria walked into the hallway and picked up Diana’s shoes. “Your time has started.”
“This is cruel!”
“Cruel is having your mother call me immoral without any evidence. Cruel is breaking into someone’s home and trying to take control of it. I am merely asking you to leave. Very politely, I might add.”
Diana did not move.
Victoria shrugged, opened the front door, and carefully placed her sister-in-law’s shoes on the landing.
“My shoes!” Diana cried, rushing outside after them.
The door closed behind her.
The lock clicked.
“Victoria!” Diana shouted from the other side. “Open the door immediately! My belongings are still inside! My phone is in there!”
“I’ll put your bag outside in half an hour,” Victoria called back. “Once you’ve calmed down and stopped screaming.”
She returned to the living room, took out her phone, and called her husband.
Sergei answered after the third ring.
“Vika? Finally! Why haven’t you been answering? I was worried!”
“Sergei, we need to talk,” she said, her voice calm and cold. “Your mother has just interrogated me, accused me of cheating on you, and attempted to move Diana into my apartment so she could ‘keep an eye on me.’ What exactly is going on?”
Silence hung on the line.
“I… I only asked her to stop by and make sure you were all right,” he said at last. “You weren’t answering, and I was worried…”
“Being worried is understandable. But do you know what a reasonable person would have done? Sent me a message. Or called again in the morning. A reasonable person would not send his mother to interrogate his wife like some kind of inquisitor.”
“Vika, wait. Let’s sort this out…”
“It’s a little late for that, Sergei. Your mother called me a loose woman. Diana is currently sitting outside without her belongings because I threw her out. And I’m calling a locksmith. The lock will be changed tonight.”
“The lock? But I gave my mother the keys in case—”
“In case of what?” Victoria raised her voice. “In case she decided to enter MY apartment whenever she pleased and conduct a search? This isn’t her home, Sergei. And it isn’t yours. It is mine.”
“But we’re married…”
“And that gives your mother the right to insult me? Is that seriously your argument?”
Another silence followed. The shouting outside the door had stopped. Diana had apparently calmed down at last.
“I’ll speak to her,” Sergei said eventually. “I’ll explain that she misunderstood what I asked.”
“You are going to speak to her now,” Victoria said sharply. “You will call her and explain that if she ever comes here again without my invitation, or says one more vile thing about me, she will never cross the threshold of this apartment again. And neither will you.”
“Vika, is that an ultimatum?”
“It’s a statement of fact. I have tolerated her remarks for three years. Her insinuations. Her looks. Her endless questions about whether you were sure I was right for you. I tolerated it for your sake. But today, she crossed the line.”
Sergei’s voice faltered.
“She only worries about me. That’s just the way she is…”
“She is an adult woman who is responsible for her words and actions. The same is true for you and for me. And if you are incapable of explaining basic ideas such as boundaries and respect to her, then I do not need a husband who cannot defend his own wife.”
Victoria spoke without raising her voice.
“Three months is a long time to be away on a business trip, Sergei. Long enough for me to decide whether I want to remain part of this family. The choice is yours.”
A heavy sigh came through the phone.
“All right. I’ll call her now. And I’m sorry. I had no idea she would—”
“Not thinking is your problem. Start thinking.”
Victoria ended the call.
Her phone chimed with a message from the locksmith. He would arrive in twenty minutes.
She looked through the peephole. Diana was still sitting on the stairs with her arms wrapped around her knees.
Victoria opened the door and placed the bag outside.
“Take it. Your phone is inside.”
Diana grabbed the bag and looked up at her.
“Are you really throwing me out?”
“I am asking you to leave a home you were never invited into.”
Diana’s phone began to ring. She looked at the screen and turned pale.
“It’s Sergei…”
“Answer it,” Victoria said, leaning against the doorframe. “I think you’ll want to hear what he has to say.”
Diana lifted the phone to her ear.
Even from a distance, Victoria could hear Sergei raising his voice. His words were indistinct, but his tone said everything.
“Yes… Yes, I understand… No, I didn’t know it would turn out like this… All right… I’m sorry…”
The conversation lasted about three minutes. When it ended, Diana lowered the phone and looked at Victoria.
“He told me to apologize to you and go home. He said he would deal with… all of this himself.”
“Good,” Victoria said with a nod. “He’s finally beginning to understand.”
She closed the door without waiting for a response.
The locksmith arrived fifteen minutes later, and within another half hour, the apartment had a brand-new lock.
Around midnight, Sergei sent her a message.
“I spoke to her. She cried, but I told her everything that needed to be said. Forgive me. I love you.”
Victoria read the message and put the phone aside.
Her reply was brief.
“We’ll see.”
Sergei returned three months later.
Nelly Pavlovna never appeared without an invitation again. She came to Victoria’s birthday once and behaved with exaggerated politeness throughout the entire evening.
Diana apologized the next time they met. Her apology was long and sincere.
Their relationship never became warm.
But it became honest.
Sometimes, honesty matters more.
Victoria looked at the new key in her hand and thought about how certain doors must be closed at the right moment.
And how some doors should never be opened at all.