You have to sell your apartment because I need a new, good car! — insisted the husband.
The mother had come to visit her grandson and found out entirely by chance that her daughter was planning to sell her apartment when she saw some documents on the kitchen table.
— I feel sorry too, Mom, but Denis wants a new car, and with our mortgage we can’t afford anything decent, — Varya sighed.
— Then why doesn’t he sell his apartment? — Nina Ivanovna wondered in surprise. — He has a two-room flat in the center. With that kind of money he could afford a new car for himself, so why is he holding on to yours?
— What two-room flat? He sold it even before the wedding. Would we have rushed into a mortgage if Denis still had a two-room flat in the center? That apartment has been gone for a long time, he told me himself.
Nina Ivanovna didn’t argue, but she felt in her heart that something wasn’t right.
The mother-in-law never trusted the son-in-law; he was somehow unpleasant, slippery. He always answered questions evasively, never looked in the eyes, and on the street he was constantly glancing around as if expecting to be followed.
They had married three years ago, and soon after, Seryozhenka was born. Varya’s one-room apartment, where they had lived at first, was too small, so the young parents decided to take out a mortgage. The mother-in-law feared they wouldn’t be able to handle such a burden, but various payments and allowances helped them stay afloat.
Nina Ivanovna knew for certain that her son-in-law had his own apartment even before the wedding; the matchmaker had boasted about what an enviable groom her daughter had gotten.
“When did he manage to flip the apartment?” the mother-in-law marveled.
To get firsthand information, she decided to visit her son-in-law’s mother, Antonina Petrovna.
The matchmaker was pleased with the visit, invited her into the kitchen, and set the table for tea. They talked about the weather, bread prices, queues, and other important matters until Nina Ivanovna asked:
— So, matchmaker, did they raise the utility bills? Is the pension enough?
— Well, they didn’t raise it by much, and with my one-room apartment it barely registers. Besides, Denis sometimes chips in.
— And Denis, does he now give his entire salary for his palaces? — the cunning matchmaker smoothly led the conversation to the hot topic.
— I don’t even know, — Antonina Petrovna admitted in surprise at her own lack of information. — The last time we talked about it was last month, and it seemed that the tenants had moved out, so no one lives there.
— So maybe he already sold it? Of course, paying for two apartments plus a mortgage is a lot.
— Oh, come on, — the matchmaker waved her hands, — he’ll never sell it! It’s his grandfather’s apartment, and he treasures it. Besides, it’s profitable to rent out. Denis even told me that he uses the money from it to pay the mortgage. If he rents it out again, the apartment won’t go to waste.
The matchmaker clearly took pride in the financial savvy of Denis.
— Thanks for the tea, I’d better be going, — she said.
Nina Ivanovna had learned all she wanted.
On the bus ride home, she mused:
“If the son-in-law hasn’t sold the apartment, and no one lives there, how is he using it? And if he wants the car so badly, why doesn’t he sell his property? Greed?”
But the mother-in-law felt that there was another reason why Denis wouldn’t part with the two-room flat while lying to his wife that the apartment had been sold.
After visiting the matchmaker a couple more times and, under a plausible pretext, finding out the address of Denis’s apartment, Nina Ivanovna took a post on a bench opposite the building.
The woman didn’t know when the son-in-law would appear or if he would show up at all in the near future, but she figured that since he worked during the day, it was best to keep watch in the evening.
Two weeks of surveillance yielded no results, and the woman began to wonder where she had miscalculated. Because if the apartment were being used as she assumed, then within two weeks the son-in-law should have appeared at least once. She had only one hypothesis, which needed to be checked first.
While sitting in the kitchen at her daughter’s, Nina Ivanovna was drinking tea and playing with Seryozhenka when the doorbell chimed.
— It’s Denis, — Varya said. — Right on time for dinner.
— With you, Denis is as punctual as a clock; he never arrives late to the table, — the mother threw in her comment.
— Yes, that’s just how he is, — the daughter smiled contentedly. — He always goes straight home from work, to his wife and son. Unless he quickly stops by the store.
“To stop by the store quickly” was not acceptable for the mother-in-law, and she pressed on.
— So at work he must not have time to eat lunch, and that’s why he rushes home like a jackrabbit, starved, huh!
— Oh, come on, Mom, they do have a lunch break. Denis goes for lunch at a café near his work; it’s tasty and inexpensive, he told me himself.
“Tasty and inexpensive – that’s acceptable,” the mother thought.
She lingered a little longer as a guest, chatted with her son-in-law, and then took her leave.
Her next plan, as the hero of her favorite detective series would say, was as reliable and simple as a jack. She needed only to change the time of her surveillance.
For the next two days, Nina Ivanovna spent her lunch breaks sitting on the familiar bench.
When a shiny red car pulled up to the entrance, the woman initially didn’t even pay it any mind. But then Denis got out of the car, and a tiny car zipped out behind him. A dainty foot in a lacquered shoe stepped onto the asphalt, followed by a striking young woman in a light suit, crowned with a mass of light hair.
Nina Ivanovna couldn’t help but admire the pair.
“Yes,” she thought. “You can’t show up to such a beauty in Denis’s clunker; it’s clear why he needed an expensive car.”
Meanwhile, the couple walked to the entrance, with Denis grumbling and the young woman chirping; in short, they were taking their sweet time.
Staying there any longer made no sense, so Nina Ivanovna went to the café where “tasty and inexpensive” food was served. Imagine her surprise when, half an hour later, her son-in-law showed up there too.
The mother-in-law congratulated herself for having picked a good spot in the corner. She would have found an explanation if they had met; characters in police dramas didn’t usually get out of such situations easily, but she didn’t want to speak with him unnecessarily.
The mother-in-law had caught the cunning son-in-law. So, our guy is pretty nimble! Managing to both fill his stomach and take a cultural break.
The next day, while visiting her daughter, the mother started a conversation from a distance.
— You know, Varenka, your father and I lived together for many years. I miss him so much. He was a very good man, smart, decent, and honest. It’s hard to find such people nowadays. With modern youth everything is so easy; they start a family, then fall out of love, and go off with someone else…
— What are you getting at, Mom? — Varya asked absentmindedly as she gathered the children’s toys around the room.
After Seryozhenka was put to bed, Varya had time to tidy up.
— We never tired of each other after all these years, can you imagine? And I’d never have dreamed, even in my worst nightmare, that he would ever think of leaving me.
— That’s exactly how it is with Denis, — Varya smiled. — He always comes home from work, spends weekends with us, loves me and Seryozhenka. We certainly don’t have a lot of money, but he tries—like when he gives me a flower or brings a toy for our son.
“Indeed,” thought the mother. “It seems Denis’s young lady isn’t just about flowers and toys. Even dining out on weekends is out of the question if he’s out walking with our son. But still, how does he pamper his beauty?”
— When are you planning your vacation? — the mother asked, using one of her many ways to siphon money from the family.
— What vacation? — Varya sighed sadly.
— There’s not a penny for a vacation. They sent Denis on a business trip for two weeks, somewhere in the allied republics. He says it’s hot there, dusty, and he got so tanned he’s nearly black. And that’s the whole vacation, — Varya laughed unhappily.
“A business trip, huh…”
— They’re sending him off again at the end of the month. He doesn’t want to go; he misses us terribly, Seryozhenka and all, — the daughter smiled.
— And where exactly are they sending him?
— I don’t know; they have many branches there, so he’ll have to travel for two weeks.
Nina Ivanovna mused. She was 100% sure that Denis wasn’t really sent on a hot and dusty business trip. He was taking his beauty to the seaside. In other words, not only was he cheating on his wife, but he was also frittering away the family budget. And surely, the son-in-law must have saved up some money from renting out his apartment.
But the main thing she understood was that her daughter was not aware of her husband’s escapades.
There was no way for the mother-in-law to prove Denis’s trips to the resort, but she did have some means to reveal the truth to her daughter.
The next day, she took her post on the bench, waiting for the son-in-law to arrive with his companion.
This time, the mother-in-law came prepared. In her handbag she carried a modern phone with a camera. The device was inexpensive enough, and her pension allowed it. The salesperson at the store had shown her how to take photos, videos, and use the voice recorder, so Nina Ivanovna felt not so much like a detective but like a super agent.
When the red car pulled up, Nina Ivanovna was ready and snapped several pictures of the couple as they got out of the car and entered the building. But upon sober reflection, she realized that such photos wouldn’t prove anything. Moreover, her daughter Varya wouldn’t accept them as evidence of marital infidelity.
The woman continued to ponder while sitting on the bench, time passing. She was about to leave when Denis and his companion emerged from the entrance. Without much hope, Nina Ivanovna took out her phone and prepared the camera. And then she got lucky—the couple started saying goodbye near the car on her side, and their farewell was quite heated.
Heading toward her daughter’s, the mother decided that unless absolutely necessary she wouldn’t show the final photos. They were very convincing, but she didn’t want to upset her daughter with scenes of marital betrayal.
Denis arrived home before the mother-in-law; he was sitting in the kitchen, telling his wife something.
— Come in, Mom, we’re just having dinner. Sit down and eat with us, — Varya ushered her mother into the kitchen, smiling and lost in her own thoughts.
Nina Ivanovna felt ashamed and sorrowful, but she couldn’t remain silent.
— Ah, Nina Ivanovna, hello!
Denis was always polite, but in his mother’s eyes it didn’t add to his favor.
— I was just telling Varya about a business trip I’ll be taking next week, — the son-in-law sighed, his smile fading. — You should visit her sometimes, or she’ll get so bored without me.
— Of course, Denis, I’ll watch over them.
The mother-in-law looked closely at her son-in-law and asked,
— And where exactly are you going, Denis?
— Oh, just the usual, networking with our contacts, — he mumbled.
— Contacts are good.
The woman took out her phone from her handbag.
— Are you going alone? — she opened a file and held it up to his face. — Or with this one?
At first, Denis was stunned, but he quickly recovered.
— Well, yes, I’m going with Viktoria, she’s my boss, — the man blushed and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
— What’s that about, Mom?
Varya snatched the device from her mother’s hands.
— Who is that, Denis?
— I told you, she’s my boss! — his eyes darted even more frantically than usual.
“Let’s hope his head doesn’t spin from all this back and forth,” thought the mother-in-law.
But Varya, it seemed, had begun to suspect something.
— And why were you standing so strangely with your boss? She even rested her head on your shoulder.
— We were standing normally; maybe she just leaned that way at the moment the photo was taken.
The man grew angry but continued to pretend as if nothing was happening.
— Did you go with her last time too? — Nina Ivanovna pressed.
— What business is it of yours?! — Denis couldn’t hold back and exploded. — Where did you get these photos? Were you spying on us or what?
He paused, then squinted his eyes.
— Ah, you’re trying to make Varya and me fight! So you followed me and are passing off a work meeting as a romantic date.
— And why is the work meeting being held in your apartment, which you supposedly sold? — Nina Ivanovna pressed further.
Noticing that Varya remained quite calm, she decided to set all the facts straight.
— Denis? — her voice came out as if from her spouse.
— Yes, I haven’t sold it, I haven’t sold it! So what? Are you going to blackball me now?! And why should I sell it? It’s my grandfather’s inheritance!
He got up from the table and paced back and forth in the kitchen, fortunately with enough room.
— But how come… You said you no longer have an apartment, that you’d sell mine to buy a car for you. You said your car was so old, and that we needed a family car, — his wife asked through tears.
Yet her eyes remained dry.
— Yes, I said that, I admit! But if I hadn’t said it, you’d never have sold your apartment! You’d have pitied your dear husband!
— So you kept your apartment just to hold “work meetings”? — the mother-in-law clarified.
— What are you picking on now! — the treacherous husband howled. — That was a work meeting! We didn’t finish talking at work; I went to see off Vika and even told her something on the way. We have an important project, a business trip is imminent!
The son-in-law secretly glanced at the women, gauging whether they believed his story.
Sighing, the mother-in-law decided. She selected the necessary photo on her phone and held the device in front of Denis.
— And is that you giving her a secret business report so no one finds out?
Varya, upon seeing the photo, pressed her hand to her lips. Denis reached for the phone, but the mother-in-law was quicker.
— Leave, Denis! Gather your things and leave! — Varya turned away and covered her face with her hands as muffled sobs were heard.
— But how can it be… But it doesn’t mean anything, Varenka, it was just a bit of fun… You know, I have nothing more precious than my family, you and Seryozhenka…
— Yes, you do! — his wife shouted. — You have your apartment, which is more precious to you than us and everything in the world! So go live in it, and forget about us!
Varya flung open the kitchen door and gestured for him to leave.”