“Veronika, please don’t take this the wrong way, but someone just spilled coffee all over the carpet on the third floor. Right before handover!” the office building manager reported.
Veronika glanced at her watch. It was half past three. In just an hour, she was supposed to be at the festive table, congratulating her mother-in-law on her 60th birthday and pretending the shrimp salad really was worth what the country restaurant charged.
But instead, she stood in the middle of an empty corridor, bucket in one hand and phone in the other.
“Was the woman at least okay?” Veronika asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, was the coffee hot?”
The manager was momentarily at a loss.
“I don’t think she got burned.”
“That’s good, then. Let’s have a look at the carpet.”
Veronika’s morning wasn’t going any better. One employee called in sick with a fever, another was stuck at the clinic with her child, and the handover of the property had to happen today. There was no way to reschedule the cleaning: a new company was moving in on Monday.
So, Veronika had to put on her work uniform, grab the equipment, and help the two remaining employees herself.
By four o’clock, everything was done. Veronika changed clothes, checked all the rooms, and headed off to the anniversary party.
She had no idea her professional skills were about to become the main entertainment for some of the relatives.
Six years ago, Veronika started out cleaning small offices after hours. By day, she worked as a store administrator, and in the evenings, she lugged around a bag of cleaning supplies, going from address to address.
Her first regular client came through an accountant friend. Then she got a second client, then a third.
After a year, she quit her store job, registered as a sole proprietor, and focused fully on cleaning.
Gradually, she hired staff, bought equipment, and signed contracts with a medical center, two car dealerships, and several offices.
Now, she had nine people working for her.
Most of Veronika’s time was spent on her phone rather than wielding a mop. She made schedules, bought supplies, talked to customers, checked the quality of work, and dealt with paperwork.
Still, if a staff member fell ill and there was no one to cover, Veronika calmly took on the job herself.
She saw nothing unusual about it.
Her husband Pavel also never saw anything shameful about her work.
When they met, he managed the sales department of a building materials company and earned much more than she did.
Even then, Pavel would help deliver equipment for her in the evenings.
“You should see the looks on my guys’ faces if they knew their boss was hauling vacuum cleaners on Saturdays,” he would laugh.
“Just tell them you’re working in logistics.”
“That wouldn’t even be a lie!”
Everything changed two years ago.
The company shut down the branch where Pavel worked. After he was laid off, he spent months sending out resumes, going to interviews, and gradually realized that the salary he used to have only showed up in ads with suspiciously perfect promises.
Afterward, he took on one-off projects, helped friends with sales, but never found a permanent job.
Eventually, he decided to retrain as an industrial automation specialist.
Veronika supported him, though she immediately suggested they discuss finances.
They lived in a two-bedroom apartment with a mortgage. Every month, they had to pay the bank, cover utilities, buy groceries, and take care of the car.
They made a simple arrangement: Pavel would study for a year, and after graduating, look for a job in his new field. In the meantime, Veronika would take on most of the financial responsibilities.
Her husband had no intention of acting like a martyr whose wife forced him to live off her income.
During the weekdays, he cooked, did the grocery shopping, and took care of chores at home.
At first, though, it turned out that while Pavel could figure out a complicated electrical circuit, he could only realize the laundry detergent was gone after he’d already loaded the washing machine.
But over time, he mastered this skill too.
The real problem wasn’t between the couple.
The problem had a name: Inna, Pavel’s older sister.
Inna worked as an administrator at a private dental clinic. She loved stylish things, nice restaurants, and conversations about who had achieved what.
When she talked about her job, it sounded as if she personally ran the entire region’s dental industry.
“We had such a complicated operation yesterday!” she would announce to family.
One time, Veronika asked if Inna had to assist the doctor during the procedure.
“Actually, I organize the entire clinic!” Inna replied.
Veronika never asked again.
But Inna often asked about Veronika’s business.
“So, Veronika, are you still busy with the cleaning services?”
“Still am.”
“And you’re not tired of it yet?”
“Nope. Clients pay, employees do their jobs. Why should I be?”
“I just wish you’d do something more impressive.”
Veronika never actually figured out what Inna considered truly impressive.
But what was even more amusing was something else.
Around friends, Inna still introduced Pavel as the sales department manager at a construction company.
Even though he hadn’t worked there in nearly two years.
One day, Veronika overheard her sister-in-law confidently telling a friend about his business trips.
“Pasha, where have you been traveling to?” she asked her husband that evening.
“To the training center. We were studying electrical cabinets.”
“But Inna says you flew to Kazan for work.”
Pavel laughed.
“Maybe she’s reminiscing about my past life.”
“You should just tell her you got fired. Otherwise, she’ll soon invent you a deputy.”
“She knows. She just likes to make an impression.”
Veronika just waved it off.
Let her play up her stories.
As long as it’s not at their expense.
For Galina Petrovna’s birthday, Pavel’s mother, twenty people got together.
The country venue was chosen by the birthday girl herself. Pavel and Veronika paid for their share of the festivities, while Inna managed the hall decorations and cake order.
By the time Veronika finally arrived, the guests were already at the table.
Her mother-in-law greeted her joyfully.
“Veronika, you’re finally here! I was starting to think work had swallowed you up.”
“Almost. But I broke free.”
She handed over her gift, offered her congratulations, and sat down next to her husband.
Pavel leaned over to her:
“Did everything go okay?”
“Yeah. I just had to get coffee out of the carpet. I’ll check how it turned out on Monday.”
“I told Inna you’d be late because of your employees.”
“Mhm.”
Veronika reached for some water.
“Can you believe it? Our Veronika cleaned the bathrooms herself today!” Innа’s voice rang out from across the table.
A few people turned their heads.
Veronika set down her glass.
“Yes, I cleaned the bathrooms too. It was a whole floor.”
“See!” Inna said excitedly. “And she’s a businesswoman!”
Someone at the table smiled uncertainly.
“Inna,” Pavel said quietly, “why are you starting this?”
“I’m not! I’m just surprised. She has her own company, employees, and yet she’s running around with a rag herself.”
“We were short two people today,” Veronika explained. “The work had to get done.”
“That’s what I’m saying. No matter what you call it, she’s still a cleaning lady.”
Veronika looked at her sister-in-law.
“Inna, that’s the third time tonight you’ve brought this up. Do you need your apartment cleaned? I can give you my administrator’s number, she’ll calculate the cost.”
There was laughter around the table.
Even Galina Petrovna couldn’t hold back a smile.
“Inna will never order cleaning,” she said. “Her broom’s been standing on the balcony for three years, still with the price tag on.”
“Mom, why did you have to say that!”
The conversation shifted to gifts.
Veronika thought the topic was closed.
Turns out it wasn’t for long.
After the main course, guests began getting up from the table. Some headed to the terrace, children went off to look at the small pond near the complex.
Veronika stepped over to the tea table.
Nearby, Inna was talking with her cousin aunt.
“I just don’t get why Pasha puts up with her so much,” Inna said. “A man with an education and a good career. And his wife spends her life cleaning other people’s bathrooms.”
“But I thought she started her own business?”
“Oh please, Aunt Lida, everyone’s starting companies these days. My eyebrow lady is an entrepreneur too.”
Veronika was about to walk past but heard her own name.
“I’d find a totally different woman for Pavel. My friend Svetlana is divorced, head of a bank department, owns her own apartment, well-groomed, has a good social circle.”
“But Pasha is married.”
“For now, yes. I’ve already told Sveta about him.”
“And what did she say?”
“She said she’s not afraid of divorced men. Of course, she doesn’t know the whole story yet. But she and Pasha would look good together.”
Veronika stopped.
Now that was interesting.
Turns out, while she was paying the family bills and helping her husband learn a new profession, Inna was busy picking out his next wife.
Apparently, the search was quite thorough.
All that was missing was an application form with a photo and a box saying “previous wife to be recycled.”
“Inna,” Veronika called.
Her sister-in-law turned around.
“Oh, you’re here?”
“As you can see. I’d like to ask you not to discuss my job or my marriage anymore. Especially not with strangers.”
“What did I even say?”
“Enough.”
Inna crossed her arms.
“You know, Veronika, you’re really too sensitive. I’m just worried about my brother. He used to be a manager, earning good money, had prospects. And now what?”
“Now he’s studying. He’ll be finished in two months.”
“Exactly! He needs to start a new life!”
“And he is. For now, it’s still with me.”
“Do you even realize he needs a woman on another level?”
The relatives sitting nearby started listening in on the conversation.
Veronika could have just calmly replied and walked away. But it looked like Inna had finally decided to get everything off her chest.
“Your fate is to scrub other people’s toilets! My brother deserves a better wife,” she declared loudly enough for everyone at the table to hear.
Veronika stared at her sister-in-law for a few seconds.
Then she asked:
“Inna, when was the last time you discussed Pasha’s current salary with him?”
“What does his salary have to do with anything?”
“I just want to understand what money you plan to use to set him up with a new life.”
Pavel was sitting at the table and could hear the conversation by now. Veronika turned to him.
“Pash, how much have you made from side jobs in the past year?”
Her husband looked at his sister, then at his wife.
“About three hundred thousand. Maybe a bit more. I’d have to check the transfers.”
“And how much do we spend each month on the apartment, groceries, utilities, and the car?”
“Around one hundred and ten thousand.”
“Thanks.”
Veronika turned back to Inna.
“So, over the past year, our regular expenses totaled about one million three hundred twenty thousand. Pasha was studying, and the money he made from projects went mostly towards his education and his personal needs. I paid for the mortgage, utilities, groceries, and the car.”
Inna made a face.
“So now you’re going to throw this in your husband’s face?”
“No. I’m not throwing anything in his face. That’s the agreement we have. You’re asking why I’m not good enough for him. I’m just curious who exactly is supposed to support your brother while he trains for a new career. Svetlana from the bank?”
“Pasha used to have a great salary!”
“He did,” Veronika agreed. “But his old salary isn’t paying our current mortgage. And for some reason, the supermarket isn’t accepting his old business card.”
Someone at the table quietly snickered.
Inna turned red.
“Pavel, say something to her!”
Pavel stood up and walked over to them.
“Say what? Nika’s right about everything.”
“You used to be a manager!”
“Inna, I left that job two years ago. You were even at my last company party.”
“You didn’t leave, you were laid off!”
“What difference does it make? I don’t work there anymore.”
“You’ll find another job!”
“I will. But for now, Nika is the one supporting our family. And for some reason, I’m not ashamed to admit that.”
Inna opened her mouth, but Pavel continued:
“And please stop telling everyone I’m still head of the sales department. Family gatherings are already awkward for me. Last time, your friend even asked if she could buy cement cheaper through me.”
“I was just trying to help!”
“Well, all it did was make it seem like I spend my days selling cement, while in reality I’m learning equipment management systems.”
Veronika didn’t expect her husband to be so direct.
Before, he’d always tried to avoid arguing with his sister. He kept saying that Inna was just like that by nature, that she didn’t mean any harm.
But now it was clear to him that it had long stopped being about her personality.
Yet Inna wasn’t ready to back down.
“Still, a man shouldn’t be living off his wife!”
Veronika raised her eyebrows slightly.
“Speaking of money, Inna. How’s your car?”
Her sister-in-law became wary.
“It’s fine. Why?”
“Is the repair finished?”
“A long time ago.”
“Great. Then there shouldn’t be any issues with the remaining debt.”
Eight months ago, Inna’s car broke down seriously.
The repair was estimated at 140,000 rubles. She had twenty on hand, and asked her brother for the missing 120,000.
Pavel came to see Veronika that evening.
“Nika, can I get your advice? Inna needs money. Her car needs fixing.”
“How much?”
“A hundred and twenty thousand. She promises to pay back five thousand each month, and if she gets a bonus, she’ll pay it off quicker.”
Veronika knew perfectly well that, by then, Pavel’s own savings had nearly run out.
He used what he earned from extra jobs to pay for his studies, transportation, and personal expenses.
Veronika herself had money—not the business’s revenue set aside for staff salaries and taxes, but her actual earned entrepreneurial income, a portion of which she regularly saved.
She considered it and agreed.
“Let’s agree on this up front: I’ll give you the money, you help your sister, but the repayments will come directly to me. I don’t want to keep dipping into my savings all the time, either.”
Pavel agreed.
Veronika transferred 120,000 from her business account to her personal one, then sent it to her husband, who in turn passed the amount along to Inna.
Pavel told his sister-in-law that he’d provide the money.
He didn’t bother explaining exactly where the funds came from.
Since then, Inna had been sending her brother five thousand rubles monthly. Every time, he passed the payment straight to his wife.
In eight months, forty thousand had been returned.
Eighty thousand was still outstanding.
“Wait a minute,” Inna frowned. “What does my debt have to do with this? I borrowed from Pasha!”
“But Pasha borrowed that money from me,” Veronika replied, “from the income I made from those cleaning jobs.”
Inna looked at her brother.
“Pash?”
“That’s exactly how it was. I told you I’d help. But at the time I didn’t have any free money myself.”
“You could have told me!”
“I could have. But you never asked.”
Veronika hadn’t planned to turn her mother-in-law’s jubilee into a credit committee meeting, but she couldn’t resist making one point.
“It’s funny, Inna. Money earned cleaning other people’s toilets was good enough for your car repairs. But the person who earned it isn’t good enough for your brother.”
“Let’s not mix everything up right now!”
“You’re the one mixing things up. My job, the money, my marriage, your banker friend. I’m just clarifying details.”
“I am paying my debt!”
“You are. Five thousand a month. All eight payments have come through, no complaints. With eighty thousand left, our agreement still stands.”
Inna glanced at the relatives.
“Honestly, this is private business! There’s no need to discuss it in front of everyone!”
Veronika nodded.
“Absolutely agree. That’s why I was so surprised when you started matchmaking my husband to someone else, right in front of everyone.”
Pavel couldn’t help himself:
“By the way, Inna, don’t bother Svetlana. I got lucky with my wife. I’m not about to tempt fate a second time.”
Someone at the table burst out laughing.
Inna snatched up her purse suddenly.
“Great. Now I’m to blame for everything!”
“You’re not to blame for everything,” Pavel said. “But you do have to take responsibility for your words.”
Galina Petrovna, who’d been silent until then, tapped her glass with a spoon.
“Alright, my dears. I’m turning sixty today, but you’re all carrying on like you’re about to divide up my china set. Let’s finally eat the cake we paid a completely ridiculous price for.”
Veronika was the first to return to the table.
She had no intention of crying, demanding public apologies, or ruining her mother-in-law’s celebration.
For herself, she had already figured everything out.
Later, after most of the guests had wandered around the venue, a man in his fifties approached Veronika.
His name was Arkady. He was an old acquaintance of Galina Petrovna and managed a small network of medical offices.
“Sorry, I happened to hear that you work in professional cleaning. Do you have any medical facilities among your clients?”
“We do. We’ve serviced one center for several years now.”
“Do you take on small offices?”
“Depends on the space and schedule.”
Arkady explained that he had four medical offices across the city. He was constantly having issues with his current contractor: staff wouldn’t show up, supplies would run out, and after cleaning, his administrators often had to mop the floors themselves.
“I even thought of hiring a separate person for each location,” he admitted.
“Four people for four small facilities? That might end up more expensive than it seems. What time are your premises available for cleaning?”
They talked for about fifteen minutes.
Veronika didn’t promise miracles.
She said she first needed to see the spaces, check the cleaning requirements, schedules, and amount of work, and then calculate costs.
Arkady asked for her contact information.
When Veronika got back to the table, she saw that Pavel had carefully placed a piece of cake on her plate.
“Who were you talking to?”
“A potential client.”
“You’re even working at your mom’s birthday!”
“And you’re even feeding me at your mom’s birthday. We’ve got a division of labor.”
Pavel smiled, but after a minute his expression turned serious.
“Nika, I’m sorry I didn’t stop Inna right away.”
“You heard how she started?”
“I heard. I thought she’d just talk for a bit and calm down.”
“But she didn’t calm down.”
“I get it.”
Veronika broke off a piece of cake.
“Pasha, I don’t need you to stop talking to your sister. But I’m not going to sit there and listen to her tell everyone what I do or don’t deserve anymore.”
“And you won’t have to.”
She looked at her husband.
“I hope so. Because today I had to speak for myself.”
Pavel didn’t argue.
The next day, he called his sister.
Veronika didn’t take part in the conversation. She sat in the kitchen with her laptop, making the staff schedule for the coming week.
Pavel spoke from the next room, but some of his words drifted over.
“Inna, I’m not going to argue about the cleaning again… No, it’s not because you made a joke… You told my wife she’s not right for me. That’s not a joke.”
Then the conversation turned to money.
“There’s eighty thousand left on the loan. From now on, you’ll transfer directly to Nika. I’ll send you her number for the transfer… No, the terms aren’t changing. Five thousand at a time, like we agreed.”
He also asked his sister again not to give him his old job title in conversations and not to discuss his marriage with her friends.
When he finished the call, Pavel came to the kitchen.
“Inna’s upset.”
“What a surprise.”
“She said I’m whipped.”
“And what did you say?”
“I said that the only thing whipped right now is her car. Does it drive any better after the repairs?”
Veronika burst out laughing.
From that day on, Inna really started sending money to her directly.
On the agreed day, five thousand rubles would arrive. Veronika kept track of the payments in her records and never brought up the topic again.
At the beginning of summer, Pavel finished his studies.
He didn’t find his first job right away. One company wanted a specialist with five years of experience, while another promised training, but the salary was so low that the commute would take a big chunk out of his earnings.
At the end of June, he landed a position as a trainee engineer at a company servicing industrial equipment.
The salary was fifty-three thousand rubles.
He used to earn much more, but finally, Pavel had found a profession he truly wanted to master.
In the evenings, he would tell Veronika about sensors, controllers, and breakdowns.
Sometimes she understood about half of it.
“Can you imagine, the supervisor spent three hours searching for the reason the line stopped, and it turned out a contact had just come loose!”
“Oh, I can relate. Once our cleaning lady argued with the floor scrubber for two hours, but it just wasn’t plugged in.”
“That’s why I love you. You get production problems.”
They also redivided the chores at home.
Now that Pavel left for work in the mornings, they took turns cooking, ordered groceries through an app, and did the apartment cleaning together on weekends.
Veronika was absolutely against paying her own staff to clean their apartment.
“They spend all week cleaning for me. At least let them have a break from our fridge.”
Things worked out with Arkady too.
Not right away, of course.
They checked out four properties, agreed on the schedules, cleaning requirements, a list of supplies, and the quality control process.
Veronika calculated the cost, planned for backup staff in case of illness, and only after all that did she sign the contract.
It was a good contract for her, but not a sudden windfall.
She had to buy extra equipment, hire three more employees, organize training, and personally oversee the new sites during the first weeks.
Galina Petrovna found out about the business expansion from her son.
And naturally, she told her daughter.
Inna had quite a unique reaction.
“Is that the man from the birthday party? He gave her four sites?”
“He didn’t just give them,” her mother corrected. “They signed a contract. She does the work, he pays.”
“So how much can you make from that?”
Galina Petrovna mentioned the estimated monthly service fee she’d heard from Pavel.
Inna even asked her to repeat it.
The sum was much higher than her own salary.
“Mom, that’s just the revenue,” she said. “She still has to pay people, and all those taxes.”
“Of course. That’s why Veronika works all day—money doesn’t just come out of the closet.”
Inna was silent for a moment.
“Still, the job is pretty unusual.”
“And what about yours?” her mother suddenly asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, you don’t treat patients. You take appointments, greet people, handle documents. It’s a fine job. But I don’t go around calling you the woman who’s spent her life counting other people’s teeth.”
Inna was offended—even with her mother.
Though, not for long.
Over the next few months, Veronica grew her team to fourteen people. New contracts boosted their workload—and brought more challenges to manage.
She started focusing more on organizing work, finally hired an assistant to coordinate schedules, and stopped personally running around for every forgotten box of gloves.
Still, there were times she had to head out to the worksites herself.
Veronica didn’t see anything wrong with that.
Meanwhile, Pavel was settling into his job at the company.
He was gradually entrusted with more challenging tasks. He started out visiting job sites with experienced engineers, and soon began handling part of the work on his own.
A year after his mother’s birthday, Pavel was earning around ninety thousand rubles a month. By then, family expenses had climbed to about a hundred and twenty thousand, and he was once again able to contribute his half comfortably.
They didn’t make a big deal of it with any kind of celebration.
They just sat down one evening, pulled up their banking apps, and went over the family budget.
“Let’s each put in sixty thousand for shared expenses now,” suggested Pavel. “We’ll keep the rest in our own accounts.”
“Alright. But you forgot to buy laundry detergent again.”
“I ordered two packs.”
“When?”
“Yesterday. They’ll deliver them tomorrow.”
Veronica looked at her husband with admiration.
“Pavel, you’re really growing as a professional.”
Relations with Inna remained cool.
She no longer talked to Veronica about her friend Svetlana and had stopped trying to set up her brother with a new family.
Pavel kept in touch with his sister, but if the conversation turned to his wife, he cut it off immediately.
One day, Inna again referred to Veronica as a cleaning woman over the phone.
“Inna,” Pavel interrupted, “if you want to ask how Nika is, just ask. But if you start telling me what she should be doing again, I’m ending the call.”
His sister was indignant.
Pavel did say goodbye and hung up on her.
Veronica only found out about it that evening when her husband told her himself.
By that time, Inna was carefully paying back her debt. Within a year after the birthday, she had transferred another sixty thousand. Only twenty thousand remained.
Veronica never brought it up at every meeting.
The money was paid back according to their agreed schedule, and she was satisfied with that.
The final payment came four months later.
Did Inna send twenty-five thousand? No, exactly five thousand, just like always. With that, the debt was fully repaid.
Veronica sent a short message:
“Inna, all 120 thousand have been returned. Thank you, the matter is closed.”
The reply came:
“Alright.”
No hearts, no bouquets, no reconciliatory speeches.
And that suited everyone just fine.
The following spring, the family gathered again at Galina Petrovna’s.
This time, they celebrated her sixty-first birthday at home.
Close relatives sat around the table, chatting about their kids, rising prices, and the renovation in the neighbors’ entryway.
Inna brought a cake from a good bakery and happily told everyone about the new equipment installed at their dental clinic.
Pavel asked the brand name right away and started asking about the maintenance.
Inna quickly lost interest in the topic.
But then one of the relatives suddenly turned to Veronica and asked:
“Hey, doesn’t it ever bother you to clean toilets? I mean, you’re the boss now—you don’t even have to do that anymore.”
The room suddenly grew a bit quieter.
Inna carefully set her cup down.
Veronika just shrugged.
“No, not at all. I know how to do it right, and I don’t see anything horrible about that kind of work. What’s much worse is cleaning up other people’s opinions about someone else’s life. Sometimes, no amount of chemicals can help with that.”
Galina Petrovna burst out laughing.
“So true! My neighbor still thinks all I should do in retirement is knit socks. But I’ve just signed up for dance lessons.”
“Mom, what did you sign up for?” Pavel asked, surprised.
“For dance. Not for secret fight clubs, don’t worry.”
Right then, the conversation shifted to Galina Petrovna’s new hobby.
Inna stayed quiet.
Maybe she realized it was best not to bring up the old topic again. Or maybe, she just decided not to spoil her mom’s special day.
Veronika wasn’t going to find out.
She was more than satisfied that her sister-in-law had finally stopped trying to control her life.
When she and Pavel were getting ready to leave for home, Inna unexpectedly approached them in the hallway.
“Pasha, hey, our clinic is changing cleaning contractors. The chief doctor’s not happy. I wanted to ask Veronika, do you guys handle small spaces like ours?”
Veronika zipped up her jacket.
“We do. But first I’ll need to see the space and requirements. Have your manager get in touch with my assistant—she’ll explain everything.”
Inna nodded.
“Alright, I’ll pass the message along.”
Not a single joke about toilets.
Pavel waited until they left the building and then said quietly,
“Did you notice? Now she’s actually recommending you professionally.”
“She’s just asking for now.”
“Still, that’s progress.”
Veronika pulled her car keys out of her purse.
“Pasha, just so you know—I don’t give family discounts on cleaning.”
“Not even for your own sister?”
“Especially not for my own sister. I’ll need advance payment from her, too.”
Pavel laughed.
“Exactly! At least the mop in our family actually brings in money. Unlike some of those high-status opinions.”
Veronika got behind the wheel and turned the heater on.
“You know what’s the funniest part?”
“What’s that?”
“If her dental clinic signs a contract with us, she can finally, honestly tell people that she does business with my company.”
“And if someone asks what your position is there?”
“Just say I’m in charge of cleanliness.”
“Doesn’t sound very impressive.”
“Then call me the Director of Removing the Consequences of Other People’s Activities.”
Pavel nodded approvingly.
“Now that’s a title. Inna will like that.”
Veronika smiled and drove out of the parking lot.
She honestly didn’t care whether her sister-in-law liked her job title or not.
After six years, she’d learned one simple thing: good work doesn’t lose value just because someone says its name with a hint of disgust.
Especially when that same person is more than happy to use the results of that work.
And Pavel had realized something else: you need to protect your marriage long before your wife is put in a position where she has to defend herself to the whole family.
And both of them had learned to get by just fine without Inna’s approval.
After all, they had plenty of their own things to take care of.