Svetlana indifferently pushed the plate of borscht away from her, and in a careless, almost solemn tone, announced:
“Svetlana, I am leaving you!”
At these unexpected words, the 45-year-old woman dropped the cup from her hands, which shattered into pieces on the floor. Svetlana looked at her husband and realized from his serious expression that he was not joking. She froze, silently wrapping her arms around herself.
Svetlana had lived what she believed to be a happy marriage with her husband for twenty-five years. She loved her Denis with all her heart, considering him a reliable, faithful husband and a wonderful father. But these strange words struck her painfully like a whip, leaving her shocked. Svetlana still hadn’t fully grasped the reality of what was happening. She raised a confused look to her husband and asked in a breaking voice:
“How can you leave? Where to, Denis? We’ve been together for a quarter of a century!”
“Exactly!” the man replied irritably, abruptly standing up and glaring at his wife, “I have lived with you for twenty-five years. But what have you become during this time? Tell me, where is the young, beautiful, slim, carefree girl I fell in love with? Just look at what you’ve turned into! You’ve put on weight, started graying, and now these annoying wrinkles have appeared. That would be half the trouble, but all you think about are cutlets, borscht, cleaning, and laundry. No wonder I’m sick of this life. There’s absolutely nothing to talk about with you. And I’m sorry, but I don’t want to bury myself alive. I deserve more. I hope we can divorce quietly, without hysterics. I’ve fallen in love with another woman, and you need to understand that. She’s younger, more interesting, more beautiful, and expecting my child. Soon, I will become a father again, so please let me go without a scandal. I haven’t loved you for a long time, Svet, I’m sorry.”
Svetlana slumped into a chair and clutched her head with both hands. Denis’s words inflicted unbearable pain. Svetlana couldn’t accept that the man she had dedicated her life to, for whom she had sacrificed so much, had turned away from her so cruelly. Denis had exchanged a loyal, loving, caring wife for someone younger and more attractive.
“Go,” she managed to say, her head bowed low.
Denis left the kitchen silently. He quickly packed his things and left, announcing at the door that he would file for divorce soon. Svetlana cried all day. By evening, she was so exhausted from the searing pain tearing her soul apart that she fell asleep right at the table. She woke up after midnight but didn’t go to her bedroom. She gently leaned against the wall, sitting with her legs tucked under her, until morning. In the morning, Svetlana had to go to work. She met the dawn with a weary, haunting appearance. Svetlana realized she had no desire to work, and it was a struggle to even get up. She called her boss and said she was sick and couldn’t come to work, asked for unpaid leave, and drowned herself in her sorrows. She stopped cooking, eating, taking care of herself, and managing the house. From morning to evening, Svetlana spent in bed, staring blankly at one spot, mourning her fate.
This continued until her son, Artem, unexpectedly visited with his young wife. Artem wanted to surprise his mother, so he came without warning. On the way, he bought her favorite cake. Artem was used to seeing his mother always cheerful, used to coming to a clean, well-kept home where the sweet smell of fresh baking always came from the kitchen, so the scene that greeted him was a real shock.
“Mommy, what’s wrong with you? Are you sick? What happened? You don’t look like yourself,” Artem worried, rushing to his mother, who was sitting in the kitchen, thoughtfully staring at the chandelier.
“Your father left me,” Svetlana confessed in a trembling voice, her gaze dimming as she looked at her son, stunned by the news.
“How… left?” Artem struggled to say, holding his mother’s hand tightly.
Svetlana told her son and daughter-in-law everything that had happened in their family. The young couple exchanged surprised looks. They began to comfort the newly tearful Svetlana, convincing her that life hadn’t stopped, that a new, happy life awaited her ahead. Svetlana, however, shook her head in despair and said she had no future left.
“Svetlana Nikolaevna, I beg you, hold on. Everything will work out, you’ll see. You’re a young, beautiful, interesting woman. You’ll meet your destiny and be happy,” Marina tried to comfort her mother-in-law, but she wouldn’t hear of it.
“It’s no use calming me. I understand everything. I’m not that young girl Denis fell in love with twenty-five years ago. My life is over. It has lost its meaning. What do I have to hope for at the twilight of my years? I’ve put on weight, gone gray, wrinkles have appeared…”
The words of her son and daughter-in-law did not comfort Svetlana. She fell into an even deeper depression, realizing that her youth was irretrievably gone, and she was completely alone. Artem thought long about how to help his deeply suffering mother. He had been deeply attached to her since childhood, so he couldn’t bear to see her in such a distressing state.
Then, the spouses decided to involve Marina’s grandmother, whom Svetlana had always sincerely loved. Tamara Ivanovna was a very wise and insightful woman. She promised her granddaughter and her spouse that Svetlana would soon live a happy, full life again.
Svetlana was sorting through old things when her phone rang. Seeing her son’s number on the screen, she immediately grabbed the mobile and put it to her ear.
“Hello, son. I’m fine. No need to worry about me. Everything is really good. How are you? What?! Poor Tamara Ivanovna! Of course, I’ll go to her in the village, yes-yes, take care. I’ll be there by evening. Tell Marina she doesn’t need to worry and can work with a calm mind. Agreed.”
Svetlana hung up the phone and immediately started dressing. She was planning to go to the village to the ailing grandmother of her daughter-in-law. Artem had informed his mother that Tamara Ivanovna was ill and needed care. He also mentioned that Marina couldn’t get time off from work and was in despair, not knowing what to do. Svetlana gladly volunteered to help her daughter-in-law’s grandmother, with whom she had formed a warm relationship. Svetlana also hoped that caring for the sick elderly woman would distract her from her sad, nagging thoughts. She quickly packed everything necessary and set off for the village.
Tamara Ivanovna was not only a wise but also an artistic woman. In her youth, she had acted in plays, so she easily pretended to be a sick person needing constant attention. Svetlana believed in her illness and began treating the elderly woman.
“Svetochka, darling, please go to my neighbor. He has hawthorn in his garden, which is very good for the heart. Konstantin promised to bring me a berry infusion, but he forgot.”
Svetlana went to Tamara Ivanovna’s neighbor to get the healing infusion. He lived in the house opposite. The woman was delighted by the man’s plot. She immediately understood that the man living in the neighboring house was a real craftsman, a master of all trades. Svetlana loudly called out to Konstantin, and he appeared after a few seconds. He opened the gate and let Svetlana in, politely greeting her. Svetlana looked around the well-kept yard with interest, completely enchanted by its beauty. She even felt as if she had stepped into a fairy tale. The man himself also made a pleasant impression on her. Svetlana was so captivated by the surrounding enchanting beauty that she even forgot why she had come.
“Come into the house. I’ll treat you to some tea and pie,” Konstantin offered in a warm voice, curiously examining his neighbor’s guest.
“Thank you, but I need to get back to Tamara Ivanovna. I’m afraid to leave her alone for too long,” Svetlana replied, trying to imagine the image of the woman who was the mistress of this house and Konstantin’s wife.
Svetlana took the infusion and returned to the elderly woman, who sincerely sighed, complaining of dizziness and rapid breathing. She was glad that Svetlana had a good impression of her neighbor, who was indeed a worthy man and, importantly, a free man.
“My neighbor’s a good man,” muttered Tamara Ivanovna, sitting at the table with Svetlana and finishing her tea, “Men like him are hard to find these days. He’s industrious, responsible, kind, and knows how to do everything around the house and yard. A former military man. Now retired. Imagine, he left a spacious apartment in the city center and moved to live in the village. He bought the neighboring house in a sorry state. There was no garden, no vegetable garden, nor such a beautiful yard there. Konstantin did everything with his own hands. Not just a man, but gold, it’s just a pity he hasn’t found a kindred soul. Completely alone.”
The next morning, Tamara Ivanovna, taking advantage of the fact that Svetlana was doing laundry in the yard, twisted the fuses on the meter and cut off all the electricity in the house.
“Svetochka, my dear, come here,” the elderly woman called her guest.
Svetlana hurried into the house:
“Yes, Tamara Ivanovna, did you call me? Are you alright?”
“I’m fine, but something’s happened with our meter. There’s no electricity in the house. My soap opera is about to start. And I can’t live without it. Go get Konstantin. Let him look at it and fix it.”
Svetlana obediently went for the neighbor, who came to Tamara Ivanovna’s and fixed everything in a matter of minutes. The light was back on in the elderly woman’s house. At lunch, Tamara Ivanovna asked Svetlana to bake her favorite strawberry pie. Svetlana fulfilled the elderly woman’s request, glad that she had regained her appetite. During tea time, Tamara Ivanovna casually said:
“Svetochka, take a piece of pie to Konstantin. We need to thank him for fixing the meter. I didn’t miss my soap opera. Go to him. He’s probably in the yard doing something, even not having had lunch.”
Svetlana nodded and, cutting a large piece of pie, went to the neighbor. Konstantin was pleased by Svetlana’s visit and said that the pie was just in time, as he hadn’t eaten anything since morning. Kostya offered Svetlana to have tea with him, and she couldn’t refuse. They set up a tea party in the garden and talked for several hours. Konstantin told Svetlana about his military service, and she listened to him, holding her breath. Time with Konstantin flew by unnoticed. Svetlana returned to Tamara Ivanovna under a pleasant impression.
Soon, Konstantin himself began to visit Tamara Ivanovna and Svetlana. He visited the “sick” neighbor, brought her medicinal herbs, helped put things in order in her yard. Tamara Ivanovna watched with a mischievous, playful smile as Konstantin and Svetlana, forgetting everything in the world, engagedly talked to each other and understood that her plan had worked brilliantly. The man and woman didn’t notice how they had grown attached to each other.
One day, during another tea party, Konstantin told Svetlana about what had happened in his life a year ago.
“I moved here a year ago after my wife left me. I’ll be honest, it was a tough time for me. I realized I needed to drastically change my life. In the village, I found myself, forgot the past, and learned to be happy in the present.”
Svetlana looked at her neighbor in amazement, thinking about the woman who had decided to leave such a man as Konstantin. She was sure that Konstantin’s ex-wife had regretted her decision more than once. Svetlana involuntarily compared Konstantin to Denis and realized that her ex-husband was significantly inferior to Tamara Ivanovna’s neighbor. Konstantin was a real man, a person who could keep his word. The woman increasingly caught herself thinking that she had stopped remembering her ex-husband and thinking about where he was, what was happening with him. Svetlana simply enjoyed the carefree life in the village, the summer sun, and pleasant, inspiring communication with a new acquaintance. But Svetlana’s mood changed dramatically when she realized that her vacation was coming to an end and soon she would have to return to the city, to her previous life. The remaining few days flew by unnoticed. Tamara Ivanovna stopped playing the role of a sick woman and declared that she had recovered, thanks to Svetlana’s relentless care.
Svetlana reluctantly packed her things in the evening and went outside to say goodbye to the village, which had become her home and beloved. She didn’t notice that Konstantin was heading towards her.
“Leaving?” he asked thoughtfully, not taking his eyes off the saddened woman.
“Yes,” Svetlana replied regretfully, “It’s time. Tamara Ivanovna is on the mend. My vacation is over. The city awaits me.”
“You don’t sound very happy about it. Are you sure there’s nothing else keeping you here?”
The man looked into the eyes of his confused neighbor and timidly took her hand.
“Maybe you’ll stay? I see that you don’t want to leave. And I don’t want this either. Svetlana, I’ve grown so attached to you that I can’t imagine living without you.”
“Konstantin,” Svetlana stammered, startled by the unexpected, “I really have to leave. I have my own life in the city. Work, apartment, friends, son.”
With these words, Svetlana tried to convince herself first and foremost of the correctness of her decision. With all her heart, she didn’t want to part with Konstantin, but she was afraid that staying in the village would be a mistake. But when Konstantin unexpectedly hugged Svetlana around the waist and drew her to him, all fears and doubts immediately dissipated. She realized she had hopelessly fallen in love with Tamara Ivanovna’s neighbor and couldn’t now live far from him. Svetlana willingly accepted his embrace.
“Don’t leave,” Konstantin whispered, his hot, intermittent breath burning the woman’s skin.
Svetlana understood that, as much as she wanted to stay with the man she loved in his small, cozy paradise, she couldn’t just abandon everything she had before meeting him.
“I have my job in the city,” she whispered tremblingly, pressing herself against Konstantin with her whole body.
“Then I’ll follow you to the ends of the earth. I can’t be without you. I’ll be near, just call.”
Without a second’s hesitation, Svetlana invited the man with her, without whom she could no longer imagine her life. He moved into her apartment. By that time, Svetlana was already divorced from Denis, and she and Kostya had filed an application at the registry office. The trembling feelings remarkably transformed the woman. Now she radiated happiness, which was felt in every word, look, and gesture. Svetlana blossomed like a flower that, after a long drought, finally soaked up the warm rain. Her son and daughter-in-law sincerely rejoiced at the changes happening with Svetlana. They thanked Tamara Ivanovna, who gently and delicately brought together two lonely souls in need of love and tenderness. Every weekend, Svetlana and Konstantin spent in the village and always visited the elderly woman, coming to her with gifts.
A year later, the past unexpectedly reminded itself. It happened on a sunny Saturday morning, when the spouses, as usual, were getting ready to go to the village for the weekend. Konstantin was at the store. Suddenly there was a ring at the door, and Svetlana rushed to open it, thinking her husband had forgotten to take his keys with him. She was stunned by the surprise when she saw Denis with a one-year-old boy on the doorstep.
“Denis?!” Svetlana exclaimed, throwing up her hands, “What are you doing here?”
“Hello, Svetlana,” the man said timidly, “Will you let me in?”
“Denis, why have you come? I thought everything between us was long over.”
“Svetka, you always understood me better than anyone, generously forgave all my mistakes. Forgive me now too. I know you love me. I came to ask you for another chance. Let’s start all over.”
From her ex-husband, Svetlana learned that the woman he had left her for had abandoned him with a one-year-old child in her arms and ran away with a young, promising man. Denis was forced to take care of the baby and pay for the rent of the apartment they lived in. Svetlana understood that her ex-husband was looking for an easy way out, that it wasn’t love that brought him to the doorstep of the apartment where he too had once lived.
“Denis, I now have another family, a husband whom I love. I’m sorry for your son, but I can’t help. There can be no talk of your return. You should understand that from now on, I live my own life, in which there is no place for you. Please leave. You’ve already made your choice.”
“Husband?! Family?! You couldn’t have gotten married so quickly! You loved me…” Denis shook his head in disbelief, then laughed loudly.
Before Svetlana could respond, Konstantin, who had returned from the store, appeared on the threshold. He looked questioningly first at his wife and then at Denis, who at that moment understood everything.
“Honey, I couldn’t find the cake, we’ll stop by the supermarket on the way. And we have guests?”
“The person mistook the door and is already leaving,” the woman replied calmly, and after politely saying goodbye to Denis, returned to the kitchen with her husband.
The ex-husband was forced to admit defeat and leave. He left, bitterly regretting what he had done a year ago. Svetlana mentally thanked her ex-husband for leaving her. Only by meeting Konstantin did she realize that it was habit, not love, that had kept her next to Denis. They were completely different people. Svetlana hugged Konstantin tightly, feeling that she had found her true happiness.