Ol, is yours on a business trip again?” – Pavel, a colleague, caught up with Olga as she was heading to the bus stop. – “Maybe we can sit in a cafe? Have your favorite cocoa, talk a bit, since it’s always just ‘hello, goodbye.'”
“Sorry, Pash, I can’t today. Ignat promised he’d be home early, we planned to pick out a kitchen, we’re still not fully settled after the renovation. And by the way, he hasn’t been on a business trip for a long time.”
“And is he always home on time?” – Pavel asked with poorly concealed irony in his voice.
“Not always,” – Olga smiled and shook her head, – “We really need the money now, so Ignat has to stay at work overtime. Once we fully furnish our apartment, then he can always be home on time.”
“Got it,” – Pavel smiled back and, wishing his colleague a pleasant evening, turned the other way.
Olga was lucky this time that the bus arrived quickly; usually, she had to wait for a long time, but she managed to leave work earlier and caught it. Taking a free seat by the window, Olga reflected. Once, she and Pavel were going to get married, but they broke up over something silly, and she couldn’t even remember why anymore. And then Ignat quickly came into her life, whom she married just to spite Pavel – just to show him, “look, I’m not alone, and now you can kick yourself for losing me.” He, indeed, tried to reconcile – asked for forgiveness, solemnly promised to make her happy, never to hurt her, to be faithful, and so on, but Olga was already very taken with Ignat, and decided she had never loved Pavel, it was just an illusion.
Later she stopped thinking about him at all, and recently he was transferred to their branch from the main office. He pretended to be pleasantly surprised by the unexpected coincidence, but Olga somehow thought that he deliberately requested this transfer, having learned that she worked there. However, she was pleased that Pavel was still single and continued to treat her with the same warmth. Deep down, she wished him happiness and even, somewhere deep inside, envied his future wife, just a little – he knew how to court beautifully, a real romantic.
As for herself, she couldn’t say that she was unlucky with her husband, just that he was constantly busy lately. Yes, he tried for the sake of the family’s well-being, so they lacked for nothing, lived in comfort, but there was hardly any time left for his wife. And they lived in Ignat’s sister’s apartment. She kindly offered them living space until her children grew up. Oksana and her husband had no financial troubles; she even hadn’t worked a day, so they didn’t see the point in renting out the apartment, just invested in real estate, saying, “the children will grow up and will be provided with housing.” Ignat and Olga did the renovation to their taste, Oksana allowed it, and now they were buying furniture. But often Olga thought that it would be better if they rented a furnished apartment. After all, they had poured so much money into this place, it would have been enough for several years of rent, or they could have invested in a mortgage, at least to buy a small room in a dormitory, and then – more and more. But Ignat’s eyes lit up when Oksana offered them this housing.
Olga got off the bus, hurriedly crossed the street, and headed home. The air carried that particular smell promising imminent rain, but now she was not ready to enjoy the coolness and freshness. Her head was spinning with thoughts, but none lingered for long, all were fleeting, giving way to another. How long had it been since she and Ignat moved into this apartment? A year? A year and a half? Olga couldn’t remember exactly, but the fact that their home still felt temporary troubled her. They renovated, settled in, always waiting for something better, as if real life was supposed to start later, but when—remained unclear.
Approaching the building, she caught herself thinking that she was walking too slowly, as if delaying the moment when she would be inside. The entrance door clicked as usual, letting her into the dark hallway, and Olga started climbing the stairs to the fourth floor. The stairwells flickered by one after the other, and she felt an odd tension growing.
Entering the apartment, Olga paused. By the threshold, neatly placed next to her and Ignat’s shoes, were heels. She recognized them instantly – they were Ignat’s sister’s shoes – expensive, high-heeled. Why was she here? Olga didn’t remember Ignat warning her about his sister’s visit.
Olga was about to shout that she was home, but something stopped her. Intuition told her not to enter right away. Instead, she froze, listening.
“My husband and I wanted to rest,” Oksana’s voice came through. “But he can’t get time off, so I thought I’d give you these tickets. But on one condition,” her voice became a bit more demanding, “you go not with your wife, but with Kira.”
Olga froze. “With Kira?” She remembered that Ignat had once mentioned this name in passing, telling her that Oksana tried to set him up with her friend. At the time, Olga didn’t think much of it. But now, hearing this name, everything inside her clenched with a bad premonition.
“I don’t need Kira,” Ignat’s voice sounded annoyed. “Oksana, I’ve told you more than once, I’m a family man now. I have Olga! Why do you start again?”
Olga sighed with relief. Everything’s clear, just Oksana trying to impose her opinion, as always. She was almost ready to open the living room door and announce her return when Oksana spoke again.
“Well, who are you kidding? I remember how you loved Kira. You were even going to marry her, and then you just took offense over nothing. Don’t be stubborn, I see everything – this Olga isn’t a match for you. But Kira—she’s a whole different story.”
Olga froze, barely comprehending what she heard. Loved? Was going to marry? And he told her Kira wasn’t interesting to him… A feeling of anxiety grew in her chest, becoming stronger with every word. Olga stared at the floor, mentally trying to keep herself together, but Oksana’s words hit like a blow to an open wound.
“So what?” – Ignat responded, but his voice had notes of irritation and… uncertainty? – “It’s all in the past. Yes, it happened, I won’t argue, but it’s over. I love my wife.”
“Love? Come on, Ignat,” Oksana wouldn’t let up. “We both know you married Olga just to spite Kira when she left you for another man. And then she wanted to come back to you, regretted it, asked for forgiveness. But you took and foolishly married, just to get back at her.”
Olga’s heart lurched. Out of spite? Did Ignat really marry her just to prove something to someone? She suddenly found it hard to breathe, a lump stuck in her throat. She remembered how she herself rushed to marry Ignat after breaking up with Pavel. Even if Ignat had the same motives initially, what of it? Now they truly loved each other. Right?… Olga held her breath, waiting for what her husband would say next.
“It was and it’s gone,” she heard Ignat’s even voice. “I’m married now, and I have commitments to my wife.”
“Oh, what commitments?” Oksana almost contemptuously snorted. “You didn’t manage to have kids, thank God. I hope you haven’t forgotten where you live?! With Olga, you’ll just keep moping around other people’s corners. And Kira, by the way, just got a three-room apartment from her parents as a gift, spacious, new… And she still loves you, waiting for you to come to your senses.”
Olga’s heart clenched. She leaned against the cold wall, feeling she was losing control over her emotions. How could Oksana say such things? But what worried her more was what Ignat would say. She almost wasn’t breathing, trying to catch his response.
“Oksana, stop,” Ignat began slowly, but his voice was no longer as confident as before. “Housing isn’t the main thing. As long as there’s a place to live, look, we’ll buy our own.”
But Oksana was relentless:
“You’re just afraid of change. Kira was always better for you, you’re just still upset, but it’s not too late to fix everything. With Kira, you’ll have a home, stability, everything you deserve. Can’t you see that you’ll never be truly happy with Olga?”
Olga almost physically felt her heart freezing. Two forces were fighting within her—one wanted to burst into the room and scream, the other—to run away, hide from this conversation and pretend nothing happened.
“Besides,” Oksana continued. “You understand I can’t provide this apartment for you forever. I’ve got my own plans for it, so you’ll have to move out soon.”
“Does Kira know what you’ve concocted?” Ignat suddenly asked.
“Of course, she knows!” Oksana quickly answered. “Moreover, Kira herself asked me about it. She knows you still love her. It was her idea with these tickets, and she asked me to play along.”
Silence fell. Olga felt everything inside her swirling. Why is Ignat silent? Is he seriously considering his sister’s proposal?
“What will I tell Olga?” he finally asked quietly.
“Tell her you’ll be helping me at the dacha. We just started a renovation,” Oksana answered so easily, as if it were the most natural solution. “And go to the sea with Kira. It’s simple.”
Olga couldn’t listen anymore. She quietly slipped out of the apartment and, without looking back, hurried away as far as possible.
Her feet led her to a small cozy cafe, where there was almost no one. In the dim light, music played quietly, and outside, it was gradually getting dark. Tired and lost, she sat down at a table by the window and mechanically ordered vanilla cocoa. A jumble of thoughts prevented her from focusing on anything—one piece of conversation heard at home didn’t give her peace.
Again and again, she replayed Oksana’s words in her head, trying to understand how it was even possible—how could her husband have hidden the truth from her for so long? How could he keep silent about once planning to marry another woman? And even a friend of his sister! Olga felt betrayed, but even more, she was tormented by resentment. Was her own life, her marriage—just revenge for the past? She thought Ignat had chosen her with his heart, but it turned out that there were entirely different motives behind it. However, unlike Ignat, she refused even to sit in a cafe with Pavel, not to mention the sea! And she loved her husband with all her heart, forever.
It had already gotten dark outside, and Olga still sat in the cafe, watching the flickering lights through the raindrops streaming down the glass. She hadn’t even touched the cocoa. Time seemed to stand still.
And yet, Ignat hadn’t even called her, hadn’t asked where she was. “Probably getting ready to go to the sea with Kira,” she thought bitterly, “and he doesn’t care at all where I am.”
But reaching for the phone to check the time, she realized it had died.
Olga sighed heavily and decided that she could no longer delay—time to go home. Gathering her courage, she stood up, threw on her coat, and went outside, feeling the cold evening wind chilling her to the bone. Olga walked home, convincing herself with each step that her relationship with Ignat was over. Breaking up was inevitable, and Olga tried to mentally prepare for it.
When she approached the building, her heart felt even heavier. Olga climbed the stairs, slowly turned the key in the lock, and entered the apartment. She was greeted by silence—strange, oppressive. She didn’t hear the usual sounds of the TV or noise from the kitchen. But her attention was drawn to bags that stood in the middle of the room. Ignat was packing his things. “There it is,” she thought, “he’s definitely leaving.”
“What are you doing?” she asked mechanically, although she already knew the answer—now he would say that he was going to Oksana’s dacha. But Ignat unexpectedly said something else:
“Ol, we’re leaving here. I’ve already found an apartment through an ad. For now, it’s temporary, but then we’ll figure out how to get a mortgage.” He paused for a minute and looked at his wife, as if noticing something in her gaze. “And why did you delay? I couldn’t reach you all evening, the phone was unavailable. Did you also take a side job?”
Olga couldn’t believe her ears. Everything she wanted to say to him, all the words she had prepared, suddenly lost their meaning. She nodded uncertainly, not knowing how to react to what was happening.
“We’re leaving?” she asked quietly, still not fully understanding.
Ignat, sensing her confusion, came closer, trying to explain:
“We had a bit of a row with Oksana,” he sighed. “And I decided—enough. I don’t want to depend on her anymore. We need our own place.”
Olga felt her body relax slightly, but this was not the end yet. Her husband paused for a moment, then sighed deeply and sat on the edge of the sofa, inviting her to sit. When she sat down, he briefly recounted his conversation with Oksana.
“I should have told you earlier,” he added, lowering his voice slightly. “I did have a romance with Kira. And yes, I married you to spite her. But, Ol, you need to know one thing: all that is in the past. You’re the only one I truly love, and I don’t want to lose you.”
Olga listened to him, and gradually, relief came over her heart. Of course, the pain from the deceit and the unspoken remained, but it was important that now they could finally talk openly.
“Sorry I didn’t tell you about everything earlier,” Ignat said quietly, lowering his head. “Just… When you told me you were going to marry Pavel, I thought my story would be inappropriate, as it was exactly the same. And then I just didn’t want to talk about it.”
Olga sighed, feeling tears welling up in her eyes. But these were tears of relief.
“Alright,” she exhaled, “What’s done is done. You said you rented an apartment?”
“Yes,” Ignat nodded, “For now, temporarily, but we’ll have our own corner. Without Oksana, without her interference. We’ll manage, I promise. And then we’ll take a mortgage, do everything right.”
Olga nodded. She felt this was the right path. Finally, they would live for themselves, without regard to other people’s plans and advice, not always appropriate.
“Well then,” Ignat smiled, “Shall we get ready?”
Olga nodded again, unable to say a word. All she had left was to believe that now their life would really go on a new path, without looking back at the past, which should always be left behind