He just used me. It’s like my eyes finally opened. Why didn’t I notice anything before? I was probably too naive. I trusted people too much. Now I’ll be more cautious. For some reason I thought something like this could happen to anyone—just not to me. But no: it turns out no one is safe.
Until recently my husband and I lived in my apartment. My parents gave it to me before the wedding. It’s a very nice place, almost in the city center, though a bit small for the two of us. Kolya kept telling me that one day we’d buy a bigger apartment, maybe even build a house… In short, he was feeding me lines. He painted it all in vivid colors—how he’d find a different job, how we’d save up, and… Basically he convinced me he felt awkward living in my apartment and that it wouldn’t be like that forever. In reality he felt perfectly fine. He was a “hard worker” only in words. In life he didn’t lift a finger to make his dreams come true. To be honest, I think my apartment was the limit of his ambitions. And there he decided to do his very best.
I thought everything was good between us. We never even quarreled. We lived, it seemed, soul to soul. We supported each other in everything. We told each other everything that was on our minds. Everything—but not everything, as it turned out… I thought I had found the man of my dreams. He was so caring, so charming. I had only to think of something and he was ready to fulfill my wish. He did everything he could to make sure I needed nothing—to have me dressed in silk and eating off almost golden dishes. Now I understand what all that was for.
My friends envied me. Their husbands didn’t devote as much time to them as my Kolya devoted to me. We were always going somewhere together: parks, rides, the movies… Just like teenagers. I thought: how wonderful that the fire hasn’t gone out for us, the way it does for many after the wedding. I lived and rejoiced. When I should have been using my head…
So it turns out there was a reason he courted me like that. He indulged my every whim. He had one thing on his mind the whole time… When I think back on it now, it even scares me: how can someone be such a hypocrite? Was there really not a drop of sincerity in him all that time? Were our relations just a game to him from start to finish? However I tried to talk myself out of it, there was nothing left but to admit he was simply a fraud and a heartless person.
And yet nothing foreshadowed trouble. There was peace and harmony in our family—or so it seemed to me. In reality, the whole time he was hatching his cunning plans.
Kolya was working at a coffee shop then, and I was an administrator at a gym. As it happened, I earned more than he did, and that suited Kolya perfectly. As far as I understand, the coffee shop where he worked wasn’t very popular; almost no one went there, so Kolya was basically idle all day. If he’d wanted to, he could have found another job—there’s no shortage of work in our city. But he didn’t need anything; he’d already found a way to make money… For the time being I knew nothing about that “way.”
Most of the expenses fell on me. Kolya promised it wouldn’t always be like that, that one day he’d get a better job… But that was just talk for talk’s sake. He was perfectly comfortable sitting on my neck. We had a joint budget, and he didn’t hesitate to buy, without asking me, front-row tickets to some match—tickets for himself and his friends. He said he sometimes really needed to unwind, that if he didn’t rest properly he wouldn’t be able to work. Of course, of course—he was practically breaking his back at work.
Otherwise—if you didn’t touch the money issues—everything seemed wonderful between us… Seemed. Only the point is, you can never leave money matters aside. Sometimes that’s exactly where a person shows who they are.
Naive as I was, I still started to suspect something. It began when I found a hairbrush in our apartment. It wasn’t mine—I was sure of that. Before, it would never have crossed my mind to doubt my husband’s fidelity. I thought he was still madly in love with me. And then—there you go: a stranger’s hairbrush. I couldn’t recover from that discovery for a long time.
What could I think? That my husband had decided to try his hand at hairdressing? Of course not. The answer suggested itself: my husband was bringing someone home while I was at work. I didn’t tell Kolya about my find. I kept doubting, not wanting to believe it. He was still as gentle and tender with me as ever, and look how it turned out… My gentle, tender beast.
“How does he have the conscience for this?” I thought. I didn’t realize he simply had none. I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to be one hundred percent sure… If I told him about the hairbrush, he’d think up something and be more careful in the future. I wanted to catch him red-handed. For several days I kept wondering what to do, wavering.
Then one day I was sitting on the couch reading when I noticed a long black hair on the backrest. “No, that’s too much,” I told myself. I didn’t want to live in uncertainty. I needed to figure it all out myself, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night. I can’t imagine how you can live under one roof with someone who’s deceiving you. Right—can’t imagine it, yet there I was, living with an ordinary swindler.
To find out exactly whom my husband was bringing home, I decided to install hidden cameras. When everything was ready, I started to wait. Every day I reviewed the footage but didn’t notice anything suspicious. I was already thinking of abandoning the idea: “What if Kolya accidentally notices the cameras… What then?” I probably would have removed them, but an inner voice asked me to wait a little longer… So I listened. And not in vain. Before long I finally saw something interesting. The bird had flown into the cage; all that remained was to slam the door.
One time, watching the recordings, instead of a young beauty I saw an elderly woman. At first I didn’t understand. The next moment it dawned on me that I knew this woman very well—too well. It was my dear mother-in-law. She didn’t come alone; Kolya was with her.
At first I even felt calmer: “The main thing is he’s faithful to me. How could I ever have suspected him of anything?” I was already about to turn off the recording—I figured Kolya had just invited his mother over; what of it? He knows she and I don’t have the best relationship, so he decided to spare me the need to smile at her and pour her tea… But what I heard made me flinch (I hadn’t only installed cameras—I’d wired the place for sound too; I prepared for everything and, as it turned out, not in vain).
“I’ll send my wife on vacation, and I’ll sell her apartment myself—I’ve already found buyers,” I overheard my husband say.
I replayed that fragment several times. My eyes practically popped out of my head. “And this is my Kolya saying that? The very Kolya who swore to love and be faithful to me? He wants to wrap me around his finger like that? Oh no, darling, my love—you picked the wrong one; that trick won’t work on me.)”
From my mother-in-law’s reaction I understood she was delighted by his plan. I knew, of course, that she had it in for me, but this… This was a real conspiracy. And how long, I wonder, had they been planning it? Maybe Kolya met me on purpose, just to get my apartment? What if he has a whole scheme going? Maybe he’s courting someone else at the same time?
I had to act; I couldn’t leave it like that. I really was planning to take a vacation soon. I was thinking of spending it with my folks in the village, but Kolya suggested I go to the sea. He found everything himself and paid for it himself. He had never tried so hard for me. He had never been so accommodating, so caring.
He went on and on about how good it would be for me there—about the beaches, the air… I agreed to everything and thanked him. And he kept waving it off: no thanks needed, that’s what a husband is for—to make his wife happy. I’d been away from the sea too long, always working and working; time I gave myself a break. I just nodded in response.
He really did make an effort: he booked a room in a four-star hotel just a hundred meters from the sea. A dream vacation, I thought. And not just for a week—he was sending me for the full two.
In those last days we lived under the same roof, I marveled at his acting talent. He was the picture of attentiveness—the perfect husband… I was constantly afraid he would somehow find out that I knew… Of course I removed the cameras once I had learned what I needed to.
Even my mother-in-law started treating me better in those last days. She came over with pies, imagine. Told me how wonderful I was, how lucky her son was to have me. “Well,” I thought, “no, not a chance. Your son wasn’t lucky to have me. You won’t lead me by the nose anymore.”
And then one day, when, as usual, after showering me with sweet words, he finally left for his shift (before that he had decided to give himself a vacation so nothing would distract him from carrying out his plan), I called a locksmith and changed the locks. Right after that I felt much calmer. He would never set foot in my apartment again. I rejoiced that I had outsmarted him. All this time, of course, he thought he could just play me, that I wouldn’t notice what he was doing right under my nose. He probably thought himself very clever—a great schemer. Well, I’m no fool either.
When he came back and tried to open the door, he was probably very surprised. I’m only sorry I didn’t see his eyes. He started knocking and ringing, asking what was going on. I didn’t hide anything from him. I told him straight: I know what you were planning, and I know it’s not going to work. Of course he pretended he had no idea what I was talking about. He asked me to open up so we could discuss everything… Maybe there’d been some misunderstanding… But what misunderstanding can there be when I have a recording of his words? He pleaded with me, begged me, and I just laughed at him. Imagine the lengths he was ready to go to get my apartment. He told me fairy tales again and again about how he loved me and couldn’t live without me. At first I listened, then I stopped—I turned the music up, took some ice cream, and went out on the balcony to enjoy the first days of summer. When I came back a couple of hours later, he was still at the door, rasping something.
No, I didn’t feel sorry for him. Let his mother feel sorry for him—I won’t. All I had left were a few formalities to settle so we could officially split up. And I took care of them. It turned out to be quite simple. After everything was done, I felt free. And, finally, safe.
Before long I went to the sea. In only one thing was my ex-husband right: I do love the sea very much, and I hadn’t been there in ages. Always working and working—it really was time to relax a little. In the end I think I earned it.
I don’t know what will happen to Kolya next, and I don’t much care. The main thing is that he keeps his distance. I don’t want to see him again. I hope he’s biting his elbows now and waiting for his next paycheck. He’s lucky he got off so easily. Let him know: I’m not one to be trifled with.
From now on I’ll be more careful. I hope I’ll learn to trust people again. After everything that happened to me, I can’t be completely sure about anyone. Everyone seems too suspicious. I won’t be telling anyone I own an apartment anymore. I hope I’ll still find someone who will love me for who I am, not for what I have…
Now I know how important it is sometimes to take the first step—to avoid living in doubt, to keep from being deceived. The main thing is not to be afraid and to start acting, to make decisions, to take your fate into your own hands—then no Kolya and no mother-in-law will frighten you.