“Lilia, you don’t even do anything, you’re home with the child all the time,” Lilia’s mother-in-law, Anna Leonidovna, kept repeating. “Surely it’s not that hard for you, so young and energetic, to do what I ask? It’s not like I’m asking that much of you. We’re one family now, and you, forgive me, behave like a stranger!”
“I’ve got more than enough of my own things to do! With a small child you don’t get to just sit still. And you know that perfectly well, but you still keep asking me for things,” the daughter-in-law answered boldly.
“Oh, stop it, that’s all just words, you’ll do it and you won’t keel over,” the mother-in-law droned on.
“I don’t have time,” the young wife insisted.
“Buy me some groceries, I sent you the list by text,” she would call in the morning, ignoring Lilia’s refusals.
“No, I’m about to take Nikita to the children’s clinic,” Lilia replied irritably.
“There you go! You can stop by the store on the way. You’ll buy everything I need. And in the evening Slavik will bring it over. It’s all simple, and you’re making such a fuss again,” the mother-in-law argued. “With this cold of mine, the last thing I need is dragging myself around the shops!”
“Nothing will happen to you, you’ll just get a little walk. Walking is good for you. But it’s really inconvenient for me. And I am not going to wander around the supermarket with a little, not entirely healthy child.”
“Why are you making a problem out of this, Lilia? You’ll spend ten minutes on everything, no more,” the mother-in-law wouldn’t back off. “And still you’re making a scene.”
In the end, the daughter-in-law still refused, and Anna Leonidovna got angry and complained to her son about his heartless wife.
“Lil, Mom asked you to come over today. She needs help—wash the windows before the holiday. Will you go? I’ll stay with Nikita,” Vyacheslav once surprised his wife.
“Oh, sure, why not! And who’s going to wash ours? Your mother or Pushkin? I haven’t even started cleaning our apartment yet—one thing after another keeps coming up. Like I don’t have enough of my own worries? Why is your mother constantly clinging to me? Let her call a cleaning service. Or wash them herself—she’s not some grand lady! And she’s not a hundred-year-old granny either.”
“Come on, Lil, just go, I’m asking you! She’ll chew my ear off afterwards, she’ll never stop nagging,” the husband pleaded.
“No. I said I’m not going,” Lilia remained unshakable.
Next time, her mother-in-law came up with a new job for her.
“Lilichka, I’ve got a built-in wardrobe, you know, a huge one, full of clothes. And it’s all, by the way, expensive and branded. In good condition and good quality. I don’t wear a lot of it anymore. Maybe you could come over and help me sort through it all. And whatever you like, you can take for yourself, wear it,” Anna Leonidovna decided to lure her daughter-in-law in with a little trick.
“Oh, sure! I don’t wear other people’s clothes, especially old-lady clothes. I’ve got enough of my own.”
“Who are you calling an old lady?” the mother-in-law immediately took offense. “I’ll have you know I’m just over fifty. And I still look very young. Absolutely everyone tells me that. And I feel like I’m thirty… five,” she added after a slight pause. “Well, forty at most. And you behave with no respect toward me. I’ve told my son about that more than once…”
“Of course you have!” the daughter-in-law cut her off sharply. “Tell me more fairy tales! No need to be shy, say it straight—you feel like you’re eighteen! If that were true, you wouldn’t keep pestering me with your eternal whining about needing help, always saying you feel unwell. I’m not coming over, you can dig through your rags yourself.”
“Lilia, you’re rude and tactless. What kind of upbringing did you have? No respect at all for the person who gave life to your beloved husband!”
“Why not? I do have respect. I’m just used to telling the truth to people’s faces.”
Any such squabble ended with Anna Leonidovna calling her son and complaining at length about her lonely and oh-so-unhappy life.
Lilia’s mother-in-law really was alone. A few years earlier her husband had left her and gone to a colleague. And contrary to the usual cliché, it wasn’t for a young, bold blonde. The man preferred to his lawful wife of twenty years a woman a little older than himself—quiet and cozy. And completely nondescript, in his ex-wife’s opinion.
For a long time she couldn’t figure out what had happened to her husband. Anna Leonidovna even went to his office and met his new chosen one. She wanted to understand what was so extraordinary about a woman who was a few years older than both him and Anna herself.
But the rival was ordinary! A gray, inconspicuous mouse who didn’t stand out from the faceless crowd at all. Even her hands weren’t well kept. That colleague didn’t have an exquisite manicure that turned fingers into thin, delicate fairy hands. Astonished and utterly crushed, Anna couldn’t understand anything, comparing her well-groomed looks and hands with what she saw in front of her. She couldn’t wrap her head around why the rival didn’t care that her hands looked like a man’s. And that her brows were thick and uneven, and her hair, roughly cut and badly dyed, had long been crying out for a trip to the beauty salon.
Anna, who had zealously watched her appearance all her conscious life, was clearly in turmoil at that moment.
She walked out of the office where her husband worked in a daze. Something in her head had snapped, her usual pattern collapsed. The woman couldn’t grasp how it was possible that her husband had chosen THAT one over her!
Three years after he left the family, their son decided to get married. Anna, still not fully recovered from her loved one’s betrayal, was not at all ready for complete loneliness. At first she even tried to talk her son out of the marriage.
“Mom, come on, really? It’s a done deal, Lilia and I love each other. The wedding date is already set. How much longer are we supposed to put it off?”
“Well, maybe at least you’ll live with me?” she tried to persuade her son.
“Oh no. That’s unlikely. Lilia will be against it. She told me right away that we’d only live separately from our parents,” Slava replied.
And now, after the birth of her grandson, when her son stopped giving his mother enough attention, she began to play the pity card, constantly asking the young couple for some kind of help.
And more than anything, she wanted to feel once again like the center of attention, to be the one steering everything. Just like in that old life, when both husband and son were around, fulfilling her every wish and whim.
“Slavik, call Lilia for me, I’ve got an urgent matter for her,” his mother phoned, deciding this time to resort to cunning.
“I’m listening,” the daughter-in-law answered irritably; she was busy with her little son at that very moment.
“Lilia, come over to me today after Slava gets back from work,” she began softly.
“Why?!” the daughter-in-law asked with annoyance.
“I’m sick. I feel really bad… My head is spinning and my blood pressure is through the roof. And I’m having heart problems too, it hurts.”
“Call a doctor. What do I have to do with it?”
“I’ve called one. I have… She prescribed a whole bunch of medicine. It all needs to be bought and brought over,” Anna Leonidovna went on, almost crying.
“These days you can order medicine delivered to your home. Use that service and you’ll be fine.”
“Lilia, why are you so heartless! I’m asking you—come see me. I so need some human warmth, some company. If you stay with me five or ten minutes, I’ll feel better right away. Well?”
“Let your son come,” Lilia refused to give in.
“Slavik doesn’t know how to give injections. And I need a shot. Come, I’m waiting!”
The mother-in-law hung up, and Lilia told her husband exactly what she thought of his mother—plainly and without softening anything.
But in the evening, when Vyacheslav came home from work, she still decided to walk over to her mother-in-law’s. The weather was wonderful, after all. And she wanted a break from household chores and worries.
On the way she dropped by the pharmacy and bought everything her husband’s mother needed. As usual, the mother-in-law had sent the list to her phone.
But when Lilia walked into the apartment, at first she wanted to loudly express her outrage. To let her emotions loose. Then she changed her mind and decided to see how it would all end.
Her mother-in-law was sitting at the table in the living room, surrounded by two of her long-time friends, laughing loudly and discussing something with them.
“Oh, Lilichka is here. Good girl! What have you got in the bag? Medicine, did you buy everything from the list? Good, put it over there on the chest of drawers,” the “sick” mother-in-law said briskly.
“I see you’re already feeling better? And I suppose there’s no need for a shot anymore?” the daughter-in-law asked in surprise.
“Oh, what are you talking about? Of course not! Better, my foot! I just decided to sit a bit with my friends—they rarely manage to make it over to me. And the illness isn’t going anywhere. We can treat it tomorrow.”
“What a wonderful philosophy!” Lilia smiled coldly. “I wish you a pleasant evening. I’m leaving.”
“Where?” the mother-in-law shouted. “Where do you think you’re going? And who’s going to set the table for us? Chop the salads, slice the cheese and sausage? Come on, get yourself into the kitchen and get to work. Toast the bread for my favorite sandwiches. Wash and chop the greens. You can see I’ve got guests, I don’t have time, and I’m not feeling well. Don’t just stand there like a post, move it,” she barked in a commanding tone.
“What!?” Lilia gasped with indignation. “Oh no! That’s not what we agreed on! And you can keep your orders to yourself. They don’t work on me. I came here solely because I believed you were sick. But I see you’re perfectly fine and in your usual mode. So I’m leaving, and you enjoy yourselves. Just don’t drink too much, or your blood pressure will shoot up again.”
Ignoring her mother-in-law’s outrage, Lilia left, slamming the door loudly.
“Well, Anya, looks like we’ll be setting the table and cooking by ourselves. Your daughter-in-law ditched you? You really are a storyteller! And we actually believed you that she’d rush over and start waiting on you hand and foot. Lilechka put you in your place. Serves you right—no need to show off, darling!”
“Just look at that temper again,” Anna Leonidovna grumbled. “She’s got such a difficult character, not an easy one. Well, I’ll talk to her later, I’ll teach her how she should respect her mother-in-law.”
“Come on, get up, stop pretending you’re half-dead. We don’t need this little performance. We’ll set the table ourselves. It’s not like we got together for nothing, did we?” her friends said cheerfully