“I’m going to live with my son from now on. You can sleep on the couch in the kitchen, Tatyana, and I’ll take the bedroom. The orthopedic mattress is in there,” her mother-in-law said with a satisfied smile.
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“I’ll take your shampoo too. Nice one. Must be expensive!” her mother-in-law added without even asking, grabbing the elegant bottle from the shelf.
“Go ahead,” Tanya muttered. “You use my things in secret anyway.”
Lyudmila Vasilievna turned around and fixed her daughter-in-law with that signature icy stare of hers.
“In secret? Really? So now you’re accusing me? You waste my water, my electricity, and now you’re begrudging me a few drops of shampoo? Get out of the bathroom. You’ve been hiding in here for an hour again. I need to get ready!”
She tugged impatiently at Tanya’s robe sleeve.
Lyudmila Vasilievna nearly ripped the bathroom door off its hinges in her rush to shove Tanya out.
“I’m so sick of all this,” the young woman exhaled helplessly as she walked back to the bedroom.
Tanya had been hurried so much that she barely even understood whether she had actually managed to shower or not.
Once again, she thought how exhausted she was from always washing in a rush, counting every drop of water, every watt of electricity, every breath she took. Her mother-in-law constantly monitored her spending and found fault with everything. It had even gotten to the point where Lyudmila checked Tanya’s supermarket receipts and recalculated the totals, as if she expected to catch her in a lie.
But Tanya’s patience was not endless. She had no intention of living like this any longer.
She and her husband Kostya had met exactly a year earlier at a mutual friend’s birthday party. At first Tanya barely noticed him, but Kostya had immediately been drawn to the beautiful blonde with big blue eyes.
Their romance moved quickly. Kostya won Tanya over, and just a month into their relationship he proposed. Tanya agreed, but there was one problem: they had nowhere to live.
That was when his parents stepped in.
Kostya’s father, Viktor, was a good man, but he was rarely home because he worked in the far north. His mother, Lyudmila Vasilievna, hadn’t made a bad impression on Tanya at first. Quite the opposite — she seemed practical, organized, and full of domestic energy.
Lyudmila cooked wonderfully, scolded her son for eating in cafés, and ran the household with iron efficiency. After their first meeting, she herself suggested that Kostya and Tanya move into her apartment.
“Why not? I live alone anyway. The place feels empty whenever Vitya leaves, and I’m bored to death. You two are young, you’ll go to work, and I’ll take care of the house for you. Like your own live-in housekeeper,” Lyudmila had said cheerfully.
Tanya had shrugged.
“It feels awkward somehow.”
“Don’t worry. I won’t interfere in your lives,” Lyudmila promised firmly.
As Tanya got ready for work now, she almost laughed remembering that conversation from a year ago.
Her mother-in-law had been the first to break that promise.
She inserted herself into Tanya and Kostya’s life so aggressively that it soon became impossible to ignore. Constant criticism turned into a daily ritual. Lyudmila considered it her duty to buzz around Tanya like a mosquito every time the young woman came into view.
Tanya got dressed, sent her husband a message saying she had a surprise for him that evening, and stepped out of the room.
In the hallway she ran into Lyudmila Vasilievna. The older woman strutted forward like a queen, a towel wrapped around her head like a turban. She tossed Tanya’s empty shampoo bottle into the trash.
“Where do you think you’re all dressed up for? You eat from my fridge and spend my pension on your beauty routine! How my son puts up with you, I’ll never understand,” Lyudmila rasped, looking Tanya over coldly.
“How can you even say that?” Tanya shot back. “I work. Kostya works too. And we have our own shelf in the refrigerator.”
“The refrigerator itself is mine, and there’s definitely nothing of yours here,” Lyudmila snapped. “That precious ‘shelf’ only appeared a month ago, and you’ve been living here for a year. I spare nothing for my son, but you — you’re wasteful and frivolous. If only I had seen through you earlier…”
Her words stung. Tanya worked, paid her way, and did not rely on her husband for support. In fact, everything between her and Kostya would have been fine if not for the housing issue.
“You shouldn’t have invited us to live with you if you’re this impossible! No wonder your husband ran off to the ends of the earth!” Tanya fired back.
“What? How dare you talk to me like that? I’ll tell my son everything!” Lyudmila roared.
“Go ahead,” Tanya said. “And buy me a new shampoo while you’re at it. You were right — it is expensive. Starting today, you’re not touching my things anymore.”
With that, she turned and walked away, her heels striking the floor sharply.
That evening Tanya and Kostya came home later than usual because she had convinced him to celebrate their anniversary at a restaurant.
“Tanyusha, there’s plenty of food at home,” Kostya said.
“I don’t want your mother sitting there like an owl, watching whether I chew her pasta properly,” Tanya snapped.
“You’re exaggerating,” he said, shaking his head. “She called me today and told me how you yelled at her. Tanya, can’t the two of you just get along?”
Tanya told him her version of events. Kostya asked her to make peace with his mother.
“Tanya, we’re living in her home after all. Otherwise we’d be renting some tiny one-bedroom flat on the outskirts, spending hours getting to work, stuck in traffic every day. And my mother helps us save money. We’ve already put aside enough for half the down payment.”
His words sounded reasonable. But Tanya had no desire to spend another year — or more — under Lyudmila Vasilievna’s iron rule.
“Kostya, we already have savings, like you said. Let’s just take out a mortgage now. Why wait another year?” she asked.
“Tanyusha, come on. And then tomorrow you’ll say the clock is ticking and we need to think about children. Which, honestly, we do,” he said, scratching the back of his head. “Let’s not rush. We live with Mom. Everything’s taken care of.”
“We pay the utilities. And we buy groceries.”
“Still, Mom knows how to run a household,” he replied. “Tanya, let’s just hold on a little longer. What happens if we buy now and then you go on maternity leave? I’ll be the only one bringing money in. No, let’s do things gradually.”
“I could ask my parents for help,” Tanya offered.
“I don’t want to owe them anything,” Kostya cut in.
He begged her not to argue on their special day.
Lyudmila doted on her son, but Tanya endured everything for his sake — and for the sake of the apartment they hoped to have one day.
After the shampoo incident, Lyudmila seemed to quiet down for a while. But a week later, mother-in-law and daughter-in-law erupted into another massive scandal.
Kostya had fallen ill, and his vigilant mother immediately knew who to blame.
He was taken to the hospital after an attack, and the women were still arguing outside his room.
“You feed him nothing but junk food! Not only do you never cook, hiding behind your job, but you don’t even let him eat my food! Look at the result of your so-called love! In one year you’ve brought my son to this — what next?” Lyudmila shouted shamelessly.
“He was at a corporate party yesterday. He ate something at the restaurant with his colleagues. Several people from his office wrote in the group chat that they got sick too. What does that have to do with my cooking?” Tanya tried to explain.
“I don’t want to hear it! You’re not a wife, you’re an enemy! I hope my son finally realizes who he married and leaves you!” Lyudmila spat.
Kostya was discharged soon after. It turned out Tanya had been right: the poisoning came from the restaurant food at the corporate event.
But even that did nothing to soften his mother. Lyudmila Vasilievna never apologized. As usual, she found a way to keep blaming Tanya.
Later Tanya visited her own mother and once again complained about her mother-in-law’s constant nagging.
“When Viktor is home, she acts normal and forgets all about me. But as soon as he leaves, it starts again. I’m just her lightning rod. She fights with me so she doesn’t explode at her husband or Kostya,” Tanya said bitterly.
“Maybe things between her and her husband aren’t good?” her mother suggested.
Tanya said she didn’t know. She and her mother-in-law weren’t close, and besides, why should Lyudmila’s marital problems excuse anything?
“I can’t live like this, Mom. She loses her mind anytime I tell her the truth. She’s always criticizing me, always lecturing me,” Tanya said aloud.
“I hear the same complaint every single time you visit,” her mother replied. “Take out the mortgage. Work and pay for your own place. Then nobody will show up there to lecture you. Not even me,” she said with a smile.
Tanya admitted her husband didn’t want to. Whether he was uncertain about his job or simply didn’t want the extra responsibility, the fact remained the same. Then Natalya Ivanovna told her daughter that she and her husband were willing to help with the purchase.
When Tanya shared the news with Kostya that they could finally move out, he agreed. He too had grown tired of his mother’s endless instructions.
Lyudmila Vasilievna took the departure of her beloved son hard.
“Your Tanya will ruin you, son! You’ll come crawling back to your mother within six months. You won’t last longer than that with a wife like her!”
“Mom, why would you say that? You should be happy for me,” Kostya tried to calm her.
“There’s nothing to be happy about. A mother’s heart senses trouble. I thought Tanya was decent and would take proper care of you. But the things she said to me — I’m still shocked. She’s sly. Cunning as a fox.”
“Mom, we’ll sort it out ourselves,” Konstantin said firmly.
“Fine. I’ll go stay with your father for a while, then maybe with Sveta. She needs help too. And after that I’ll come inspect your place. I’ll see how your little wife runs a household and takes care of you.”
Still, Lyudmila had plenty to do. Her older daughter had recently given birth to a long-awaited grandson and needed support too.
Kostya and Tanya moved out and started living on their own.
For two whole months Tanya almost forgot what it felt like to be criticized, nitpicked, and dragged into daily arguments.
One evening Tanya was waiting for her husband to come home for dinner. When Kostya arrived, he looked crushed. He sat down at the table without even taking off his jacket.
“Did something happen? Have you been drinking?” Tanya asked, catching the smell on him.
“My parents are getting divorced. Mom’s staying with my sister right now, but there’s barely any room there as it is. I blame myself for her going north and finding out everything,” he said, turning a spoon in his hand.
Disaster had struck his family. Viktor had been unfaithful. After Tanya and Kostya moved out, Lyudmila had gone north and discovered that her husband had been living a double life for years — with no intention of leaving the other family.
“What are you saying, Kostya? He deceived her. She was going to find out sooner or later. This has nothing to do with you,” Tanya said, shaking her head.
“You’re right,” Kostya replied bitterly. “It’s your fault instead. You never loved my mother. You fought with her the entire time. Because of you, she went to my father and found out everything.”
Tanya stared at him in disbelief. Out of nowhere, he had made her the guilty one — and for scandals his mother had started herself.
“That’s enough, Kostya. Tonight you’re sleeping on the couch in the kitchen. And don’t even try talking to me until you apologize,” Tanya snapped.
“Why are you acting like I’m some kind of freeloader here? This is my apartment too! And now we live like cat and dog as well. My mother was right!” he shouted back.
Tanya dropped the ladle onto the table, went into the bedroom, came back with his pillow, and handed it to him. Kostya grabbed his things and stormed out.
The next morning Tanya found him at the district police station. He had been picked up overnight by a patrol.
Kostya begged forgiveness, fell to his knees, said he was sorry. He claimed he didn’t remember what he had said or how he had ended up there.
A week later Tanya came home from work and, as soon as she opened the door, smelled a familiar aroma — chicken broth.
She rushed into the kitchen and froze.
There was Lyudmila Vasilievna, acting like she owned the place. She had thrown all the frozen vegetables out of the freezer and into the garbage. She had started re-washing clean dishes for no reason, then abandoned that halfway through and begun making broth instead.
The kitchen looked like a chaotic canteen, as if several people had been cooking there at once.
“Take your shoes off, princess! You’re not in a mansion. Don’t walk through the apartment in outdoor shoes!” her mother-in-law barked.
“What are you doing here?” Tanya asked through clenched teeth, almost shaking with rage.
“I’m making dinner for my son. Or did you expect him, with his gastritis, to choke down your canned meatballs and instant mashed potatoes?” Lyudmila said, arching a severe brow.
“How did you get a key? I never gave you permission to come here uninvited!”
Tanya was shouting so loudly the entire building probably heard them.
“Lower your voice, you little flirt. This is my son’s apartment. Kostya gave me the key himself. And I didn’t come for no reason. They called me the night you threw him out, and my Kostya was picked up by police like some homeless man. How dare you mistreat my son?” Lyudmila said, crossing her arms and advancing.
Tanya had no intention of explaining why her husband had left that night. She had no desire whatsoever to speak to Lyudmila like a civilized person.
“I came to explain to you that you’re a bad wife for Kostya,” Lyudmila announced in a businesslike tone, striding around the kitchen.
At that moment Tanya remembered every miserable day she had lived in her mother-in-law’s apartment. Every insult came flooding back. Every undeserved accusation.
She had endured it because she believed her husband loved her and that everything between them was strong. But now it turned out that behind her back he had handed his mother a key, fully aware of how badly Tanya and Lyudmila got along.
“No,” Tanya hissed, barely restraining herself from lunging at the woman. “You’re the one who has to get out of here.”
“Oh, really?” Lyudmila grinned maliciously. “I’m living with my son now. Look at this lovely couch. Although, come to think of it, that should be your place, Tatyana. I’ll take the bedroom — the orthopedic mattress is in there.”
“Get out of my apartment,” Tanya said, pointing to the door.
Lyudmila hesitated, taking off her apron and turning down the stove. Tanya strode into the bedroom and swept her mother-in-law’s travel bag off the bed and onto the floor.
“What do you think you’re doing?!” Lyudmila screamed.
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At that very moment, the key turned in the lock. Kostya had come home from work and walked straight into yet another fight.
“Get out. You have no place here. You made my life unbearable in your apartment, and now you’ve come to invade mine too?” Tanya shouted.
“She’s lying!” Lyudmila twisted with anger.
“What is going on here? Mom! Tanya!” Kostya yelled — the very man because of whom this whole mess had started.
The two women began hurling accusations over one another.
“Enough. Tanya, my mother is staying here,” he declared.
“Divorce her, Kostya! She’s stolen your property!” Lyudmila shrieked.
“Kostya,” Tanya asked, tilting her head, “does your mother even know whose apartment this is?”
Konstantin picked the bag up from the floor and quietly told his mother that Tanya was right.
“If it was bought during the marriage, demand your half!” Lyudmila screamed again, but Tanya finally answered.
“The apartment was bought with my money. Part came from my parents. The rest was financed through a loan my mother took out. Neither you nor Kostya has any rights to it.”
Silence fell.
Lyudmila Vasilievna was breathing like a steam engine ready to burst. Kostya just stood there.
“You’re wrong,” he said at last. “I have rights too. I supported you this whole time.”
“Then both of you start packing,” Tanya said, her voice trembling with fury. “Otherwise I’ll make one call, and you’ll both be escorted right back to your registered address.”
It hurt more than she could bear to realize that her Kostya was nothing but a mama’s boy. Only the heel pressing down on him belonged not to a wife — but to his mother.
In a burst of emotion, Kostya left the apartment, took Lyudmila with him, and drove back to his parents’ place.
Naturally, his mother did everything she could to make sure he would not return to Tanya or apologize for giving her the key.
A week of silence passed. Then Kostya received official notice that his wife had filed for divorce. The notification and the copy of the claim were handed to him by his loving mother.
“I told you so! I knew it! Tanya was saving up for an apartment while eating your food and dressing herself with your money! And you never even told me she had fooled you and lured you out of your own home!” Lyudmila kept ranting.
“Mom, we’re a family. No one wins from a divorce. We’ll even have to divide the car,” Kostya said miserably.
“You want to go back to her?” his mother asked, hands on hips.
“Tanya probably won’t forgive me now,” Konstantin said, hanging his head.
He tried to repair the relationship, unwilling to lose his family. But Tanya set one condition: his mother had to stay completely out of their lives — or better yet, he had to cut contact with her altogether.
“Otherwise she’ll climb right back onto our heads,” Tanya told him over the phone.
“Tanya, you’re wrong. You’ve become cold. Is the apartment really more important to you than a lonely living person?” Kostya protested.
“No,” Tanya answered quietly. “What matters more to me is peace. Living without toxic people barging into my life. We simply don’t understand each other anymore, Kostya. Your mother managed to reshape the man I fell in love with.”
The divorce went through.
The car was divided according to the law. As for the apartment, it remained with Tatyana — more precisely, it had belonged to her mother from the beginning.
Tanya slowly started pulling herself back together. She buried herself in work and didn’t even want to think about a new relationship. What happened with Kostya and his mother had shaken her too deeply.
“Everything in its own time,” she kept telling herself.
Kostya stayed with his mother.
But even he could not endure that for long.