Will you stay at your parents’ tonight?” her husband asked casually. “We need to free up the apartment.”
Sveta smiled and nodded.
Another woman in her place might have demanded an explanation or at least asked why her husband needed the apartment for the evening.
But it was Sveta and Igor’s wedding anniversary, and she thought he was planning a surprise. So she easily agreed.
At work, the woman shared her joy with a friend.
“What are you doing this evening? Maybe we can sit in a café?” asked Sveta.
“Wow, he’s letting you out? Usually, you rush home.”
“He’s preparing a surprise for me today, asked me to come home after ten.”
“Are you sure? I haven’t noticed him being the romantic type.”
“Of course, I’m sure. Why else would he kick me out for the whole evening?”
“Do you want me to tell you what I really think, or would you prefer a lighter version?” Her friend didn’t want to upset Sveta.
But sometimes she was too trusting and let her mother-in-law and husband take advantage of her.
“Why do you need to tell me anything? Igor was right, you’re just jealous! Jealous of our happiness…”
“And when did he manage to say that?” her friend couldn’t hold back. She was always on Sveta’s side and tried to reason with her. “Was it when he came home drunk and made you cry?”
Or maybe when your mother-in-law kicked you out because you forgot she doesn’t eat sweets and brought a big cake?
“What does it matter,” Sveta scoffed. “You’re jealous, and that’s a fact. Even now, you can’t be happy for me, you only ruin the mood.”
I’d go to my parents’, had I known, I wouldn’t even have told you.
“Sure, sure,” her friend replied.
Sveta was on pins and needles all day, eagerly anticipating the surprise and the long-awaited gift. She was sure Igor had prepared it. Otherwise, why all this?
“Probably he’ll blow up balloons, light candles…” she dreamily thought.
After work, Sveta went to her parents’. Approaching the house, she heard shouting from an open window—her mom and dad were arguing again.
The reason was known—her father had likely gambled away his paycheck—she thought and decided against going to her parents. She didn’t want to spoil her mood.
“I’ll just sit under the windows; he won’t even notice me,” she decided and went home.
Sveta approached her building, sat on a bench from which she could clearly see their window, and waited.
The weather was overcast, and it got dark early. Lights came on in the windows and the woman stared intently at her window, fantasizing about what interesting thing awaited her there.
A figure appeared in the window, a woman… Beautiful figure, long hair…
Sveta jumped up. She was ready to endure anything but not infidelity.
A minute later, she burst into her apartment, ran into the room… grabbed the “intruder” by the hair. She screamed shrilly.
Another second passed.
A man grabbed Sveta and tried to pull her away, but she resisted and continued to scream.
She didn’t realize how much time had passed until she had managed to throw the rival’s shoes out the window, tear the dress lying on the floor, and slap the unfamiliar man.
Sveta came to her senses only when she saw the face of the “intruder”—it was her mother-in-law.
“Valeriya Viktorovna?” her voice sounded quiet, even frightened. “What are you doing here?”
The unfamiliar man was already putting on his clothes, quickly moving towards the exit.
“What are you doing here?” her mother-in-law shouted. “You ruined everything! How dare you?!”
“Valeriya Viktorovna, this is our apartment, what are you doing here?”
“Don’t you understand?” her mother-in-law snapped back, throwing on a robe and gathering her hair into a bun.
“Don’t understand… I’m sorry that I did this to you…” Sveta handed her mother-in-law a clump of hair.
“I’m not forgiving you!” she yelled, locking herself in the bathroom.
Sveta sat down on a kitchen chair. Her thoughts were a mess. So Igor wasn’t preparing a surprise; the apartment was needed by his mother.
But why hadn’t he told her? And where was he himself?
The woman took out her phone and started dialing her husband’s number—only to hear endless ringing.
Her mother-in-law burst out of the bathroom.
“You clean up yourself,” she declared. “And wash the robe next time; it’s unpleasant to wear it dirty.”
And keep the dress, sew it up, it’ll come in handy when Igor kicks you out.
Sveta didn’t even respond, she was too hurt. Her husband had forgotten their anniversary, and that was the only question that bothered her.
She called her friend, the same one she had argued with earlier.
“Lenchik, hello. Sorry for how I treated you today…”
“He didn’t congratulate you, did he?” she sighed. “I’m not surprised. Come over, tell me everything.”
An hour later, Sveta sat in her friend’s kitchen and cried, recounting her adventures.
Lena rolled on the floor laughing.
“Why couldn’t your mother-in-law take her home?”
“She has a husband at home; how could she bring someone?” Sveta realized just then.
“Listen, this is your way out. You said Igor only listens to his mommy, right?”
“Well.”
“Then get him through mommy. Let her be nervous too. Honestly, though, you’d be better off leaving him.”
“How can I leave? We’ve been together for three years.”
“Then talk to your mother-in-law, scare her that you’ll tell your husband everything. Get your phone, we’ll sort this out right now.”
Sveta took out her phone, and Lena quickly sent a message to her mother-in-law. She called back within a minute.
“I didn’t think you were like this…” she grumbled. “What do you want, speak up, don’t drag it out, or soon Gena will be home from work.”
Sveta quickly said that she wanted a gift for their anniversary.
Her mother-in-law grumbled for a long time but eventually agreed. She had no choice, her husband fully supported Valeriya and often helped Igor.
And if he found out the truth, he would at least stop the funding. At most, he would take the apartment from Igor, and kick out Valeriya.
“Quick, get the gift and go home!” her mother yelled at Igor.
“What gift, mom? I sometimes can’t stand to look at her!”
“But your father wants grandchildren, so try to do everything to keep your wife quiet. Smile at her more.”
“Mom, I was planning to file for divorce, Liz and I…”
“Forget about Liz! Your Sveta knows everything and if she tells dad, we’ll have nothing!”
I asked you to make sure she wouldn’t be home until ten, but you couldn’t handle it, so now you solve the problem!
“It still has to be proven that she didn’t make it up.”
“She will provide my dress as evidence. And if Gena doubts, she will definitely find proof.”
“Mom, you yourself said she’s not from our circle…”
“I’ve told you everything!”
Sveta returned home, and there was Igor with flowers and a gift. It was nice, but still, something nasty remained inside.
The next day at work, Sveta shared her impressions.
“Yes, there were flowers and a gift, but it turns out I forced him, you see?”
“I understand, but it wasn’t you who forced him, it was your mother-in-law.”
“He was making compliments yesterday, smiling, but it felt so disgusting to me.”
“Well, friend, you can’t be pleased. First, you want a gift and a surprise, then you don’t. While you have the chance, take full advantage of it.”
Sveta listened to her friend’s advice. Now Igor picked her up from work, went shopping with her, carried heavy grocery bags. Sometimes he even cooked himself. The husband seemed to have been replaced. Even during the first months after their wedding, he wasn’t so tender and helpful.
Sveta no longer crossed paths with her mother-in-law; she avoided any interaction. Although Sveta still noticed that her husband’s mom was at their home in her absence—the young hostess’s robe sometimes carelessly lay on the bed.
“Here’s your payback! As if she doesn’t have her own clothes. She could bring her own stuff, why be shy now…” Sveta grimly noted to herself and went to sleep in the living room.
She didn’t want to stay in their apartment with her husband, let alone meet with her in-laws. She decided to talk to Igor.
“Tell your mom to stop this. It’s unpleasant for me!”
“Tell her yourself,” the man said indifferently. “My mom gives me money so that I don’t interfere in her life. She can’t be dragging herself to hotels.”
“Talk to your father, don’t you feel sorry for him at all?”
“Do you want the funding to stop? If dad finds out the truth, we’ll be thrown out of the apartment, my store will close immediately.”
Dad won’t spare me or mom.
“And you feel sorry? Mom always warns when she’ll come; you’re at work at that time.”
“I feel sorry for myself, that I have to endure all this, sorry for your father, that he doesn’t know anything. Tomorrow we go to his anniversary, how will I look him in the eye?”
“You have everything you want. Isn’t that enough? Or do you think I enjoyed spending so much money on you? If you want to receive gifts, keep quiet.”
Sveta bit her tongue but did not give up on the idea of telling her father-in-law. He had to know.
“Tell him,” her friend, as always, advised. “You’ll lose your home, husband, and gifts. You’ll return to your parents. Forgot how it was living with them. Do you need this?”
“I can’t take it anymore. I’m even going to his anniversary today.”
“Then ask your mother-in-law for more money first, and then tell. Just keep in mind, your father-in-law might not believe you. Gather evidence first.”
Sveta remembered the advice and set about implementing it. She took a leave of absence and every day sat opposite the house, watching at what times and on which days her mother-in-law would come.
She asked for money, as her friend had advised. But since the amount was substantial, her mother-in-law asked her to wait a few days.
Relations with Igor deteriorated further. Although he tried to be polite, Sveta felt the cold between them. And only now did she realize that they had no future.
The woman received a transfer from her mother-in-law and smiled. She would have the money to buy, albeit small, her own apartment.
Gennadiy Petrovich, Igor’s father and Valeriya’s husband, received an SMS from his daughter-in-law and got ready.
“Gennadiy Petrovich, what about the meeting?”
“Move it to tomorrow, the daughter-in-law is calling for tea, probably something important. They don’t invite me just like that,” the man hoped for news about grandchildren.
On the way, he stopped at a flower shop, bought a bouquet for his daughter-in-law.
He drove up to the house, entered the apartment. Sveta tried—before the father-in-law’s arrival, she opened the front door, leaving it ajar…
The daughter-in-law sat on her favorite bench and watched…
Ten minutes after the father-in-law entered the building, he flew out of it like a cork from a bottle. Jumped into his car and hit the gas.
Sveta hurried into the apartment.
“It’s you!” her mother-in-law attacked her at the threshold. “Return the money! You’ve ruined my life!”
“Consider it payment for all the humiliation I had to endure all these years living with your son.
Now, excuse me, I need to pack my things. You can keep my robe; I think you’ll need it now!”
Sveta left with her suitcase, having already rented an apartment and filed for divorce.
Igor and his mother lost everything. The girl left him when she found out his store went bankrupt.
And Gennadiy sold his business and moved away to avoid seeing the traitors. Valeriya received nothing, as the business was registered to his own brother—the only person he could trust.