— What is going on in my apartment? — the woman exclaimed as she walked in and gasped at what she saw.
After returning to her hometown from an unexpected business trip, Tonya decided to stop by the local cookery shop on the ground floor of their building. She wanted to buy something ready-made for dinner because it was already close to seven in the evening, and Tonya knew she had no time to cook. Besides, she really didn’t feel like standing over the stove. She was dog-tired. That expression described her condition perfectly.
She had spent almost half the day rattling along on a commuter train, listening to the endless stories of her talkative fellow passengers. The elderly women in the carriage were loudly sharing recipes for pickling cabbage and cucumbers, as well as advice on how to put disobedient daughters-in-law in their place.
The journey had been difficult for Tonya. Or perhaps she was simply coming down with something, because all day she had felt aches throughout her body and suffered from chills. Sitting in the train carriage, she dreamed of only one thing—to get home as quickly as possible, lie down, and wrap herself in a warm, soft blanket.
She wasn’t particularly hungry. She simply understood that there ought to be some food at home. At the moment, however, the refrigerator was empty because now there was no one except her to fill it.
The little café where Tonya sometimes bought prepared food smelled pleasantly of pastries and something else that reminded her of childhood. It was warm and comfortable inside. She even stopped for a moment beside the brightly lit display case, admiring the appetizing baked goods carefully arranged behind the glass.
“I’ll have some tea with a sweet bun. Or maybe I should buy a cake instead. Look how many there are—so beautiful and all different. It’s impossible to resist!” Tonya thought as her eyes wandered over the abundance of delicacies decorated with colorful cream, candied fruit, and nuts.
After buying several treats that immediately reminded her of childhood, Tonya went upstairs to her floor.
To her empty apartment.
Yes, that was exactly what it was now.
She and her husband had separated more than a month ago. They had postponed the moment for a long time, hoping that somehow a miracle would happen and that the feelings that had once brought them together would return.
But no miracle happened.
A vase that has been shattered and glued back together cannot hold water anymore. You can no longer put flowers in it. It becomes nothing more than a lifeless vessel, covered in cracks that everyone can see. That was exactly what had happened between Tonya and Nikolai.
Tonya understood everything and could explain many things to herself. She wasn’t stupid. But her heart could not forgive the man she had once loved.
There had been infidelity. That was a fact, and there was no getting around it.
When Nikolai and Tonya had finally become capable of speaking calmly again, he tried to explain that what had happened supposedly wasn’t his fault. According to him, someone had gotten him drunk, seduced him, and put him into bed. He even claimed that he remembered nothing.
But all those explanations were useless now.
Something had broken inside the betrayed woman.
Her husband was suffering, and Tonya could see it.
She, meanwhile, was trying to understand what she herself should do next. After all, she still loved her husband.
She read articles written by famous psychologists and even spoke to a priest. But she never found the strength within herself to forgive someone capable of betraying her.
For the last three months, the spouses had lived like neighbors in this apartment, which belonged to Tonya.
She had not thrown Nikolai out immediately simply because she was a calm person who disliked conflict. She also understood that both of them needed time.
Perhaps a miracle really would happen.
After all, destroying a family was much easier than creating a new one.
Eventually, Nikolai moved in with a single colleague after realizing that Tonya was not going to forgive him.
She wanted to take his keys immediately and end everything once and for all. No more meetings, no more conversations, no more memories.
But Nikolai asked her to let him leave some of his belongings in the apartment.
“Where am I supposed to take all this stuff? Think about it yourself. Once I rent a place, I’ll take everything else. Sergey is already squeezed into a tiny one-room apartment, and now I’m staying with him too. Imagine me showing up there with all my belongings as well. Just for a couple of weeks, okay?” her former husband asked.
“All right,” Tonya replied in an empty voice. “Just please don’t drag it out.”
She did not take Nikolai’s keys away, although that would have been the sensible thing to do. He could easily have collected his belongings while she was present.
That would have been better.
But deep down, Tonya hoped her former husband would take everything while she wasn’t there.
One day she would come home and Nikolai’s things would simply be gone. And it would almost feel as if he had never existed in her life.
It was a strange illusion, a form of self-deception.
Now, as she unlocked the door, Tonya immediately realized that someone had been inside the apartment.
She always locked both locks—the upper and lower one.
Now only the upper lock was secured.
“Nikolai?” flashed through her mind. “Maybe he finally took all his things. Fine. Let it be over.”
But when Antonina stepped inside, she was completely speechless.
“What is going on here?” was all the stunned owner of the apartment managed to say.
There were complete strangers inside her beloved, cozy home.
“Oh, Tonya, hello! Why are you coming home from work so late? We’ve been waiting for you forever. Of course you’re surprised, I understand. I’m surprised myself by everything happening in my life. It’s like some kind of circus! Or perhaps I should call it a performance. Only it’s definitely not a comedy—quite the opposite!” Marina, her former husband’s sister, said with an odd little laugh.
Then she turned toward her children.
“Kids, have you eaten? Go play. Your aunt and I need to talk.”
“Have you lost your mind?” Tonya shouted, finally finding her voice. “Who gave you permission to break into someone else’s apartment? And you brought your young children here too! Do you understand that I’m about to call the police?”
Tonya had already been feeling physically unwell, and after seeing what was happening in her apartment, she felt emotionally overwhelmed too.
Even in her worst nightmare, she could never have imagined that someone might simply enter her apartment without asking permission.
“Don’t get so worked up, Tonya. What’s going to happen to your apartment if the children and I stay here for a couple of days? We can’t sleep out on the street, can we? And I got your keys from Nikolai. Stole them, to put it more accurately.”
“What?” Tonya could barely believe what she was hearing. “You stole the keys from your brother? Marina, are you normal?”
“What? Why are you staring at me like that? Yes, I’m perfectly normal. But sometimes you have to improvise if you want to survive. At first I went to Sergey’s apartment. You know him—he’s from our hometown too. But there’s already no room to move there. It was kind enough of him to take my brother in after you threw him out. He definitely wouldn’t survive having me and the children there as well. And apart from Kolya and you, I don’t have anyone else in this city.”
“Did you leave your husband?” Tonya finally began to understand. “Or did he throw you out?”
“Why would he throw me out? I left him myself! How long am I supposed to tolerate his drunken behavior? He nearly hurt us. So I decided to teach him a lesson. He’ll sober up, and we’ll be gone. He’ll be howling like a wolf. He’ll want to know where we disappeared to! And nobody knows. That’ll teach him not to mistreat his wife and children!” the former sister-in-law continued.
“Marina, those are your problems. Your brother and I are divorced. As you can understand, he doesn’t live here anymore. Nikolai still has my keys only because he hasn’t taken some of his belongings and his computer yet. But you have absolutely no business being here. None whatsoever! We were never friends, and now we certainly aren’t going to become friends.”
“What, you don’t even feel sorry for my children?” Marina declared dramatically. “You used to love them! Or were you just pretending?”
“Don’t hide behind your children. What kind of nonsense is that? They aren’t babies. Your oldest is already in school, as far as I know,” Antonina replied.
She looked toward the children, who were sitting quietly at her table and drawing on expensive printer paper that their shameless mother had generously handed out to them.
“Have you really become so heartless, Tonya? Or were you always like this? No wonder Kolya left you. Serves you right!”
“Let’s leave my former family life out of this. It has absolutely nothing to do with you. You’d be better off thinking about your own life and how to get your husband to take you back. Now you’re going to gather up all the junk you’ve scattered around here and leave,” the owner of the apartment replied sharply.
“Where are we supposed to go? It’ll be nighttime soon. I already told you, I don’t know anyone in the city. We came from the village this morning and went straight to Sergey’s place. Then we came here after I found your keys in Nikolai’s jacket.”
“Go anywhere you like! Stay at a hotel! This is not a boarding house, and I have no intention of solving your problems,” Tonya said, becoming increasingly irritated.
“Listen, I understand what your problem is. You’re angry with my brother. I wouldn’t forgive cheating either. Nikolai is a complete idiot, of course! Imagine losing a woman like you, especially one who owns her own apartment. How stupid does a man have to be?” Marina said, deciding to change the subject.
“Apparently you care about nothing except real estate,” Antonina smirked. “That sounds exactly like you.”
“Why only real estate? I’m interested in money too. And you’re doing perfectly well in that department as well. I think you’ll find a replacement for my brother quickly, considering your circumstances. But you should know something, Tonya—Nikolai is suffering. He loves you. Yes, yes, don’t make that tragic face. He genuinely loves you. That little affair meant nothing. Something just came over him. Men do things like that sometimes. Or maybe someone really did get him drunk, just like he says. Don’t you feel even a little sorry for him? I remember how much you loved each other. I remember your happy little face right after the wedding too. Nobody can pretend that well. So you did love him, didn’t you, Tonya?”
“That is absolutely none of your business. What happened is in the past. And your brother is not a little boy. He can take responsibility for his own actions. You’re a terrible defense attorney, so you can stop trying.”
“You really are a snake, Tonya. I would forgive him. Our Kolya is a good man. He doesn’t drink like my husband. He tries to earn money, and he has an easygoing personality. You can shape a man like that into almost anything if you want. But you gave him up.”
“As it turned out, I wasn’t the only woman trying to shape such a soft and pliable man. That’s enough. You’ve exhausted me, Marina. I’m extremely tired and I don’t feel well. Get your children ready, or I’m calling the police. You clearly don’t understand normal words, so I’ll have to deal with this differently,” Tonya said loudly to her former sister-in-law.
“We’re not going anywhere! Understand? There’s no law that allows you to throw a mother with children out onto the street at night!” Marina began shouting.
“As if you know so much about the law! I can throw anyone I want out of my own apartment. This is my property, and you have no place here.”
“And I… Yes! I’ll tell the police that we’re family and that you’re taking revenge on me because my brother left you,” Marina insisted.
“Go ahead! Let’s see how the police react to that statement. Maybe they’ll get a good laugh out of it. Their work is probably dull enough.”
Completely exhausted by her unwanted guests, Tonya really did reach for her phone.
She would also have to check whether everything in the apartment was still there. With a shameless woman like Marina, anything was possible.
But at that moment, the doorbell rang sharply.
“Oh, for goodness’ sake! What is this today, some kind of public thoroughfare? Who else is there?” Tonya asked irritably as she opened the door.
Nikolai was standing outside in the stairwell.
He looked worried.
“I knew she’d come here. The moment I saw that the keys were missing from my jacket, I realized that this lunatic had taken the children and headed straight to your place,” he said anxiously.
Then he looked at his sister.
“Marina, what are you doing? Have you completely lost your mind? This is someone else’s apartment!”
“Oh, brother! You arrived just in time! Well done! Your ex-wife was just about to call the police and have me and the children thrown into jail. Can you imagine how crazy she is?” Marina said, suddenly becoming bold again.
“Is that true?” Nikolai asked, looking questioningly at Tonya.
“Of course it is. Unfortunately, your sister doesn’t understand normal words. I’ve been trying to get these strangers out of my apartment for half an hour already, but so far nothing has worked.”
“Please don’t call the police, Tonya. I’ll take them away right now. I had a feeling something like this was happening. Good thing I hurried over,” the man said, looking pleadingly at his former wife. “Forgive her. She’s been crazy since childhood. She always does things without even understanding what she’s doing.”
“Fine. Take them and do it quickly. You have five minutes, not one minute more! And while you’re at it, I’m taking my keys back from both of you, and you can collect your things too. I’m tired of you using my apartment like a storage facility. Otherwise, next time I come home, I’ll find some other relatives of yours settling in here. Now all of you get out together!”
“Sergey, listen, can you help me carry my things? My computer is still here too. It’ll be difficult to take everything downstairs alone,” Nikolai said over the phone to his friend, who was waiting for him in the car downstairs.
“Sergey will help me now. He’s already coming upstairs. Don’t worry, Tonya. We won’t disturb you anymore,” her former husband said sadly, looking at her.
“Oh, this is priceless! Like something out of a movie! Look at all that sadness and pain in the eyes of you two lovebirds,” Marina laughed while gathering the children’s belongings into a bag.
They had already managed to scatter their things around the apartment.
She glanced between her brother and her former sister-in-law.
“Why suffer so much if you still love each other? Good Lord! What fools you are! Just get back together and live happily. Who’s stopping you?”
“Stop it, Marina!” Nikolai snapped nervously because he understood that his sister was right.
“Oh yes, because we all forgot to ask someone as wise and experienced as you,” Tonya replied sarcastically. “I don’t need your advice. Hurry up, gather your things, and get out. I’ve had enough of guests like you.”
She breathed a sigh of relief when her former husband, his shameless sister, and the children finally left the apartment.
Thank goodness!
Neither Nikolai nor his relatives would be able to disturb her anymore.
And next time, Tonya would be more careful.
She would never again entrust the keys to her apartment to anyone.
Not even to a man she had once loved.
