Hi! I couldn’t wait for you to get home from work!» Igor hugged his young wife, clearly eager to tell her something important, something special.
His eyes shone with a dazzling fire. Excited, Igor couldn’t sit still; he kept pacing the kitchen from corner to corner, preparing to tell Elena something…
«Well? Why did you rush me home? What’s the important event? Usually, women prepare to tell their husbands that they’re expecting a baby, but in this case, physiologically—it’s not your scenario!» Elena looked skeptically at her flustered husband.
«Didn’t you even let me go to the store to buy something for dinner? What am I supposed to cook now? Our fridge is almost empty?» Elena was slightly annoyed.
«I already made some eggs, sit down, dear, enjoy,» Igor said with the self-satisfaction of a Michelin-starred chef as he casually served Elena some slightly burnt eggs. But Elena was already shocked by her husband’s «royal» gesture.
«Gosh, Igor cooking? He’s got beliefs that a man shouldn’t touch anything in the kitchen except ready-made food. What does he want to tell me that made him squeeze out this overcooked and oversalted omelette?» Elena wondered to herself.
«Come on, dig in, it’s my signature dish, I’ll chop up some green onions now!» Igor elegantly garnished the dish with greens. «I’ll make some coffee now!» Igor was bustling about.
«And what about you? Aren’t you going to eat? Sit with me, I have too much anyway!» Elena was concerned about her husband’s health.
«No, thanks, I can’t eat a gram when I’m this excited, I’d rather drink!» Igor pulled a bottle of brandy from the bar, poured himself 50 grams, and downed it in one gulp.
«Gosh, Igor, by the look on your face, I can conclude that you’ve squeezed a recently popular marketplace from its owner and now don’t know what to do with it? Or did you find a million dollars? Come on, spill it.»
«No, not that!» Igor snorted, though that wouldn’t be bad either.
«The thing is, I went with Misha today to pick up his new car from the dealership, that’s all!» Igor confessed. «And? Why are you as sober as a judge, except for that shot you just had? Didn’t you even celebrate it?» Elena was astonished.
«No, no time, we agreed we’d celebrate later when I too…», Igor hesitated. «What ‘too’?» Elena didn’t catch her husband’s hints.
Igor and Elena had been married for about a year, and had been dating for about that long as well. Their relationship was something of a workplace romance.
Elena was about 6 years older than her husband—around 40 at the time of their marriage. She was the head of a department at a large IT company and supervised a major project.
Despite her good looks, by the age of 40, she had not been married and had no plans to be; her main life goal was her career and the company’s projects. The executive team always trusted Elena with the most responsible projects, and she never let them down.
Igor, on the other hand, had recently joined the company’s tight-knit team and immediately captured the attention of his boss—a young (33 at the time of their meeting), handsome, bold man who stood out from the other nondescript IT guys who munched chips at their desks.
Yes, he was—rugged! He could look at Elena during a heated discussion of project issues in such a way that she instantly forgot she was the boss. And Elena mentally drifted in a boat, surrendering to the current of the river and the course chosen by the rower—broad-shouldered, dark-haired handsome Igor. Igor was promising and very bold, new to the big city salaries and temptations. Despite a decent salary, he never had money because it immediately went to entertainment. The only thing he managed to save for was his not-so-new «Solaris,» living with a bachelor friend who didn’t mind having a buddy around. They went to bars and clubs together.
Unlike his subordinates, Igor did not rush to submit to his boss’s will on key issues but stubbornly argued with her, proving his point. And often, Igor was right.
If Elena was strong in discipline and execution, Igor thought outside the box, lacked discipline, but effortlessly came out on top in both work and domestic troubles thanks to his natural luck.
«What? Someone dares to instruct me here?» Elena first thought and decided to have an informal conversation with the young employee outside the workspace, as Igor truly brought a certain imbalance to the work collective and undermined Elena’s authority. More and more department employees were listening to Igor’s opinions, and he was seriously becoming an informal leader.
«Igor, we need to talk seriously!» Elena approached him after a hard day’s work. «There’s a cafe across the street, they have excellent coffee, would you keep me company and discuss our project disagreements?» That’s how it all began… Elena couldn’t resist the charms of the young man and gave in. Following corporate ethics, upon learning about the workplace romance, the director transferred Igor to another department, but despite his bright personal qualities, they didn’t make him a department head, and he was soon fired for discipline violations and insubordination.
Therefore, when moving from his friend’s apartment to Elena’s, Igor was already working freelance, with periodic earnings from old acquaintances and on the freelance market, where it’s known that big money isn’t paid.
Mishka got himself a Chinese car! Imagine how cool everything is. They even let me test drive it, and then after picking up the car, Mishka and I spent another hour figuring out all its features!» Igor recounted enthusiastically.
«Imagine, there’s even seat massage, cameras all around: you turn the wheel to the right, and it shows you what’s under the right wheel. And most importantly, it’s so easy to handle, such dynamics! I wish I hadn’t driven that SUV!» Igor declared.
«And what do you want, dear? I didn’t quite understand you?» Elena tensed, as such gifts for her young husband were far beyond her budget.
«Let’s sell our cars and buy one family car, but a cool one!» Igor suggested. «Really?! And how much does this new toy of yours cost?» Elena looked at her husband skeptically.
«Well, you have to buy it in the top configuration, which is 3,500,000 million. Mishka got a good deal, bought it for 3,200,000 before the price increase, but we’ll have to pay full price,» Igor sighed. «Us?! Dear, do you hear yourself?! To have new real estate worth that much money parked in your yard? You’re mostly sitting at home now, and you only occasionally take your old ‘Solaris’ out to warm it up so it doesn’t get stagnant. You didn’t even change the tires for winter…» Elena countered.
«So what?! I’m already bored with the Solaris, and I will definitely drive this car!» Igor grunted discontentedly. «Well, what am I supposed to drive to work? Notice, I’m a department head—I can’t be late to work, and sometimes I come back late, or even have to go in on weekends for meetings!» Elena argued.
«Besides, even if we sell both our cars (though mine is relatively newer and more premium compared to yours), we will not make anywhere near 3.5 million from them! Where do you plan to get the extra money?» Elena brought Igor back down to earth.
«Well… Surely you have some savings? You don’t like spending money on entertainment, right?» Igor amazed Elena with his reasoning. «Really? We’re buying the car for you, I’ll sell my three-year-old premium Mazda, and I should also spend my pre-marriage savings on your toy?»
«And isn’t it something that you live in my apartment, for which I pay all the utilities and the remaining loan? And I’m the one who goes to the store for groceries, while you only buy new phones and laptops for yourself?» Elena exclaimed. «I need the laptop for work…» Igor glanced at his wife, offended.
«Listen, dear. How about you change the tires on your Solaris, put new covers on the front seats, change the stereo to one with Bluetooth, and add a rearview camera? Then your car will feel brand new for relatively little money?» Elena softened and started making herself coffee, as Igor, sensing his wife’s negative mood towards his new «startup,» had already given up on serving her.
«No, dear, you don’t get it. If I have such a car, I will definitely earn more, it will boost my self-esteem… Mishka bought one, am I worse than Mishka?» Igor looked at Elena. «No one says you’re worse than Mishka, it’s just that Mishka, unlike some, doesn’t climb into a bottle in a dispute with the boss, and he doesn’t make a mess at the office, so he sits tight on a good salary, and they don’t ask him to leave on his own, unlike some,» Elena emphasized her last phrase again.
At such hints, Igor stood up from his chair and literally boiled over, starting to pace from one corner of the kitchen to the other again. «I get it: you’re with me for the money! When I was bringing home a good salary, you were happy, saying everything was shared,» Igor tried to manipulate his wife, «and now you don’t want to share? You’ve even tightened up on your savings and criticize me for my low income!»
«I’m not criticizing you. Have I ever told you to go find a serious job? Ever since you quit, you’ve been playing your tank games all day! And I hardly saw your salary: you’re either with your buddies bowling, or in the sauna, or kayaking on Baikal, or where did you guys go for two months?»
«So be it! I said to list your car for sale tomorrow or no, better give me your car keys, I’ll handle this myself!» Igor stated unequivocally. Here, 5 years of working as a department head took its role, and Elena felt it was a blatant «misstep» from a subordinate and impulsively splashed hot coffee right in the face of her offender.
Igor froze in surprise and looked at his always calm, smiling, and compliant wife in astonishment.
«What are you doing?» Igor said, calmer now, taking a towel to wipe the coffee off his bold face. «Oh, sorry, dear, I forgot you like your coffee without sugar, and I served you with sugar, but I hope you’re not upset?» Elena smirked, feeling much lighter after that coffee throw.
«You… How are you behaving with me?! I’m a man!» Igor switched to falsetto, once a rugged man. «A man?» Lenka scoffed, «Is that someone who asks mommy to buy him another toy that just happens to be on the shelf of ‘Children’s World’?»
Elena, completely calmed down, already brewed herself a second cup of coffee and calmly, defiantly looked into the face of her young husband.
«Or maybe you married me also out of selfish motives? Huh? Found yourself an old mommy, but mommy doesn’t want to buy him a new car!» Elena laughed, her attraction to her young husband diminishing proportionally to his boyish antics. Igor just stood there, fists clenched and face crimson, staring at his offender, while Lenka, just in case, thought about grabbing the cast iron skillet lying nearby to enlighten her «beloved.»
But suddenly, there was a knock at the door.
Lenka unflappably stood up and, as the mistress of the apartment, demonstratively went to open the doors of her domain.
On the doorstep stood Mishka himself. Seeing Elena with flushed cheeks and hot breath, Mishka even blushed.
Mishka was the opposite of Igor: unassuming in appearance, soft and kind eyes without any hints of audacity, but his eyes were so penetrating and deep that Elena was stunned by their energy.
Their eyes met at less than a meter’s distance, and it felt like they were exchanging some invisible energy so that neither dared even to move.
Mishka also worked at the same company as Elena (and once Igor), but in the department next to Elena’s, so Lenka saw him exclusively as her husband’s friend.
«What do you need?» still irritated but softer, Elena let Mishka into the house. «Well, the thing is… Igor said to come over, celebrate the purchase, and at the same time show you, so you, I mean, wouldn’t be against it…»
Mishka hesitated and blushed, utterly unable to lie, revealing Igor’s cunning plan, struck by the beauty and unexpected visual closeness to Elena.
He just couldn’t lie to her, admiring her deep and so beautiful eyes.
«And what’s this?» Elena saw a small but very cute bouquet of flowers in Mishka’s hands, which he silently handed to her, «Did Igor tell you this too?» «No…,» Mishka broke into a pleased smile, «I figured it out myself… Well, how could I not… I’m a guest, and there’s a lady here… It’s a sign of attention!»
Elena’s cheeks flushed even more, but she already deliberately maintained an excessively stern demeanor and silently gestured for Mishka to come in.
Mishka carefully removed his sneakers, arranging them on the mat as Igor never did, and was about to head to the kitchen but then stopped as if rooted to the spot. «And what about the test drive?» Mishka stared at Lena, «Igor, everything still on?» he turned to Igor, who was changing his shirt.
«Go without me, I’m not in the mood!» Igor barked irritably at his friend, demonstratively turning on the TV in the living room and opening a can of beer.
«You know what? I agree to the test drive, let’s go!» unexpectedly spirited, Lenka grabbed her apartment keys, threw on a light jacket, and together with Mishka walked toward his new car. «So, how is it?» Mishka asked shyly, glancing at Lena.
«Brutal ride, what can I say, only why the red color, why not black?» Lena snapped, still in a bad mood after the conflict with her husband. But Mishka wasn’t phased. Elena noticed the kind eyes he gave her. His eyes smiled. And what surprised her even more, Mishka gallantly opened the SUV door and took the girl by the hand, helping her to sit in the driver’s seat.
«I don’t like black, feels like a gangster color… The manager also tried to talk me into black, but red—it’s so warm, so kind, it stands out from all this gray!» Mishka smiled like the sun and within a few seconds, with remarkable agility, ran to the passenger door and already sat next to Elena.
«Here’s the button, we start with it. I have a wonderful route on the navigator, there are beautiful places. Shall we go?» Mishka asked hopefully. «Let’s go!» Lenka confidently pressed the gas pedal, and the car skidded off to meet adventures.
Lenka drove all the way in silence, realizing that after such antics, she would no longer live with the arrogant Igor: she was no longer charmed by this person: neither his tall stature, sporty appearance, nor bold character gave her those emotions, for behind all this, she saw no real man.
Only Mishka talked to her all the way, obediently, according to Igor’s plan, as if on a test drive, showing Lena the new features of the car.
«Did your parents help with the purchase?» Elena suddenly interrupted Mishka’s narrative. «What do you mean?» Mishka didn’t understand the girl’s question.
«I’m asking if your parents helped with the car? It’s not a cheap acquisition?» Lenka repeated her question. «Sorry, Len, I don’t have parents, grandma raised me. Actually, we’re heading to her place in the suburbs now, I need to drop something off for her. You mind?» Mishka stunned Lenka with his response.
«No, it’s me who should apologize… I didn’t know… Yes… sure, whatever you say,» Lenka stammered. Mishka didn’t talk about the car’s functions for the rest of the trip, he subtly felt the girl’s mood, and understood that car functions were not really of interest to her.
They drove in silence, then they turned onto a rural dirt road, Mishka took over the driving, turned on the locks, and confidently at a slow pace plowed through the mud, stubbornly approaching a country house.
«I bought such a car not for its ruggedness, I need to get to grandma’s in the off-season!» Mishka smiled at Lenka with his kind, sincere smile.
«I’ll be right back!» Mishka got out of the car, took a large bag of groceries from the back seat, and ran into the house, while Lenka stayed in the car, watching the first snowflakes, large and heavy, slowly fall on the windshield and immediately melt.
Suddenly someone knocked on the window. Mishka sheepishly cracked the car door open.
«Here’s the thing! Grandma found out I’m with a companion. She insists on inviting us for tea with pies. Are you hungry, maybe? She has delicious borscht! Here!» Mishka handed Lenka galoshes. «Why these? I can walk like this!» Lena refused.
«No, please put them on, and first the wool socks—it’s dirty and wet here, you’ll soak your shoes, then you’ll be sneezing!» Mishka was embarrassed but insistent. Lenka also felt embarrassed. Deep down, it was pleasant to her that someone cared about her this way, for Igor had never shown such attention and care to his companion.
«Let me help!» Mishka quickly helped his companion into warm wool socks and again obligingly extended his hand to help Lena comfortably get out of the high SUV.
And I’ve already poured you some delicious borscht!» the elderly grandma greeted Lenka as if she were her own family, «Sit down, my dear, right here next to the stove, it’s warm here!» Lenka immediately understood from whom Mishka had inherited his caring nature. Mishka was strikingly similar to his grandma: the same kind, open smile and wise, penetrating eyes.
«Well, I was always worried about when this would happen! He’s so modest! Finally, he brought a girl to meet me! Oh, and she’s so pretty! Statuesque! And you can tell you have a kind soul, since Mishka chose you! He’s kind himself—he definitely wouldn’t choose someone mean!» Petrovna spoke openly.
«Granny, this isn’t exactly… a girlfriend, this is—an acquaintance! Lena!» Mishka corrected Petrovna.
«And what did I say? I’m saying that he brought a well-acquainted girl to meet! It’s good that she’s an acquaintance, it would be strange if he brought a stranger! Seems you got to know each other on the way!» Granny chuckled, and all three laughed together. Petrovna’s house was cozy. Tea with herbs boiled on the wood stove, and a big gray cat stretched out near the stove, curiously eyeing the guest with its big bold gray eyes.
«And you, Lena, I like you, I’ll tell you straight away!» Petrovna seized the moment when she sent Mishka to bring a bundle of firewood from the shed, «don’t be shy, come visit with Mishka again! «Well? Will you come? Mishka is a golden boy, not like today’s youth, with him you’d feel like behind a stone wall! He’s achieved everything in life himself! And he doesn’t forget his grandma, drives to see me every weekend. Did you see what kind of car he bought himself, so he can reach me through our mud in the off-season?»
When Lenka entered her apartment, there was no one there. On the table lay a note in the style of stubborn Igor: «Either buy me this car—or divorce!!! You have three days to think about it!» Lenka chuckled, but caught herself thinking that she subconsciously expected such a turn of events. She approached the window, where Mishka stood loyally looking towards her windows. Wet snow clung to his hair, scarf, and jacket.
«Thank you for this trip. I really enjoyed it. If you’re free tomorrow, come over, I definitely owe you a return dinner!» Lenka giggled and sent a message to her new suitor.
«And what about Igor?» Mishka replied timidly.
«Igor has left me for a new car, that’s where he belongs!» Lenka smiled and blew Mishka a kiss in the air.
«How mercenary you are,» Igor only said during the divorce, having learned that Lenka was having an affair with his friend. He genuinely believed that Lenka was interacting with Mishka because of the apartment in the center and the new premium car.
Mishka and Lenka made it work, while Igor, after wandering around Moscow in search of a worthy job and getting a few painful punches for his audacity, returned to his hometown to his parents, took a job as a programmer in the district administration, and began to sip beer in the server room.
