Denis resolutely pushed the plate of borscht away from him and, with an indifferent, careless tone, as if even solemnly, declared:
«Sveta, I’m leaving you!»
The forty-five-year-old woman, stunned by such unexpected words, dropped the cup she was holding, which shattered into pieces upon hitting the tiled floor. Sveta looked at her husband and, seeing his serious expression, realized he was not joking. She froze, silently wrapping her arms around herself.
Sveta had lived with her husband in what she thought was a happy marriage for twenty-five years. She loved her Denis with all her heart, considering him a reliable, faithful husband and a wonderful father. But these strange words, like a whip, struck her where it hurt most, shaking her deeply. Sveta had not yet fully grasped the reality of the situation. She raised a bewildered look to her husband and asked in a broken voice:
«How can you leave? Where, Denis? After all, we’ve been together for a quarter of a century!»
«Exactly!» the man replied irritably, abruptly standing up and fixing his wife with a scintillating gaze, «I’ve lived with you for twenty-five years. But what have you become during this time? Tell me, where is that young, beautiful, slim, carefree girl I once fell in love with? Just look at what you’ve turned into! You’ve gained weight, started to go gray, and now these annoying wrinkles too. Well, that would be half the trouble, but all you have in your head are cutlets, borscht, cleaning, laundry. No wonder I’m fed up with such a life. There’s absolutely nothing to talk to you about. And I don’t want to bury myself alive, sorry. I deserve more. I hope we can divorce calmly, without hysterics. I’ve fallen in love with another woman and you need to understand that. She’s younger, more interesting, more beautiful, and is expecting my child. I’ll soon be a father again, so please let me go without a scandal. I haven’t loved you for a long time, Sveta, sorry.»
Sveta sank into a chair and desperately clutched her head with both hands. Denis’s words inflicted unbearable pain. She could not come to terms with the fact that the man she had dedicated her life to, for whom she had sacrificed so much, had turned away from her so cruelly. Denis had traded a loyal, loving, caring wife for one who was younger and more attractive.
«Leave,» Sveta barely managed to utter the words, her head bowed low.
Denis silently left the kitchen. He quickly packed his things and left, announcing at the door that he would file for divorce soon. Sveta cried all day. By evening she was so exhausted from the searing pain tearing her soul apart that she fell asleep right at the table. She woke up after midnight but did not go to bed. She gently leaned against the wall and sat, hugging her legs, until morning. In the morning, Sveta had to go to work. She met the dawn with a haggard, frightening look. Suddenly, Sveta realized that she had no desire to work, and she could hardly get up from her place. She called her boss and said she was sick and could not come to work, asked for unpaid leave, and plunged into her grief. She stopped cooking, eating, taking care of herself, and looking after the house. From morning till evening, Sveta spent in bed, staring blankly at one spot, mourning her fate.
This continued until one day, her son Artem unexpectedly arrived with his young wife. Artem had decided to surprise his mother, so he showed up without warning. On the way, he bought her favorite cake. Artem was used to seeing his mother always cheerful, used to coming to a clean, well-kept home where the vanilla aroma of fresh baking always emanated from the kitchen, so the scene that greeted him was a real shock.
«Mom, what’s wrong with you? Are you sick? What happened? You don’t look like yourself,» Artem worried, rushing to his mother, who was sitting in the kitchen, thoughtfully examining the chandelier.
«Your father left me,» Sveta confessed in a trembling voice, directing a dimmed gaze at her son, stunned by the news.
«What do you mean… left?» Artem managed to say, tightly gripping his mother’s hand.
Sveta told her son and daughter-in-law everything that had happened in their family. The young couple looked at each other in surprise. They began to console Sveta, who had started crying again, convincing her that life had not stopped, that a new, happy life awaited her. However, Sveta shook her head in despair, saying that she had no future left.
«Svetlana Nikolaevna, I’m begging you, hold on. Everything will be alright, you’ll see. You’re a young, beautiful, interesting woman. You’ll meet your fate and be happy,» Marina tried to reassure her mother-in-law, but she didn’t want to hear it.
«There’s no use comforting me. I understand everything. I’m no longer that young girl Denis fell in love with twenty-five years ago. My life is over. It’s lost its meaning. What’s there to hope for in the twilight of my years? I’ve gained weight, gone gray, wrinkles have appeared…»
Her son and daughter-in-law’s words brought Sveta no comfort. She fell into an even deeper depression, realizing that her youth had irretrievably gone, and she was utterly alone. Artem thought long about how to help his severely suffering mother. He had been deeply attached to her since childhood, so seeing his mother in such a disheartening state was unbearable.
And then, the spouses decided to involve Marina’s grandmother, whom Sveta had always sincerely loved. Tamara Ivanovna was a very wise and insightful woman. She promised her granddaughter and her husband that Sveta would soon live a happy, full life again.
Sveta was sorting through old things when her phone rang. Seeing her son’s number on the screen, she immediately grabbed the mobile and put it to her ear.
«Hello, son. I’m fine. Well, don’t worry about me. Everything is really, good. How are you? What? Poor Tamara Ivanovna! Of course, I’ll go to her in the village, yes, yes, take care. I’ll be there in the evening. Tell Marina not to worry and to work with a clear conscience. Agreed.»
Sveta hung up the phone and immediately began to dress. She was going to the village to take care of her daughter-in-law’s ailing grandmother. Artem had informed his mother by phone that Tamara Ivanovna was ill and needed care. He also mentioned that Marina couldn’t get time off work and was in despair, not knowing what to do. Sveta gladly volunteered to help her daughter-in-law’s grandmother, with whom she had warm relations. Sveta also hoped that caring for an elderly, sick woman would distract her from her gloomy, intrusive thoughts. She quickly packed everything necessary and set off for the village.
Tamara Ivanovna was not only a wise but also an artistic woman. In her youth, she had acted in plays, so she easily pretended to be a sick person needing constant attention. Sveta believed in her illness and began treating the elderly woman.
«Svetochka, darling, please go to my neighbor. He has hawthorn in his garden, which is very good for the heart. Konstantin promised to bring me a berry infusion but forgot.»
Sveta went to Tamara Ivanovna’s neighbor to get the healing infusion. He lived in the house opposite. The woman was delighted by the man’s plot. At first glance, she understood that a real handyman, a master of all trades, lived in the neighboring house. Sveta loudly called Konstantin, and he appeared after a few seconds. He opened the gate and politely greeted Sveta, who was captivated by the well-kept yard of the man’s house, utterly enchanted by his garden. For a moment, she felt as if she had stepped into a fairy tale. The man himself also made a pleasant impression on her. Sveta was so mesmerized by the captivating beauty around her that she even forgot why she had come.
«Come into the house. I’ll treat you to some tea and pie,» Konstantin offered in a friendly voice, curiously examining his neighbor’s guest.
«Thank you, but I need to return to Tamara Ivanovna. I’m afraid to leave her alone for too long,» Sveta replied, trying to imagine the woman who was the mistress of this house and Konstantin’s wife.
Sveta took the infusion and returned to the elderly woman, who sincerely sighed, complaining of dizziness and rapid breathing. She was glad that Sveta had a good impression of her neighbor, who was indeed a decent man and, importantly, a free man.
«My neighbor is a good man,» Tamara Ivanovna muttered, sitting at the table with Sveta and finishing her tea, «Such men are hard to find these days. Industrious, responsible, kind, and he can do anything around the house and in the yard. A former military man. Now retired. Imagine, he left a spacious apartment in the city center and moved to live in the village. He bought the neighboring house in a deplorable state. There was no garden, no vegetable garden, no beautiful yard on that plot. Konstantin did everything with his own hands. Not just a man, but gold, it’s just a pity that he hasn’t found a kindred soul. He’s completely alone.»
The next morning, taking advantage of the fact that Sveta was doing laundry in the yard, Tamara Ivanovna twisted the fuses and cut off all the electricity in the house.
«Svetochka, my dear, come here,» the elderly woman called her guest.
Sveta hurried into the house:
«Yes, Tamara Ivanovna, did you call me? Are you alright?»
«I’m fine, but something happened to our meter. There’s no electricity in the house. My series is about to start. And I can’t live without it. Go fetch Konstantin. Let him take a look and fix it.»
Sveta obediently went for the neighbor, who immediately came to Tamara Ivanovna’s and fixed everything in a matter of minutes. The light was back on in the elderly woman’s house. At lunch, Tamara Ivanovna asked Sveta to bake her favorite strawberry pie. Sveta fulfilled the elderly woman’s request, delighted that she had regained her appetite. During tea, Tamara Ivanovna casually said:
«Svetochka, take a piece of pie to Konstantin. We need to thank him for fixing the meter. I didn’t miss my series. Go to him. He’s probably doing something in the yard right now, even without having lunch.»
Sveta nodded and, cutting a large piece of pie, went to the neighbor. Konstantin was pleased with Sveta’s arrival and said that the pie was just in time, as he hadn’t eaten anything since morning. Kostya offered Sveta to have tea with him, and she couldn’t refuse. Arranging a tea party in the garden, they talked for several hours. Konstantin told Sveta about his service, and she listened to him, holding her breath. Time with Konstantin flew by unnoticed. Sveta returned to Tamara Ivanovna with a pleasant impression.
Soon, Konstantin himself began to visit Tamara Ivanovna and Sveta. He visited the «sick» neighbor, brought her medicinal herbs, helped tidy up her yard. Tamara Ivanovna, with a self-satisfied, mischievous smile, watched how Konstantin and Sveta, forgetting about everything in the world, passionately talked to each other and realized that her plan had worked brilliantly. The man and woman did not notice how they became attached to each other.
One day, during another tea party, Konstantin told Sveta about what had happened in his life a year ago.
«I moved here a year ago after my wife left me. I’ll be honest, it was a tough time for me. I realized that I had to drastically change my life. In the village, I found myself, forgot about the past, and learned to be happy in the present.»
Sveta was amazed at the neighbor, thinking about the woman who decided to leave such a man as Konstantin. She was sure that Konstantin’s ex-wife regretted her decision more than once. Sveta involuntarily compared Konstantin with Denis and realized that her ex-husband was significantly inferior to Tamara Ivanovna’s neighbor. Konstantin was a real man, a person who knew how to keep his word. The woman increasingly caught herself thinking that she had stopped remembering her ex-husband and thinking about where he was, what was with him. Sveta simply enjoyed the carefree life in the village, the summer sun, and the pleasant, inspiring communication with her new acquaintance. But Sveta’s mood suddenly changed the moment she realized that her vacation was coming to an end and she would soon have to return to the city, to her previous life. The remaining few days flew by unnoticed. Tamara Ivanovna stopped playing the role of a sick woman and announced that she had recovered, thanks to Sveta’s tireless care.
Sveta, without much enthusiasm, packed her things in the evening and went outside to say goodbye to the village, which had become her own and beloved. She did not notice that Konstantin was approaching her.
«Are you leaving?» he asked thoughtfully, not taking his eyes off the saddened woman.
«Yes,» Sveta replied regretfully, «It’s time. Tamara Ivanovna has recovered. My vacation is over. The city is waiting for me.»
«You don’t sound very happy about it. Are you sure there’s nothing else keeping you here?»
The man looked into the eyes of the bewildered neighbor and timidly took her hand.
«Maybe you’ll stay? I see that you don’t want to leave. And I don’t want that either. Sveta, I’ve become so attached to you that I can’t imagine living without you.»
«Konstantin,» Sveta stammered, taken aback by the surprise, «I really have to leave. I have my own life in the city. Work, apartment, friends, son.»
Sveta’s words were an attempt to convince herself of the correctness of her decision. Deep down, she did not want to part with Konstantin but was afraid that staying in the village would be a mistake. But when Konstantin unexpectedly embraced Sveta by the waist and pulled her to him, all fears and doubts immediately dispersed. She realized that she had hopelessly fallen in love with Tamara Ivanovna’s neighbor and could not now live far from him. Sveta willingly accepted his embrace.
«Don’t leave,» Konstantin whispered, his hot, intermittent breath burning the woman’s skin.
Sveta knew that, no matter how much she wanted to stay with the beloved man in his small, cozy paradise, she could not just abandon everything she had before meeting him.
«My job is waiting for me in the city,» she whispered shakily, pressing her body against Konstantin’s.
«Then I’ll go with you to the ends of the earth. I can’t be without you. I’ll be by your side, just call.»
Sveta, without a second thought, invited the man, without whom she could no longer imagine her life, to come with her. He moved into her apartment. By that time, Sveta was already divorced from Denis, and they with Kostya filed an application at the registry office. Tender feelings miraculously transformed the woman. Now she radiated happiness, which was felt in every word, look, gesture. Sveta blossomed like a flower that, after a long drought, finally quenched its thirst with warm rain. Her son and daughter-in-law sincerely rejoiced at the changes occurring with Sveta. They thanked Tamara Ivanovna, who gently and delicately brought two lonely souls together, so in need of love and tenderness. Every weekend, Sveta and Konstantin spent in the village and always visited the elderly woman, coming to her with gifts.
A year later, the past unexpectedly reminded itself. It happened on a sunny Saturday morning when the spouses, as usual, were preparing to go to the village for the weekend. Konstantin was at the store. When suddenly there was a ring at the door, Sveta hurried to open it, assuming that her husband had forgotten to take his keys with him. She was stunned by surprise, seeing Denis with a one-year-old boy on the doorstep.
«Denis?!» Sveta exclaimed, throwing up her hands, «What are you doing here?»
«Hello, Sveta,» the man said timidly, «Will you let me in?»
«Denis, why did you come? I thought that everything between us was long over.»
«Svetka, you always understood me better than anyone else, generously forgiving all my mistakes. Forgive me now too. I know you love me. I came to ask you for another chance. Let’s start over.»
From her ex-husband, Sveta learned that the woman he had left her for had abandoned him with a one-year-old child in his arms and ran off with a young and promising man. Denis was forced to take care of the child and pay for the rent of the apartment where they lived. Sveta understood that her ex-husband was looking for an easy way out, that it was not love that brought him to the doorstep of the apartment where he too had once lived.
«Denis, I now have another family, a husband whom I love. I’m sorry for your son, but I can’t help. There can be no question of your return. You should understand that from now on I live my own life, in which there is no place for you. Please leave. You’ve already made your choice.»
«Husband?! Family?! You couldn’t have gotten married so quickly! You loved me…» Denis shook his head in disbelief, then burst out laughing.
Before Sveta could respond, Konstantin, who had returned from the store, appeared at the doorway. He looked questioningly first at his wife, then at Denis, who at that moment understood everything.
«Honey, I couldn’t find the cake, we’ll stop by the supermarket on the way. Do we have guests?»
«A person got the wrong door and is already leaving,» the woman replied calmly, and after politely saying goodbye to Denis, returned to the kitchen with her husband.
The ex-husband was forced to admit defeat and leave. He left, bitterly regretting what he had done a year ago. Sveta mentally thanked her ex-husband for leaving her. Only by meeting Konstantin did she realize that it was habit, not love, that had kept her with Denis. They were completely different people. Sveta tightly embraced Konstantin, feeling that she had found her true happiness.
