Olga and Maxim left the courthouse together. Both had calm expressions on their faces. To an outsider, nothing would suggest that this couple had just dissolved a fifteen-year marriage.
«I need to stop by work. Can you give me a lift?» Olga asked her ex-husband.
«How will you pay me back?» Maxim teased.
«I’ll make you coffee from my coffee maker.»
«The one that was still ours yesterday?»
«The one I bought on credit and paid for myself.»
«And into which I poured the beans.»
«Yes, the same coffee beans, given to you by your little temptress.»
«We’re done with her!» Maxim finally lost his patience.
«I don’t care! So, will you give me a lift?»
«Get in. It’s on my way.»
They drove in silence, each lost in their own thoughts. Maxim was troubled by the need to move out of their shared apartment quickly, yet he couldn’t find suitable housing due to financial constraints. Olga was pondering over the division of their modest assets. She considered herself the aggrieved party, so she was certain she deserved all the appliances. They hadn’t discussed this issue yet. Therefore, Olga mentally prepared her arguments to lay out to her ex in the evening.
«We’re here,» Maxim broke the silence, stopping near the salon where his ex-wife worked as a receptionist.
«Have a good day,» she said goodbye and got out of the car.
Right at the salon’s door, Olga was met by her close friend Ilona, a nail technician.
«So, should I congratulate you?» she asked.
«Yes.»
«Hooray! Well, then—congratulations on your freedom!»
«Thank you. Really, it’s a good reason to celebrate. You know, Ilona, I feel lighter now. Finally, it’s all over.»
«Yes, you’ve had it rough…» sighed her friend, who had witnessed the lengthy quarrels with her cheating and argumentative husband.
Maxim had started an affair about two years ago. Initially, he tried to hide his infidelity, then he began to suspect his wife of adultery. He tormented her with his jealousy, looking for reasons to argue. Eventually, she found out about his mistress and demanded that he leave the house. He threatened to kick her out along with their son. Relatives from both sides were actively involved in the disputes, defending Olga. Maxim fell out with his entire family over this.
One day, Olga couldn’t stand it anymore, packed her things, and left home with her son. She temporarily moved in with a friend. Maxim’s parents, who respected their daughter-in-law and loved their only grandson, Vanya, dropped everything and came from a distant village to appeal to Maxim’s conscience. He promised to vacate the apartment within six months.
«I’m ashamed of you, son!» his mother told him.
«Olga is no better! Why am I the only one to blame? She doesn’t see anything beyond her work! I’ve become a non-entity to her.»
«Then don’t be a non-entity. Maybe she wouldn’t take extra shifts then.»
«It’s too late to change. Our family has fallen apart.»
«Then leave her alone and go build a new life, since you couldn’t be a family,» his father intervened.
Maxim was offended.
«You always blame me for everything. Fine. I’ll leave. Let’s see who needs her then.»
Olga overheard these words briefly, but they deeply hurt her pride. She had already suffered from complexes, and after her husband’s infidelity, she felt like a lesser being. Ilona was the only person she could share her sorrows with. She could trust her. Olga was lucky to have such a friend. Ilona was probably looking forward to Olga’s divorce from her hysterical husband even more than Olga herself.
«I’m happy for you. When is he moving out? Did he say?»
«He promised by the end of the year.»
«That’s a long time. Well, at least you’re no one to him now.»
«That’s right.»
Maxim only rented an apartment six months after the official divorce. As a parting shot, he told his ex-wife that no one would need her «with a trailer.» Olga just shrugged:
«Like I’m going to get married again. Been there, done that…»
But it gnawed at her soul. It was very painful to hear such a prophecy about herself. Moreover, she very much wanted to inflict the same pain on the cheater that he had caused her. So, Olga decided to sign up on a dating site.
To her delight, she received about a dozen messages within a couple of hours. She chose the most original one and replied. An interesting conversation ensued with the new acquaintance. Olga was so engrossed that she only snapped out of it around midnight.
«I need to sleep. I have work tomorrow,» she wrote.
«Okay. I won’t keep you, although I’ll miss you,» he replied.
«How romantic!» Olga thought and went to sleep, inspired by dreams of a new love. The next day, she chirped to Ilona:
«Can you imagine: he loves the same movies as me! He can cook! And he showered me with compliments!»
«At last, you have something resembling a personal life,» said Ilona. She believed that «you fight fire with fire,» so she had long advised Olga to start dating.
«He hasn’t suggested meeting yet,» Olga confessed.
«That’s bad. Don’t get too fixated on him. You never know who’s hiding behind an avatar.»
«You’re right. His profile picture is of some actor. But he wrote that he would send me his own photo later.»
«Will you show me?»
«Of course! Definitely!»
The new acquaintance wrote to her in the evening and suggested moving to a regular messenger. As promised, he sent a photo.
«Handsome,» she wrote back. Then she added: «I’d like to hear your voice too.»
He suggested calling in a day, explaining that he was busy.
«He seems shady,» Ilona summed up.
«There is that… But he’s very interesting!»
«Then go for it,» encouraged her friend.
And Olga decided to take the initiative, and the new acquaintance soon invited her to meet. Olga agreed, although he chose a strange place—a tiny café on the outskirts of the city.
After the meeting, Olga shared with Ilona:
«He’s very charismatic! We had a wonderful evening together!»
«Are you happy?»
«Yes!»
«Then keep seeing him.»
«I was planning to.»
Their relationship developed rapidly. Anton—as he was called—soon suggested they spend the night at a hotel. She agreed.
«I get goosebumps from you, Olga,» Anton confessed to her in the morning.
«I also feel great with you,» she smiled in response.
«I would like to spend all my time with you… But unfortunately, that’s not possible. I can’t keep quiet. I need to confess: I have a family… a wife and … three children.»
«Unexpected…» Olga thoughtfully replied. «Especially about the three kids. I hope you won’t bring them to our dates?»
«Olga, I’m serious! Sorry I didn’t tell you.»
«I suspected, Anton. I just really hoped I was wrong. But okay: if you’re married, you’re married.»
«Would you agree to be my mistress?»
«Ugh! What an ugly word!» Olga grimaced. «No, I don’t like it. How about I be your night butterfly instead?»
Ilona didn’t like this story:
«How can you not be disgusted?» she asked, to which Olga cynically replied:
«His wife has three kids. You think she has time for him?»
«He probably still sleeps with her.»
«Well, he’ll stop for a while now.»
«Still, Olga, it’s kind of nasty….»
«Ilona! How they treated me—wasn’t that nasty? Others can, but I can’t?»
«I don’t know what to tell you…»
«Well then, don’t say anything.»
This was the first argument in all the years of their friendship, the first disagreement in views. Olga reacted very sharply. Her friend looked at her face and didn’t recognize her. Then she sighed and concluded:
«Suit yourself. I’ll keep quiet then. I’m off to work.»
After that, they almost stopped talking. Olga greeted Ilona through clenched teeth. Ilona no longer popped in during breaks. This lasted about a month, during which Ilona constantly worried about Olga. Olga soon realized that she was wrong.
No, Olga did not start feeling guilty. She continued to believe that she had the right to do to another woman what had been done to her. But being in a relationship as a shadow hidden from the whole world quickly lost its appeal. Adventures with disguises and secret meetings soon began to wear on her. And Olga, having had her fill of butterflies in her stomach and passionate nights, decided that Anton was now a burden to her.
«I don’t want this anymore. We don’t need to meet,» she decisively said one day.
«Why? You were fine with everything?»
«I’m tired, Anton. I’m tired of being your wife’s substitute.»
«Olga, what are you talking about! She’s your substitute. I haven’t touched her at all while I was with you.»
«It doesn’t matter. Enough, Anton. We played, and that’s enough.»
«Was this a game for you?» he asked in horror.
«Don’t make a tragedy out of it,» she replied irritably.
«Fine then! Goodbye!»
«Goodbye.»
When Anton left, Olga felt relief for some reason. She immediately rushed to tell everything to Ilona.
«I’m so happy for you! It’s good that you broke up. Adultery has never made anyone happy.»
«Ilona, forgive me. I regret now that I got involved with him. It’s so humiliating! I just liked being liked by him. I wanted to get back at Maxim. So stupid! Why didn’t I listen to you? I really don’t need anyone!»
«That’s it. Forget it! Everyone makes mistakes. And don’t write yourself off! There are plenty of single men in the world.»
Olga would have liked to forget her mistake. But a week later, Anton called and asked to meet.
«Why?»
«I can’t live without you. I told my wife. Olga, I’m getting a divorce!»
His words sounded like a bomb explosion.
«Oh, God!» Olga almost groaned, «Why did you?! Alright. Let’s meet.»
He came to her salon with a bouquet of flowers.
«Why all this?» Olga grimaced. She suddenly noticed his disgustingly roving eyes, and it was unpleasant to realize that this man had been close to her.
«I wanted to show you the seriousness of my intentions,» Anton smiled.
«Let’s go somewhere, talk.»
«Maybe to our hotel?»
«No!» Olga cut him off. «Let’s go to the park, walk down the central alley, and talk calmly.»
It took her great effort to convince him that she was serious.
«Do you really not love me? At all?» he asked in despair.
«No. I don’t love you.»
«But how?.. Olga, we were good together! I want to be with you.»
«Hear me, Anton. I was just… licking my wounds.»
«Did it help?»
«Not really… But believe me, I regret it now. If I could take it all back! I wouldn’t have… In short, we have no future.»
«What are you….» he cursed, threw the bouquet in the trash, and quickly walked to the exit. Olga stayed in the park. She pondered their conversation. It was unpleasant to understand that Anton was right when he cursed her.
«Indeed… I deserved it,» Olga summarized.
Later, she learned that Anton and his wife eventually reconciled. Ilona comforted her friend as best she could:
«Don’t worry. If it weren’t for you, there would have been someone else.»
«It’s not about that, Ilona. I thought I was the victim. I—poor, pure, and good—was hurt! So, I have the right to do nasty things. But in reality—no one has that right.»
«I can’t argue with that,» agreed Ilona, «but what now?»
«Now—remember the principles and live on. Maybe not very comfortably and cheerfully. But—at least with a clear conscience.»
Olga could not meet anyone for a long time. Only eight years after the divorce did her personal life improve. Her ex-husband married twice more, the last time—to a young girl who then cheated on him throughout their marriage.
