«You’re to Blame»
When Senya was packing his suitcase, he made such a noise in the apartment that even the neighbor on the other side of the wall could hear. He threw his jacket on the floor, then dramatically picked it up, slammed the wardrobe door, and jerked the suitcase handle so hard that the wheels almost fell off.
«At least react a little,» he couldn’t take it anymore, looking at Vera as she cleaned the stove. He came specifically to the kitchen so that his wife could see how he was packing his things.
«Did you want something?» she replied calmly, not turning around.
He had been expecting hysteria. For her to cry, beg him to stay, and cling to him with phrases like «I need you.» That’s what normal abandoned wives do. But she—she seemed to be waiting for him to leave as soon as possible.
«You know, you’re to blame,» he said, walking around her, standing in a way that made her look at him. «You’ve become cold. Always tired, no femininity. Always talking about the house, the kids, your mother. And me—I’ve suffocated from all this domesticity.»
«Then leave, if it’s suffocating,» Vera said briefly, putting down the rag.
Senya was displeased by her reaction. Not tears, not reproaches, but calmness. He had been living with a new woman, Katya, for two weeks and imagined Vera wandering around the house, sad and broken. But she wasn’t like that. As if she didn’t care.
«And you just let me go like that?» he shouted. «I’ve lived with you for twelve years! We have two kids!»
«They’ll stay with me,» Vera said, taking off her rubber gloves and throwing them in the trash as if, with them, she was throwing away everything from the past twelve years. «And you go. It seems like you’re happier with Katya.»
Senya suddenly wanted to grab a plate, smash it on the floor, but he was afraid of looking pathetic. Instead, he grabbed the suitcase he had forgotten to close, cursed loudly as his things fell out of it, and left. He rushed out of the apartment, slamming the door. A classic move.
On the landing, Senya felt his anger spreading throughout his body. He was leaving with a scandal, wanting to humiliate her, the woman who had grown old and was no longer the same as before. He had hoped for hysteria, to tell his friends later how his ex-wife cried and clung to his pants, asking, «Where would she go with two kids?»
But instead, he got a calm «go.»
It was too easy. And somehow hurtful. Senya thought and decided that his wife hadn’t realized yet that she would regret his departure.
He made himself a new goal—to show his wife what she had lost, to complicate her life so that she would understand…
The easiest way to do this was through the kids. Little Nika and teenage Vanya both reached out to their father, even though they had stayed with their mother after the divorce.
«I wouldn’t want your kids to interfere with us living together,» Katya said when Senya mentioned that he would be seeing his children. By then, he already had a plan.
«They won’t. They’re just so silly… They want to see their dad. I can’t refuse them.»
«Of course, you can! Just pay the alimony.»
«Don’t worry. I’ll see them when you’re not around.»
Katya pursed her lips and left. She understood that she had stolen a man with baggage, but she had expected that this «baggage» would stay with Vera, and she would get the prize of Senya. His care, love, and salary as a chief engineer.
A month passed. Vera didn’t call, didn’t complain. She didn’t ask him for any help, though he knew she needed it. From his son, he learned that Vera wasn’t crying, wasn’t planning to end her life, and was getting on just fine without him. As if she wanted to humiliate her ex-husband, saying, «Look how well I’m doing without you.» And she didn’t need to worry about the kids—she was handling everything on her own.
It was time to restore justice before their mutual acquaintances concluded that Senya was such a terrible husband that, without him, Vera had blossomed and turned over a new leaf. No, he couldn’t let that happen.
Senya had thought it all through. The kids helped: during one of their rare meetings, his son complained:
«Mom’s been really strict. She told me to give her the tablet for a week!»
«And she scolded me when I bought three chocolates and some sugary soda!» Nika added.
«Mom doesn’t love us.»
«But I love you,» Senya opened his arms and listened to the kids’ complaints, then took them to the store. They bought chewing gum, lemonades, candies, and junk food.
«What if mom sees?»
«Just hide it well and eat it when she’s not around,» Senya said, knowing that naive Nika wouldn’t be clever enough to hide the «gifts,» and his wife would find out about the forbidden purchases. And so it happened.
When Nika pulled out melted chocolates from under her pillow, messing up the bedding and her hands, Vera practically attacked her.
«Where did you get this? I’m asking, where did you get it?!» she yelled, realizing she had just laid down fresh, ironed bedding. All her efforts—wasted. And she had been so tired all evening, she could have just collapsed on the floor.
«Dad bought it,» Nika confessed, frightened.
«Give it back. All of it. To me. Immediately!»
«But, mom!»
«Quickly!»
«Really, dad loves us, and you don’t!» Vanya intervened.
«One more word, and two weeks without the tablet!» Vera hissed.
Of course, Senya found out about the situation. He was happy and decided to continue in the same vein, becoming the «good dad» so that, in contrast to Vera’s prohibitions, he could appear as the savior.
«Of course, we can have ice cream,» he said, buying the kids ice cream on the street in March. «Mom always forbids everything, right?»
«Yeah,» the kids nodded. «She’s a bore: ‘put on your hat, button up your jacket’…»
«It’s warm now. You can go without a hat,» Senya «generously» allowed.
«Can I go without a hat like Vanya?» Nika asked happily.
«You can!» Senya waved his hand. It was 5°C… and windy.
He allowed everything. Playing on the tablet until late, eating chips, not doing homework.
Katya, though she didn’t want to interfere with the father-child relationship, witnessed a few meetings. Even she, an outsider, was surprised by the permissiveness.
«Do you have some foreign method of raising kids? Kids need control…» she said.
«Don’t meddle. These are my kids, I know what I’m doing.»
Katya raised her eyebrows and nodded.
«Okay. But I’m not participating in this. They’re not coming here anymore. Got it?»
«Yeah…»
Meanwhile, Vera was busy with her own concerns: her bedridden mother required extra attention after surgery. For a while, Vera didn’t even pressure the kids, letting them go to school without their hats—her business.
Perhaps that’s why she didn’t immediately realize the cause of the kids’ sudden and severe illness. First, Nika came down with tonsillitis, then Vanya.
«I don’t want to gargle with that bitter spray!» Nika complained. «Give me something else.»
«I can give you a slap or a belt!» Vera snapped. She was worried about the kids, but even with a high fever, they were stronger than her mentally.
«Mom, give me the tablet! I’m bored!» Vanya whined.
«You can’t with a fever. The doctor forbade it!»
«You can! Dad would have let us!»
«Dad lets us do everything!»
Vera didn’t continue the conversation. She left the room to get the thermometer.
In the hallway, Vera heard her daughter quietly say to Vanya:
«Mom’s turned into a real monster. It’s because dad left her.»
«Yeah. Dad’s so happy now, that’s why he loves us. It’s better for him without mom. With Katya.»
«Wish she was our mom.»
«Well… no. It’s better to live with dad. Just the three of us. Dad’s good.»
«He lets us eat ice cream, even when our throat hurts. We ate a whole bucket in the park with dad! And mom would never allow that. Mom doesn’t let us do anything! Dad’s better. I’d rather live with him…»
Vera’s heart skipped a beat. She sat down on a chair and closed her eyes. It suddenly became unbearably painful.
In the morning, Vera got up at six, did all the hygiene procedures with her mother, fed her breakfast, then got the kids ready for school and went to work. At lunch, she called the caregiver, checked on her, and in the evening it was the same routine: caring for her mother, helping the kids with homework, at night—laundry and cooking. And so it went, day after day.
And now these words: «We’d be better off living with dad.»
Vera got up. She went into the room. She touched Nika’s forehead with her palm. The fever had gone down after the syrup.
«Okay,» she suddenly said. «Since you want to go to dad, you can go to dad.»
«Really?!» Nika jumped up.
«With a fever?» Vanya was surprised.
«I don’t care,» Vera replied calmly. «I’m a bad mom. I forbid everything. Dad lets you do everything. Well, now you’ll live by his rules. And first, I’m allowing you to get rid of my presence.»
She threw their clothes on the bed, ordered a taxi, and told the driver to take them to the right address.
«You’re going to dad,» she said to the kids at the doorstep. «Tell him, Vanya, that now he’s in charge. He lets you do everything. Let him treat you himself.»
Nika wanted to cry, Vanya was confused, but Vera didn’t flinch. She simply closed the door.
And then… she lay down. Took a sedative and, for the first time in a long while, fell asleep—in silence.
«And Dad Didn’t Expect It»
«Senya, there… the kids are coming to you. Right now,» Katya said when Senya was putting wine in the fridge and lighting candles.
«What kids?» he didn’t understand at first.
«Your kids, what else? You didn’t hear the call, I answered. They said the taxi’s coming, their mom sent them to you. What nonsense is this? Why didn’t you check with me?! We’re having a romantic evening today! Not snotty teenagers!»
He froze, holding the bottle. The doorbell rang ten minutes later. Vanya and Nika stood at the door, wrapped in scarves. Nika sniffled, Vanya’s cheeks were burning with fever.
«Mom said you’re in charge now…» Vanya managed to say, trying to look grown-up as usual. «We’re sick, but she let us come to you. Now we’re living with you. Cool, huh?»
«You guys… what a nightmare!» Senya muttered, turning to Katya.
Katya was angry.
«Are you serious? Sick kids instead of a date? Is this how it’s going to be from now on?»
«Well… I didn’t know! Vera isn’t thinking straight, she’s trying to sabotage me! She’s just messing with me!» Senya started justifying himself.
«No, Senya. It seems you’re the one who’s not thinking straight. You’ve turned your kids into puppets. I’m leaving.»
«Katya, wait…» he ran after her.
«Bye, Senya. I’ll come back when there are no kids here.»
The door slammed, leaving him and the two sick teenagers in the middle of a romantic setup: candles, wine… jazz playing from the speakers.
«Dad… I feel bad,» Nika moaned.
Senya stood, not knowing what to do. He didn’t have a first aid kit—Katya had something for headaches, but she left. There wasn’t even a thermometer in the house. Honestly, Senya didn’t even know how to treat the kids.
He went to search the cupboard for something. Vanya started coughing.
«Where’s your water?» he said, gasping.
Senya looked at him in fear. He started calling for an ambulance. Brought water, tried to call Vera—she didn’t answer.
«Maybe we should go to grandma’s?» Nika quietly suggested, feeling it was serious, and the ambulance wasn’t coming. «Dad’s mom. She’ll definitely help.»
Senya opened his mouth to protest. But closed it. He couldn’t manage alone. His mother, Nastasia Gavrilovna, didn’t approve of his new relationship and didn’t want to talk to him. But this was an emergency.
When Nastasia Gavrilovna saw the kids, she started yelling:
«You brought sick kids to me? Senya, are you out of your mind?»
«Mom, but they… Vera sent them!»
«And you brought them all the way here through the city? Couldn’t you have called and bought medicine? Are you completely crazy? These are kids, not toys!»
«Mom, enough.»
«No, Senya. Now you listen. I’ll tell you straight: if you were a stranger, I’d call child services. They’re snotty, burning up, wrapped in god-knows-what clothes, like homeless people! And you… you even brought your woman here with them!»
«Katya left,» he muttered.
«Well, thank God. Let her go. She’s not going to sit with your kids. And I’m not obliged to. But I’ll do it. Because you’re a disgrace to manhood. A man who can’t protect his own kids and throws them around like manure!»
Senya was silent. He felt ashamed. He sat in the kitchen like a schoolboy while his mother fed Nika warm milk with honey and rubbed Vanya down with alcohol.
When the kids felt better, grandma found out what had happened and had a talk with them.
The next day, Vera opened the door and saw her children on the doorstep. Clean, in fresh clothes, with the sweetest smiles on their faces. Nastasia Gavrilovna stood beside them. Though she hadn’t cured them, she had a talk with them and explained that Dad wasn’t such a hero after all… That they needed to listen to their mom and take their medicine.
«Vera, take the kids. They want to go home. I brought them,» Nastasia Gavrilovna said.
«Come in,» Vera stepped aside.
Nika ran to her, sniffled:
«Mom, sorry. We won’t say again that dad’s better than you. You’re the nicest.»
Vanya stepped closer and quietly added:
«Sorry, mom. You were always right. We all understood. You just need…»
Vera patted both of them on the head. Then hugged them.
«Thank you, Nastasia Gavrilovna,» she quietly said.
«Forgive my son,» the mother-in-law said briefly. «He’s forty and still hasn’t grown up. He’ll be like silk now. I’ve had a talk with him. If he starts acting up again, I’ll transfer everything to you. The apartment, the dacha—all of it. So he has no reason to open his mouth.»
Senya called. Texted. Wanted to come, talk, apologize. Asked how the kids were.
«All good. Thanks to your prayers,» Vera said and finally breathed a sigh of relief. Two weeks later, in the morning, while seeing the kids off to school, she said:
«Put on your hats. It’s cold today.»
«Of course, mom,» the son and daughter replied in unison.
They grabbed their hats and left. No arguments, no huffs, no conditions. They didn’t want to get sick again.
«Return»
Two years later, Senya finally realized that Katya was just a temporary option. That he should maybe «reconnect» with his kids. Vanya was growing up, he needed his father, a role model… But Vanya no longer saw that role model in his father.
Senya also thought that he and Vera could still rebuild their relationship. He could return to the family. But when he tried, he realized: their family had become something else. Without him. In their new life, there was no place for him. He had lost them.
He suddenly realized with regret that this was exactly what he had been trying to achieve all along. And now he had succeeded. His dream had come true.
