“Nastya, we’re expecting you on Sunday at two o’clock!” — Mom’s tone was firm and left no room for doubt.
“Okay, Mom, I’ll be there. Should I bring something?” — the girl sighed heavily: another ruined weekend! It would have been much better to spend Friday evening cleaning and cooking, go to some party on Saturday, and then sleep in and relax on Sunday before the workweek. But her parents considered Sunday a family day — they held a formal lunch, invited relatives and friends. Everyone sat properly at the table, ate, drank some good wine, and talked about cultural events, theater premieres, and scientific news.
What could be done? They were an intellectual family — Dad a professor, Mom an honored artist. They had a very comfortable life in terms of housing, income, work, and social circle. The only one who didn’t fit into this orderly world was Nastya, their only daughter. She didn’t go into science or the arts, but entered the financial institute, graduated with honors, and went into business — she got a job in a very respectable company and was now a department head, earning well, with management subtly hinting at a possible promotion.
However, her parents were dissatisfied. Very dissatisfied! They wanted a completely different future for their daughter: a quiet job at her father’s department or her mother’s institute, a good marriage with a boy from their social circle, grandchildren, and a calm, measured life of a woman from an intellectual family. But it didn’t work out. Nastya had a strong will from childhood and shattered all her parents’ dreams. By the age of twenty-six, she had made a career, left the parental home, rented an apartment, and had no desire to settle down.
This was seen as wrong and improper, and her parents devoted all their efforts to fixing the situation. Since her job was beyond their influence (they had to accept that — a department head in a respectable firm was acceptable), the issue was her single status in a rented apartment. That was nonsense to them! They set themselves a goal: at all costs, marry their daughter off to a decent man, trade or buy an apartment for them, and let them live there as a normal family, as had been done forever.
That’s why Sunday visits to her parents were so hated by Nastya: there was always some son, nephew, godson, or neighbor whom they tried to introduce to her. And Nastya’s opinion was never asked. The suitor had to be single and from a respectable family. Nastya fought this intrusive care with all her might, but it was hard to resist her parents. Her mother heard no arguments, pushing her way forward, and since financial pressure didn’t work (Nastya earned well herself), she used “heavy artillery.” If Nastya refused to attend family lunches with potential suitors, her mother would call persistently, bombard her with questions, lamentations, and even fake fainting attempts. Her father, as a scientist, pressed with logic: continuation of the family line, grandchildren, a glass of water in old age, and so forth.
The interesting thing was Nastya was not a blue-stocking feminist or opponent of marriage. She had had romances, meetings with men, including overnight stays. But she didn’t want to change her lifestyle yet, especially since these encounters were dictated by the body, not the heart. She was perfectly content with such non-binding relationships and would have been happy if not for her parents’ obsessive care.
This time, the suitor was a rather pleasant young man, only slightly older than her. They introduced him as Dima, although he looked more like a Dmitry. He behaved decently, didn’t stare at her, nor try to mentally size her up for a one-night fling.
The evening predictably ended with Nastya wanting to leave early and an elderly, barely known female guest joyfully exclaiming:
“Oh, Dimochka has to leave too, he’ll give you a ride, right, Dim?”
“Of course, I will!” — Dima was all gallantry.
They went outside, the gentleman opened the car door for her and got behind the wheel.
“Where to?” he asked calmly.
“If convenient, Staleliteynaya Street. If not, somewhere where I can call a taxi.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll take you wherever you say.”
“Dima, let’s agree right away, I’m not up for continuing to get to know each other!”
“Oh, am I so terrible in your eyes?” he asked half-jokingly.
“It’s not about you,” she grimaced, feeling uncomfortable continuing the conversation, “I just don’t want a relationship right now. We were set up exactly for that, but I’m fed up with this control!”
“Got it. The clock’s ticking, you need grandchildren, what do you think, and so on?”
“Yeah, exactly. How did you know?”
“Because I get the same treatment, dragged around every weekend to meet people, then calls asking breathlessly: ‘How do you like the girl? Did you arrange a meeting?’”
Nastya shook her head:
“Really? I thought I was the only one!”
“No, not the only one… Listen, Nastya, I have an idea. Since we’re both… unmanageable, let’s take a break from these visits?”
“How?”
“Let’s announce that we have a date on Sunday, so we’re both freed from the forced family visits, and we’ll spend the day doing what we want!”
“Hmm… Not bad, let’s try! But we’ll have to call each other to make up where we went and how it ended.”
“Smart! Call me now; I’m driving.”
They arrived at Nastya’s house, she got out, said goodbye. Naturally, her mother called soon after.
“Are you home?”
“Yes, just got in.”
“How was the ride?”
“Fine.”
“And how do you like Dima?” her mother played indifferent unnaturally.
“Well, okay, he seems decent.”
“He took you home, or did you go somewhere else?”
“We went to the registry office, it was specially opened for us, then gave birth to a child in the car!” — Nastya thought irritably but said aloud:
“He took me home, took my phone, we’ll probably call soon.”
“Wonderful! Look at him carefully, he’s very promising, earns well, and has an apartment. And a good, calm character… (And he can still drive a manual, Nastya smirked to herself).”
“Okay, Mom, I’ll keep an eye on him!” — she ended the conversation.
The workweek flew by with usual chores, and on Friday evening Dima called.
“Nastya, hi! How’s it going? Still the same? What did you tell your folks about Sunday?”
“I haven’t figured it out yet, it slipped my mind…”
“Then follow my lead. We went to the ‘Otrada’ cafe, then partied at the ‘Polar Star’ nightclub. Everything was great, I walked you home, and we even kissed!”
“Hmm, kisses, are those necessary?”
“Well, as you wish, I’m not insisting,” he laughed.
Nastya spent the weekend wonderfully! As planned, she spent Saturday with Katya and Lenka at her place, then on Sunday lay on the couch all day, slept, read, watched some old comedies, and turned off her phone. She had a great rest! She called her mother in the evening (sixteen missed calls from her during the day!), gave a dry report about the day spent, as agreed with Dima, and decided to keep quiet about the kisses for now.
The next weekend went much the same, except they went to a suburban recreation base with the girls starting Friday evening. Of course, for relatives, this trip was also presented as together. But the following weekend something went wrong. Nastya called Dima on Wednesday and sadly said that on Sunday her mother’s cousin had a birthday that they couldn’t miss.
“Then don’t miss it,” the guy was surprised, “what’s the problem?”
“The problem is, Dimochka, that we were invited together as a couple!”
“Oh, wow…”
“Well, yeah. What shall we do? I can’t go without you; they’ll bombard me with questions. And going with you is no better. They expect us to sit close, hold hands, and look happily into each other’s eyes! And the only question they’ll have is: ‘When’s the wedding?’”
“Yeah, that’s a situation…” he said gloomily, “Okay, let’s do this. We’ll come together, sit next to each other, smile occasionally, but not push things. Basically, act like friends, and for the wedding questions, answer sharply: ‘Nothing decided yet, don’t pressure me, we’re still getting to know each other!’”
“They’ll still bug us,” Nastya sighed.
“They will anyway,” Dima reasoned, “just less in this case.”
“Fine, I’ll endure it, no way out. But we have to solve something, this comedy is starting to weigh me down.”
“Come on, it’s not that bad! You would have had to go with or without me, and now you have the bonus of a ride there and back.”
“No, Dima, it’s not that. I know my parents well — after this, the demands for registry office applications, rushed wedding preparations, ring and dress fittings, discussion of place and time, millions of questions, family mobilization, horror! Probably, we started this mess in vain; it’ll be very hard to get out later. And my folks will be upset, although they bug me, I love them!”
“Yeah… My aunt will be upset too; she really wants me married, just like your mom.”
“Eh, what to say, we trapped ourselves.”
“Okay, Nastya, let’s deal with problems as they come. We’ll have to visit anyway, so we’ll act out this episode and then decide what to do next!”
The celebration went quite calmly, the guests didn’t stare at the couple sentimentally, everything was decent. At the end of lunch, when Nastya thought the day held no more surprises, Dad’s colleague, also a professor, Igor Petrovich, handed Dima a thick bright envelope and said:
“This is a gift for you kids from me: a voucher to a ski resort, a deluxe room for two, all excursions and activities paid for, skis, sleds, Santa Claus, gifts, congratulations. Ten days of complete pleasure — enjoy your vacation and each other!”
Nastya turned pale, looked at Dima in confusion, opened her mouth to object, but he nudged her under the table and stood up to respond. Thanking the giver warmly, he promised to do his best to make the trip unforgettable.
When they were alone in his car, Nastya accused him — why didn’t he refuse that dubious voucher immediately?
“And how do you imagine refusing? The man tried, paid money to please us, and we do him such a dirty trick! How do we explain? ‘Sorry, Igor Petrovich, we were just joking all along, we have no relationship, it’s all nonsense!’”
“But what can we do? We can’t accept such a gift!”
“And to back out at the feast, spoil the anniversary, that would ruin relations for life! A whole week while pretending to prepare for the trip, then at the last moment announce someone’s sick or stuck at work.”
“Come on, Dima, what urgent work for New Year? And lying about illness is risky, we might actually get sick!”
“Alright, let’s not tempt fate, we’ll think of something else.”
“Let’s end our play. We’ll announce after New Year that we’re breaking up, personalities don’t match, or something!”
“Probably you’re right. I’ll think it over and we’ll decide together.”
“Good, agreed!”
“And how did you talk your way out?” Katya asked with great curiosity.
“We didn’t! When we decided to announce our breakup, we found out Igor Petrovich’s friends were going to the same resort, we had tickets in the same compartment, everything was arranged, a comfortable minibus was ordered for excursions, and on the first day, a trip to an old castle and then a beginner’s ski slope… Honestly, we really didn’t want to refuse.”
“Then we didn’t refuse!” Dima exclaimed. “When else would we get such a chance?”
“But…” I was embarrassed, “we have a room for two…”
“Listen, Nastya, come on! It’s a suite, the bed is huge — you can lie across it if you want. I’ll sleep on the couch, there should be a separate one!”
In the end, we gave up on all problems and prejudices. I think even if something happens, I’m not a kid anymore. We’ll just get extra pleasure before we part!
“So, did it happen?” the friend asked slyly.
“Oh, yes!” Nastya smiled. “We still can’t tear ourselves away from each other…” — and sighed — “The wedding is in April, just so you know… Circumstances just wouldn’t let us turn aside; everything fell into place!”
“When our guys find out I’m getting married, they’ll freak out!” Dima smiled.
“And to whom — to Nastya! She’s a staunch opponent of marriage!” laughed his friend Anton.
“She was,” Dima raised a finger significantly, “now we’re both opponents of bachelorhood!”
“But how did you persuade her?”
“Circumstances made it happen,” Dima answered importantly, “you can’t fight them. Especially if you plan and organize those circumstances well. Like visiting relatives, fake weekends together, invitation to a birthday, voucher for a deluxe room, paid pleasures at a ski resort. I’d been in love with Nastya for a long time but knew I had no chance the usual way. So I came up with this…”
