— Ninochka, hello,” said the mother-in-law, entering the hallway. “How are you? How’s the renovation going?”
“Almost done,” Nina replied, closing the door.
The mother-in-law slowly walked around the apartment, peeking into every room, then sat down at the kitchen table. Nina noticed how carefully she was inspecting everything.
“Is there any tea?” Valentina Petrovna asked, taking some things out of a bag.
“Yes, of course,” Nina said as she put the kettle on. “I’ll brew some now.”
While the water was boiling, the mother-in-law was silent, only nodding occasionally as she looked around. Nina was nervous — visits like this never ended well.
“It turned out to be a nice apartment,” Valentina Petrovna finally said, sipping her tea. “Bright, spacious.”
“Thank you.”
The mother-in-law put down her cup. Looked out the window. Then shifted her gaze to Nina.
“I’ve decided this: you live with Valera here with us for now, and my daughter and her child will stay in your apartment.”
The mother-in-law spoke calmly. Somehow matter-of-factly.
The world seemed to freeze. Nina looked at her mother-in-law, unable to believe what she heard. Valentina Petrovna calmly drank her tea as if she had suggested something completely ordinary.
“What did you say?” Nina quietly asked again.
“I said you’ll live with me for now,” repeated the mother-in-law without looking up from her cup. “And Galya with the granddaughter will live in your apartment. It’s fair — daughter with child separate. And you and Valera will squeeze in here with me, no big deal.”
Blood rushed to Nina’s face. Inside, everything boiled — months of silence, patience, swallowed grievances suddenly turned into molten lava.
“This is family,” Valentina Petrovna continued didactically. “You have to understand, give in, be a woman.”
“What family?” Nina’s voice trembled with indignation. “This apartment is mine! My inheritance!”
“So what?” snorted the mother-in-law.
Nina stood up from the table, hands shaking. Nina had put her strength, time, and all her savings into the renovation. And this woman calmly suggested giving the apartment to strangers.
“We did the renovation ourselves!” Nina shouted. “You didn’t lift a finger, only criticized! Neither you nor your daughter have anything to do with this apartment!”
“How dare you raise your voice at me?” Valentina Petrovna protested. “You’re no match for me, girl. So what if you did everything yourselves? Now there’s a necessity! And you must give up the apartment!”
“What necessity?” Nina didn’t recognize her own voice. “Your daughter has a room in your apartment!”
The mother-in-law pursed her lips, clearly not expecting such resistance from her quiet daughter-in-law.
“Galya feels cramped here with me,” she said coldly. “But here — space, beauty. The child needs room to play.”
At that moment, the front door slammed. Valery returned — he had forgotten a folder with documents on the table. Nina turned to her husband, her eyes burning with tears of rage.
“Your mother is suggesting we move out of here,” Nina said, pointing at the mother-in-law. “So Galina and her daughter can live here.”
Valery froze in the kitchen doorway, shifting his gaze between his wife and his mother. Valentina Petrovna straightened up in her chair, preparing for an attack.
“Valerochka,” she spoke softly. “I’m not kicking you out. You’ll live with me for now. But it’ll be better for Galya and the baby here.”
“Mom,” Valery slowly approached the table. “This is Nina’s apartment. We live here.”
“Oh, come on,” the mother-in-law waved her hand irritably. “Galina is your sister, she has a child. You’re young, you’ll manage.”
Nina looked at her husband. Everything was being decided now — their marriage, their future, their right to their own life. Valery was silent for several seconds, looking at his mother.
“Leave, Mom. Right now.”
Valentina Petrovna was taken aback.
“What? How dare you talk to me like that?”
“I decide where I live,” Valery approached his mother. “It’s Nina’s apartment, and nobody is going to share it. Nobody will live here except us.”
The mother-in-law jumped up, her face flushed with anger.
“Are you crazy?” she hissed. “Because of this… because of her, you’re betraying your own mother?”
“Mom, pack up,” Valery said wearily. “Enough already.”
Valentina Petrovna grabbed her bag and threw an angry look at Nina.
“You’ll regret this,” she hissed, heading toward the exit. “You’re destroying the family!”
Valery saw his mother to the door, closed it, and went to his wife. Nina stood by the window, trembling with nerves. Valery hugged her and kissed the top of her head.
“I’m with you,” he said softly. “Don’t worry. It won’t happen again.”
Two years passed. Nina and Valery lived in their apartment. Nina hung beautiful curtains, grew flowers on the windowsills, and hung paintings in the living room. She had a cozy corner on the balcony where she drank coffee in the morning, looking at the city. She had a favorite chair by the window where she read in the evenings.
The mother-in-law and sister-in-law stopped coming. Valentina Petrovna called a couple of times — pleading, pressuring, blaming Nina for destroying the family. Then she fell silent. Valery stopped visiting his mother every weekend; contact dwindled. Nina did not interfere — it was his choice, his decision.
Nina saw that it was hard for her husband. But he was an adult. And Nina no longer played the role of the silent, accommodating daughter-in-law. Nina simply lived nearby — calmly, honestly, on her own terms.
When friends asked if she was afraid to go against her mother-in-law, Nina smiled.
“Being afraid is when they don’t ask you and have already decided everything for you,” she said. “That’s scary. But standing up for yourself — that’s not scary.”
