“Vit’, go open the door! Who’s ringing the bell this early in the morning?” Valentina woke her husband.
“No, I’m sleeping. You go,” he said in a drowsy voice.
“As if! It’s your Sasha again, dropping by for something—never able to sit still,” Valentina muttered irritably, rolling onto her other side. “It’s only six a.m., and he’s already wide awake! What is wrong with people?”
“No, it’s not him,” Victor replied, meaning the neighbor. “Sasha went to his parents’ village yesterday.”
“Then go and take a look—honestly! Just lying there… Am I supposed to go? They’ll wake the whole stairwell in a minute. Oh, listen to how persistently they’re ringing. Have they completely lost it?”
Valentina was annoyed. Once again, she didn’t get to sleep in on her hard-earned day off. Last Saturday her cousin had come over with her husband and son and stayed the night. And Valya, being the welcoming hostess, had had to get up at the crack of dawn to serve her guests a proper breakfast.
Victor reluctantly trudged into the entryway. He looked through the peephole—and for a moment he couldn’t even believe what he was seeing.
“Holy smokes… what on earth possessed them to show up here—and at this hour?” Victor muttered in disbelief.
He debated for exactly ten seconds. He didn’t want to open the door, because he knew it would trigger a full-blown disaster. But the buzzing only grew more insistent. Finally, he gave in.
The lock clicked, the door swung open. And it all began.
“Oh, Vitya! Hey, little brother!” Ella cried, throwing her arms around him. “Why did you take so long? Sleeping or what? We’re standing here like guests on the doorstep and you’re still snoozing. Valyushka, get up! Wake up!” she shouted into the apartment.
“What happened in here? Why are you yelling like the place is on fire?” Valentina appeared from the bedroom, hair sticking up in every direction.
“You’ve got company—that’s what happened. Rise and shine, darling. You’re going to feed us and entertain us.”
“And why would I?” Valentina shot back, clearly unimpressed. “I didn’t invite anyone. I wasn’t expecting you. If you suddenly decided to come over, that’s your problem.”
“I beg your pardon… What’s with the attitude?” her sister-in-law snapped. “Did nobody teach you basic manners? Vitya, what is this, honestly?”
“She’ll wake up properly in a minute and everything will be fine,” Victor mumbled, staring at Valentina as if he didn’t recognize her.
“No, it won’t. Don’t even dream it! The nerve—showing up at dawn when normal people are still asleep and demanding food and fun. Sure, one second—let me just pull out my magic self-setting tablecloth. I’m running already!” Valentina refused to budge. Someone needed to remind her husband’s pushy sister whose home this was.
“Misha, am I seeing this right?” Ella spun toward her husband, who had been silent so far. “Are they… kicking us out?”
“Looks like it,” Mikhail replied, uneasy. “I told you we should come around lunchtime. And you said, ‘No, now!’ So… here we are.”
“Oh, don’t you start lecturing me!” Ella snapped. “Last time we came at lunch—what happened? We kissed the door and left, remember? Vitya and Valentina had already raced off to the dacha with the kids! Or wherever they go on weekends—I don’t even know. You have to use your head. On a day off you catch people at home while they’re still warm in bed,” she declared like an expert.
“Wait—hold on,” Valentina said sharply, processing that. “Why were you so determined to ‘catch’ us at home in the first place?”
“Well…” Ella looked embarrassed and clearly didn’t want to go into it. “We just missed you. Are we not allowed to see you for no reason? Sit together, talk? You’re never home—you’re always out somewhere. So we decided to take drastic measures to actually meet you.”
“I don’t care what measures you decided on,” Valentina said. “I didn’t invite you, so I’m not obligated to host anyone. I’m going back to sleep.” She turned her back on the uninvited guests and moved to leave.
“Val, wait—come on,” Victor called after her. “This is really awkward.”
“Awkward?” Valentina whipped around. “For who? For you? Then you entertain them!”
“But you hosted your sister last weekend—her husband, her kid… and now you won’t even give my sister the time of day,” Victor said, hurt, meeting her eyes with unexpected defiance. “So your relatives count as people, and mine don’t?”
“Yes!” Ella chimed in. “Answer us—what kind of unfairness is that?”
“I invited my sister,” Valentina said, enunciating every word. “That’s the key word—invited. I was expecting them because I asked them to come. I did not invite Ella and Mikhail, and I certainly didn’t dream of seeing them at six in the morning on my day off.”
“Valya, come on, don’t sulk,” Victor insisted—oddly stubborn for him, since he normally never contradicted her. “You’re awake anyway. Let’s at least give them some tea.”
“The kitchen is right there—go ahead,” Valentina snapped. “Pour tea, feed them, entertain them—do whatever you want. Just leave me alone!” She slammed the bedroom door behind her.
Victor had no choice but to invite the unwanted guests into the kitchen.
“Guys, honestly, you really messed up,” he told them, leading them in. “You could’ve come later if it was that urgent. Then Valya would’ve gotten her sleep and maybe she’d be kinder. And by the way—can you just say it already? I know you didn’t come here ‘just because.’”
“No point pretending,” Ella admitted, slicing sausage and a loaf of bread. “You’re right—we do need to talk. We’ve been trying to catch you at home for three weeks, but it’s been useless.”
“Then why not warn us?” Victor said, pouring fragrant bergamot tea into cups. “Call and say, ‘We need a serious talk.’ We would’ve made time. Instead you’re sneaking around like spies. Honestly!”
“Yeah… you see…” Ella hesitated and glanced meaningfully at Mikhail, but he stayed quiet, clearly unwilling to help her with this touchy subject. “If we said we had a problem to discuss, we’d have to say what it was, right? And then your Valya probably wouldn’t have let us come at all.”
“Why not?” Victor asked, surprised. “What kind of cloak-and-dagger secrets are we talking about? Come on, sis—what have you cooked up now?”
“I’ll explain,” Ella said, hungrily chewing a sausage sandwich and washing it down with tea. Then she looked at her husband again. “Mish, maybe you should start? Please?”
Ella stared at him insistently.
“Oh no—count me out,” Mikhail said at last. “That’s your family business. You two can sort it out. To be honest, I’d follow Valentina’s example. I’m going to the car to nap a little more.”
He finished his tea, stood up, and left. He had a good idea of how ugly the conversation between Ella and Victor would be.
Valentina, rattled by everything, couldn’t fall back asleep either. She heard the front door slam as Mikhail went to sleep in the car.
“Did they leave already? No way Ella would give up that fast,” Valya whispered to herself.
She got up, cracked open the bedroom door, and crept closer to the kitchen, where she could hear her husband and his sister talking.
“Yep—Mishka’s gone, but she’s still here. Interesting. What is she plotting? I’m about to find out.”
Valentina pressed closer to the closed kitchen door and listened.
“…you know what situation we’re in,” Ella was saying in a low voice, though Valentina heard every word clearly. “We bought our apartment with a mortgage. I don’t work. Misha brings home pennies. But you and Valya—you’re doing fine. You paid off this place, and you don’t have loans, as far as I know. So why do you even need that house? Give up your share in it.”
“Ella, that’s completely unfair,” Victor argued. “Grandma left that house to both of us. Yes, you have problems—I’m not denying it. But Valya and I have plenty of our own! From the outside it looks perfect, but in reality…”
“Be a human being, Vitya,” Ella pressed, cold and shameless. “It’s good we’re talking without Valyukha right now. You’re not hard to persuade. But with her—I don’t even know what to do. Maybe you should try convincing her that this would be the right thing.”
“This is absurd, Ella. Stop it,” Victor snapped, his voice rising. “Don’t even think I’m giving up my share of that house.”
“But that house would help us so much,” Ella insisted. “We’d sell it and pay off the mortgage. And maybe there’d be some left for other needs. I could buy myself a car, build up clients, drive around doing nails…”
“Even if I were alone, with no family, I still wouldn’t agree,” Victor said sharply. “Why should I be ‘generous’ like that? Think, if you’re capable of it! Grandma Tatyana thought of both of us—she took care of us. And now you want to stomp on her wishes. And I’m not alone—I’ve got a family: a wife and kids. And we have problems too, no less than yours.”
“So we’re not reaching a deal?” Ella asked, offended. “Well, look at you—my own brother! Fine, I’m leaving. I’ve got nothing to do here anymore!”
Valya hurried back to the bedroom. She had no intention of letting her sister-in-law know she’d heard everything. She had a different plan.
The front door slammed. The uninvited guest finally left.
“Good job—I’m proud of you,” Valentina told her husband. “Honestly, for a moment I thought you’d crack and give in.”
“You heard all of that, didn’t you?”
“Unfortunately. And once again I’m amazed by your sister’s nerve—and her lack of brains. To even suggest that… you have to be out of your mind. Still, good that it ended like this. But I’m not letting it go. I’m going to get back at her for that arrogance.”
“Maybe don’t,” Victor asked quietly.
“No,” Valentina said. “I should.”
Not long after, Victor and his sister Ella sold their grandmother’s house and split the money fifty-fifty.
With their share, Victor and Valya bought a car for Valentina so she could drive the kids to school and to their after-school activities.
What Ella did with her money, Valya didn’t know. And for the moment, she didn’t care to know. But she didn’t forget that stunt—and she decided she’d teach her sister-in-law a lesson someday.
One day Valentina woke Victor at five in the morning and told him to get ready quickly.
“Come outside—I’ll be waiting in the car.”
“Where are we going?” he asked, half asleep.
“You’ll see.”
They drove to the nine-story building where Ella and Mikhail lived.
Valentina started hammering the intercom button, but there was no response. Soon a man came out with a dog, and they slipped in behind him.
“Open up! Enough sleeping!” Valya yelled, ringing and pounding on Ella’s door. She did it as loudly as she possibly could, on purpose.
Finally, after ten minutes, a sleepy, rumpled Ella appeared in the doorway.
“Have you lost your minds? It’s five in the morning!”
“No, we haven’t,” Valentina said, pushing past the stunned hostess and marching inside. “We’re here to visit.”
“Set the table—your brother and I are hungry!” she announced.
“Vitya,” Ella stared at him, “explain to me what’s going on.”
Victor just stood there smiling silently.
“Well?” Valentina demanded. “Are we eating or not? We didn’t have breakfast, and we rushed over because we were afraid we wouldn’t catch you at home.”
“What table? Are you serious? You’re completely—” Ella twirled a finger at her temple.
“Fine. Then let’s talk,” Valentina said briskly. “We have business. Viktor—come with me. Ella—don’t lag behind.” She marched into the room like a commander.
Mikhail emerged from the bedroom, grim-faced.
“What’s happening here? You woke us up…”
“So,” Valentina said, planted and firm, “I want to know what you did with the money from the house.”
“And why is that any of your business?” Ella asked, baffled. “Look at you, coming here to interrogate us. Since when do you care so much about someone else’s money?”
“Well, Victor and I had a family meeting,” Valentina said. “And we decided you need to give that money back to him.”
“You mean… what?” Ella went pale.
“I mean exactly that,” Valentina replied. “Victor and I have two kids. You don’t have any yet. That money would be very useful to us. Do you know how much children cost?”
“That’s not our problem!” Ella snapped. “And besides—we already spent it. I bought myself a car. I’m opening my own business,” she said proudly.
“And Victor doesn’t have a car,” Valentina went on, relentless. “He drives some old wreck. So give him your car. Come on—don’t be like that. You’re his sister, after all!”
“Are you kidding me?!” Ella yelled.
“No,” Valentina said calmly. “I just want you to know what it feels like. To really feel it. What goes around comes around. Consider this your receipt—paid in full. And now we’re going home, since you won’t feed us. Come on, Vitya—let’s go finish sleeping. It’s still early.”
Valentina and her husband left. Ella sat there, stunned.
“Did you understand anything?” she asked Mikhail.
“What’s there not to understand?” he muttered. “Come on—back to bed, my little ‘businesswoman.’”
After that, Ella stopped showing up at her brother’s place in the early mornings. Actually, she rarely came around at all anymore. And she never asked them for anything again.
