Ol, your husband is on a business trip again?» Pavel, a colleague, caught up with Olga as she headed to the bus stop. «Maybe we can sit in the café? Have your favorite cocoa, talk a bit, since it’s always just ‘hi’ and ‘bye’.»
«Sorry, Pash, I can’t today. Ignat promised he’d be home early, we planned to pick out a kitchen, we still haven’t really settled in after the renovation. And by the way, he hasn’t been on business trips for a long time.»
«Is he always home on time?» Pavel asked with thinly veiled irony. «Not always,» Olga smiled and shook her head, «We really need the money right now, so Ignat has to stay late at work. Once we’ve fully furnished the apartment, then he can always be home on time.»
«Got it,» Pavel smiled in response and, wishing his colleague a pleasant evening, turned the other way.
Olga was lucky this time that the bus arrived quickly; usually, she had to wait a long time, but today she managed to leave work early and caught it. Taking a free seat by the window, Olga reflected. She and Pavel were once going to get married, but they broke up over something silly, and she couldn’t even remember why. Ignat came along quickly, and she went to the registry office just to spite Pavel – see, I’m not alone, and now you can kick yourself for letting me go. He actually tried to reconcile – apologizing, earnestly promising to make her happy, never to hurt her, to be faithful, and so on, but Olga was already taken with Ignat, and decided she never loved Pavlushka, it was just an illusion.
But then she completely forgot about him, until recently when he was transferred to their branch from the main office. He acted as if he was pleasantly surprised by the coincidence, but Olga thought he had asked for the transfer on purpose, knowing she worked there. However, she was pleased that Pavel was still single and continued to treat her with the same warmth. Deep down, she wished him happiness and even felt a little jealous of his future wife – he was quite the romantic.
As for her, she couldn’t say she was unlucky with her husband, it’s just that he had been very busy lately. Yes, he tried for the sake of the family so that they lacked for nothing, lived in comfort, but there was just no time left for his wife. And they lived in an apartment owned by Ignat’s sister. She kindly offered them the place while her children grew up. Oksana and her husband didn’t have financial problems; she didn’t even work a day, so renting out the apartment made no sense, they just invested in real estate, saying, the kids would have a place to live when they grew up. Ignat and Olga did the renovation to their taste, Oksana allowed it, now they were buying furniture. But Olga often thought that it would be better if they rented a furnished apartment. They had poured so much money into this place, it would have lasted several years on rent, or they could have invested in a mortgage, at least to buy a room in a dormitory to start with, then – more to come. But Ignat’s eyes lit up when Oksana offered them this housing.
Olga got off the bus, hurriedly crossed the street, and headed home. The air carried that scent promising imminent rain, but now she was not ready to enjoy the coolness and freshness. Thoughts swirled in her head, but none lingered long, all blending into another. How long had it been since she and Ignat moved into this apartment? A year? A year and a half? Olga couldn’t remember exactly, but the feeling that their home still felt temporary troubled her. They renovated, settled in, always waiting for something better, as if real life was supposed to start later, but when — remained unclear.
Approaching the building, she caught herself walking too slowly, as if delaying the moment when she would be inside. The entrance door clicked open, letting her into the dark hallway, and Olga began climbing the stairs to the fourth floor. The stairwells flashed by one after another, and she felt an increasing tension.
Entering the apartment, Olga paused. By the threshold, neatly placed next to her and Ignat’s shoes, were high-heeled shoes. She recognized them immediately — they were Ignat’s sister’s shoes. Why was she here? Olga didn’t remember Ignat warning her about his sister’s visit.
Olga was almost ready to shout that she was home, but something stopped her. Intuition suggested that she shouldn’t enter right away. Instead, she froze, listening.
«My husband and I wanted to relax,» Oksana’s voice sounded. «But he can’t get the time off, so I thought I’d give you these tickets. But on one condition,» her voice became a bit more demanding, «you go not with your wife, but with Kira.»
Olga froze. «With Kira?» She remembered Ignat once mentioning this name casually, telling her that Oksana tried to set him up with her friend. Then, Olga didn’t pay much attention to it. But now, hearing this name, something inside her tightened with an unpleasant premonition.
«I don’t need Kira,» Ignat’s voice sounded annoyed. «Oksana, I’ve told you before, I’m a family man now. I have Olga! Why do you keep starting this?»
Olga almost sighed with relief. All clear, just Oksana trying to impose her opinion, as always. She was almost ready to open the living room door and announce her return when Oksana spoke again.
«Well, who are you kidding? I remember how you loved Kira. You were even going to marry her, and then you just got upset over a trifle. Don’t be stubborn, I see it all — this Olga isn’t right for you. Kira is a whole different story.»
Olga froze, struggling to comprehend what she heard. Loved? Planned to marry? And he told her Kira wasn’t interesting to him… Anxiety grew in her chest with each word. Olga stared at the floor, mentally trying to hold herself together, but Oksana’s words struck like a blow to an open wound.
«So what?» responded Ignat, but his voice carried notes of irritation and… uncertainty? «It’s all in the past. Yes, it happened, I’m not arguing, but it’s passed. I love my wife.»
«Love her? Come on, Ignat,» Oksana persisted. «We both know you married Olga just to spite Kira when she left you for another. And then she wanted to come back to you, repented, asked for forgiveness. But you foolishly married just to get back at her.»
Olga’s heart lurched. Out of spite? Did Ignat really marry her just to prove something to someone? She suddenly found it difficult to breathe, a lump formed in her throat. She remembered how she herself had rushed to marry Ignat after breaking up with Pavel. Even if Ignat initially had the same motives, so what? Now they truly loved each other, right?… Olga, holding her breath, waited for what her husband would say next.
«It happened and it passed,» she heard Ignat’s steady voice. «I’m married now, and I have commitments to my wife.»
«Oh, what commitments?» Oksana almost snorted contemptuously. «You haven’t managed to have kids yet, thank God. I hope you remember where you live?! You’ll just keep floundering in someone else’s corners with Olga. And Kira, by the way, recently got a three-bedroom from her parents as a gift, spacious, new… And she still loves you, waiting for you to come to your senses.»
Olga’s heart tightened. She leaned against the cold wall, feeling as if she was losing control of her emotions. How could Oksana say such things? But what worried her more was what Ignat would say. She almost didn’t breathe, trying to catch his response.
«Oksana, stop,» Ignat began slowly, but his voice was no longer as confident as before. «Housing isn’t the main thing. As long as there’s a place to live, and then we’ll see, we can buy our own.»
But Oksana wouldn’t let up:
«You’re just afraid of change. Kira was always better for you, you’re just still upset, but it’s not too late to fix everything. With Kira, you’ll have a home, stability, everything you deserve. Don’t you see that with Olga you’ll never be truly happy?»
Olga almost physically felt her heart freeze. Two forces battled within her—one wanted to burst into the room and scream, and the other—to run away, hide from this conversation, and pretend it never happened.
«Besides,» continued Oksana. «You understand that I can’t keep providing this apartment forever. I have my own plans for it, so soon you’ll have to move out.»
«And does Kira know about what you’re planning?» Ignat unexpectedly asked.
«Of course, she knows!» Oksana quickly replied. «Moreover, Kira herself asked me about it. She knows you still love her. She came up with these tickets and asked me to play along.»
Silence fell. Olga felt everything inside her swirl. Why was Ignat silent? Was he seriously considering his sister’s proposal?
«And what will I tell Olga?» he finally asked quietly.
«Tell her you’ll be helping me at the dacha. We just started a renovation,» Oksana answered as if it was the most natural solution. «And go to the sea with Kira. It’s simple.»
Olga couldn’t listen anymore. She quietly slipped out of the apartment and, without looking back, hurried away as far as possible.
Her legs led her to a small cozy coffee shop, where there was almost no one. Soft music played in the semi-darkness, and outside, it slowly began to get dark. Tired and lost, she sat at a table by the window and mechanically ordered a vanilla cocoa. A jumble of thoughts prevented her from focusing on anything—the snippets of conversation she heard at home haunted her.
She replayed Oksana’s words in her head over and over, trying to understand how it was even possible—how could her husband have hidden the truth from her for so long? How could he have kept silent about once planning to marry another? And moreover, his sister’s friend! Olga felt betrayed, but even more, she felt hurt. Was her own life, her marriage, just revenge for the past? She thought Ignat had chosen her with his heart, but it turned out there were entirely different motives. Unlike her, however, she refused even just to sit in a café with Pavel, not to mention the sea! And she loved her husband wholeheartedly and forever.
It had already darkened outside, and Olga sat in the café, watching the flickering lights through the raindrops sliding down the glass. She hadn’t even touched the cocoa. Time seemed to have stopped.
And yet Ignat hadn’t even called her, hadn’t asked where she was. «Probably planning to go to the sea with Kira,» she thought bitterly, «and he doesn’t care at all where I am.»
But reaching for her phone to check the time, she realized it was dead.
Olga sighed heavily and decided that she could no longer put it off—it was time to go home. Gathering her courage, she stood up, threw on her coat, and stepped out into the street, feeling the cold evening wind penetrate to the bones. Olga walked home, convincing herself with each step that her relationship with Ignat was over. The breakup was inevitable, and Olga tried to mentally prepare for it.
When she approached the building, her heart felt even heavier. Olga climbed the stairs, slowly turned the key in the lock, and entered the apartment. She was met by silence—strange, oppressive. She didn’t hear the usual sounds of the TV or noise from the kitchen. But her attention was drawn to the bags standing in the middle of the room. Ignat was packing his things. «There you go,» she thought, «he’s definitely going.»
«What are you doing?» she asked mechanically, although she already knew the answer—now he would say that he was going to Oksana’s dacha. However, Ignat unexpectedly said something else:
«Ol, we’re leaving here. I’ve already found an apartment in the ads. For now, it’s temporary, but then we’ll figure out how to get a mortgage.» He paused for a moment and looked at his wife as if noticing something in her gaze. «And why did you take so long? I couldn’t reach you all evening, your phone was unavailable. Did you take on extra work too?»
Olga couldn’t believe her ears. Everything she wanted to tell him, all the words she had prepared, suddenly lost their meaning. She nodded in confusion, not knowing how to react to what was happening.
«We’re leaving?» she asked quietly, still not fully understanding everything.
Ignat, sensing her confusion, came closer, trying to explain:
«We had a bit of a fight with Oksana,» he sighed. «And I decided—enough. I don’t want to depend on her anymore. We need our own place.»
Olga felt her body relax slightly, but it wasn’t over yet. Her husband paused for a moment, then sighed deeply and sat on the edge of the sofa, inviting her to sit. When she sat down, he briefly recounted his conversation with Oksana.
«I should have told you earlier,» he added, lowering his voice slightly. «I did have a fling with Kira. And yes, I married you to spite her. But, Olga, you need to know one thing: all that is in the past. You’re the only one I truly love, and I don’t want to lose you.»
Olga listened to him, and gradually, a sense of relief set in in her heart. Sure, the pain of deception and the unsaid remained, but it was important that now they could finally talk openly.
«Sorry I didn’t tell you everything earlier,» Ignat added quietly, lowering his head. «Just… when you told me about planning to marry Pavel, I thought my story would be inappropriate, since it was exactly the same. And then I just didn’t want to talk about it.»
Olga sighed, feeling tears welling up in her eyes. But these were tears of relief.
«Okay,» she exhaled, «What’s done is done. You said you rented an apartment?»
«Yes,» Ignat nodded, «For now it’s temporary, but it’ll be our own place. Without Oksana, without her interference. We’ll manage, I promise. And then we’ll get a mortgage, do everything right.»
Olga nodded. She felt that this was the right path. Finally, they would live for themselves, without looking back at others’ plans and advice, not always appropriate.
«Well,» Ignat smiled, «Shall we start packing?»
Olga nodded again, unable to utter a word. All that was left for her was to believe that now their life would truly follow a new path, without looking back at the past, which should always be left behind.
