Has anyone from my side called you today?» Alexey asked his wife. «They’ve been driving me crazy all day! It’s so annoying!»
«I don’t understand! What do they need from you? And why would they need to call me?» Nastya asked her husband.
«Not from me, from you!» Alexey smiled.
«From me?» the woman was surprised. «What do they need from me?»
«Yeah, my mom is totally losing it! I even had a fight with her today! She drove me up the wall! I wanted to strangle her! Ended up yelling at her, told her to get lost and went home!»
«So, what happened? What does she want?» Nastya couldn’t understand.
«Somehow, she found out that we have a second apartment, even though I never told anyone about it! She learned that we’re renting it out! At my work, only my boss knows that we bought a second apartment, and no one else! Could your family have said something?»
«No, I don’t think they could have! How would they tell yours if they don’t even talk to each other?!» Anastasia shrugged. «And I still don’t understand, why does she specifically want something from me?»
«Well, I said that it’s your apartment, that you inherited it from distant relatives! To get them off my back! And she wants us to either sell this apartment or give it to Inka! Can you imagine? I was shocked when she started telling me her thoughts about it today! As if it’s some trivial matter! Just a little apartment, give it away and that’s all!»
«Yeah,» Nastya dragged out. «You can never get bored with your mom! And how did she even start this conversation? Did you not ask where she found out about our second apartment?»
«Why wouldn’t I ask? I did ask! But I didn’t wait for an answer, I just lost it, told them all off and went home!»
Hours before this, Alexey was sitting in his office, calmly doing his work. Suddenly, his older sister called him.
«Hello! Hi, In! Are you calling about something important or just to chat? I’m really busy right now!» Alexey replied.
«I’m calling about something important, hi! What time will you be free after work?»
«Around seven! Why, what do you need?»
«Could you stop by mom’s place, I’ll be there, we need to talk urgently! It’s important, it can’t wait!»
«Can you at least tell me what happened? Maybe I can help you without going to mom’s! I don’t want to go there! What happened?»
But then their mom took the phone from her sister, she was apparently nearby during the conversation and heard everything.
«What do you mean you don’t want to come to me, son? What kind of issues are these?»
«Hi to you too, mom! And mom, I’m busy, I’m working! I’ll call back when I’m free! Bye!»
«I’m not done talking to you! Please answer my question!» Svetlana Olegovna insisted.
«Do I look like a little boy to you? I’m not done with you! I told you, I’m busy, which means I’m busy! Bye! I’ll call back when I’m free!»
Alexey hung up the phone and got up from his desk. All his work mood instantly evaporated. He began pacing back and forth in his office, cursing. Only his mother could get him this upset, and so quickly. This had been the case since his childhood.
He couldn’t focus on work for the rest of the day. By seven o’clock, he called his older sister Inna as promised.
«So what did you want?» he immediately asked when his sister answered the call. «And In, is mom not around? Because if she is, I’m not even going to talk!»
«No, she’s not here!» the sister replied unhappily. «I just stepped out, I’m at the store now! Lesh, please drop by today, we need to have a serious conversation, and I don’t want to discuss it over the phone! Will you come?»
Alexey paused for a few seconds, thought, and finally replied to his sister:
«Alright, I’ll stop by! But can you at least hint at what you wanted to talk about? And why exactly at mom’s house? Maybe we can meet somewhere else, in a cafe, maybe? And you can tell me everything there!»
«I don’t want to meet in a cafe, and it’s a family conversation! So we’re waiting for you, come over soon!»
Alexey already knew that this conversation, to which he was invited, would not end well, as usual. But he also knew that if he didn’t come now, his whole family would not let him live in peace and would constantly bother him.
When he arrived at his parents’ home, he was greeted by his mom and sister. His father wasn’t home, and Alexey wasn’t even interested in where he was. His relationship with his father was even worse than with his mother.
«Well, I’m here! What’s this urgent conversation about?» Alexey asked his sister and mother right away. «What do you need from me again?»
«Now, tell me, my dear,» began Svetlana Olegovna. «Why do I learn from complete strangers that you have a second apartment? And why does neither I nor Inna, nor anyone know anything about this apartment?»
«What?» Alexey pretended to be surprised. «What apartment? What, have you all got nothing better to do than to make up and pester me?»
«Don’t play the fool with me! I know it exists! Your older sister has nowhere to live, and you have an apartment and keep silent about it! Is this how I raised you? Did I teach you to hide such things from your family?» Svetlana Olegovna scolded her son.
«First of all, where did you even learn about the apartment? And secondly, what made you think it’s mine at all?»
«Did you think we wouldn’t find out? Did you think you could hide it from us?»
«Why should I report to you, I’m curious, and who told you we have a second apartment?»
«It doesn’t matter! Whoever said, said it! You better answer my question, why didn’t you tell me about it yourself? What, are you and Nastya getting so fat that you started buying up apartments around the city? And you’re not planning to help your own family?»
«Help the family? Are you serious right now?» Alexey chuckled. «Weren’t you the one who wanted to cut me out of your life? Didn’t you recently tell me about it? That such a son as me is not needed by you?! That you’d rather have gotten a dog or a cat instead of me? Mom, aren’t these your words? Huh?»
«I’m not talking about that right now! I asked you a question, and you’d better answer it!»
«Yes, we have an apartment! But it’s not my apartment, it’s Nastya’s! It’s her apartment! She inherited it! There, satisfied? Or do you need to know anything else?»
«I want you to give this apartment to Inna! She needs somewhere to live with her children!» Svetlana Olegovna demanded.
Alexey laughed at what he heard.
«Or maybe I should give her my car too, huh? And transfer my salary card to her? Why not go all out?» the man smirked.
«Stop giggling, Lesh, I’m being serious with you! And don’t make a scene!» said the mom. «You know very well that your sister has two children, and soon we won’t even fit in here!»
«And that’s not my problem, mom!» Alexey replied. «I didn’t force your daughter to sleep around and have children with different men! So much so that she doesn’t even know who specifically is the father to whom! And don’t hang your problems on me! And as for the apartment, you can forget about it! It’s my wife’s apartment, and it has nothing to do with you! Not you, sis,» Alexey turned to Inna. «And especially not you, mom!»
«Well then, just sell it, sell it and at least give half the money from it to your sister!»
«Are you deaf or out of your mind?» Lesh addressed his mother. «Which part of what I just told you did you not understand?»
«I understood everything perfectly! And you don’t need to repeat anything to me! I only need one thing, for you to help your sister!»
«Alright, both of you rest! I’m going home! And you can stop calling me, this conversation is over! And you, Inna, get up and look for a job! Since you’re used to everyone helping and pitying poor you! Where to go, she has two children! People with three and four children manage to work and provide for everyone! And don’t expect anything more from me!»
Lesh got up from the kitchen table, where the entire dispute had taken place, and headed for the exit from the apartment.
But mom wasn’t about to let her son go just like that. She jumped up and followed him, starting to spew more nastiness at him, as she almost always did.
«So, that’s how you are, huh?! Ungrateful! I, you see, raised you, I educated you! And this is how you decided to repay me! Nothing good will come out of this, my dear son! If you don’t do something good now, you’ll do it the hard way! You owe me, for all the years I wasted on you! AND DON’T YOU DARE TURN YOUR BACK TO ME WHEN I’M TALKING TO YOU!» Svetlana Olegovna yelled and tugged at her son’s jacket sleeve.
Alexey turned to his mother with the clear intention of slapping her. But he didn’t.
«Don’t touch me with your hands, don’t even dare touch me! And you think I won’t hit a mother! Someone like you, I’d not only hit! You’ve already spoiled my whole life! Always whining about how you didn’t want me, that I was an unwanted child in the family! Well, I’m no longer in your life, I live separately! I moved out from you a long time ago! What else do you need? Live and be happy, just don’t touch me! Pretend I don’t exist and never did! Here,» he pointed to his sister. «Here’s your favorite, the one you had all your hopes for! Demand everything you need from her!»
«Alright,» said the mom. «You give Inna your second apartment, and we all disappear from your life! You won’t even hear about us anymore! I promise you!»
«You see this?» Alexey raised his left hand, bending it at the elbow, and quickly slapped it loudly under it with his right. «This is the most you’ll see from me! And you, and her, and dad! Pass this universal sign of refusal on to him from me! And don’t call or write to me anymore! You’re all not family to me! I have a family, it’s my wife! And you’re all strangers to me! And if you grab my hand one more time, mom, I’ll really smack you!»
After these words, the man left his parents’ apartment, slamming the door loudly behind him.
And just as he descended, not even having time to get into his car, his mom called him right away. A call he declined. Then again and again. After the mom, his sister immediately started calling. With whom Lesh, just like with his mom, did not want to talk.
All the way home, Alexey couldn’t find peace. He was very angry, and angry with himself. For agreeing to come to his parents’ home in the first place. He already knew that any visit to his mother and father with his sister always ended in constant scandal. And he had sworn many times not to come to them anymore. But he gave in again and went.
After this incident, Alexey completely refused all his familial ties with these people. Even once, encountering his mother and sister on the street, the man deliberately pretended not to recognize them. As if they were strangers and aliens to him.
Neither his mother, nor his sister, nor his father called him anymore and didn’t bother him at all.
After some time, Alexey had a son, then a daughter. And when they asked him about their grandfather and grandmother, the father told them he was an orphan and that his parents were long gone from this world.
