I asked you to look after our son like a human being! How can you be so heartless? The child is soaking wet, and you’re just staring at your monitor!»
«Why are you starting this now?» Vadik grimaced, glancing over his shoulder at the baby crib. «The boy is lying there quietly, not crying. Why stir things up?»
«Are you serious?!» his wife exclaimed indignantly. «Just because he’s not screaming, it means he doesn’t need attention?!»
«What, am I supposed to swing him back and forth?» Vadik smirked and dove back into his laptop.
A new project was looming, and there was very little time left to submit it—the deadlines were burning. And here was Natashka with her quirks—’watch him, I need to see a doctor.’
«I’m warning you!» Natalia yanked the back of the computer chair. «You’ll have to sit with the son, I’m going to the hospital!»
Vadik choked and forgot which keys he wanted to press.
«What?!» he barked, turning pale. «Are you out of your mind?!»
«Not out of my mind!» the wife returned to the crib and picked up the baby. «The doctor said I have a polyp that needs to be removed urgently! So, darling, you’ll sit with the child—there’s no escape!»
«How long do I have to sit with him?» Vadik stretched out, hoping his wife was joking. «Are you sure it’s urgent? Maybe he’ll grow up, and then you can remove it?»
«Are you a moron?! Who’s going to grow up?!» the young woman yelled at him. «The polyp or Mishenka?! What are you even talking about?!»
«Well, Mishka will grow up, and then you’ll lie down,» Vadik said uncertainly, glancing sideways at his son. The baby was puckering his lips and trying to catch his mother’s gaze—he was one and a half months old and didn’t understand anything yet but sensed some unease. Mishenka furrowed his pale eyebrows and amusingly wrinkled his button-nose.
Mama instinctively kissed him on the forehead and stroked his chubby hand. The boy sensed the familiar smell of his mother’s milk, and calm spread throughout his tiny body. He was ready to cry—the diaper was uncomfortably pinching, but Mommy quickly solved the problem, pulling off the overloaded diaper and replacing it with a clean one.
«Quiet, sunshine, all is well—mommy’s here,» she rocked the baby, and he drifted off to sleep without realizing it.
Vadik sat staring at one spot. He was frightened and confused at the same time. The prospect of being alone with the child scared him more than the overdue project. How to solve this problem, Vadik did not know yet, but he was not ready to give up.
«Nat, don’t make a fuss,» he whispered, trying not to wake the tiny son. «Let’s have your mom sit with him, and I’ll help her!»
Natalia gently placed Mishenka in the crib, covered him with a thin blanket, admired the boy, and then turned to her husband.
«Let’s go to the kitchen! We need to talk!» Natasha hissed and shook her head.
«What is there to talk about?» Vadik hissed back as soon as they were in the kitchen. «Are you out of your mind? How am I supposed to sit with him?!»
«Don’t hiss! He can’t hear!» the wife planted her hands on her hips. «You’ll sit ordinarily, just don’t forget to change the diapers, or he’ll get a diaper rash!»
«Are you stupid, Nata?» Vadik gloomily shook his head. «What am I supposed to do with him?»
«Vadik! Don’t start!» the young mother halted his complaints. «You’ll manage, where are you going to go! You can feed the child and change his diaper—you’ll last a couple of days!»
«How long?!» the young father gasped. «I thought a couple or three hours! What, a couple of days?! Are you heading to a sanatorium?! What are they going to do there that takes so long to stay in the hospital?!»
«How would I know, Vadik?» she sank onto a stool and wrapped her arms around her shoulders. «I’m scared myself—the doctor said something worrying. They write such horrors on the internet… I’m very scared.»
«Hey, mom! Don’t stir things up!» he approached her but didn’t dare to embrace her. He knew that now was not the time to touch her. Natalia couldn’t stand pity—she didn’t want to be seen as weak.
«Everything will be fine, Nat!» Vadik said and lightly tugged her ponytailed hair. «We’ll manage! I’ll think of something…»
«Vadik, what can you think of?» Natalia shook her head. «The polyp needs to be removed, even if you burst. There’s no one else to leave Mishka with but you. I’m freaking out for no reason and worrying about our son. What can you think of?»
«If it needs to be removed, then lie down and don’t think about anything!» Vadik confidently said and hugged her. «Mishka and I will not disappear—we are men or what! Worry a little and start writing a childcare manual! Understood?»
Natalia pressed against him, inhaled his scent, and felt that there was no one dearer to her in the world. Vadik and Mishenka—that was the most precious thing she had. Unfortunately, her mom had gone to the country for a week in another region, and Natalia didn’t want to bother her. She tended to panic about anything, and here was plenty of room for it—a joke, her daughter was facing surgery…
A few days later, after submitting the necessary tests and writing a detailed childcare manual, pumping and freezing breast milk, Natalia lay down in the hospital. Vadik drove her and now sat in the car, looking at his son. Nerves were frayed—the young mother understood that her son was not with a stranger, but Vadik was poorly oriented in reality. He was a programmer, and everything that happened around him, not in the monitor, often puzzled him.
The young father had no idea how to cope with a child—almost all responsibilities lay on Natalia’s shoulders. Vadik was trusted only to walk with his son outside, and that for a couple of hours. Now, by his understanding, harsh trials had come into his life, and he had a poor idea of how to deal with them, but he didn’t show it.
«Well, brother? Shall we go home, we’ll fight together,» he said to his son lying in the tiny portable crib. Mishenka’s nose wrinkled, and the child suspiciously grunted.
«Here we go…» Vadik sighed and pulled out of the hospital parking lot. «Mikhail! Hang on until we get home! Otherwise, we’ll suffocate!»
He accelerated quickly but carefully—Vadik was transporting the most precious thing his wife had entrusted to him, and he could not let her down. Vadik loved Natashka, although she was slightly scatterbrained and unpredictable. They had been married for five years and had not planned to have a child, but Mishka decided that he was very needed by his parents and appeared without asking permission. How this happened, Natasha and Vadik still could not understand—they knew perfectly well how to avoid unwanted pregnancy. If it weren’t for a moment of passion that overwhelmed them outside the city at a friend’s cottage.
That’s when Mishka happened…
At first, they were confused, not knowing what to do with it, but then, when they saw the genuine joy in their parents’ eyes, they realized that happiness had knocked on their door not by accident. And Mishenka was born.
He was a healthy and very calm child, only he could not stand hunger—the baby would start screaming as if cut, if there was even a minute’s delay in feeding.
He demanded his due, and Natalia prayed to God that her eardrums would not burst and the neighbors would not file a police report against her for abusing the infant.
Now, as Vadik drove his son home, he first began to grunt, making suspicious sounds, and then began to cry. It was not a cautious whimper—Vadik thought a siren had been turned on at full volume.
«Oh Lord!» he prayed, pressing the gas pedal harder. «Not this!»
When they raced home, Mishka was screaming like a victim and had no intention of stopping.
«Vadik, what happened to you?» a neighbor asked in the hallway as Vadik raced past her with a screaming infant in the crib.
«Oh, Mariya Gavrilovna! Don’t even ask!» Vadik threw over his shoulder as he ran into the elevator. «I wish I knew myself!»
When they were in the apartment, Mishenka miraculously quieted down, and Vadik suspiciously looked at him.
«What’s up, bro?» he tugged at the baby’s leg. «Are you alive?»
Misha looked displeased at his father and wrinkled his nose again.
«Okay! Calm down!» the father pleaded, pulling off his jacket. «I’m coming! Just don’t scream!»
He quickly washed his hands—Misha grunted unhappily, warning that he was getting hot and it would be nice to take off his suit.
«Right now, bro!» Vadik carefully pulled the baby’s body out of the clothes and realized, judging by the smell, that a surprise awaited him. «Not this! Are you doing this on purpose?!»
Rolling his eyes, trying not to breathe, Vadik unpacked the baby, discovered that there was a lot of «surprise» and that wipes would not suffice.
«Alright, bro, we’re going to wash!» Vadik decisively said, pushing the bathroom door open. «How does mom check the water, so as not to boil your butt? With an elbow, it seems?»
Somehow managing with the slippery body of the baby, Vadik dried him off, put on a new diaper, and breathed a sigh of relief—Mishka lay content and didn’t even peep.
«Well done, boy!» he praised his son. «Guess we’re good! Maybe you’ll even let me work, huh?»
Mishenka thought otherwise—it was feeding time, and delaying it was not his style.
«Ah! Here we go!» Vadik shook his head as his son began to whimper and then burst into full cry. «Then lunch! What work here?»
Half an hour later, when Misha finally fell asleep on his father’s chest, having eaten and burped on his clean T-shirt, Vadik dialed a familiar number and whispered:
«I’m screwed! Come over—I have a burning project, and I won’t finish on time with Mishka! Well, are you a woman or what?!»
That same evening, Natalia called her husband and heard strange sounds in the background—a female voice humming a lullaby.
«Vadim! What’s happening!» she asked sternly. «Who is in our apartment?!»
«Nobody…» the husband mumbled, and the sounds stopped. «How are you?»
«I’m fine!» Natalia roared. «Don’t try to talk your way out of this! Answer me, whose female voice is singing a song to our child?!»
«Natash, why are you stirring things up?» he said a bit more confidently. «Mishenka and I are fine! He’s clean, fed, and sleeping contentedly. Want, I’ll turn on a video call! See for yourself that everything’s alright.»
«I’ll turn you on now!» Natalia flared up, feeling that her husband was lying. «Go around the rooms and show everything! Give me Mishenka!»
«Give him the phone?» Vadik was bewildered.
«Are you an idiot?!» the wife fumed. «Show me him!»
«Ah, now…» the man turned on the camera. «Just don’t get nervous, it might be harmful for you…»
«It’s going to be harmful for you now!» she threatened, not willing to believe her own husband. «What are you even doing?!»
«Nat, what are you?» Vadik defended himself, showing her the sleeping son. «See? The boy is sleeping—satisfied and content, and you’re waking him up!»
Natalia looked at her son and couldn’t hold back her tears—she realized how much she had missed him in the few hours spent in the hospital. Everything was already behind her, and the doctor said that the patient could go home tomorrow. However, he took a promise from her that she would not lift the child for several days and then start taking care of her health very attentively.
«Can I go home today, doctor?» Natalia plaintively asked. «I have a tiny son at home…»
«I know,» the doctor smiled, an elderly man in old glasses. «But you, mommy, need rest. You’ll tire yourself out with the son—there’s a whole life ahead. And children, if you didn’t know, need a healthy mother, as does a husband… So, don’t plan on leaving before tomorrow. And now—rest! You won’t have such an opportunity at home—I know you women!»
Natalia sighed and dialed Vadik’s number. At that moment, she heard a female voice «off-camera.» Now, two feelings struggled inside Natalia—she saw that Mishenka was sleeping and everything was fine with him, but something suspicious was in all of this, and it very unpleasantly scratched the young woman’s imagination.
«You’re not telling me everything, my dear…,» a restless thought twirled in Natalia’s head. «Well, let’s see what you’ll sing tomorrow…»
«Alright, Vadik!» she said sarcastically into the phone. «Let’s talk tomorrow, I kiss you!»
«And we kiss you!» the husband hurriedly replied, relieved that it was over, and Natalia quickly believed that everything was fine with them and Mishenka. «Tomorrow we’ll pick you up! Write what time!»
They parted—Natalia lay down in the hospital bed and continued to paint terrible pictures in her mind with another woman in her house. Meanwhile, Vadik sat down at the monitor, hoping to finish the project by morning.
«Are you going to eat?» a female voice asked from the kitchen. «Because I wanted to clear the table.»
«Rit, leave everything—I’ll eat and clean up later,» Vadik responded, not taking his eyes off the screen. «I’m burning, I’m done for…»
«Come on, what are you?» the woman chuckled. «You always make it in time…»
Vadik nodded and tapped the keys, half-listening to the sounds in the nursery. Fortunately, the baby was sleeping peacefully, and the father had nothing left to do but sigh and immerse himself in his work completely.
Early in the morning, a key turned in the lock, and Natalia cautiously entered the apartment. In the hallway, she saw fashionable women’s shoes, and everything inside went cold—she thought exactly that Vadik was lying to her.
«Alright!» she said loudly, walking into the room and seeing her husband’s half-asleep, frightened expression. He sat with red, tired eyes at the laptop and stared bewilderedly at the woman appearing in the doorway.
«Natalia…» he whispered and rubbed his eyes.
«Not expecting, darling?» she frowned. «What’s up? Caught off guard?»
«Well, yes…» he mumbled, not knowing what to do. «You were supposed to write when to come pick you up…»
«I decided not to bother you, dear!» the wife venomously smirked and headed to the nursery. «You have to take care of your loved ones, look after them…»
She entered her son’s room—he was sweetly sleeping, snoring softly, and slightly smiling. Natalia adjusted the blanket and tiptoed out. Vadik stood in the middle of the room, smiling guiltily.
«Oh, Natashka!» she heard a familiar female voice from their bedroom. «You’re back already? Well, then I’m going, I need to drive the kids to school. Andryukha is there alone fighting with them!»
On the threshold of the marital bedroom stood Rita—the wife of Vadik’s older brother. The woman, in her early thirties, stretched and covered a yawn with her palm.
«Your milk I took out of the freezer, you can heat it already…,» she said slowly, starting to gather. «Mishutka almost slept through the night, only fed him at four. Otherwise, all is well—your boy is calm, not like our rascals grew up. Had to shake them in my arms all night. So, guys, consider yourselves lucky.»
Natalia stood and shifted her gaze from her husband, shuffling from foot to foot, to the half-asleep Rita. She calmly put on her shoes, kissed Natalia on the cheek, waved to Vadik, and left the apartment.
«What is this?!» Natalia finally came to her senses, asking insistently in a whisper. «How did Rita end up here?!»
«Well, how, how? Normally!» Vadik hissed back. «Through the door! I asked her to help with Mishenka! I have a burning project! How do you imagine—work and sit with a child? I’m not you—I can do everything myself! I only have two hands, not ten! Either he dumps in the diaper, or he wants a drink, or to eat! Had to call Ritka, luckily Andryukha understood me—he’s an experienced father…»
Natalia, exhausted, sank onto the sofa and covered her face with her hands.
«Nat, what’s wrong?» Vadik sat down next to her, frightened. «Did it hurt?»
Natalia began to shake with laughter—she covered her face with her hands and couldn’t stop. Vadik recoiled in fright—he thought his wife’s roof had slightly moved.
«Vadik, I’m stupid!» she stopped for a second and wiped away tears. «I thought you dragged another woman into our house! I thought you had a mistress and she was rocking our child while I was away! Imagine how stupid I am?!»
Vadik’s eyes bulged, not understanding how seriously she was speaking.
«What mistress?! Are you out of your mind?!» he was outraged. «I love you!»
«I’m telling you—I’m stupid!» Natalia laughed and hugged her angry, devil-like husband. «How do you put up with me?»
«And I know? Because such crazies are hard to find…» he shook his head and pressed his wife to him. «I missed you, fool…»
