How wonderfully life is arranged! Yulia was born in this city; it was here that her childhood unfolded. It had been somewhat clouded by her parents’ divorce, and yet the girl had felt happy. Her relationship with her father was good, and her mother, Natalya, did everything for her daughter’s comfort.
Yulia remembered that she and her mother lived in a fine apartment just around the corner from the school where Natalya Alexandrovna taught. This was exactly the school Yulia was meant to attend when she grew up.
“I wonder why we moved away so hastily, just when I was about to turn seven?” thought the young woman, suddenly recalling the strange events of fourteen years ago.
Never before had Yulia questioned the reason for that move. Her mother had explained it as a fortunate job offer. Only in the new city did Natalya Alexandrovna continue working as a teacher—and their new apartment was in a rather poor neighborhood, quite far from the school.
Still, Yulia didn’t want to dig into the past. She was about to get married! How marvelous that, upon returning to the city of her childhood, she met Vadim. Her father still lived here. She had come to visit him—and met the man of her dreams!
How swiftly everything fell into place for the young couple. From the first glance, Vadim had fallen in love with the beautiful girl. He showered her with flowers and gifts, lavished her with compliments—and then declared that he would never let her go.
That time, however, Vadim did have to let his beloved go: Yulia was due to defend her diploma in the city where her mother lived. Yet on the day of the important event, the young man drove all the way to pick her up. How delighted she was to see Vadim carrying a bouquet beside the university building!
“I drove twelve hours straight without stopping,” he announced, “and I won’t leave here without you.”
That day, Natalya Alexandrovna waited impatiently for her daughter’s return, certain that Yulia would defend her thesis successfully but still worried. She had reserved a table at Yulia’s favorite restaurant to celebrate the great occasion. Imagine her surprise, then, when her daughter called—laughing and nervous—and said she wouldn’t be coming home. The defense had gone off without a hitch. Why wasn’t she coming home? Love, Mama, love.
The romance blossomed quickly. Yulia could not resist the ardor of the young man for long. Before she knew it, he had proposed—declaring that he couldn’t imagine life without her.
Natalya Alexandrovna was shocked by the rapid changes in her daughter’s life. Yulia had always been obedient and prudent. Still, her mother understood that it was love—and that any pleas or prohibitions would be useless. After all, her daughter had long since grown up.
Tomorrow, Natalya Alexandrovna was to meet her future son-in-law. Vadim and Yulia would spend many hours on the road, so they would probably need to rest. Thinking about the upcoming meeting, Natalya prepared the room for the young couple—the very room that had been Yulia’s childhood bedroom.
Yulia couldn’t shake the feeling that the meeting had gone… rather awkwardly. Her mother had seemed uncomfortable—obviously so. And Vadim had been noticeably nervous.
“We’ll stay at a hotel tonight,” the young man said at the end of the evening. He hadn’t liked the way his future mother-in-law behaved—her antipathy toward him was plain.
Yulia looked at her mother in surprise. She merely nodded curtly. It couldn’t be! Her mother hadn’t even tried to persuade them to stay.
“We’ll sleep at a hotel and leave for home tomorrow,” Vadim said glumly when Yulia suggested they stay at her mother’s.
“Actually, Yulia has a home here,” Natalya declared defiantly, casting a hostile look at the young man, “but you, Vadim, can go to the hotel. No one’s keeping you.”
In the end, Yulia went to the hotel with Vadim. She wanted to talk to him about why the introduction had been so unpleasant. But he just shrugged and said that her mother must have been in a bad mood.
“Not so easy to come up with mother-in-law jokes,” Vadim quipped sourly, “so I’m not surprised.”
But Yulia was both surprised and upset. The next morning she called her mother to tell her they were leaving, but Natalya’s anxious voice asked them to come over—said it was important.
“Darling,” Yulia told her fiancé, “Mom’s worried about something. I’ll just drop by for an hour. We didn’t really talk, and the atmosphere was so tense.”
Vadim shrugged. He thought the meeting pointless—they’d be better off leaving early on their long drive. But if it mattered so much to Yulia, he’d let her go.
What Yulia hadn’t expected were her mother’s confessions. She wanted to interrupt Natalya, stamp her foot, and cry, “This is all a lie!” But when she saw her mother’s eyes full of hurt and tears, a heavy lump formed in her own heart, making it hard to breathe.
