— You’ll all be cleaning staff! Just know this — I’ll fire you to hell!” Vladimir barked, slamming the door to his office loudly.
“Those freeloaders have really gotten cheeky,” he muttered to himself. “They don’t want to work but expect to get paid! Meanwhile, the company is on the edge, losing money!”
Deep down, Vladimir knew it was all his fault, but he refused even mentally to admit it.
“Well, what? Why should I check everything? I have a whole staff for that!”
He inherited the company from his uncle — unexpectedly and somewhat strangely, considering that in his forty years, Volodya hadn’t distinguished himself in any way. He worked wherever he could, and then suddenly — a businessman.
“Oh, I thought back then, now I’ll show myself!” But nothing worked out. The company ran by inertia, not thanks to his leadership. That drove Vladimir crazy. Sometimes he wouldn’t show up in the office for weeks, then suddenly appeared, shouting, firing someone “as a preventive measure,” trying to figure out who was doing what. He blamed the staff for everything — and the cycle repeated.
Today he didn’t want to be here at all. He shouted at everyone and could have left already — tomorrow he was going with his girlfriend, or mistress (depending on how you call it), to the sea. He barely scraped together money from all accounts — the accountant nearly fainted.
“Vladimir Grigorievich, you’re leaving us completely without money. Salaries are in two weeks.” — “Better they work than wait for money! Is it really so hard to just do your job?”
The accountant pursed her lips but added: “You did fire the cleaning lady you didn’t like. Now the whole office is filthy. Maybe you should hire a new one?”
Vladimir raised his voice: “Why should I deal with that?”
“Because you fired the HR manager who handled this a couple of months ago.”
He was even taken aback by such boldness. He wanted to say something, but the accountant already left, closing the door behind her.
“Spoiled! They don’t understand anything!” he thought, getting ready to leave.
As always, there was only one salvation — Lena. Only she understood him, knew how hard it was with these lazy idiots. No, once she returns from the sea — then he’ll definitely start re-educating the whole office.
Lena took an envelope with money, quickly counted it.
“I’ll pay everything tonight. Is that all?” — “Len, have some conscience, isn’t that too little?” — “Well, not exactly little… Just can’t stretch it.”
“Can you imagine, the whole staff needs replacing!” Vladimir continued to complain. “I can’t even get my own money to rest properly. And they’re unhappy. And now this cleaning lady…”
Lena looked at him carefully: “What about the cleaning lady?” — “I fired her… You remember, I told you — she tripped over a bucket…”
Lena nodded seriously: “So you fired the cleaning lady because you didn’t see the bucket?” — “Come on, Len, you understand — that’s unacceptable! Why put buckets everywhere anyway?”
“Well, sure…” — “And now they demand a new cleaning lady. It’s dirty, they say! Let them get a rag and clean themselves!” — “Then why are you looking for a cleaning lady, not the HR manager?” — “Because there’s no HR manager either. I fired her before.”
Volodya hesitated a bit but immediately found an excuse:
“She answered me disrespectfully. You have to respect the boss.”
In fact, the HR girl, young and pretty, slapped him in front of everyone when he “friendly” put his hand somewhere inappropriate. Although no one saw exactly where he put it — everyone clearly saw the slap.
What to do? Swallow it? He was no weakling. Besides, you have to be friends with the boss, not play coy. Only Lena shouldn’t know this — she was quite the bitch. Could have hit harder.
In the evening, Lena suddenly said: “Volodya, find them a cleaning lady so that life doesn’t seem like a fairy tale.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, with character. Some kind of weirdo.”
“Are you crazy? What if she steals something?”
“Then you lock your office. And if they lose something — let them figure it out themselves.”
Vladimir thought.
“Len, you’re a genius! If I hire someone like that, they won’t dare fire her without me.” — “So?” — “So, they’ll work. Without coffee breaks that the cleaning lady ran for every ten minutes.”
A couple of days later, the perfect candidate was found. They had to turn to the local cop — a friend helped:
“There’s one, just got out. Did twelve years. By the way, she’s mute.” — “Seriously? For what?” — “Killed her husband. With special cruelty.” — “Wow… Why mute?” — “Stopped speaking after the trial. Probably choked on life.”
Communication was through the cop. She wrote answers on pieces of paper. When she learned they offered her a job, she even smiled and wrote: “Thank you.”
Volodya couldn’t understand her age — either thirty or seventy. Wrapped in a headscarf, eyes downcast.
“Attention everyone!” he announced, bursting into the office. “This is your new cleaning lady, her name is Nina, just released. Keep in mind — she’ll tell me everything.”
The girls at their desks exchanged glances, not daring to approach. Nina stood with her head down.
Volodya had no time to linger — Lena waited in the car, registration for the flight was in an hour.
“So, show her everything, get her settled, I have to go.”
He was sure: having such a cleaning lady would motivate the team. If a person is afraid — they work better. And if they work better — they earn more. He read this somewhere in a book when he tried to become a good leader.
“How did it go?” Lena asked as soon as he sat beside her.
“Great! You should have seen their faces!”
They laughed. Ahead were the sea, sun, and rest. No more thoughts about work.
Nina was shown around the office, told where everything was. She immediately grabbed the mop. Colleagues glanced cautiously but Nina didn’t seek communication. She cleaned, polished, and already after two days the office was shining. Except the boss’s office — that one was locked.
Nina moved silently around the corners, talking to no one. Once the accountant approached her:
“Nina, tell me, how do you feel about houseplants?”
Nina smiled, nodded, and looked questioningly at the accountant.
“The thing is, the neighboring office is moving. They have many houseplants but can’t take them all. We agreed to take some. Could you look after them?”
Nina nodded again. Then took her notebook and wrote:
“I really like to fuss over plants.”
“Great!” the accountant rejoiced. “Then I’ll arrange to move them here. And then as you know — arrange, replant, do as your heart tells you.”
Nina nodded once more.
Three days later, the office looked completely different. The plants that arrived in a pretty bad state seemed to come to life. Leaves became brighter, stems stronger. And Nina herself seemed to “bloom” a little — standing a bit more confidently, looking into eyes more often. Sometimes the girls noticed how she moved her lips as if speaking to the plants.
Of course, she couldn’t speak — she was mute. But there was something touching about it.
During lunch break, the girls, without agreeing, invited her to join. Nina blushed but agreed. She hadn’t felt such simple human warmth in a long time. How long had it been since someone talked to her just like that — without fear, judgment, or pity?
The girls chattered nonstop, talking about work, husbands, kids, shops, and TV shows. Nina’s head slightly spun from the flow of information. But she didn’t feel irritation or fatigue — on the contrary, she felt warmth and calm.
Before parting, Marina Olegovna, the accountant, quietly said:
“Nina, you are a true master. With these plants… simply incredible. It feels like they have always been here. You arranged everything perfectly.”
The girls buzzed happily for their senior colleague, and just before leaving, Anya approached Nina:
“Nina, can I ask a personal question? Why do you dress like that? Is it your style or are there reasons? Because you are obviously a beautiful woman but hide it.”
Nina sighed and took out her notebook:
“I have nothing left. After everything — only what kind neighbors gave me.”
Anya nodded:
“I thought so. Don’t worry, everything will change.”
The next day she brought a big bag:
“We cleaned out the closets with my mom. If something doesn’t fit — you can give it to someone.”
Nina wrote again:
“I can’t take this. It’s too expensive and beautiful for me.”
“Nonsense!” Anya replied. “You’ll wear it. You’ll be beautiful. You’ll stop hiding.”
At home, Nina carefully laid out the clothes — dresses, sweaters, jeans — and studied them long like something unseen. Then she sat down and cried. Life was so unfair.
She married young, soon had a daughter. Everything seemed normal until her husband changed. He started talking to strange people, wore long clothes at home, whispered words like prayers. By day, he was an ordinary man, but in the evenings became someone else.
Nina was afraid to leave him alone with the child. Something was wrong. One day a strong premonition gripped her — she couldn’t explain why but ran home. She arrived just as her husband raised a knife over their little daughter. The girl was tied and didn’t scream — paralyzed by fear.
“Stop!” Nina screamed. “What are you doing?!”
“Don’t come closer!” he yelled. “I must do this! Otherwise, everyone will die!”
She grabbed the first thing she found — a cast iron shovel she bought at an antique shop. She ran up and hit him. Then again. And again. She didn’t think about consequences — she was protecting her daughter. The forensic expert later noted: the blows were cruel but understandable.
She was given the maximum sentence. Her husband’s parents did everything so she would be imprisoned. Her mother died of a heart attack while Nina served time. She wasn’t allowed to see her daughter — the girl lived with her paternal grandparents. Nina didn’t insist: “What kind of mother is that for a child? Let her grow up without this stigma.”
Sometimes she watched her daughter from afar. Beautiful, smart, bright… But never showed herself.
The next day, Nina came to the office in a new look — tight jeans, a white blouse, and low-heeled shoes. Anya gasped:
“I knew it! You’re a beauty!”
The girls surrounded her, praised, admired, said she was a star, not a cleaning lady.
Marina Olegovna gently added:
“It’s a pity you don’t speak. If we heard your story, we would understand that you are not dangerous. That you’re not who they think you are.”
Then Nina spoke aloud for the first time in a long time:
“I can speak.”
Silence fell in the room.
“I just don’t speak. So no one starts asking about the past. But you… you treated me like that. Like no one has for a long time. So I’ll tell you everything.”
At that moment Vladimir decided to check how work was going in the office.
“I wonder if those freeloaders are sitting still, not making noise?”
He opened the security camera and froze.
Is this even his office? Where is all this green chaos? Where did so many plants come from?
He switched cameras, trying to figure out where all the employees were. Finally found them — all gathered in the main hall. In the center sat a woman — tall, slim, well-groomed, with a lively look. Vladimir zoomed in and was stunned.
It was Nina. His cleaning lady. The ex-convict. The one who allegedly killed her husband. But now she not only looked different — she spoke. She spoke, and everyone listened carefully, then someone hugged her, someone cried.
“Damn it!” he muttered. “How can this be? She’s supposed to be mute!”
He even put the phone down. He had to go there personally right away. Couldn’t leave everything uncontrolled.
But it was already late.
Nina worked as a cleaning lady only briefly — until Vladimir returned. The girls helped her find a more suitable job and vouched for her. A year later, she got a promotion. A good man started courting her, who didn’t care about her past. Also, Anya talked to her daughter, told the truth — not what her grandparents had instilled.
And one day Nina saw her daughter on her doorstep. Since then, they haven’t missed a single day without communication — as if trying to catch up for lost time.
