“Mom, did you forget what day it is today?” Tears welled up in Andrei’s eyes, but he held them back. After all, he had just turned twelve. At that age, a boy was ashamed to cry like a little girl.
“Wednesday. Why? Do we have a doctor’s appointment or something?” Anzhelika tore her eyes away from the computer and looked at her son in bewilderment. Lately, she had been completely immersed in her own worries. Not only did she have to bring home reports from work, but she was also swamped with wedding preparations. Anzhelika was getting married for the second time. Things hadn’t worked out with her first husband, Andrei’s father.
“Mom, it’s my birthday today. Did you really forget?” After saying this, the boy couldn’t hold back anymore. He burst into tears but quickly wiped his face with his sleeves.
“What?!” Anzhelika gaped in shock and glanced at the calendar hanging opposite her. “Already? Oh, my baby! I’ve been so swamped with work. I literally remembered it just last week, then it slipped my mind. Forgive me, Andryusha. What do you want for a present? Maybe you want to buy something yourself? I’ll give you money.”
“I don’t want anything, Mom,” the child replied, lowering his eyes. “Can I just go hang out with my friends?”
“Of course, you can. Just don’t come home too late.”
Andrei nodded, got ready, and silently went outside. He felt sad that his own mother had forgotten his special day. Though there was nothing surprising about it. Ever since Anzhelika met Sergey, she had completely stopped thinking about her son. Once, Andrei even confronted his mother, to which she had rudely replied:
“You’re grown up now, son. Am I supposed to babysit you my whole life? I want to be happy too, that’s why I’m marrying Sergey.”
That conversation deeply hurt Andrei. He couldn’t understand how her son could interfere with her happiness. From then on, the boy hated his stepfather. Sergey, in turn, didn’t feel any affection for him either.
“Can you stop sitting at home all day? It’s summer break. Go play outside or something. When I was your age, they had to drag me home with sticks, and you just sit here rotting in your room. Your mother and I need personal time too.”
“Actually, this is my home!” Andrei snapped back. “If you don’t like something, you can leave.”
“What a brat!” the man scowled. “If I were your father…”
“You’ll never be my father!”
“All the better! Remember this: I won’t let you ruin my relationship with Anzhelika. No matter how much you hate me, I’ll still be your mom’s husband.”
Andrei desperately wanted to prevent the marriage. He threw tantrums almost every day, saying he didn’t want to live under the same roof with a stranger. But his mother wouldn’t listen. She kept repeating that Sergey was a good man and would make a great father for Andrei.
Eventually, the boy gave up. He realized there was no point in fighting his mother. Now Anzhelika only cared about the wedding and honeymoon; she couldn’t care less about her son.
For several months after the wedding, Andrei and Sergey lived more or less peacefully. It was as if they had made an unspoken deal not to bother or provoke each other. But everything changed when another child appeared in the family. A year later, Anzhelika gave birth to a daughter.
From that moment, the unspoken truce between Sergey and Andrei vanished. The stepfather constantly nagged the boy. The teenager started to irritate him terribly, as if Sergey feared that his biological daughter would get less attention from her mother because of the stepson.
“Honey, I think your son has become too cheeky. He’s glued to his phone all day and doesn’t lift a finger around the house.”
“Sergey, he’s just a teenager. At his age, all kids act like that.”
“Sorry, but I’m not going to support a freeloader. Either he helps out or he gets a job.”
“What are you talking about? A job? He’s not even fourteen yet!”
“Perfect age to hand out flyers. I’m not going to support your son! Let him earn his own keep.”
This conversation happened when Anzhelika was in a vulnerable position. She was on maternity leave with the baby and entirely dependent on her husband financially. She couldn’t demand that Sergey support her child from another marriage. After thinking it over, she decided to act more firmly.
“Son, I can see how miserable you are living with us,” Anzhelika said with difficulty, but she could no longer risk her marriage. “Maybe you should move in with Grandma? She has a nice, spacious apartment. Yes, it’s a longer commute to school, but everyone will be more at peace.”
“What, are you kicking me out, Mom?” Her words pierced Andrei’s heart like a knife. He never imagined his mother would suggest such a thing.
“No, of course not. I’m not kicking you out. I just want us all to live peacefully. I’m tired of the constant fights with Sergey. Do you think your father was any better? He ran away and doesn’t even pay child support.”
“Uh-huh,” Andrei turned away so his mother wouldn’t see him crying. “First Dad abandoned me, and now you’re abandoning me too.”
“Oh, stop being dramatic. I’m not sending you to another city. Grandma lives nearby. We’ll see each other all the time.”
No matter how much Andrei didn’t want to leave his home, he had no choice. Anzhelika was determined. She wanted so badly to avoid fighting with her husband that she was ready to get rid of her own son.
“Daughter, think again. How can you treat your own son like this?” Lyudmila Georgievna didn’t mind taking her grandson in, but she knew nothing good would come of it.
“Mom, I just want what’s best. Andreyka will be fourteen soon. I’m sick of his teenage mood swings. He’s always dissatisfied, doesn’t help around the house or with his sister, and constantly annoys Sergey.”
“That’s exactly why you need to be near your son. Can’t you see that his behavior is practically a cry for help?”
“Oh, Mom, don’t start playing psychologist. Andrei is already a grown-up boy. He’ll live apart for a while and think about his behavior. We’ll still visit each other all the time. And if things stay the same, Sergey will leave me! Just imagine me stuck with a baby and no husband! I can’t take that risk!”
In the end, Grandma took her grandson in.
At first, Anzhelika really did visit her mother often and asked about her son’s life, but within six months these visits nearly stopped. It was as if she had forgotten she had another child. Lyudmila Georgievna constantly called her daughter, reminding her about Andrei. But Anzhelika just brushed her off:
“Yes, yes, I promise we’ll spend the weekend together.”
Andrei waited for those weekends with great hope, but they never came. His mother, stepfather, and little sister went on many seaside vacations, but not once did they take the teenager with them.
Eventually, Andrei erased his mother from his life. On the rare days when Anzhelika remembered him, he would sit nearby and look at her with empty eyes. He no longer needed her attention. His mother’s indifference had killed all his filial feelings.
When Andrei grew up, graduated from school and university, found a job, and even started his own family, Anzhelika suddenly remembered her son.
“Andryushka, how are you? Grandma said your wife is pregnant. I’m so happy for you! Congratulations!”
“Thanks. Did you want something? Speak quickly, I’m busy. Lots of work.”
“Work won’t run away like a wolf in the woods,” the woman gave a forced laugh. “Listen, I really need to ask you for a favor. Sergey is sick. All our money is going toward treatment, and your sister is about to graduate high school. Can you help us financially? We need to make the first payment for her college urgently.”
“Hmph,” the now-grown Andrei snorted into the phone. “No, I can’t. My own child is about to be born. I can’t be throwing money around right now.”
“Son, don’t be stingy. I know you earn well. Grandma said you got a good job and your career is taking off.”
“That’s true, but what does that have to do with you, Mom? If Grandma needed my help, I’d send her money without hesitation. But I won’t help traitors like you and Sergey.”
“Traitors?! What are you saying, son? We really need your help! Don’t you understand?”
“I do understand. But there was a time when I needed help, and you turned your back on me. That’s it, Mom, don’t call me again. I don’t have time for these talks. I’m grateful you gave me life and somehow raised me until I was twelve, but don’t you dare demand that I support some other man!”
After ending the call, Andrei blocked his mother’s number. She tried to contact him through Grandma, but it didn’t work.
“What did you expect?” Lyudmila Georgievna scolded her daughter. “You abandoned your son and now you want his help? Life doesn’t work that way, dear. I warned you.”
“I didn’t abandon anyone, Mom! It was just the situation back then!”
“Situation, you say? Daughter, a mother’s heart warms better than the sun, but yours was always cold toward your son. Now Andreyka’s heart is the same way… Leave him alone. I’d give you money myself, but I have nothing extra: everything I’ve saved is for my great-grandchild.”
“What about your granddaughter? Isn’t she yours too?!” Anzhelika flared up.
“No. That granddaughter is a stranger to me: you and Sergey never brought her over, nor invited me to visit. So the only one dear to me is Andreyka.”
Having said that, Anzhelika’s mother hung up. She knew she could rely only on her grandson; her daughter had chosen her own path long ago.
