— Kolya, this morning after you left for work, some girl came by and asked for you! — Sasha told her husband over dinner.
— What girl? — Nikolai was surprised. — At least pretty?
— What kind of person are you? You always have to make everything crude! — his wife snapped. — She was a kid, looked no more than fifteen!
— No idea! — Kolya replied. — What did she want? And why didn’t you tell me earlier on the phone? We talked a few times today!
— It just slipped my mind! I meant to tell you this morning, but I forgot!
Kolya laughed at his wife, not forgetting to point out that it was an age thing — even though Sasha was only thirty and looked no more than twenty-five. He loved teasing his wife, and more than once got smacked for it, especially when the joke strayed too far from reality. Just like now.
— But still, what did she ask? She didn’t come for nothing, did she?
— She asked for you, Nikolai Mikhailovich! — Sasha replied. — So formally, too — are you moonlighting somewhere as a teacher? — she laughed.
— Weeeell… — Kolya drawled. — I haven’t been caught in that line of work yet! Still, it’s odd… — he said thoughtfully.
— What’s so odd? You really don’t know who she was? — Sasha asked warily.
— No, I haven’t the faintest idea! Did she introduce herself at all?
— No! She just asked whether you were home. Then she turned and left when I said you’d gone to work. I wanted to ask what she needed, but I didn’t manage to!
— I’m telling you — you’re getting old, woman! Your memory’s going, your reactions are slow… I can’t imagine how you plan to go on living! — Kolya guffawed at Sasha.
For which he was punished again with a swipe of a dish towel — which only egged him on to keep teasing Alexandra.
Kolya and Alexandra had been married for four years, and only recently had they bought their long-awaited own apartment. They could have done it much earlier, of course, but Sasha was against any loans and mortgages. She set herself the goal of simply earning the money for it — and in the end she and her husband did.
Alexandra was an aspiring writer. She ran a personal blog online and published various stories there. Mostly they were scary tales about werewolves, house spirits, leshies, and other forest and household creatures not always visible to the human eye. These stories really resonated with her growing audience, which reflected nicely in her earnings.
Kolya worked in a different field: finishing apartments, minor repairs, assembling furniture, and much else, which also brought in decent money. He also ran a video blog where he showcased his projects and explained how he did things, attracting the attention of various people who later became his clients.
After dinner, Sasha and Kolya forgot about that girl who’d stopped by in the morning. The couple horsed around a bit in the kitchen and then went to bed, since Nikolai had to leave early the next day for another job.
Waking early and having breakfast, Kolya didn’t wake Alexandra. He took his things and slipped out of the apartment almost without a sound.
A little later, around nine in the morning, Sasha was roused by an insistent, droning doorbell. Reluctantly she got out of bed, threw on a robe, and went to see who had shown up at such an early hour.
Opening the door, Alexandra once again saw on the threshold the same girl who’d come yesterday asking for her husband.
— Hello, — the girl said. — Is Nikolai Mikhailovich at home?
— Hi, — Sasha answered sleepily. — No, he’s at work again!
Without asking anything else, the girl turned again and started down the stairs. But Sasha stopped her.
— Wait, — she called after her. — What did you want? I wanted to ask you yesterday, but you ran off so fast I didn’t have time!
The girl stopped and turned to the woman.
— I’ll come by later! — she said, and continued down.
But Sasha had no intention of letting her go without answers to the questions that were starting to seriously trouble her.
— Hold on! — Sasha called after her again. — Tell me, should I pass anything on to him? And what’s your name?
— Kristina! — the girl replied. — And you don’t need to pass on anything, I want to talk to my dad myself!
At those words Sasha felt the world spin. It was a truly shocking revelation. After hesitating a few seconds and trying to process what she’d just heard, she decided to stop this Kristina and get to the bottom of it — otherwise she wouldn’t have a moment’s peace until her husband came home from work that evening.
— Kristina, wait! — Alexandra called again. — I don’t understand — who are you talking about, what dad?
The girl stopped, turned around, and climbed one flight back up, halting between floors. With a satisfied smile she answered Sasha.
— What’s so hard to understand? Nikolai Mikhailovich is my dad! He abandoned me and my mom almost ten years ago!
— Aren’t you mistaken? Maybe you’ve got the wrong person? Kolya has no children; we’ve been married almost four years! I’d definitely know if he did!
— He probably just never told you about me! That’s why you don’t know about me! — Kristina retorted.
With each of the girl’s answers, Sasha sank deeper into shock, yet refused to believe what she was hearing.
— If I ask you to come up and step inside, I just want to ask you a lot of things… — Sasha began haltingly. — Would you mind?
— No, I don’t mind! — Kristina shrugged and accepted Alexandra’s invitation.
Letting the girl into the apartment, Sasha never took her eyes off her. She even began to notice certain similarities between this stranger and her husband. Only she couldn’t tell whether they were real or her imagination playing a cruel joke. The eye color, the hair, the expression did suggest the girl resembled Nikolai. And given that Kolya was nearly six years older than Alexandra, everything Kristina had just said could well be possible.
The one thing Sasha didn’t want was to believe any of it. It would be easier to believe in the creatures she wrote about than that Kristina was actually Kolya’s daughter.
Once inside, the girl wasn’t the least bit shy around the hostess. She acted as if she were at home — picking up items in the hall, turning them in her hands, examining them. Then she wandered through the apartment on her own without even asking permission.
Sasha followed after her.
— Dad’s done pretty well for himself! — Kristina said. — Is this your place or his? — she added, switching to the informal “you” without ceremony.
— Listen, Kristina! Don’t you think you’re being a bit rude in someone else’s home?! And I did not give you permission to address me so familiarly!
— Why someone else’s? As I understand it, this is my father’s apartment, so I can behave here however I want!
Sasha decided not to escalate things prematurely. She simply asked the girl to behave more restrained and less brazen. Kristina agreed, albeit reluctantly.
— Go to the kitchen, I’ll make some tea, and you can tell me everything!
— What is there to tell? I already told you everything! — the girl replied, following the hostess into the kitchen.
Alexandra brewed fragrant tea, poured it into cups, set out some treats, sat down across from Kristina — and didn’t know how to begin her interrogation.
Kristina wasn’t shy here either. She sat calmly, drank tea, helped herself to cookies and candy, and brazenly stared at her silent interlocutor.
— Well, ask away… Ask! — the girl corrected herself. — What did you want to know from me? How my father left my mom and me?
— Let’s start with that! — Sasha answered. — Only there’s one thing I can’t understand: his passport doesn’t contain the slightest mention that he was ever married, much less that he has children!
— He and my mom weren’t married! They just lived together! And then he suddenly disappeared, leaving both her and me!
— And how did you find him after so many years?
— The internet… — Kristina said meaningfully. — He runs his own channel, and he showed this apartment in his videos! The rest is just a matter of technique! Great stories, by the way — I’m subscri… subscribed to you! I love reading something creepy at night! And it seems you earn pretty well from your blog if you can afford digs like these!
— Thanks… — Sasha said, taken aback. — I see you’re very well informed — where we live, what we do! Now tell me the purpose of your visit. Why did you come?
A big doubt suddenly arose in Alexandra’s mind about the girl’s story. It wasn’t yet clear what exactly, but something was definitely off.
— What do you mean why? — Kristina was surprised. — If you think I’m going to interfere in my father’s new life, don’t worry about that! I just need money! All the money he never paid my mother in child support! And the sum, I’ll tell you, has piled up quite nicely!
— Uh-huh… — Sasha pondered the girl’s words. — Let’s do this, Kristina! You’re not in a hurry, as far as I understand? Then let’s wait for your father to get home from work today, and we’ll discuss it all together!
— Or we can do it much simpler! — the girl replied. — I’ll just name the amount now, you’ll give me the money my father owes me, and you’ll never see me again! Otherwise I’ll tell my mom where you live, and she’ll make your life a “paradise” in this cozy little nest!
— Call your mom! — Alexandra said with a smile. — And I’ll call your father!
Sasha got up from the table, went into the hall, and locked the front door with a key. She tossed the keys into the pocket of her robe.
From Kristina’s reaction, Sasha guessed the girl had gotten very nervous. Going to the bedroom and taking her phone from the nightstand, she dialed her husband and told him to come home quickly — that something serious had happened and needed his involvement. Kolya tried to find out what exactly, but his wife had already hung up.
Coming out of the bedroom, the woman saw her husband’s “daughter” trying to open the front door. The girl fidgeted nervously with the handle and tried to open the inner lock, which turned, but the door still wouldn’t budge.
Watching this scene, the pieces immediately fell into place for Sasha. Without putting down her phone, she dialed the police — doing it in Kristina’s presence.
The girl realized her plan had failed. She wouldn’t be able to cash in easily today.
To get herself released from the apartment, Kristina decided to start blackmailing Sasha.
— You do realize that when the police arrive, I’ll say you dragged me in here by force and were waiting for your husband to bully me together! — the girl began. — That’ll be the end of your blogging career! So open the door if you don’t want me to do that!
— I won’t! — Sasha replied with a smile. — Plan didn’t work, huh? I’m not the fool you expected, am I?
— What gave me away? — Kristina asked nervously.
— My blog, — she answered.
— I don’t get it. What could there be…
— It doesn’t matter anymore! First your “father” will come, then the police will track down your mother, and then you’re done, my little scammer! How many have you fleeced like this already?
— Do I have to answer? You can’t prove anything! Nothing will happen to me, but you’ll definitely get a few years for holding me here by force! And one way or another, you’ll shell out a decent sum to me!
— That’s exactly where you slipped up, as you put it! Now look closely at the upper right corner — to make it easier, I’ll even turn on the light!
Kristina turned to the spot Alexandra indicated and, to her great dismay, saw a small camera mounted on the wall.
— There’s one just like it in the kitchen, so I won’t have to prove anything. And in every room, by the way!
The girl pulled a sour face. She understood that all the words she’d prepared for the police would shatter like glass against stone once Sasha presented the footage as a counter-argument.
Right then the doorbell rang. Seizing the moment to spite Alexandra at least somehow, Kristina began to scream and throw a fit, claiming she was being held here by force.
But to her disappointment, it wasn’t the police. It was Kolya, who, hearing the screams from his apartment, quickly opened the door with his keys.
Opening the door, he saw an unfamiliar girl standing directly in front of him, with his wife behind her.
— Kolya, don’t let her out! — Sasha managed to shout.
Kristina lunged forward, hoping this big guy would move out of her way or at least fail to hold her back. But here, too, she was disappointed. Kolya stepped inside so quickly that the girl managed only one step, and the front door shut right in front of her nose.
— Who is this? — Nikolai asked Sasha.
— Don’t you recognize her? — Alexandra smiled a little nervously. — This is Kristina — your daughter, whom you abandoned ten years ago along with her mother!
Kolya was as shocked by what he heard as Alexandra had been when she first heard it. He looked at the unfamiliar girl and at his wife, unable to understand what was going on.
Right after Kolya, the police arrived in response to Alexandra’s call, which surprised Nikolai even more.
Letting the officers in, the woman told them everything and, as evidence, presented the recordings from the cameras.
Kristina did try to pass it all off as a kidnapping, of course, but she didn’t succeed.
When the officers asked whether Alexandra would file a report against the girl, she said she would not. She decided to give the young swindler a chance in life. She didn’t want to ruin the kid’s life from the start. Sasha wanted this Kristina — whose real name, as it turned out, was Nastya — to get her act together and never do anything like this again, because the next person she tried it on might not be as kind as Sasha, and then she’d get everything she had coming to her, in full.
Sasha and Kolya recalled the incident for a long time afterward — laughing and discussing it. Sasha teased her husband for a long while about the expression on his face when he heard that his “daughter,” whom he’d abandoned ten years earlier, was standing in front of him.
But Kolya didn’t stay in her debt either: he kept waiting for Sasha’s “twenty-year-old son” to show up at their door with the same demands as Kolya’s “daughter.”
