Yana stood in the doorway of the apartment, holding the last box of her things. Alexei blocked her path, his face twisted with outrage.
“I ALREADY EXPLAINED IT TO YOU. The divorce is finalized, the property’s divided. Your mother’s loan is not my problem.”
“But you knew about that loan! We went to the bank together, you were the guarantor!”
“I was the guarantor at YOUR request. Or rather, on your demand. You said it was temporary, that your mom would pay everything back in a month.”
“So what? Circumstances changed!”
Yana set the box down on the floor. The hallway felt cramped from the baggage that had piled up over three years of life together—and that applied not only to things.
“Your mother took out a loan to buy the dacha. The dacha she then gifted to your sister Marina. And now you want me to keep paying for someone else’s property?”
“Don’t twist it! Mom is sick, she can’t work. And Marina…”
“And Marina is perfectly capable of selling that dacha and paying off the loan. But it’s more convenient for her to go there every weekend while I pay thirty thousand a month.”
Alexei frowned. His mother, Galina Petrovna, had indeed taken out the loan a year ago. The amount was substantial—two million rubles. Officially, it was for medical treatment, but in fact it was for a plot of land with a house outside the city.
“You do understand that if you stop paying, the bank will take our apartment?”
“Not OUR apartment. Your apartment, Alexei. The very one you won in court during the divorce, even though I paid the down payment.”
“The court ruled fairly. The apartment is in my name.”
“Yes, because your mommy hired a good lawyer. And my paperwork for the down payment mysteriously ‘disappeared’ in your safe.”
Alexei turned away. That was a topic he preferred not to touch.
“GET OUT,” he said. “But keep in mind, if we lose our home because of you, you’ll regret it.”
“Is that a threat?”
“It’s a warning.”
Yana picked up the box and headed for the door. On the threshold, she turned back:
“You know, Lyosha, three years ago I thought I was marrying a grown man. Turns out I married a mama’s boy who even dumps loan obligations onto his wife. Ex-wife.”
The door slammed.
Galina Petrovna was sitting in her one-room apartment, ranting into the phone:
“Can you imagine, Marina? That WRETCH is refusing to pay! After everything we did for her!”
“Mom, what did we do for her, exactly?” her daughter asked cautiously.
“What do you mean, what? We accepted her into the family! I taught her how to cook, I gave her advice…”
“Mom, you called her every day telling her she was doing everything wrong. Remember how you showed up at their place without warning and caused a scene because Yana bought ‘the wrong curtains’?”
“I was trying to help! And she’s ungrateful! If I’d known she was like this, I’d never have let Alyosha marry her!”
Marina sighed. Arguing with her mother was pointless.
“Mom, maybe we should sell the dacha? Pay off the loan and the problem’s solved.”
“ARE YOU CRAZY? I’m saving that dacha for my grandkids! Your kids spend every weekend there, they need fresh air!”
“But we have no way to pay…”
“Alexei will figure something out. He’s smart, just like me.”
Yana rented a small studio apartment on the other side of the city. The first month after the divorce was tough—she had to scrimp on everything, since a large part of her salary was going toward the loan. She worked as a manager at a travel agency, earned decently, but not enough to shoulder someone else’s debts.
At work, her colleagues noticed how down she was.
“Yana, what’s wrong? You’re not yourself,” asked Olga, her coworker.
“Oh, you know… family problems.”
“Want to talk about it?”
Yana hesitated, then decided to open up:
“Imagine this: for three years I’ve been paying a loan for my ex–mother-in-law. I was the guarantor. And now I’m divorced and wondering—why should I keep paying? But if I stop, the bank might take my ex-husband’s apartment.”
“And what do you care about his apartment?”
“Well… We did live together for three years. Maybe I’m doing the wrong thing?”
Olga shook her head:
“You know, my grandma always said: if you can’t help, at least don’t get in the way. Your ex is a grown man. He’s got a mother, a sister. Let them sort out their own loans.”
“But they say I abandoned them in a difficult situation…”
“STOP right there! Who abandoned whom? As far as I remember, he was the one who filed for divorce. Because his mommy said you weren’t good enough for her precious boy.”
Yana nodded. That’s exactly how it was. Galina Petrovna constantly compared her to some mythical Svetochka—Alexei’s first love, who had gone abroad. “Now Svetochka knew how to cook borscht and bake pies, and you? You feed my son frozen junk!”
“You know what,” Olga went on, “go see a lawyer. Let them tell you exactly what your rights and obligations are. Otherwise you’ll spend your whole life paying for someone else’s whims.”
The lawyer, Pavel Andreyevich, carefully studied the documents.
“All right, let’s see… The loan contract is in the name of Galina Petrovna Rybakova. You are listed as guarantor. The divorce was finalized two months ago. You’ve been making payments on time… And why isn’t the borrower paying?”
“She says she’s sick and can’t work.”
“Are there any documents confirming disability?”
“I don’t know. They never showed me anything.”
“I see. Look, formally you’re obligated to pay as guarantor. But there are nuances. First, you can demand that the borrower reimburse you for all the amounts you’ve already paid. Second, if you can prove that you were misled when you signed the guarantor agreement, we can try to challenge it.”
“What do you mean—misled?”
“Well, for example, if you were told the loan was for one purpose but the money was actually spent on something else. Or if they assured you that you were a guarantor only ‘on paper’ and they’d be making the payments themselves.”
Yana thought for a moment.
“They did tell me the loan was for medical treatment. But they bought a dacha.”
“Do you have any proof?”
“Maybe some messages… Alexei wrote that his mother urgently needed surgery.”
“Show me.”
Yana took out her phone and found some old messages. Pavel Andreyevich read them carefully.
“Excellent. It clearly says here the loan is for surgery. Now we need to prove that the money was spent on real estate. Do you have any info on when and for how much the dacha was bought?”
“I can find out. My ex’s sister loves to show off on social media. I’m sure she posted pictures.”
“Find out. And also—send a written request to the bank asking for information on how the loan funds were used. As guarantor, you have that right.”
Marina was indeed very active on social media. Yana easily found posts from a year ago: “Our new dacha! Thanks to Mom for such a gift!” The post contained dozens of photos—the house, the land, and even the purchase documents, which Marina for some reason had also photographed and uploaded. The purchase date matched the date of the loan disbursement to within a week.
Yana took screenshots and sent them to the lawyer.
“Perfect,” replied Pavel Andreyevich. “Now we’ll file a request with the bank and prepare a lawsuit. We’ll seek to invalidate the guarantee on the basis of misrepresentation.”
“And what will happen to Alexei’s apartment?”
“That’s not your concern. By the way, you said you paid the down payment for that apartment?”
“Yes, but the documents disappeared…”
“What about bank statements? You transferred the money, didn’t you?”
“I guess I can request them…”
“You absolutely should. If we prove that the down payment was yours, we can try to challenge the property division ruling as well.”
Galina Petrovna was on edge. The bank had sent a letter demanding payment of the overdue amount. No one had paid the loan for two months.
“What are we going to do, Alyosha?” she wailed into the phone.
“Mom, I told you—we should have done everything honestly. Why did you have to lie to Yana about the surgery?”
“Oh, what difference does it make! She was your wife, she was supposed to help!”
“She was my wife, Mom. She isn’t anymore. And she’s not obligated to pay.”
“But you can talk to her, can’t you? Convince her?”
“I tried. She said we should sell the dacha.”
“NEVER! That’s a gift to Marina and the grandkids!”
“Then let Marina pay.”
“Her husband’s unemployed, you know that! They barely make ends meet!”
Marina’s husband, Igor, was indeed “unemployed.” Officially. In reality, he earned decent money doing unregistered taxi work, but he didn’t like paying taxes.
“Mom, I don’t have money either. I just took over the apartment mortgage, and I’m paying alimony to my ex-wife…”
“What alimony? You don’t have kids!”
“Not child support—spousal support. The court ordered it until she finds a new job.”
“Why on earth?!”
“Because I got her fired six months ago. Remember, you suggested I arrange it so she’d lose her job? So she’d be financially dependent on us?”
“Well, yes. And it worked, didn’t it?”
“It did. Except then the court found out the dismissal was illegal. They reinstated her, fined me, and ordered compensation for emotional distress.”
Galina Petrovna fell silent. It was indeed her idea to “remove” her daughter-in-law from a good position. She had called a friend, who called another friend, and Yana was laid off under the pretext of “staff reduction.” Only Yana turned out not to be so simple—she went to the labor inspectorate, and they quickly discovered there had been no reduction at all.
“All right, we’ll think of something,” Alexei muttered and hung up.
The court hearing to challenge the guarantee was scheduled a month later. Yana prepared thoroughly—she gathered all the evidence, statements, and screenshots. Pavel Andreyevich was confident they would win.
“Our case is airtight. You were deceived regarding the purpose of the loan. That’s a valid basis to invalidate the agreement.”
On the day of the hearing, Yana arrived early. In the corridor she ran into Alexei and his mother.
“You have no shame!” Galina Petrovna pounced on her. “We welcomed you into our family, and you drag us through the courts!”
“You didn’t welcome me into the family—you signed me up as a sponsor,” Yana replied calmly.
“How dare you speak like that! Alyosha, say something to her!”
But Alexei stayed silent. Over the past month he’d done a lot of thinking. Especially after the bank sent notice of the enforcement proceedings.
The hearing lasted two hours. The judge carefully examined the documents and listened to both sides. Galina Petrovna tried to play the pity card—talked about her illnesses, her grandchildren, and her hard life. But the facts were against her.
“The court has established,” the judge read out the ruling, “that the defendant, Rybakova G.P., misled the plaintiff regarding the purpose of the loan. According to the evidence provided, the loan funds were not used for medical treatment as stated at the time of signing the guarantee, but for the purchase of real estate. The guarantee agreement is hereby declared invalid. The defendant is ordered to reimburse the plaintiff for all loan payments made in the amount of 840,000 rubles.”
Galina Petrovna turned pale.
“But I don’t have that kind of money!”
“That is a matter for enforcement proceedings,” the judge replied dryly.
After the hearing, Alexei caught up with Yana outside.
“Wait. We need to talk.”
“About what? I think everything’s already been said.”
“I want to apologize. Mom… she didn’t mean any harm. She’s just used to everyone owing her something.”
“And you too, I suppose?”
Alexei nodded.
“You know, when the bank sent that notice about seizing the apartment, it was the first time I really thought about it—why should I lose my home over Mom’s schemes? Why is Marina joyriding to the dacha every weekend while I’m the one paying?”
“You figured that out a bit late.”
“Yeah… Yana, I wanted to ask… Maybe we could try again? Start over?”
Yana looked at him in surprise.
“Are you serious? After what you did?”
“I know how it sounds. But I really regret the divorce. Mom insisted, said you were using us. And it turned out it was the other way around.”
“Alexei, that ship has sailed. You made your choice—when it came down to your wife or your mother, you chose your mother. Now live with that choice.”
“But…”
“GOOD LUCK to you. Truly. Maybe one day you’ll learn to stand on your own two feet. But until then—goodbye.”
Six months passed. Galina Petrovna had to sell the dacha to pay off her debts. Marina had a meltdown, but there was no choice—the bailiffs weren’t joking.
Alexei kept the apartment, but his relationship with his mother and sister was ruined for good. They blamed him for “not being able to keep his wife” and “letting her ruin them.”
Yana, meanwhile, found a new job—at a company with a good salary and great prospects. She used the money that Galina Petrovna reimbursed to make a down payment on her own apartment. Small, but hers.
One evening, while sorting through documents, she came across an old photo—her and Alexei at their wedding. Young, happy, full of hope. Yana smiled sadly and tossed the picture into the trash. The past needed to stay in the past.
Her phone rang. An unknown number.
“Hello?”
“Yana? This is Pavel. Pavel Andreyevich. Your former lawyer.”
“Good evening! Is something wrong?”
“On the contrary, I have good news. Remember we requested bank statements regarding your down payment for your ex-husband’s apartment? Well, there are solid grounds to challenge the property division ruling. If you’d like, we can try to get at least part of your money back.”
Yana thought for a moment. On the one hand, she didn’t want to dig through the past again. On the other—why should she give up what was rightfully hers?
“Let’s meet and discuss it,” she decided.
“Great. By the way, can I ask a personal question? Are you married?”
“No. Why?”
“I just thought… maybe after we go over the legal issues, we could have dinner together? I know a nice restaurant not far from my office.”
Yana smiled.
“Why not?”
Life went on. And for the first time in a long while, Yana was looking to the future with optimism. She was free from toxic relationships, from other people’s debts and demands. Most importantly, she had learned to trust herself and her own decisions again.
As for Alexei, left without his mother’s support (she took offense and stopped speaking to him), he was, for the first time in his life, forced to deal with his problems on his own. He kept the apartment, but the loneliness within those four walls turned out to be a very high price for his mother’s “care.”
Sometimes in the evenings he would dial Yana’s number, but never found the courage to call. What could he say? That he’d been wrong? That he regretted everything? That he wanted her back? The words felt empty and meaningless.
And Galina Petrovna, left without the dacha and without the opportunity to manipulate her son, turned her attention to her daughter. But Marina, having learned from bitter experience, kept her distance. The family that Galina Petrovna had tried so hard to “unite” with her intrigues fell apart completely.
“Well, it’s just as well it all ended like this,” Yana said to herself as she signed the purchase contract for her new apartment. “Everyone got exactly what they DESERVED
