The key scraped loudly in the lock—too loudly. Ksenia stepped into the apartment and, with a sigh of relief, kicked off her sky-high heels onto the parquet floor.
Right away she caught a strange, unfamiliar smell. Odd—her Sasha didn’t usually cook.
She walked into the living room and froze in the doorway. On the sofa, sitting with perfect posture, was her mother-in-law.
Beside her, curled up with her legs tucked under her, hands wrapped around a cup of tea, sat a fragile young woman with big frightened eyes and fair hair styled in soft waves.
By the window, with his back to the room—and to Ksenia—stood Sasha, staring stubbornly at the city darkening outside.
“Sasha, what happened? Nelly Arsentyevna, why didn’t you warn me you were coming?” Ksenia tried to keep her tone light.
Her mother-in-law reluctantly turned her head toward her and slowly rose from the sofa.
“You don’t live here anymore,” she declared, enunciating each word clearly.
Silence filled the living room. The girl on the couch lowered her gaze, but Sasha didn’t turn around.
“What? What are you saying?” Ksenia felt the floor drop away beneath her.
“I think I made myself perfectly clear. You don’t live here anymore. I brought Sasha another wife. This is Elvira.” She nodded toward the girl; Elvira timidly lifted her eyes to Ksenia and immediately looked down again.
Everything in Ksenia’s head blurred. Was this a prank? A bad dream? She looked at her husband.
“Sasha, please explain what is even happening here?”
At last he turned. His face was gray, worn out. He didn’t look at his wife.
“Ksyu… Mom’s right. We need to talk…”
“Talk?” Ksenia let out a hysterical laugh. “Your mother is saying she brought you a new wife, and you’re telling me ‘we need to talk’? Sasha, what the hell is going on?”
Nelly Arsentyevna stepped forward, as if trying to take over the entire space.
“What’s going on is what should have happened a long time ago. You failed. You couldn’t become a real wife for him. You disappear at work day and night—you have no time for your husband, your home, your family… You can’t even have a child because you’re always buried in some project!” Her voice was steel. “And my Sasha needs a quiet, peaceful life—children, comfort, care. Not a career woman who crawls in at night and collapses off her feet.”
Every word hit its mark. Ksenia really did work a lot.
She was building a career at an architecture firm, and the past year had been especially intense.
But she and Sasha had agreed they’d put off expanding the family for a couple of years.
“Sasha, say something!” Ksenia’s voice turned into a plea. “We talked about all of this! I’m not working like this for no reason! We were saving for—”
“For what?” Nelly Arsentyevna cut her off. “For another abstraction? Elvira has a substantial dowry. Her family is very respectable. She won’t chase ghosts—she’ll build a home. And you… you’re unnecessary here.”
Ksenia waited for Sasha to rebel, to tell his mother to stop interfering in their life.
But he stayed silent, fists clenched—and his silence said more than any words.
“So this is about money?” Ksenia whispered. “Mom found you a rich bride, and you agreed?”
“It’s not only about money, Ksenia,” Sasha finally forced out. “It’s just… Mom’s right. I’m tired of this race. I want simple human happiness—and quiet.”
“Quiet?” Ksenia swept her взгляд over the absurd scene: a mother-in-law playing judge and fate, a pathetic husband, and a frightened “new wife.” “What quiet? This is hell right now!”
“It won’t last long,” Nelly Arsentyevna said coldly. “When you pack your things and leave, the hell will end. Elvira will sort everything out.”
“I’m not going anywhere! This is my home!” Ksenia shouted.
“You’re mistaken. The apartment is in my name. I bought it for my son, and only I decide who lives here.”
Ksenia’s breath caught. She stared at Sasha in disbelief.
“Is that true?”
“Yes. Mom helped with the down payment… Legally, it’s hers,” he nodded, not lifting his eyes to her.
Their marriage collapsed in a single instant. Ksenia realized in horror that all this time it hadn’t been held together by them, but by the will of an overbearing mother-in-law.
She wasn’t a wife—she was a temporary tenant. An actress whose part had now been given to someone else.
Tears rose in her throat, but Ksenia swallowed them. She decided instantly she wouldn’t give them the pleasure of seeing her broken. She straightened up, gathering all her will into a fist.
“Fine. I understand everything. I’m not going to fight for anything. There really is nothing for me to do here,” she said, and went into the bedroom, taking a large duffel bag from the top shelf of the closet.
The same one she and Sasha had taken five years earlier on their honeymoon to Gelendzhik.
Ksenia began mechanically, almost without looking, packing her things: underwear, a couple of sweaters, jeans.
Her hand reached for a framed photo on the nightstand. She and Sasha, laughing, with the sea behind them, arms around each other.
She flipped it face down sharply. From the living room came Nelly Arsentyevna’s muffled whisper:
“You see, Sashen’ka? Everything goes smoothly. I told you I wouldn’t go easy on her.”
Elvira answered something quietly, but it was impossible to make out the words.
Ksenia went into the bathroom and gathered her cosmetics. When she returned to the bedroom, she saw Sasha standing in the doorway.
“Ksyu… I’m sorry,” he tried to take her hand, but she jerked away as if from fire.
“Don’t touch me. Ever.”
“You don’t understand… Mom… her blood pressure, her heart problems. She threatened that if I didn’t come to my senses… she’d drive herself into the grave…”
“So what? You decided to sacrifice me to save your mother from herself? You’re not a boy, Sasha—you’re thirty-five!”
“Ksyusha, I couldn’t do it any other way!” There was genuine despair in his voice. “Mom controls everything—the business, the money… I’m in debt to her up to my neck… And Elvira and her family… it’s an obvious chance to start from scratch and become independent. Let’s not get divorced yet—let’s give our relationship a pause. When I solve all the problems, we can be together again.”
“Together?” Ksenia laughed bitterly. “No. You and I will never see each other again, and we will never be together.”
She zipped the bag shut. She didn’t need anything else from this place.
“I… I’ll help you with money. We’ll rent you a good apartment,” Sasha muttered, trying to lessen his guilt.
“Don’t. I’ll take care of myself,” she said, slinging the bag over her shoulder and walking into the living room.
Nelly Arsentyevna watched her with the satisfied look of a predator that had gotten what it wanted.
Elvira looked at Ksenia with a strange kind of sympathy—almost pity.
“I called a taxi for you. It’ll be here in five minutes,” her mother-in-law announced.
“Don’t bother. I’ll call myself a taxi,” Ksenia replied without looking at her.
She went into the entryway and put on her shoes. Her hand reached automatically for the hook where her key hung.
Ksenia took it down, turned it in her fingers, and carefully placed it on the dresser. After one last glance at the walls, she opened the door and stepped out onto the landing.
She took a taxi to her friend Marina’s place. Marina didn’t ask unnecessary questions when she saw her face—she just let her in, poured her some tea, and let her cry.
Then came a long talk, tears, anger, and complete bewilderment at everything that had happened. Ksenia would have to start a new life
