— Mom, I don’t understand anything. How is this possible?! — Olga looked at her mother in disbelief.
— I don’t understand anything either! — her mother, usually restrained and calm, was clearly nervous. — I’m telling you again! Five years ago I put money in this bank on deposit, with interest, and now I decided to withdraw it. I need it, you understand? — her mother shook her head. — And what? The contract exists. Here it is. — She shoved a plastic folder with documents into Olga’s hands. — And they’re saying there’s no deposit opened in my name. Go! And sort it out with them!
Olga swallowed hard.
— H-how… in what way? — to be honest, she had no idea how to react. And how could something like this happen at all? It couldn’t. If the deposit had been opened, then nothing could have happened to it.
— The bank is right in front of you. I opened the deposit in this branch. Go on! — her mother ordered.
In principle, there was nothing unusual about that. Olga’s mother had always tried to solve her problems through her. But now…
— Mom, we should go together. They won’t tell me anything about your finances. It’s confidential, you know, — Olga said, thinking to herself that maybe her mother had simply forgotten she’d closed the deposit… and if that was the case, she’d need to carefully persuade her to see a doctor.
— Fine. I’ll go with you, — her mother said.
And together they headed into the bank.
…………
— Galina Petrovna, I already told you: you don’t have any deposits with our bank. You are not our client, — the teller sitting across from Olga and her mother said wearily.
If she had said the deposit had been closed, that would have been one thing. But she was saying Olga’s mother wasn’t even their customer…
— Excuse me, but that’s impossible, — Olga said. — Look, this is a contract with your bank. It has your representative’s signature and my mother’s signature.
— So what? — the teller shrugged. — It happens. Maybe the contract was signed, but in reality the money was never deposited at the cash desk. Maybe your mother changed her mind. What’s the big deal?
— This is what! — Olga handed her the deposit receipt. — The funds were deposited. Here. Please.
The teller grew uneasy and called the branch manager. He also became tense and started making phone calls.
— Maybe it’s a computer glitch, — he said. — We’ll look into it. Come back in a week. If you don’t mind, I’ll make copies of your documents.
— In a week?! — Olga saw her mother getting even more agitated. — I need that money right now! This very minute!
— Until we figure it out, there’s nothing I can do. And besides, an amount like that has to be ordered in advance, — the manager said.
Olga finally looked at the amount, and her eyes widened.
“I wonder where my mother got that much money—and why she needs it urgently, right now?” she thought.
— I’m calling the police! You have no right! — her mother kept protesting.
Olga sighed. Great—now her entire evening would be ruined, because her mother would scold her and say she was useless, that she couldn’t even help at the bank.
— Come on, Mom, come on, — Olga tried to lead her outside.
— I’m not leaving without the money, — her mother declared again.
— They won’t give it to you. Not right now. Let’s go, — Olga said. — Or if you want, stay here, and I’ll leave.
Olga headed for the door. At that moment, the branch manager hurried up to her.
— Please leave your phone number. As soon as I find out everything, I’ll contact you, — he said quietly. Of course, Olga understood: her mother seemed unstable to him, and he wanted to distance himself.
— Yes, of course. Here’s my business card, — Olga said, handing it to him.
— Thank you very much. I’ll call.
At the door, Olga turned around. She saw her mother still sitting calmly in the chair.
“Fine… let her sit,” Olga thought, and walked out of the bank.
Outside, Olga stepped a little aside and began counting in her head. When she got to ten, her mother came out, walked up to her, and through clenched teeth said:
— I knew it. You can’t help me with anything.
Olga wanted to say something in her defense, but wisely stayed silent—otherwise a scandal would have been inevitable.
……………………
— I swear, Natasha, there was a deposit receipt for a huge amount of money, — Olga said, sitting across from her friend and recounting what had happened. — And she wanted to withdraw it—for some reason. All of it! Do you understand?
— Maybe she wants to buy something, — Natasha shrugged. — Did you ask her directly?
— Of course! It’s just… she started acting strange. When she talks on the phone, she steps outside the apartment, and when I come up to her, she hides her phone…
— So what did she say? — Natasha asked again.
— Nothing. That it doesn’t concern me and it’s none of my business.
Olga fell silent for a moment, then added:
— Honestly, I don’t know where my mother got that kind of money. She’s always complaining that everything is expensive and she can’t afford anything.
— Yeah, some people are like that. But in reality they do it on purpose, so others won’t envy them—so they’ll pity them instead. Listen, you need to find out why your mother needs the money. Maybe she wants to hand it over to scammers… or to a marriage con man. I’m leaning toward the second one, since you’re saying she started hiding her phone, — Natasha declared.
Olga was taken aback.
— Well… yes, I agree, she’s never behaved like that… Do you think she fell in love with someone? — Olga asked.
— I’m sure of it, — Natasha nodded. — And you have to find out for certain.
Olga blinked, surprised.
— Are you suggesting I spy on my own mother? — she asked.
— Yes. Why not?
— And who’s going to work instead of me? — Olga asked again.
— Your colleagues. Take a couple of days off and see where your mother goes and who she meets, — Natasha said in a lecturing tone.
………………
Olga stood behind a spreading lilac bush and couldn’t believe her eyes. In front of the building entrance stood her mother—and her ex. He was holding her hand and saying something. Surely about money. About the money she couldn’t withdraw.
“He’s probably trying to drag her into his next ‘business idea,’” Olga thought.
She turned around and walked back the way she’d come. In fact, she was lucky—today she had the chance to leave work early, and she took it… and saw something she apparently wasn’t supposed to see.
Well then. Now she had to figure out where her mother’s money had gone—and stop her from handing it over to her ex.
………………
— So there’s a chance I’ll never see my money at all, right? — Olga could tell her mother was unhappy. — I need it! Olga, do something!
Olga sighed.
— I went to a lawyer. We have to file a lawsuit, — she said.
— A lawsuit? — her mother laughed. — That’ll drag on forever. And I think you have to pay something for them to even consider the case… and I need it now!
— Mom, Volodya is trying to pull you into something, isn’t he? — Olga asked. — Mom, don’t listen to him. I believed him, supported him, gave him money… but all his ventures failed. And he tried to pressure me into selling my car and asked me to take out a loan… Mom…
— Oh! A loan—right! — her mother brightened. — I forgot about that.
— Don’t even think about it, Mom! I’m begging you—no loans! — Olga was ready to bite her tongue.
— Don’t tell me how to live. Better solve the bank problem, — her mother snapped.
………………
— How’s your court case going? — Natasha asked.
— Oh… — Olga waved her hand. — So far it’s all useless. We file, get a decision saying we can’t claim any money, then appeal and appeal and appeal… Soon we’ll reach the Supreme Court.
— Wow. Did you find out what money it was? — Natasha asked again.
— Yes. It’s a shady story. She says she sold my father’s garage and that supposedly I signed a refusal of that inheritance, but I don’t remember… — Olga replied.
— I see. And is there anything else you want to tell me? — Natasha looked at her meaningfully.
Olga hesitated and even blushed a little.
— Thank you for introducing me to Alexey. We’re dating, and we’re planning to move in together soon.
For an illustration
………………
Time passed. Olga really did move in with Alexey. The case about the missing deposit was closed—no, it wasn’t found. It turned out to be a more interesting story: the former director of that branch had pocketed the money. At first, the courts kept sending them after him, but the Supreme Court, having reviewed all aspects of the case, ruled that the bank itself had to pay Olga’s mother the money—plus the interest that should have accrued on the deposit, and compensation for emotional distress (though, of course, it was reduced to the minimum).
Olga did everything possible to make sure the money didn’t disappear again: she drove her ex away from her mother, placed the money back on deposit with her mother in another bank, and even installed an app so her mother could track that everything was fine.
………………
Living together with Alexey was difficult. Olga had complaints about him, and he had complaints about her. Of course, they tried to talk and solve problems, but they often ended up offended at each other. Usually Olga was the first to make peace, but sometimes she thought: why always me?
That day Olga came home late from work. At the entrance she looked up and saw the lights on in the apartment she shared with Alexey.
“I hope he made dinner,” she thought.
She quickly went up to their floor, put the key in the lock, and tried to open it—but for some reason she couldn’t.
“The lock is jammed again,” Olga thought irritably. She struggled with it for another five minutes, then rang the doorbell. To her surprise, Alexey didn’t come to open. She rang again and again… and then remembered she herself had disabled the bell, because the night before someone had rung the doorbell around three in the morning. She hadn’t wanted to deal with who it was or why—they’d had been alone and she’d been scared; Alexey had gone to help his parents. She knew it wasn’t him, and now here she was—unable to get inside because Alexey couldn’t hear her.
Then Olga started knocking, and then remembered she had her phone and called Alexey.
Finally, the door opened. She stepped inside and immediately understood they had guests: there were unfamiliar sneakers in the hallway, and strangers’ clothes hanging in the closet. Music was playing, and she could hear laughter.
— Hi. Some friends stopped by, — Alexey said. — Make us something to eat. And by the way, did you go to the store? Because we’ve got nothing at home.
That was it. Her hope for a tasty dinner and a quiet evening collapsed.
Olga stood in the doorway, still in her coat, her bag on her shoulder, staring at Alexey in disbelief.
— Why didn’t you warn me? — she asked. — Did you even see my message? — she added quietly.
— It was spontaneous, — Alexey shrugged. — You don’t mind, do you?
In truth, Olga didn’t mind guests—on weekends. Guests in the middle of the week, when she had chaos at work and had to get up early tomorrow? No, she did mind.
— Olga, take your coat off already and go to the kitchen, — he said irritably.
Instead of taking her coat off, Olga buttoned it all the way up, picked up her bag, and turned toward the door.
— Where are you going? — Alexey asked, surprised.
— To the store, — Olga said calmly. — You said yourself we have nothing to eat. — She shrugged and walked out.
………………
— Olga, I heard you broke up with Lyosha? — Natasha asked.
The girls were sitting in the kitchen of the apartment Olga shared with her mother.
— Yeah. You see, I came home exhausted, and he’s there with his friends, — Olga frowned. — He told me to go cook them something and said they’d eaten everything. Is that normal, Natasha? If you invite guests, don’t you need to warn your partner?
— You do, of course. But sometimes guests really do drop in spontaneously…
— Fine. But don’t you still have to tell your girlfriend? And shouldn’t you buy groceries and cook something yourselves? And if you see your girlfriend came home late and is obviously tired, couldn’t you say, “Go rest, we won’t be loud”? — Olga looked at Natasha expectantly.
— You should, — Natasha nodded.
— Exactly. And on the way home I was thinking: I’d made so many compromises, smoothed over so many sharp situations, and he hadn’t done any of that. So… — Olga smirked. — You could say we just didn’t match.
— I see, — Natasha sighed. — It’s a shame. I thought that… but never mind.
………………
Days went by. At first Olga wanted to talk to Alexey, to explain that his behavior had hurt her—but she wasn’t going to be the one to call first. Her mother wanted to call him herself, but Olga forbade her.
— Sweetheart, I could ask him something about our court case, or tell him to pack your things and bring them over. You left everything there!
— No. Don’t. And don’t worry about the things. Half a year has passed and I haven’t needed them, so they couldn’t have been that important.
………………
That day started perfectly. Sunshine outside, warm weather. Olga stood by the window, looked down at the street, drank coffee, and squinted with pleasure. If she could purr, she would have felt like a cat.
Then she went to work and arrived on time.
Then there were negotiations that went brilliantly.
Then her boss called her in and said he was raising her salary. Not by much, of course, but still nice.
And then Alexey called…
At first Olga didn’t recognize the number—it was unfamiliar.
— Olya, I still have your things. Maybe you’ll stop by and pick them up? I’ll help you carry them home, — he said.
— I’ll stop by. Why not? — Olga agreed. That’s what a good mood does! Until that moment she hadn’t planned to take anything from Alexey at all—she’d wanted to tell him to throw it all away.
— Great! How about today? — he asked.
— Today? Yes, today then, — she replied.
………………
— Olya! I can’t believe what I’m hearing! — Natasha walked beside Olga down the street. — How is that possible? You weren’t going to ever see Alexey again…
— I don’t know myself, — Olga smiled and shrugged. — I went to pick up my things and somehow… I didn’t pick them up, and I didn’t leave. We talked, and finally discussed all the nuances of our life together—our future life together. And that’s it. Now we live completely differently than before. And… you know… I’m happy!
Then she added:
— That’s what happens when you’re in a wonderful mood
