— “Evgenia, stop it. This isn’t going to help you. I’m sick of your constant excuses over the phone. Why are you trying to mess with my head? Trying to buy time? You’re wasting your energy, darling. You have nowhere to run, and the apartment will have to be sold anyway!” her ex-husband shouted, completely losing control.
For the umpteenth time, Igor had come to the apartment where, not so long ago, he had lived with his family — his wife and children. That was before he decided to divorce Evgenia and fully surrender to his feelings. Now he wanted to live freely with his secret lover, Elya, whom he had met at work six months earlier.
Elina had pressured Igor. She demanded that he get divorced, and in the end, the man had left his family.
— “And for the umpteenth time, I’m telling you that I don’t understand what exactly you’re demanding from me,” Zhenya replied calmly. She had been mentally prepared for today’s outburst from her ex-husband.
— “Oh, stop feeding me nonsense! What do you mean you don’t understand?” Igor snapped, unable to calm down. “Six months ago, when I left you, I told you to sell the apartment we bought during our marriage. What part of that is unclear? And what do you mean there are no buyers? There are always buyers. If there aren’t any, then there must be a reason. Either you set the price ridiculously high, or you’re doing everything possible not to show the apartment to potential buyers. So what’s the problem?”
Her ex-husband was getting more and more worked up, shouting so loudly that the dishes in the cabinet began to rattle.
— “There are no problems,” Evgenia answered coldly. “At least, not for me.”
— “Then why haven’t I received my money yet? We had an agreement!”
Igor was deliberately speaking loudly and aggressively. He was trying to put psychological pressure on his ex-wife. He was desperate to solve the issue. He needed the money like air — and he needed it now. But his ex-wife kept repeating the same thing: the apartment wasn’t selling. For several months, she had been feeding him promises.
— “Igoryosha, when are you going to buy me a car?” his girlfriend asked resentfully. “You promised me a long time ago, and I’m still waiting. I don’t want to keep reminding you, sweetheart, but right now you’re living in my apartment. You’re not spending anything on housing. For that alone, you could at least give me a generous gift. As a symbol of our life together. And one more thing. You can see for yourself that my apartment needs renovation. You’re simply obligated to contribute. After all, we live here together now.”
Elya adjusted the transparent robe on her slim young body and looked at her lover with mild offense.
— “If I promised, then it will happen. The car and the renovation. We just need to wait a little. Just a little longer. All right, my love?” Igor tried to calm his mistress down.
— “I’ve heard that more than once already. And I think — no, I’m absolutely sure — your ex-wife is leading you around by the nose. Don’t you find this absurd? She’s living in your apartment and won’t give you the money?” Elina said indignantly. “If she can’t or doesn’t want to sell it, then let her pay you half its value. Can’t you demand it from her? Or force her, if necessary? There’s the police, there’s court. Throw her out and sell it yourself. What’s the problem?”
— “Elya, how do you imagine that working?” Igor sighed. “It’s still our shared apartment. Evgenia and the children have the right to live there. At least while she’s trying to sell it. Let’s wait a little longer. I don’t want to take things to extremes.”
Lately, Igor himself had begun to realize that something was off. But for now, he couldn’t change the situation.
When he left the family, he gave Evgenia a condition: he would not claim any other jointly acquired property if she quickly sold their shared apartment and gave him half of the money.
— “You can keep the furniture, the appliances, and all the junk,” Igor had said, referring also to the old car that Zhenya used to take the children to school and activities — a car that was barely worth anything. “Keep the car too. I don’t need it. The main thing is the apartment. Divide it, and do it fast!”
After barely recovering from the cruel betrayal, Zhenya now had to deal with the housing issue as well. She had two children with her: a ten-year-old daughter and a seven-year-old son. And the woman simply could not understand why the three of them were supposed to leave a two-room apartment and move into a dormitory room.
She understood perfectly well that with half the money from selling the apartment, they would not be able to buy anything decent. In her opinion, that was more than unfair.
But when Evgenia consulted a lawyer she knew, her spirits lifted a little. She was relieved to learn that the truth was, after all, on her side. And that meant she would not sell the apartment.
Her ex-husband called regularly, about twice a week, asking for updates about the sale. Evgenia always gave him the same answer: the process was moving, the listing was online, and potential buyers were coming.
But whenever people called about the apartment, she honestly told them that she had no intention of deceiving anyone — the apartment was in poor condition. At the same time, she named a price one and a half times higher than its real market value.
— “You’ll never sell it like that! Lower the price. There are plenty of apartments on the market with good renovations and lower prices!” callers would protest sincerely.
— “Well, if you don’t want it, don’t buy it. What’s the problem? I’m not forcing it on you,” Zhenya would answer calmly, reassuring herself that she was doing the right thing.
— “Just look at him! What a clever little snake! He wants a young woman and money from the apartment handed to him on a silver platter. Your Igor can go without!” Zhenya’s friend fumed when she came over to visit.
— “He’s not mine. Not anymore. And he hasn’t been for a long time,” Evgenia replied calmly.
— “Exactly! He abandoned his family, and now he has the nerve to demand something from you. He should be ashamed! He’s living comfortably, while his ex-wife and children are supposed to survive however they can. Is that it?” Lilia continued angrily.
— “Forget about him. He isn’t worth our attention. Everything will be fine. The lawyer at work explained everything to me and told me how to act. So I’ll still fight for my rights.”
— “I can see you’ve calmed down. But what a monster he turned out to be! He hid it so well, pretending to be a good husband and loving father. Meanwhile, he was looking elsewhere. And in one day, suddenly neither his wife nor his children mattered anymore. And now he wants to leave them without an apartment too! His own children! I simply can’t wrap my head around it.”
— “He won’t leave us without anything. He won’t succeed,” Zhenya answered quietly.
— “But how? You bought this apartment during the marriage. Now Igor is demanding his share. Has he even thought about what you and the children could buy with the remaining money? No, of course not. He has nothing to think with. Love has melted his brain,” her friend kept going.
— “Enough, Lilia. Forget him. Look what kind of pie I baked! Let’s have tea. Kids, come have some pie!” Zhenya called out.
— “Oh, now that I love!” her friend smiled. “Come on, little ones, attack the goodies!”
Today Evgenia decided it was time to tell her ex-husband the whole truth. She would not sell the apartment. There was no point in dragging it out any longer.
— “You’re getting yourself worked up for nothing. Save your nerves, or your precious Elya will throw you out when she sees how hysterical you are. I’m not selling the apartment.”
— “What do you mean, you’re not selling it? Have you lost your mind? Are you playing games with me? You won’t get away with this! We had an agreement!” Igor exploded, raising his voice again. “I knew something was wrong. Now it all makes sense. You’ve been fooling me all this time, saying there were no buyers!”
— “We didn’t agree on anything. You decided that on your own. And I have made a different decision. I’m keeping our apartment for the children — the same children you suddenly stopped caring about one fine day,” Evgenia said, trying to remain calm.
— “Oh, stop it! Quit hiding behind the children. I stopped loving you — you. That doesn’t mean I don’t need my children. I pay child support! What else do you want? And I have every legal right to my share of this apartment!” Igor spoke in a raised voice, barely holding back his emotions.
— “Oh, what a surprise. Honestly, you almost made me laugh. Of course, what else could children possibly need besides the few coins you transfer? Well done, father of the year. You’ve settled in nicely under the wing of a young, childless woman.”
— “Don’t change the subject! If you don’t want to sell the apartment, then buy out my share. I don’t mind. I need the money. Just don’t drag it out. I’ve already been waiting for six months.”
— “Buy it out? That’s funny. And with what money, may I ask?” Zhenya asked sincerely, though she had long expected this suggestion from him.
— “How should I know? Take out a loan. Borrow from your parents. Sell a kidney for all I care. I don’t care where you get the money. That’s not my problem.”
— “You really are ridiculous, Igor. Do you honestly think I’m going to sell the apartment and leave the children without a roof over their heads just so you can spend the money on your silly little doll?” Evgenia asked with a smirk.
— “And what exactly are you going to do, darling? Besides, what I spend my money on is none of your business anymore. That’s my affair.”
— “I’m not your darling. And I’m afraid I have to disappoint you. When we bought this apartment five years ago, we used maternity capital. I hope you remember that?”
— “So what?” Igor asked, suddenly confused.
— “So this: in order to sell this apartment, I would have to find housing for the children with conditions no worse than what they have here. You can read the law if you want. And the option you’re offering us, unfortunately for you, doesn’t qualify. The only thing I could buy with the money from the sale would be a studio or a dormitory room. But the guardianship authorities would never approve that. Which means the sale cannot happen.”
— “What are you… Are you making something up again just to avoid selling it?” Igor still did not believe his ex-wife, clinging to the hope that she was wrong.
— “No. It’s all according to the law. Of course, you can go to court and try to force me to pay you your share. But in case you’ve forgotten, I have two minor children, and my salary is laughable. I would pay off that debt three rubles a month. For one hundred and fifty, maybe even two hundred years. I haven’t calculated it yet. That’s all I wanted to tell you. So forget about the apartment. Technically, you can return here at any time — you have the right. But I doubt you’ll want to live in a place where you’re despised. Even by your own children.”
— “This is complete nonsense! You’re bluffing! By law, half the apartment is mine!” Igor shouted.
— “You don’t know the law very well. That’s where all your problems come from. You should speak to a lawyer too before demanding the impossible from me.”
— “In that case, I’ll divide everything! Everything down to the last spoon and plate. The car, the appliances, the furniture — everything I bought!”
— “Go ahead. You can start right now. Where shall we begin? With the spoons? Or the forks?” Evgenia was prepared for such a turn of events, so she was not surprised.
— “Dad, why are you shouting like that? Are you sick?” their daughter asked, coming out of her room, where she had been doing her homework.
— “All of you can go to hell! I’ll be back, remember that! I’ll find everything out and come back! And I’ll demand the money for my half of this apartment!”
— “We’ll be waiting,” Zhenya replied. “But it would be better if you didn’t come back. Don’t waste your nerves or ours.”
Igor left, slamming the door loudly. After that, he no longer bothered her about selling the apartment.
But he acted vilely. Soon, he stopped paying child support. As Evgenia later found out, Igor had changed jobs and somehow hidden his financial obligations from his new employer.
Once again, the woman became convinced that she had once tied her life to a dishonest man. And in a way, it was good that everything had happened as it did. At some point, her ex-husband had shown his true face, and they had separated. Otherwise, she might have spent her entire life living beside a traitor without ever knowing it.
As for Elina, she soon threw Igor out of her apartment after waiting in vain for the new car and renovation money.
— “Next time, I’ll be more careful. Getting involved with divorced men is more trouble than it’s worth. Not only do they pay child support, but their ex-wives also turn out to be so cunning. No benefit at all, only problems,” Elina told her friend after she found herself alone again.
