Ulyana came home after yet another shift at the medical center where she worked as an administrator. It was Saturday, half past seven in the evening. Most people were already relaxing by then, but she had only just finished her extra shift. Her keys jingled in the lock, and she stepped into the apartment.
Timur was lying on the sofa in exactly the same position she had left him in that morning. Beside him stood an empty plate that had once held the pasta she had cooked the day before for two days, and a mug with cold, unfinished tea.
“Hi,” he muttered without looking up from his phone.
“Hi,” Ulyana replied, taking off her shoes and walking into the kitchen. “Did you go out today?”
“What for?”
“Well, maybe to the store. There’s no bread. No milk either.”
“We don’t have money.”
Ulyana stopped in the middle of the kitchen.
Six months.
For six long months, she had been hearing that same phrase. At first, Timur had been laid off from the logistics company because of staff cuts. During the first two months, he had looked for work and gone to interviews. Then something inside him seemed to break. He stopped shaving, stopped leaving the apartment, and spent entire days stretched out on the sofa.
“Timur, I left five hundred rubles on the nightstand yesterday.”
“Oh, yeah… I forgot.”
She opened the refrigerator. It was empty. The only food left was a packet of buckwheat in the cupboard and half a loaf of stale bread.
“I’m tired,” Ulyana said quietly. “So tired. I work from eight in the morning until eight at night. I even take extra shifts on weekends. The car loan is thirty thousand a month. Utilities are fifteen. Food, transport… I’m carrying everything alone!”
“I told you, I’m depressed. You don’t understand what that feels like!”
“I DON’T UNDERSTAND?” Ulyana spun around sharply. “I don’t understand? I sleep four hours a night! My legs ache so badly that I almost fall asleep standing in the subway! And you lie here all day feeling sorry for yourself!”
“Don’t shout at me.”
“I will shout! I WILL! Because talking nicely doesn’t work anymore! I asked you. I begged you. Find any job at all! Courier, loader, anything! But no! After being a middle manager, you’re too ashamed to work as a courier!”
Timur sat up on the sofa and rubbed his forehead.
“Listen, let’s not fight. I understand it’s hard for you…”
“It’s not just hard, Timur. It’s unbearable! Have you ever once thought that I might be depressed too? That I’m also a human being and not a machine?”
The next morning, Ulyana woke up to the sound of the television. Timur was already sitting in the living room, flipping through channels.
“Good morning,” he said when she came out of the bedroom.
“Morning.”
She made herself tea and ate the last of yesterday’s buckwheat. Timur kept watching television.
“I’m going to work,” Ulyana said, putting on her coat.
“On Sunday?”
“Yes, on Sunday. Anna Sergeyevna got sick, so they asked me to come in. Double pay.”
“I see.”
She was already at the door when he called after her.
“Ulyana, we need to talk.”
“We’ll talk tonight.”
“No, now. It’s important.”
She returned to the room and sat on the edge of the armchair.
“I was thinking all night,” Timur began. “And I realized I can’t live like this anymore. I can’t keep watching you lose control, shouting at me…”
“I lose control? I SHOUT? Are you kidding me?”
“There you go again. I’m trying to say… Let’s get divorced.”
Ulyana froze. Silence settled over the room.
“What?”
“A divorce, Ulyana. We’ll separate peacefully. You’ll be able to live calmly without me. And I’ll… start a new life.”
“A new life,” she repeated. “And what exactly are you planning to start this new life with? You don’t have any money!”
“We’ll split the car. It’s worth one million two hundred thousand. Half of it belongs to me. Six hundred thousand is a decent amount to begin with.”
Ulyana stood up. Her hands were trembling.
“The car? You want to split the CAR? The same car I’ve been paying the loan for over the past year? The car I saved the down payment for by working double shifts?”
“We bought it together. I put money into it too.”
“Yes, you did. For the first three months. Then you lost your job, and I’ve been paying that loan ALONE!”
“Legally, I’m entitled to half.”
“Legally?” Ulyana laughed. The laugh came out hysterical and frightening. “Legally? And legally, are you allowed to sit on your wife’s neck for six months? Legally, are you allowed to eat MY food, sleep in MY apartment, and then demand something from me?”
“This apartment belongs to your mother, by the way.”
“YES! My mother! She allowed us to live here until we saved for our own place! But how are we supposed to save anything when you DON’T WORK?”
Timur got up from the sofa and walked over to the window.
“I’ve made up my mind. Tomorrow I’ll file for divorce. And yes, I’ll claim the car through court if you refuse to settle peacefully.”
“Go to hell!” Ulyana shouted. “You know what? YOU KNOW WHAT? If you want to divide property, then let’s divide EVERYTHING!”
She grabbed a notebook and pen from the table and began writing furiously.
“What are you doing?”
“Counting! I’m calculating how much YOU OWE ME! Six months of utilities — ninety thousand! Food — at least five thousand a week, that’s one hundred and twenty thousand! Clothes — I bought you jeans, shirts, sneakers — another thirty thousand! Total: two hundred and forty thousand rubles! That is your debt to me!”
“Have you lost your mind? What debt? We’re family!”
“FAMILY?” Ulyana threw the notebook onto the table. “Family means both people work! Both people try! Not one person killing themselves with work while the other lies on the couch and whines!”
At that moment, the doorbell rang. Ulyana went to open it. Timur’s mother, Marina, stood on the doorstep.
“Hello, Marina Petrovna,” Ulyana said tiredly.
“Hello, dear. I came to see Timur. Is my son home?”
“He’s home. Where else would he be?”
Marina walked into the room and glanced at her son — unshaven, wearing a wrinkled T-shirt.
“Mom, you came just in time,” Timur said. “You can take me away from here. Ulyana and I are getting divorced.”
Marina sat down on a chair and looked carefully first at her son, then at her daughter-in-law.
“What happened?”
“She’s constantly hysterical! She screams, blames me for everything! I’m depressed, and she doesn’t understand!”
“Depressed,” Marina repeated slowly. “Son, what exactly are you doing to get out of it?”
“What?”
“I’m asking you — have you seen a doctor? Are you taking medicine? Are you looking for work?”
“Mom, are you starting too?”
“I’m starting to THINK! Timur, you’re thirty-five years old! THIRTY-FIVE! And you’ve been lying on the sofa for half a year while poor Ulyana carries you!”
“You’re on her side?” Timur asked in disbelief.
“I’m on the side of the truth! Yes, I’m your mother, but I’m not blind! This girl works like a horse, and you…”
The doorbell rang again. Svetlana, Timur’s sister, entered — a loud, emotional woman of thirty-eight.
“Oh, everyone’s here!” she exclaimed. “Mom, you’re already here? Good. I was coming to have a serious talk with dear brother myself.”
“Svetlana, perfect timing,” Marina said. “Your brother is getting divorced.”
“Again? Wait — what do you mean getting divorced? From Ulyana?” Svetlana stared at her brother. “Have you completely lost your mind?”
“You too?”
“What? I’ve been married three times. I know what life costs! And you know what I’ll tell you? Ulyana is GOLD. Hardworking, patient, beautiful. And you? What can YOU offer a woman?”
“Why is everyone attacking me?” Timur snapped. “I’m sick! I have depression!”
“Oh, he has depression,” Svetlana snorted. “I had depression after my second divorce, but I still worked! Two jobs! Because I had children to feed!”
“I don’t have children!”
“But you have a WIFE! A wife you’ve pushed to the edge!”
Ulyana stood aside, watching everything unfold. She had never expected such support from her husband’s family.
“Timur,” Marina said sternly. “I didn’t raise you so you could turn into… into a parasite!”
“Mom!”
“What else should I call a man who lives off his wife for six months? Your father, may he rest in peace, would turn over in his grave!”
“Don’t bring Dad into this!”
“I WILL bring him into this! He worked his whole life! Two jobs! To provide for us! And you? YOU?”
Timur stood up and began pacing around the room.
“I’ll leave this place! I’ll take my half of the car and leave!”
“What half?” Ulyana exploded. “You haven’t paid a SINGLE KOPEK for it in the last six months! NOT ONE!”
“Legally…”
“Oh, to hell with your legal rights!” Svetlana shouted. “You know what I think? Ulyana, sweetheart, throw him out! RIGHT NOW!”
“This isn’t her apartment!”
“Whose is it then? Yours?” Svetlana pulled out her phone. “I’m calling Aunt Natasha, Ulyana’s mother. Let’s ask what she thinks about her son-in-law living rent-free in her apartment for six months.”
“Don’t!” Timur panicked.
“Yes, I will! Hello, Aunt Natasha? It’s Svetlana. Timur’s sister. Listen, do you know that your son-in-law wants to divorce Ulyana and take her car away from her?”
Ulyana could hear her mother’s loud voice through the phone. Natalia Viktorovna was a decisive woman who never tolerated injustice.
“Yes, yes, exactly! He’s been lying on the sofa for half a year! Ulyana feeds him! And now he wants the car! What? Of course! I’m putting you on speaker!”
Natalia Viktorovna’s voice filled the room.
“Timur! Can you hear me?”
“I can hear you, Natalia Viktorovna…”
“Then listen carefully! GET OUT of my apartment! IMMEDIATELY! I don’t want you there in an hour!”
“But…”
“NO BUTS! Ulyana, daughter, put his things outside the door! Svetlana, Marina Petrovna, help her!”
“With pleasure!” Svetlana replied.
The next hour turned into complete chaos. Svetlana enthusiastically packed her brother’s things into bags. Marina sat in the kitchen, shaking her head and muttering:
“Shame. What a shame on my gray head. How could you sink so low?”
Timur rushed around the apartment, trying to explain himself, to justify everything.
“Mom, say something to them! I’m your son!”
“You may be my son, but you’re a fool!” Marina snapped. “And apparently I raised you badly if you’re behaving like this!”
“Ulyana!” Timur tried to approach his wife. “Let’s talk. Calmly!”
“NO!” She stepped back. “ENOUGH! I spoke calmly to you for six months! I persuaded you, pleaded with you, begged you! You lasted ONLY six months after losing your job! And what about me? When do I get to rest? When do I get to treat my depression? WHEN?”
“I… I’ll find a job!”
“TOO LATE! Damn you, it’s TOO LATE! You showed me who you really are! An egoist! You think only about yourself!”
“Things are packed!” Svetlana announced, dragging three large bags into the hallway. “Brother dear, your exit!”
“I’m not leaving! This is my apartment too!”
“WHAT?” Ulyana roared. “Have you completely lost it? THIS IS MY MOTHER’S APARTMENT!”
“We lived here together!”
“LIVED! Past tense!”
Marina stood up and walked over to her son.
“Timur, leave. On your own. Peacefully. You can stay with me for now. But on one condition — within a week, you will have a job. ANY job. Otherwise, you’ll be out of my place too.”
“Mom!”
“I said what I said! And one more thing — apologize to Ulyana. And forget about the car. That’s the bare minimum you can do!”
“Apologize? For what? I just wanted…”
“ENOUGH!” Svetlana barked. “For God’s sake! Have you lost every bit of conscience? This woman carried you for six months, and you decided to divide property?”
She grabbed her brother by the arm and pulled him toward the door.
“Move! I said MOVE! Before I lose my temper completely!”
“Let go!”
“I won’t! Out!”
Marina picked up the bags with his belongings while Svetlana pushed her brother out the door. Timur resisted, but not very strongly. Against two furious women, he stood no chance.
“Ulyana!” he shouted from the stairwell. “You’ll regret this! I’ll take you to court!”
“GO AHEAD!” she shouted back. “And I’ll file a counterclaim! For reimbursement of the money I spent supporting you! I have ALL the receipts! Every single bill!”
“You wouldn’t dare!”
“I WOULD! And you know what? The bill for spending six months lying on my sofa and eating my food is going to be BIG! VERY BIG!”
The door slammed shut.
Ulyana was left alone in the apartment. Her legs gave way, and she sank right down onto the hallway floor. The tears finally came — tears of relief, exhaustion, and anger.
Her phone rang. It was Marina Petrovna.
“Ulyanochka, dear, don’t cry. I’ll take this fool to my place. And forgive us… Forgive me for raising a son like that. I thought I was raising a man, but I raised… I don’t even know what.”
“Marina Petrovna, it’s not your fault…”
“It is, dear. Maybe I spoiled him. But it’s not too late to fix him. He’ll work under my roof. Even if it’s as a janitor! And know this — the car is yours. Completely yours. If he tries to sue for anything, I’ll testify myself that you were supporting him.”
“Thank you…”
“And one more thing, Ulyanochka. You did the right thing. Sometimes that’s the only way people understand. Through anger. Through the truth. Now rest. Finally get some sleep. You deserve it.”
Two weeks later, Ulyana ran into Svetlana at the store.
“Ulyana! How are you?”
“I’m all right. Finally resting. How’s Timur?”
Svetlana rolled her eyes.
“He’s working! Mom gave him an ultimatum — either get a job or end up on the street. He got hired by a delivery service. Now he runs around the city carrying orders. And you know what? His depression disappeared like magic! Turns out the best cure for depression is having to work so you don’t become homeless!”
“Does he still talk about divorce?”
“Not at all! Mom set his brain straight. She told him that if he says one more word about the car or property, she’ll go to court herself and testify about what he was like for the past six months. He’s gone quiet. He even wanted to apologize, but Mom said it’s too early. Let him prove first that he can become a decent human being.”
Ulyana smiled. For the first time in a long while, the smile was genuine.
“You know, Sveta, in a way, I’m even grateful to him.”
“For what?”
“For the lesson. I realized you can’t let someone climb onto your back and stay there. You can’t stay silent and endure forever. Sometimes you have to explode. You have to show ANGER. That’s the only way some people understand they’ve crossed every possible line.”
“Golden words! I learned the same thing after my third divorce. Kindness is good, but kindness should never be confused with weakness. So, shall we have coffee? My treat!”
“With pleasure!”
They left the store together. Ulyana glanced at the shop window and saw her reflection there — a woman with a straight back and a confident gaze. The gray, exhausted shadow she had been just two weeks earlier was gone.
Timur never truly understood what had happened that day. Why everyone suddenly turned against him. Why his mother and sister supported his wife. He had been certain that Ulyana would keep enduring, keep understanding, keep pitying him. But something unexpected happened — she got angry. Truly angry. And that anger became the force that destroyed his comfortable little world, the world where he could lie on the sofa forever and feel sorry for himself.
Now, running through the city with delivery orders, tired and angry at the world, he sometimes remembered the warm apartment, the hot dinners, and Ulyana, who, despite her exhaustion, had always found the strength to support him. But it was too late. Some lessons are given only once. And their price is lost happiness and a life ruined by one’s own hands.
As for Ulyana, she finally began to live.
For herself.
Without the burden of someone else’s depression and selfishness.
And that was her victory.
A victory born through anger, through strength, through one decisive ENOUGH.
Let those six months of hell burn to ashes.
Now, a new life had begun.
