Nina stood at the stove, mechanically stirring the vegetable stew. Saturday. Another Saturday. The day when a little hurricane named Timofey burst into their apartment — Eduard’s six-year-old son from his first marriage.
“Nina, did you buy those chocolates I asked for, for Timosha?” Eduard did not even look up from his tablet.
“No, I didn’t.”
“What do you mean, no? I told you yesterday! The boy likes those exact ones. Belgian, with nuts.”
Nina took a deep breath. Three years of marriage. Three years of trying to be a good wife, trying to accept his son, trying to create a home. But in the past few months, something had changed. Eduard no longer asked — he demanded. And the boy, watching his father, had started demanding too.
“Eduard, those chocolates cost two thousand rubles a box.”
“So what? Are you really begrudging money for my son?” He finally tore his eyes away from the tablet and looked at her with irritation. “For your information, I earn enough so my child doesn’t have to go without anything.”
“It’s not about the money…”
“Then what is it about?” Eduard stood up from the table. “You simply don’t want to accept Timofey. Just admit it already!”
The doorbell interrupted them. Eduard went to open it. A minute later, a child’s shout filled the apartment.
“Dad! Where are my chocolates? You promised!”
Timofey flew into the kitchen, followed by his mother, Alina — Eduard’s first wife. The woman gave Nina an appraising look.
“Edik, I’ll come by tomorrow evening. And yes, Timosha said he wants a new game console. The Japanese one. I hope you’ve already ordered it?”
“Of course, darling… I mean, Alina, of course,” Eduard stammered. “Nina will go to the store tomorrow.”
“Me?” Nina turned to her husband. “Why on earth should I be the one going to buy a console?”
“Nina, don’t start in front of the child,” Eduard hissed through his teeth.
Alina smirked.
“I see you’re having trouble training your new wife, Edik. It wasn’t like that when we were together.”
After Alina left, the atmosphere in the apartment grew even more tense. Timofey settled himself in the living room, scattering his toys all over the floor.
“Nina!” the boy shouted. “Bring me juice! And chips! The ones I like!”
Nina looked at Eduard. He nodded.
“Well? Why are you just standing there? The child is asking.”
“Let him get them himself. He’s six, not two.”
“DAD!” Timofey screamed. “She doesn’t want to bring them to me!”
Eduard jumped up.
“Nina, what kind of circus is this? He’s a child! My child! You’re supposed to take care of him!”
“Supposed to?” Nina felt anger begin to boil inside her. “Why exactly am I supposed to?”
“You’re my wife! These are your responsibilities!”
“My responsibilities? And what are yours, Eduard? Sitting with your tablet and giving orders?”
Seeing that the adults were arguing, Timofey began to cry. But Nina noticed there were no tears. The boy was simply screaming, glancing at his father.
“There! Are you happy now? You upset the child!” Eduard rushed over to his son. “Timosha, don’t cry. Daddy will bring everything.”
He ran to the kitchen and came back with a tray — juice, chips, cookies, fruit.
“Here, son. Take whatever you want.”
Timofey instantly calmed down and grabbed the bag of chips.
“Why aren’t these the right ones? I told you I wanted bacon flavor!”
“Nina bought the wrong ones,” Eduard said, throwing his wife a reproachful look.
“I bought what they had at the store.”
“Then you should have gone to another one! They have everything there!”
The evening dragged on endlessly. Timofey demanded one thing after another. Eduard satisfied every whim and expected Nina to do the same. By ten o’clock, when the boy finally fell asleep in the guest room, Nina was on the verge of breaking down.
“Eduard, this can’t go on anymore.”
“What can’t?” He was lounging on the sofa with a glass of cognac.
“You’re turning your son into a spoiled little egoist. And me into a servant.”
“Don’t exaggerate! You just don’t know how to deal with children. You don’t have any of your own.”
Those words cut deep. Nina knew Eduard was aware of her health problems, of the fact that she could not have children. And now he had struck her exactly where it hurt most.
“How dare you…”
“What? Does the truth hurt? You’re just jealous that I have a son and you have no one. That’s why you’re angry at the child.”
Sunday morning began with a tantrum. Timofey woke up at seven and demanded pancakes. Not just pancakes — pancakes with chocolate spread, bananas, and whipped cream.
“Nina!” Eduard shook her by the shoulder. “Get up. Timosha wants breakfast.”
“Let him eat porridge. It’s in the fridge.”
“What porridge? Are you joking? He wants pancakes!”
Nina sat up in bed.
“Eduard, I cooked and cleaned after your son all day yesterday. Today is Sunday. I want to rest.”
“Your son?” Eduard turned crimson. “He is my son! And you, as my wife, are obligated to take care of him!”
“Dad!” Timofey appeared in the doorway. “I’m hungry! Make her get up and cook!”
Make her.
Not “Aunt Nina.” Not even her name. Just “her.”
Nina looked at the boy. There was contempt in his eyes. Exactly like his father’s.
“Timofey, there are cereal, milk, and yogurt in the kitchen. You can get them yourself.”
“I don’t want that! I want pancakes! DAD!”
“See what you’re doing?” Eduard picked up his son. “Don’t cry, son. Daddy will cook them himself.”
“You don’t know how,” the boy snorted. “Make her cook. Mom says wives are supposed to cook.”
An hour later, Nina got up and made the pancakes after all. But Timofey declared that they tasted bad. Then he threw the plate onto the floor. Eduard did not even scold him.
“Son is upset. You should have added more sugar.”
“Eduard, he threw the plate on the floor!”
“He’s a child! Children can be difficult!”
“This isn’t being difficult. This is rudeness!”
“Don’t you dare talk about my son like that!”
The day went downhill from there. Feeling completely untouchable, Timofey behaved worse and worse. He drew on the wallpaper with markers.
“He’s a creative child!”
He broke a vase.
“It was just an accident!”
He spilled juice on the carpet.
“So what? We’ll wash it!”
By evening, Nina locked herself in the bedroom. She heard Eduard talking on the phone with Alina.
“Yes, darling… Of course, I’ll bring him back on time… No, Nina still didn’t buy the chocolates… Yes, I know, she’s strange… Don’t worry, I’ll buy them myself…”
Darling.
He had called his ex-wife darling.
Monday. Alina had picked Timofey up the evening before, but the bitter aftertaste remained. Nina was sitting in the kitchen when Eduard came in.
“We need to talk,” he said, sitting across from her.
“Yes, we do.”
“Alina thinks you’re having a bad influence on Timofey. He cried the whole way home yesterday.”
“And?”
“And I think… maybe you should live somewhere else when Timosha comes over. Rent an apartment for the weekends.”
Nina could not believe what she was hearing.
“You’re suggesting that I move out of my own home?”
“Our home. And only temporarily. Until you learn how to get along with the child.”
“Eduard, this is my apartment. I bought it before we were married.”
“But we’re a family! In a family, everything is shared!”
“A family?” Nina stood up. “A family where I’ve been turned into a maid? Where a six-year-old child tells me what to do? Where my husband discusses me with his ex-wife?”
“You’re twisting everything again! Alina is simply worried about her son!”
“And you? Who are you worried about?”
“I’m worried about everyone! But Timofey is my child! He matters more!”
“More than me?”
“Yes!” Eduard blurted out, then immediately stopped himself. “I mean… you misunderstood…”
“No. I understood perfectly.”
That evening, Eduard behaved deliberately coldly. He kept texting someone on his phone and smiling at the messages.
“Alina sent a video of Timosha,” he announced. “Such a smart boy. Takes after me.”
Nina said nothing.
“And you know, Alina suggested an interesting idea. Timosha could live with us permanently. She works a lot, and we… I have more free time.”
“Permanently?”
“Yes. What’s the problem? You wanted children. Here’s a ready-made child for you. You don’t even have to give birth.”
That was too much for Nina. She jumped to her feet.
“Eduard, you are crossing every line!”
“Why are you so worked up? I’m offering a solution! You can’t have children, and here’s a ready-made option!”
“A ready-made option? A spoiled, ill-mannered boy who despises me?”
“That’s your own fault! You should have found the right approach to him from the beginning!”
“An approach? What approach can there be when you indulge every one of his whims?”
“I’m his father! I have the right to raise my son however I see fit!”
“And what about me? What rights do I have?”
“You’re supposed to support me! That’s what wives are for!”
On Wednesday, Eduard brought Timofey home without warning.
“Alina asked me to watch him. She has an important meeting.”
The boy announced from the doorway:
“I’m going to live here! Dad said you’ll be leaving soon, and I’ll take your room!”
Nina looked at Eduard. He looked away.
Thursday became the breaking point. Nina came home from work and found Alina, Eduard, and Timofey in the apartment. They were sitting at the table, discussing something.
“Oh, Nina,” Alina said without even greeting her. “We’re sorting out Timosha’s move.”
“What move?”
“Edik didn’t tell you? Timofey will be living with you. Or rather, with Edik. Since, as I understand it, you’re against children?”
“I’m not against the child. I’m against how he is being raised.”
“And what do you know about raising children?” Alina laughed. “You don’t have any of your own and never will.”
Eduard said nothing. He just sat there in silence while his ex-wife humiliated his current wife.
And then something inside Nina snapped. All the accumulated anger, hurt, and humiliation burst out at once.
“NOW EVERYONE SHUT UP AND LISTEN TO ME!”
Her voice was so loud that Timofey fearfully pressed himself against his mother.
“Nina, calm down…” Eduard began.
“SILENCE! For three years I endured this! For three years I tried to be a good wife, to accept your son! And what did I get in return? CONTEMPT! HUMILIATION! RUDENESS!”
“How dare you…” Alina tried to stand up.
“SIT DOWN!” Nina slammed her fist on the table so hard that the dishes rattled. “You come into my home and tell me how to live? Go to hell!”
“Edik, are you hearing this?”
“EDIK is about to hear a lot more!” Nina turned to her husband. “You! Spineless coward! Weakling! You let your ex-wife wipe her feet on me! You let your son insult me! GET OUT! ALL OF YOU! OUT OF MY HOUSE!”
“Nina, this is our home…” Eduard turned pale.
“NO! This is my home! Bought with my money! And I no longer want to see you, your spoiled son, or this… woman here!”
“How dare you!” Alina jumped up.
“How dare I what? Call myself barren? Yes, I can’t have children! But you know what? I’m glad! Because if I had children with him,” she pointed at Eduard, “they would grow up to be the same selfish monsters!”
“DAD!” Timofey began to sob. “She’s calling us names!”
“Yes, I am! And you know what, little boy? Your father is a doormat! Your mother is hysterical! And you are growing into a little tyrant! If none of you change, you’ll live miserable lives!”
“Nina, stop!” Eduard stood up. “You have no right!”
“No right? For three years I had no voice in my own home! Now I do! You have one hour to pack Eduard’s things. Then get out! All of you!”
“You can’t throw me out!” Eduard tried to take her by the hand.
Nina pulled away.
“Oh, yes, I can! And if you’re not gone in an hour, I’ll call security. Yes, Eduard, the same security you called a waste of money!”
“But… where am I supposed to go?”
“To Alina! Since you two get along so wonderfully, live together! Raise your ‘creative’ child together! Just do it without me!”
Alina grabbed her son by the hand.
“Come on, Timosha. We’re not welcome here.”
“YOU CERTAINLY AREN’T!” Nina shouted after them. “And slam the door behind you!”
Eduard stood in the middle of the room, unable to believe what was happening.
“Nina… let’s talk calmly…”
“TALKING IS OVER! Pack your junk and get out!”
“But we’re… husband and wife…”
“We were! Your hour has started!”
Forty minutes later, Eduard stood by the door with two suitcases.
“Nina, you’ll regret this…”
“GET OUT!”
The door slammed shut.
Three months passed. Nina was sitting in a café with her friend Marina.
“I still can’t believe you threw him out!” Marina said.
“I can hardly believe it myself. But you know what’s funniest? He’s living with his mother now. Alina wouldn’t take him in.”
“What about their great love?”
“Turns out Alina only wanted to dump the boy on him for weekends. But living with Eduard again? God forbid.”
Marina burst out laughing.
“And Timofey?”
“He terrorizes his grandmother on weekends. Eduard’s mother has already had enough. She even called me, asking me to influence him.”
“And what did you say?”
“What could I say? I told her, ‘You wanted your grandson around. Enjoy him.’”
A man entered the café. Nina looked up and froze.
Eduard.
He had lost weight. His face was drawn, and he wore a wrinkled jacket.
He approached their table.
“Nina… can we talk?”
“About what?”
“I… I want to come back.”
“Really? And what about Timofey?”
“Mom can’t cope with him anymore. And Alina is threatening to send him to boarding school if I don’t take him full-time.”
“And you want to come back to me? With your son?”
“No! I mean… Timofey will live with his mother. And I… I realized I was wrong.”
Nina leaned back in her chair.
“You know what, Eduard? Go to hell. And take your son with you. You deserve each other.”
“But Nina…”
“GET OUT! And make sure I never see you again!”
Eduard backed away. He bumped into a chair and nearly fell. Then he hurried out of the café.
Marina whistled softly.
“That was harsh.”
“It should have happened much earlier. Three years of my life wasted. But you know what? I’m free. And I’m happy. As for him… let him reap what he sowed.”
Outside the window, Eduard got into an old car. In the back seat, Timofey was screaming, demanding ice cream. Eduard started the engine with a doomed expression.
And Nina ordered herself a glass of champagne.
She was free.
Finally free.
