Andrey stood by the window, watching as the taxi pulled up to the entrance of the apartment building. Two women stepped out of the car: his mother-in-law, Alevtina Pavlovna, and her younger sister, Zinaida. He had known this day would come. He had been preparing for it for three weeks.
Behind him, Vika nervously twisted the edge of her dress between her fingers. She had no idea what her husband had planned, but she trusted him completely.
The doorbell sliced through the silence of the apartment.
“Open it,” Andrey said gently to his wife. “Everything will be fine.”
Vika nodded and went to the door. The lock clicked.
“Vikusha!” Alevtina Pavlovna’s loud voice rang out. “Here we are! Welcome your guests!”
Alevtina swept into the hallway as if she were a queen arriving at a reception. Behind her, Zinaida shuffled in with two enormous suitcases.
“Hello, Mom,” Vika said quietly.
“Yes, yes, hello,” Alevtina waved her off. “Where’s Andrey? And why aren’t you helping your aunt with the luggage?”
Andrey stepped out of the room. A polite smile rested on his face.
“Good afternoon, Alevtina Pavlovna. Zinaida Pavlovna. It’s nice to see you.”
“So,” Alevtina looked him up and down. “Have you prepared the room? I wrote to Vika a week ago.”
“Of course,” Andrey replied. “Come on, I’ll show you.”
He led them down the hallway to the guest room. He opened the door and stepped aside.
His mother-in-law froze on the threshold. Her mouth fell open, but no sound came out.
The room was packed with boxes. Cardboard towers rose almost to the ceiling. On the floor, in the narrow passage between them, stood two folding beds with thin mattresses.
“What is this?” Alevtina finally managed to say.
“Your room,” Andrey answered calmly. “You wanted to stay, didn’t you?”
“Are you mocking me?”
“No. I sold the sofa a long time ago. For now, we have folding beds.”
Behind her sister, Zinaida let out a quiet gasp.
“Victoria!” Alevtina’s voice shot up into a shriek. “Do you see what your husband is doing? Is this how he shows respect to your own mother?”
Vika stood pale, looking from her mother to Andrey. Her fingers kept nervously tugging at the hem of her dress.
“Mom, I didn’t know about the boxes…”
“You didn’t know?” Alevtina took a step toward her daughter. “You should have known! Are you the woman of this house or not?”
“Alevtina Pavlovna,” Andrey interrupted softly. “Let’s have something to eat first. You must be tired from the road. Then we can talk calmly.”
“Calmly? After this?” Alevtina jabbed her finger toward the room.
“You’re tired. Let’s go to the kitchen.”
Andrey turned and walked toward the kitchen. The others followed.
There was a pot on the table. Beside it stood four plates.
Andrey lifted the lid. Inside the pot lay a sticky mass of overcooked pasta, clumped together into one gray lump.
“Please,” he said, placing a portion onto each plate. On top, he added one sausage each. “Help yourselves.”
Zinaida sat down silently at the table. Her eyes were wide with horror.
“What… what is this?” Alevtina stared at the plate.
“Pasta with sausage. Homemade food. My own recipe.”
“This is inedible!”
“Why? I ate it all through my childhood. And look at me, I grew up healthy.”
Vika sat beside her aunt, keeping her eyes lowered.
“Andrey,” his mother-in-law said in a dangerously low voice, “I demand an explanation. Right now.”
“With pleasure,” Andrey said, sitting across from her. “I see two options. First, you spend the night on the folding beds. Second, you go to a hotel.”
“What?”
“There’s also a third option. You go back home.”
Silence fell over the kitchen. Zinaida stared down at her plate of pasta.
“How dare you throw me out of my daughter’s home?”
“I’m not throwing you out. I’m offering you a choice.”
“Victoria!” Alevtina turned to her daughter. “Do you hear what he’s saying? Say something! This is your home! Your own mother is here!”
Vika raised her eyes. Andrey saw her face turn red. He saw the tears rising.
“Vika,” he said, taking a folded piece of paper from his pocket, “please go to the store. Here’s the list.”
“Now?” Her voice trembled.
“Yes. We need groceries for dinner. I’ll make something better than pasta. Maybe boiled potatoes. We have some sauerkraut.”
Vika took the list. Her hands were shaking.
“Don’t you dare leave!” Alevtina ordered. “I’m talking to you!”
“Mom, I’ll be back soon.”
Vika slipped out of the kitchen. The front door shut behind her. Andrey looked at his mother-in-law, then at her sister.
“Now we can talk seriously.”
Alevtina Pavlovna straightened in her chair. Her eyes narrowed.
“Well then, speak. Explain why you are humiliating me in front of my sister.”
“I’m giving you a chance, Alevtina Pavlovna. One chance. Your last one.”
“A chance?” she smirked. “For what?”
“To admit you were wrong. To apologize. Then we can start this conversation over.”
“Me? Apologize? To whom?”
“To Vika. For using her as a free hotel for years.”
“Using her? I am her mother!”
Andrey placed both palms on the table. His voice remained even.
“We refused you three weeks ago. Vika wrote to you that we were going on vacation.”
“So what? A vacation can be postponed.”
“No, it can’t.”
“Yes, it can,” his mother-in-law slapped her palm against the table. “When a mother comes to visit, vacations get canceled.”
“No.”
“Yes!”
Zinaida gave a small cough.
“Maybe we shouldn’t fight? We could really go to a hotel…”
“Be quiet!” Alevtina snapped at her. “This is a family matter!”
“Exactly,” Andrey nodded. “A family matter. Yesterday, I called your children, Igor and Marina.”
At the sound of those names, Alevtina flinched.
“Why?”
“I spoke with them. Learned a few interesting things.”
“What could you possibly have learned from them?”
“That Igor breathed a sigh of relief when you left. That Marina cried with happiness after closing the door behind you. That both of them count the days until your next visit with dread.”
“That’s a lie!”
“Take the risk. Call them.”
Alevtina jumped to her feet.
“You’re turning my children against me!”
“No. They understood everything a long time ago. They’re just afraid to say it to your face.”
“Afraid? Of me?”
“Yes. Of you.”
Zinaida quietly stood up from the table. She clearly wanted to disappear.
“Sit down!” Alevtina barked at her sister. “You are a witness to this disgrace!”
“I’m witnessing your son-in-law trying to speak to you like a human being,” Zinaida suddenly said. “And you’re shouting.”
Alevtina turned toward her sister.
“You’re against me too?”
“I’m not against anyone. But I’m not eating that pasta. And I’m not sleeping on a folding bed. Let’s go to a hotel, Alya.”
“I’m not going anywhere! This is my daughter’s home! I have the right to be here!”
Andrey stood up.
“Fine. You’ve made your choice.”
“What choice? I didn’t choose anything!”
“You refused to admit your mistake. That means there are no more chances.”
He turned and walked back to the guest room.
“Where are you going?” his mother-in-law shouted.
Andrey did not answer. He entered the room and began folding up the beds.
Alevtina rushed in after him.
“What are you doing?”
“Returning the folding beds to the neighbor. They belong to her.”
“Wait!”
“No.”
He picked up both folded beds and squeezed past his mother-in-law toward the exit.
“Andrey! Stop! Let’s talk!”
“We already talked.”
“No! We’re not finished!”
He opened the front door. In three steps, he was at the neighbor’s apartment.
“Lyuda!” he called after ringing the bell. “It’s Andrey!”
The door opened. A young woman looked out.
“Oh, you don’t need them anymore?”
“No. Thank you so much. You really helped me out.”
“No problem. What happened, did your guests leave?”
“They’re leaving.”
He handed her the folding beds, thanked her again, and returned to his apartment.
Alevtina stood in the hallway. Her face was white with rage.
“You’re throwing me out.”
“I gave you a choice. You chose a scandal.”
“I am not making a scandal!”
“You’ve been raising your voice for forty minutes.”
“Because you’re mocking me!”
“No. I’m protecting my family.”
“Family? I am your wife’s family!”
“Vika is my wife. She is my family. You are a guest. A guest who arrives without an invitation. Every time. And not for a day or two, but for a month, while also demanding money for your entertainment.”
Zinaida appeared in the hallway with two suitcases.
“Alya, let’s go. I found a hotel near the train station. It’s inexpensive.”
“I’m not going anywhere!”
“Then I’m going alone.”
Alevtina turned to her sister.
“You’re abandoning me?”
“I want to sleep properly and eat properly. I can’t do that on a folding bed with that pasta.”
“But Vika…”
“Vika will come back from the store and find an empty apartment. That will make her happy.”
“Why would you think that?”
“Because her husband is protecting her from you. Not the other way around. That’s rare, Alya. Appreciate it.”
Andrey silently watched their argument. His face showed nothing.
“Call a taxi,” Alevtina finally said to her sister. “Since you’re so clever.”
“I already did. It’ll be here in five minutes.”
His mother-in-law turned to Andrey. There was anger in her eyes. And something else too. Something almost like fear.
“I’ll remember this.”
“As you wish.”
“Vika will find out how you treated me.”
“She knows.”
“She knows?” Alevtina’s voice faltered.
“Yes. And she trusts me.”
“My daughter can’t…”
“Your daughter is a grown woman. For years, she endured your visits. She smiled. She cooked. She cleaned. She gave you money. And then she cried at night.”
Alevtina recoiled.
“That’s not true. You’re lying.”
“It’s true. Ask her yourself, if you have the courage.”
Zinaida’s phone beeped.
“The taxi is here.”
When Vika returned with bags from the store, the apartment was quiet.
Andrey was sitting in the guest room, sorting through boxes. They were empty. He was stacking them one by one.
“Where is everyone?” Vika asked from the doorway.
“They left.”
“They left?”
“Yes. To a hotel.”
Vika set the bags down on the floor. Slowly, she walked over to her husband.
“What happened?”
“We talked. Your mother chose the hotel.”
“She… chose it herself?”
“Yes.”
Vika sat down on the floor beside the boxes. Her eyes were dry.
“I don’t understand.”
“What exactly?”
“How did you manage it?”
Andrey set the box aside and looked at his wife.
“I gave her a choice. She made the wrong move.”
“The wrong move?”
“She decided she could shout. That shouting would help. It didn’t.”
Vika’s phone vibrated. She looked at the screen.
“It’s her.”
“Answer.”
Vika pressed the button.
“Yes, Mom?”
Alevtina’s voice came through the phone. Loud and outraged, but not quite as confident as before.
“Vika! Your husband is shameless! He threw us out in the middle of the night! Onto the street!”
“It’s three in the afternoon, Mom.”
“That doesn’t matter! He humiliated me! In front of Zina! I have never experienced anything like it!”
“Where are you now?”
“At a hotel! Near the train station! It’s a terrible place!”
“Is it clean?”
“What?”
“Is the room clean?”
“Yes, but… Vika, are you even listening to me?”
“I’m listening.”
“Come here! Immediately! Take us back!”
Vika looked at Andrey. He was calmly sorting through the boxes.
“No, Mom.”
“What do you mean, no?”
“We’re leaving for vacation in a week. Everything is planned.”
“So what? Cancel it!”
“No.”
“Vika!”
“Mom, get some rest. We’ll talk tomorrow. Good night.”
“Victoria! Don’t you dare hang up!”
“Until tomorrow, Mom.”
Vika ended the call. She placed the phone on the table and hugged her husband.
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For doing what I couldn’t.”
Andrey hugged her back.
“The sofa will be delivered tomorrow. A good one. Comfortable.”
“And the boxes?”
“I’ll throw them away. They were only needed for today.”
Vika laughed softly.
“You planned all of this.”
“Yes.”
“And the pasta?”
“Especially the pasta. A recipe from my school cafeteria.”
“That was cruel.”
“But I used to eat it and I didn’t get poisoned.”
The phone vibrated again. Vika looked at the screen.
“Aunt Zina.”
“Answer.”
She pressed the button.
“Yes, Aunt Zina?”
“Vika, it’s me. Listen, don’t be angry with us. We really went too far.”
“I’m not angry.”
“Your husband… he’s a good man. Truly. Alya is furious, but she’ll calm down. We’re leaving tomorrow morning.”
“So soon?”
“Yes. Alya suddenly has urgent matters at home. Can you imagine?”
Vika glanced at Andrey again. He smiled.
“I can imagine, Aunt Zina.”
“Well then. Forgive us, if anything. And tell your husband… tell him he is a good man. Strong. Men like that are rare now.”
“I’ll tell him.”
Vika put the phone down and leaned against her husband.
“They’re leaving tomorrow morning.”
“I heard.”
“How did you do it?”
“I simply didn’t give her anything to hold on to. Not the boxes, not the pasta — nothing that could be called hospitality.”
“And the folding beds?”
“I returned them to the neighbor when she refused to apologize.”
“You gave her a chance to apologize?”
“Yes. One. She didn’t take it.”
Vika closed her eyes.
“I wouldn’t have been able to do that.”
“I know. That’s why I did it.”
“And if she comes again?”
“Then there will be boxes again. And pasta. And folding beds, if I can find any.”
“You’re impossible.”
Vika laughed.
“I love you.”
“I love you too.”
Outside the window, the sun was setting. The apartment was quiet and peaceful.
For the first time in a very long time.
