“— The honeymoon is over. Get out of my apartment!” Svetlana said this to the wife of her former fiance. And that was when Arthur finally realized what had happened.
Svetlana turned the key in the lock and pushed the door open. The apartment greeted her with the scent of someone else’s perfume and the sound of hurried footsteps. Infidelity, betrayal, money — all of it spun through her mind as she crossed the threshold. Her former fiancé, his new wife, the mistress who had become his lawful spouse — what an irony of fate.
Yulia rushed into the hallway, her face twisted with anger. Arthur appeared behind her, buttoning his shirt as he walked. Svetlana gave them both a calm look and smiled.
“Have you completely lost your mind? Barging into someone else’s apartment!” Yulia shrieked so loudly that it seemed their eardrums might burst.
“Good evening. Nice to see you both together,” Svetlana said, walking past her without even slowing down.
“Are you deaf? I’m talking to you! Get out of here!”
“Yulia, dear,” Svetlana turned around, and her voice carried an almost maternal tenderness, “when the dog barks, the caravan keeps moving. You know that saying, don’t you?”
Arthur grabbed Svetlana by the elbow.
“What are you doing? We broke up six months ago. Why did you come here?”
Svetlana gently freed her arm and took some documents out of her bag.
“Because this is no longer your apartment, Arthur. It’s mine. Would you like to see the papers?”
Arthur blinked. Yulia fell silent mid-sentence.
“What kind of nonsense are you talking about? This is Grandpa’s apartment!”
“It was Grandpa’s apartment. Until your grandfather sold it to my father. And my father gifted it to me. Everything is legal, everything has been officially registered. You can call your grandfather. He’ll confirm it.”
“You’re lying!” Yulia lunged forward. “This is revenge! You arranged all this deliberately because he dumped you!”
Svetlana looked at her with genuine surprise.
“Dumped me? Interesting interpretation. Arthur, tell your wife exactly how you ‘dumped’ me. Tell her how, two weeks before our wedding, I found the two of you in this very bedroom. In the bed where you and I were supposed to spend our first wedding night.”
“Shut up!” Yulia stamped her foot.
“Darling, you knew back then that he was engaged. Or did he lie to you too?”
Arthur grabbed his hair.
“Sveta, listen. I was an idiot back then. I admit it. But that’s no reason to take our apartment away from us!”
Svetlana walked into the living room and took out her phone. She began photographing the walls, corners, and windows.
“What are you doing?!” Arthur rushed after her.
“Documenting the condition of my property. You can take the furniture. But the renovation you did,” she pointed toward the fresh wallpaper, “will stay with me. Thanks, by the way. Not bad taste.”
“I took out a loan for this renovation! A huge loan!”
“I’m sorry to hear that. But that’s your problem, not mine.”
Yulia grabbed Svetlana by the shoulder.
“Do you even understand what you’re doing? We just got married! We’re on our honeymoon!”
Svetlana turned around and calmly removed Yulia’s fingers from her jacket.
“The honeymoon is over. Get out of my apartment. Both of you.”
“You’re insane!” Yulia began shrieking again. “You’re crazy! A psychopath!”
“You know, Yulia,” Svetlana said quietly and evenly, “when a man cheats on his fiancée with you, there are two possible outcomes. Either you become his wife, or you become the next woman he betrays. Congratulations on the first option. But the second one is only a matter of time.”
“Don’t you dare lecture me!”
“I’m not lecturing you. I’m warning you. Free of charge.”
Arthur sat down on the sofa.
“Grandpa couldn’t have done that. He knows I live here. He promised to leave the apartment to me.”
“Promises are fragile things, Arthur. Your grandfather lost money on his farm. He urgently needed funds. My father offered him a good price. Even with a discount, it was still a profitable deal for both sides.”
“You conspired together!” Arthur jumped to his feet. “You and your father planned this on purpose!”
Svetlana laughed.
“Planned it? Arthur, six months ago I was crying into my pillow every night. I wasn’t exactly in the mood for planning. Your grandfather approached my father with the offer. Not the other way around.”
“I don’t believe you!”
“That’s your right. Call him.”
Arthur snatched up his phone and dialed a number. Yulia stood nearby, biting her lips.
“Grandpa? Is it true? Did you sell the apartment?”
Svetlana couldn’t hear the answer, but she saw Arthur’s face turn gray.
“Why didn’t you tell me?! I would have found the money! I would have…”
He ended the call and threw the phone onto the sofa.
“Well?” Svetlana put the documents back into her bag. “Do you believe me now?”
“You… you deliberately waited for the right moment,” Arthur hissed. “You wanted to humiliate me in front of my wife!”
“Arthur,” she stepped closer, “you humiliated yourself six months ago. When you decided you could cheat because there wasn’t yet a stamp in your passport. Remember what you told me back then? ‘I haven’t officially married you yet, so I have the right.’”
Yulia looked at her husband.
“Is that true?”
“Yulia, that was a long time ago…”
“Six months ago! You told me the two of you had already broken up when we started seeing each other!”
Svetlana spread her hands.
“Surprise.”
“Shut up!” Arthur took a step toward her. “Did you come here to destroy my family?”
“No. I came to take possession of my apartment. You’re perfectly capable of destroying your family on your own.”
Yulia stepped back toward the wall.
“Arthur… you lied to me?”
“Yulia, not now!”
“Exactly now! You told me she dumped you! That you were suffering!”
Svetlana watched the scene with a faint smile.
“He suffered, all right. Especially when his parents’ family paid for the banquet hall, ordered the wedding dress, and sent out the invitations. Then everything had to be canceled. And they never got the money back.”
Arthur grabbed a vase from the shelf. Svetlana didn’t flinch.
“Go ahead. Break it. It’s your vase, not mine. Just don’t complain later when you have to pay for property damage during the eviction.”
He slowly put the vase back.
“You want me to beg, don’t you? You want to see me crawling on my knees?”
“Not really, Arthur. I want you to leave my apartment. Today. I’m bringing my things here this evening.”
“That’s impossible! We have nowhere to go!”
“That’s your problem. Six months ago, you had somewhere to go — to Yulia’s place for the night. I’m sure you’ll figure something out now too.”
Yulia sat down on the floor right there in the hallway.
“I can’t believe this. This is some kind of nightmare.”
Svetlana crouched down beside her.
“You know, Yulia, I’m not your enemy. You stole my fiancé, but honestly, you did me a favor. A year later, I might have discovered what kind of man he really was when I already had a ring on my finger and his child under my heart. So thank you.”
“Are you mocking me?”
“No. I’m completely serious.”
Arthur walked over to the window and stared outside with an empty expression.
“How much do you want? I’ll buy the apartment back from you.”
“With what money? You have a loan for the renovation.”
“I’ll find it. My parents will help.”
“Arthur, your parents lost money on the wedding that never happened. Your grandfather sold the apartment because his business is losing money. Where are they supposed to get the money?”
He remained silent.
“Exactly,” Svetlana said, heading toward the door. “I’m giving you four hours. I’ll be back at nine this evening. If you’re still here, I’ll call the local police officer and have an official report drawn up. I don’t need a scandal, but the law is on my side.”
Svetlana opened the door and turned around one last time.
“Arthur, remember one thing. When you decided you could deceive me, you didn’t take into account that I have a family that loves me. And a father who knows how to solve problems. You, on the other hand, had nothing but your ego and someone else’s apartment. Now you don’t even have the apartment.”
She stepped outside and quietly closed the door behind her.
At nine in the evening, Svetlana returned carrying two boxes. The apartment was empty. There was a note lying on the table:
“This isn’t over yet.”
She crumpled it up and threw it into the trash.
Then she took out her phone and called her father.
“Dad, everything went smoothly. They moved out. They haven’t taken the furniture yet, but I’m changing the locks tomorrow.”
“Well done, sweetheart. You handled it.”
“Thank you. For everything.”
Svetlana ended the call and looked at the empty walls.
The renovation really was quite good.
An ironic gift from the man who had betrayed her.
She smiled and began unpacking her things.