What dinner?” his wife asked. “Did you give me money for it? No. Then what exactly are you asking me for?”
“So what am I supposed to do now, walk around hungry?” Lev snapped, feeling anger boiling inside him.
“Of course not,” Anna replied calmly. “You can go to the store, buy yourself groceries, and cook dinner. Or order delivery. You have money, don’t you?”
“What is this, a strike?” he finally asked. “Are you refusing to perform your wifely duties?”
“I’m tired of being the cash cow in this family! Why should I be the only one carrying everything?” Lev slammed his briefcase onto the table and pointed at the new food processor. “Did you buy something again?”
Anna stared at her husband in surprise. It was so unexpected that she did not immediately find an answer. Dinner was almost ready, the apartment was tidy, the laundry was done — everything was as usual, after a full day of work.
“Lyova, I’ve dreamed about one of those for a long time. It was on sale, and I bought it with my own salary…”
“With your own salary!” he interrupted, pacing around the kitchen. “And what’s left of that salary? Pennies! Who pays for our apartment? I do! Who pays for the car? I do! Who covers all the major expenses? Me again!”
Anna turned off the stove and wiped her hands on her apron. Steam rose from the pot toward the ceiling, filling the kitchen with pleasant aromas, but the desire to have dinner was gone.
“But I work too,” she said quietly. “Full-time, by the way. And we buy groceries with my salary. And I also cook, clean, do the laundry…”
“Yes, yes, you’re practically a saint,” Lev said, slamming a cabinet door as he took out a mug to pour himself some water. “You know what? I’m sick of it. From now on, everything in this family will be fair. We split expenses fifty-fifty. You’ve had it too easy, sitting on my neck.”
“What do you mean?” Anna crossed her arms over her chest.
“I mean exactly that. Since we’re so modern and equal, we’ll pay equally too. We’ll contribute the same amount for utilities, phone bills, and all other shared expenses. That will be fair, instead of dumping everything on me alone!”
She wanted to object that his proposal was not fairness at all, but some kind of slavery. After all, she would have to give almost her entire salary to the family budget, while the household chores would not disappear anywhere. She had something to say. But why argue, when she could simply do exactly what he wanted?
“All right, Lev. You want it to be fair, fifty-fifty? Then that’s how it will be.”
Anna woke up before the alarm. Lev was still asleep, turned toward the wall. Yesterday’s conversation kept spinning in her head, giving her no peace. She quietly got out of bed and went to the kitchen.
Over their four years of marriage, they had somehow drifted into a division of responsibilities that now seemed clearly unfair to her. Yes, Lev earned more. Yes, during their first year together, when she had been in her final year of university, it had made sense: he provided for them financially, and she took care of the home. But later Anna had started working too. First part-time, then full-time. And the household duties? They had remained entirely on her shoulders.
She opened her laptop and began looking through her card statements. Salary, utility payments, groceries, everyday expenses… Almost everything she earned went to the family. And her contribution in the form of cooked lunches and dinners, washed laundry, and a clean apartment — was that worth nothing?
The memory of her first meeting with Lev — back then simply Lyova — brought a sad smile to her face. How beautifully he had courted her. How he had said she was his queen and that he was ready to do anything for her. And now what? A “cash cow,” apparently. How quickly romance turned into accounting for some men.
Anna sipped her tea and fell deep into thought. If he wanted to split everything in half, then so be it. But truly in half.
“And you know, Igor, I told her yesterday exactly that — enough is enough. We’ll live like all modern families: fifty-fifty,” Lev said, leaning back in his office chair and looking at his colleague.
Igor looked away from his monitor and studied him closely.
“And how did she react?”
“You won’t believe it — she agreed!” Lev smirked triumphantly. “Right away, practically without arguing.”
“Seriously?” Igor raised an eyebrow. “Just like that?”
“I’m telling you, she agreed immediately. Apparently, she realized I was right,” Lev said, clicking his mouse and opening a new file. “What’s so strange about it? Fairness is fairness.”
“Everyone has their own idea of fairness,” Igor remarked philosophically, returning to his work. “My aunt likes to say, ‘Be careful what you wish for — wishes have a habit of coming true.’”
“And what is that supposed to mean?” Lev frowned.
“No idea,” Igor grinned. “But it sounds wise, doesn’t it?”
Lev laughed and turned back to his computer. For a moment, a strange premonition pricked somewhere deep inside his mind, but he brushed it aside. Everything would be fine. Anna was a reasonable woman.
Meanwhile, Anna stood in a grocery store in front of the shelves, thoughtfully studying the price tags. Before, she would have filled a whole basket — for the week, for the entire family. Today, in her small basket, there was only yogurt, a pack of cheese, bread, and one chicken breast. She did not even look at the fish fillet Lev loved so much.
The evening arrived unusually peacefully. At home, Anna quickly made herself baked chicken breast with vegetables, had dinner, washed her own dishes, started a load of laundry, and settled comfortably on the sofa with her tablet. Three series had piled up that she had really wanted to watch, but she had never had enough time. Her phone pinged with a message from Lev: “I’ll be there in half an hour. What’s for dinner?”
Anna smiled and put the phone aside without answering.
A key turned in the lock, and Lev entered the apartment. It had been a tiring day, and he could not wait to sit down to dinner. Usually, by this time, delicious smells were already drifting from the kitchen.
“Anya, I’m home!” he called, taking off his coat.
There was no answer. Lev went into the kitchen and found it empty and clean, with no signs of cooking. Opening the refrigerator, he saw half-empty shelves: yogurt, cheese, a few vegetables.
“Anna!” he called again, heading toward the living room.
His wife was sitting on the sofa, absorbed in something on her tablet, wearing headphones. When she noticed him, she removed one earbud.
“Oh, hi. You’re already home?”
“Yes, I’m home. Where’s dinner?” Lev looked around as if the food might be hiding somewhere in the corner of the living room.
Anna looked at him with mild surprise.
“What dinner?” his wife asked. “Did you give me money for it? No. Then what exactly are you asking me for?”
Lev froze, unable to believe his ears.
“Are you serious?” His voice rose almost to a shout. “I come home after a hard day at work, and you didn’t even make dinner?”
“You didn’t give me money for your half of dinner,” Anna said calmly, removing her second earbud. “You said yesterday: fifty-fifty. I bought food for myself with my own money. I cooked for myself and ate dinner. Everything is exactly as we agreed.”
“But…” Lev looked at his wife in confusion. “That’s not what I meant! I meant shared expenses…”
“Exactly. Shared expenses are split in half. Dinner isn’t only for me, but also for you. That makes it a shared expense, so I bought groceries only for myself,” she shrugged. “And cooked only for myself.”
“So what am I supposed to do now, walk around hungry?” Lev snapped, feeling anger boiling inside him.
“Of course not,” Anna replied calmly. “You can go to the store, buy yourself groceries, and cook dinner. Or order delivery. You have money, don’t you?”
Lev stared at her, unable to understand where his always caring, patient wife had gone. Who was this woman with the cold, calm gaze?
“What is this, a strike?” he finally asked. “Are you refusing to perform your wifely duties?”
Anna slowly put the tablet aside and turned fully toward her husband.
“Wifely duties?” she repeated, and steel appeared in her voice. “I performed them perfectly well until yesterday. But yesterday you suggested splitting money in half, and I started wondering why you were being so unfair to me.”
“Me?!” Lev choked with indignation. “But I…”
“Yes, you,” Anna interrupted. “Before, your money paid the big bills, and mine bought groceries and some household things. And I also cooked, cleaned, and did laundry. Every evening, after work. And on weekends, I did a full cleaning and cooked food for several days, just to free up at least some time after work. Remember last Sunday? I spent three hours in the kitchen preparing meals. And three hours cleaning the apartment. That’s six hours of work, almost a full workday. On my day off.”
Lev fell silent, digesting what he had heard.
“And now you say: fifty-fifty,” Anna continued. “Fine. Fair enough. But let’s make it truly fifty-fifty. Not only money, but also housework. Cooking — either we take turns or each of us cooks for ourselves. Cleaning — we divide who does what. Laundry — everyone does their own. What do you think?”
Lev shifted awkwardly from one foot to the other.
“Listen, well, that’s… I don’t even know how to turn on the washing machine…”
“I’ll show you,” Anna smiled. “There’s nothing complicated about it.”
“And anyway, if you’re not going to cook and clean, then what do I even need you for?” Lev blurted out, and immediately regretted saying it.
Anna looked at him for a long time without blinking. Then she slowly rose from the sofa.
“Providing for the family is a husband’s duty,” she said quietly. “But for some reason, I don’t ask what I need you for, even though you handled that duty only so-so before, since I had to work too. And now you’re refusing your husbandly duty altogether.” She tilted her head to the side. “But you see, I don’t ask that question. Because we’re family. At least, I thought we were.”
A heavy silence fell. Lev stared at the floor, feeling his righteous anger slowly turn into shame. Anna stood straight, shoulders squared, waiting for his answer.
“I’m sorry,” he finally said. “I got carried away. Let’s go back to how everything was before, all right?”
He expected Anna to be happy, to throw her arms around him, to go cook him dinner. But she only shook her head.
“And why would I want that?” she asked with genuine curiosity. “Before, I’d be making you dinner right now, ironing shirts, washing dishes. And now I’ve already eaten, finished everything, and was about to watch a new episode. This is actually more convenient for me, you know.”
With those words, she returned to the sofa, put her earbuds back in, and turned on the tablet again, leaving Lev standing in the middle of the room with his mouth open.
“Mom, you won’t believe what she’s done,” Lev said, pressing the phone to his ear and looking into the empty refrigerator for the third time that evening, as if hoping food would magically appear there.
“I believe it,” his mother said, and there was a smile in her voice. “And she did the right thing. You’ve become completely shameless, son.”
“What?!” Lev almost dropped the phone. “Whose side are you on?”
“The side of fairness, Lyovushka. Do you think your father only brought money into the house back in the day? He cooked when I was on shift, and he looked after you. And now he’s taken almost everything on himself ever since I got sick. That is what a real man is.”
Lev fell silent. He had never noticed that side of his parents’ relationship.
“But that’s not how things are done in our family,” he muttered. “I always provided for the family, and Anna took care of the house.”
“And now she works and takes care of the house,” his mother said gently. “And what exactly is fair about that?”
Lev could not find an answer. After the conversation with his mother, he ordered food delivery, ate dinner alone in the kitchen, and for the first time began thinking about how much Anna did every single day.
The first few days without dinner, clean shirts, and a cozy home were a cold shower for Lev. By the end of the week, he was already cursing himself for that stupid “fifty-fifty” idea. Who could have known that maintaining a household was such a hassle? The refrigerator was packed with ready-made meals, there were burned scrambled eggs on the stove — his third attempt! — and the prices at food delivery services made his eyes pop.
Three times he tried to bake meat the way Anna did. And three times he failed miserably. The first time, he did not defrost it properly. The second time, he oversalted it so badly it was impossible to eat. The third time, he managed to forget it in the oven. Fortunately, the fire alarm did not go off, but the kitchen had to be aired out for two hours.
Anna, meanwhile, seemed as if a heavy burden had fallen from her shoulders. No more rushing from work to the store, no more “What should I cook today?” and “Where are the clean socks?” A simple dinner for herself, a calm evening with a book, a favorite series. On Wednesday, instead of the usual laundry, she allowed herself to meet Masha at a café after work — imagine that, on a weekday! And on the weekend, while Lev struggled with the vacuum cleaner, she simply lounged on the sofa with a book. Bliss.
Lev watched all this, grinding his teeth, but he had to admit his wife was right. On Friday, he could not take it anymore. He left work early, stopped by the supermarket, bought a thousand little things, and rushed home with the firm intention of fixing everything. He tried as hard as he had in the early days of their courtship: candles, a bottle of that very same semi-sweet red wine that Anna secretly adored, although she told everyone she preferred dry wine. And most importantly — chicken in the oven. Not a culinary masterpiece, of course, but made from the heart.
When the key turned in the lock, Lev almost jumped from nerves. Anna froze on the threshold, sniffing the homemade smells she had already managed to grow unused to.
“What is this?” she asked cautiously, nodding toward the set table and flickering candles.
“Dinner,” Lev answered simply. “For both of us. I made it.”
They sat down at the table, and Lev poured wine into the glasses.
“I’ve thought a lot these past few days,” he began. “And I realized I was wrong. You always did much more than I noticed or appreciated.”
Anna listened attentively without interrupting.
“I propose a new agreement,” Lev continued. “We both work full-time. And we both should take care of our home. I’m ready to take on part of the household chores — grocery shopping, dishes, trash, maybe something else. I’m still not very good at figuring it all out, but you tell me if anything comes up. And finances… Let’s contribute to the budget proportionally to our salaries. I’ll put in sixty-five percent, you thirty-five. That’s honest. What do you think?”
Anna thoughtfully turned the glass in her hands.
“You know,” she finally said, “I agree. But on one condition. We really divide the household chores, not in a way where I have to remind and supervise you forever.”
“I promise,” Lev nodded seriously. “I even made a list and a schedule. Here, look.” He handed her his phone with an open file. “I thought everything through.”
Anna glanced over the list and smiled.
“You know, you might actually turn out to be a decent husband,” she said with a sly smile.
Lev laughed and raised his glass.
“To a new beginning?” he suggested.
“To partnership,” Anna corrected, clinking her glass against his.
They sat in the kitchen for a long time that evening, talking and making plans. And the baked chicken — even if it was a little dry and oversalted — seemed to them that night like the most delicious dish in the world.