How happy Pavel had been when the beautiful Vika agreed to become his wife a year earlier. That was then—one year ago. Back then, he was wealthy by the standards of their provincial town, with almost one hundred million rubles in his bank account. Now, all that remained were bitter thoughts:
“How did I fail to understand from the beginning that Vika married me only for my money? At the time, I thought it was love—the true love I had dreamed of all my life. But what kind of love could there possibly be between a beautiful twenty-three-year-old woman and an unattractive man obsessed with his work, especially one who was ten years older than her? It had never existed, and now it never would. I would never discover what true love felt like.
“Our honeymoon on the French Riviera cost five million rubles. Of course, we could have vacationed there much more cheaply, but I wanted so badly to impress my young wife. And I certainly did. She decided that life would always be like that.”
And then it began.
An expensive car. Fashionable boutiques. Vika had no intention of working, not even around the house. Their enormous four-bedroom apartment was far too much for her to keep tidy, especially when she was also expected to cook meals for her husband. So they hired a housekeeper.
Vika chose an unattractive thirty-year-old woman, but she was an excellent cook and kept the apartment in perfect order.
And then came the final straw.
Pavel’s business was collapsing. Only the day before, it could still have been saved, but Vika had secretly spent the last four million rubles—his emergency reserve.
“Why did I ever give her access to my money?” he thought. “Why did I allow her to spend it? I thought I had so much that it would be impossible to use it all in an entire lifetime. Yet she managed to spend everything in a single year. Everything is falling apart.”
“Why did you take the money?” Pavel raised his voice at his wife for what was almost the first time.
“Pavel, what’s wrong with you?”
“I urgently need that money. My entire business is collapsing. Where is it?”
“I bought a car. Mine was already old and damaged,” Vika replied, feeling no guilt whatsoever.
“That’s it. I’m selling this apartment.”
“And where am I supposed to live?”
“Wherever you want,” Pavel said firmly. “Today, we’re going to the registry office to file for divorce.”
“Fine, let’s go! I don’t need a loser like you. We’ll divide our marital property, and then I’ll leave.”
“The only marital property we have left consists of your two cars and your jewelry. That’s what we’ll divide.”
“What does that have to do with anything?” Vika asked, confused.
“There’s nothing else left to divide. You’ve already squandered everything in a year.”
“I’ll survive without you.”
“Good,” Pavel replied, his voice still determined. “Get ready. We’re going to the registry office.”
“Just like that?”
“Yes, just like that. I need to sell this apartment urgently.”
A month later, their divorce was finalized.
Vika moved in with another businessman. She took both of her cars, her jewelry, her clothes, and various other belongings with her.
Pavel put the apartment up for sale.
Of course, he could have taken out a loan using the apartment as collateral, but he sensed that he would have no way to repay it within the next year. It was entirely possible that he would have to say goodbye to his business altogether.
Soon, a buyer was found for the apartment. They agreed on a price.
“Clear all the furniture out,” the buyer said, sounding somewhere between a request and an order.
“Would you like me to leave it for you?” Pavel offered.
“No. I’ll buy new furniture. When can you empty the place?”
“In two days.”
The buyer left.
At that moment, the housekeeper approached Pavel.
“Pavel Vasilyevich, as I understand it, I no longer work for you.”
“That’s right, Marina. I don’t even have an apartment anymore.”
Then he suddenly remembered something.
“I still owe you thirty thousand rubles for this month.”
“Twenty-five thousand. It wasn’t a full month.”
Pavel froze in confusion.
Only then did he realize that he had absolutely no money left—not even twenty-five thousand rubles.
But money was not his only problem. He did not even have anywhere to live. The last thing he had left was his business, and it was falling apart at the seams.
“I don’t have the money right now. Could you wait a few days?”
“All right.”
“Marina, take anything you need from the furniture.”
“Pavel Vasilyevich, is everything really that bad?”
He answered with a heavy sigh.
“I don’t even have anywhere to live now.”
“Come and stay with me,” she said unexpectedly, blushing. “I have a two-bedroom apartment, and I live alone.”
Pavel looked at the unattractive woman in surprise.
He realized that he knew absolutely nothing about her, even though she had worked for him for an entire year. He only remembered that she had recently turned thirty.
Then he noticed something extraordinary in her gaze. It was something he had always missed in Vika’s eyes.
Marina’s eyes were waiting.
He did not understand what they were waiting for, but they were waiting nonetheless.
“All right, Marina,” he said, then added apologetically, “I won’t get in your way.”
“It’s fine.”
She smiled and shook her head.
“Then I’ll find a little money now. Meanwhile, decide which furniture you need. We’ll move it immediately.”
Then he smiled.
“And Marina, let’s stop being so formal with each other.”
Those days were especially difficult.
When Pavel managed to free himself for an hour, he went to see his new home. The apartment was in an ordinary five-story building. It had not even been renovated in a modern style, and for some reason, it was almost empty.
Noticing his expression, Marina explained:
“I threw away my old furniture. Yours will be delivered soon.”
“I don’t have time today. Let them unload it, and I’ll arrange everything later.”
The woman looked at him with something resembling maternal affection.
“I’ll take care of it.”
“Marina, then take this.”
He handed her ten thousand rubles and added guiltily:
“I don’t have any more.”
“I don’t need it. I have money. You should focus on solving your problems.”
Then she immediately added:
“Sit down and have lunch.”
The kitchen was small, but the meal was exactly the same as before—all the dishes he loved.
After eating, Pavel smiled.
“Thank you, Marina.”
She responded with a joyful smile.
Something shifted inside Pavel’s heart. The woman standing before him was no longer simply his housekeeper. She was a woman whom…
He could not yet properly put the thought into words.
He returned to his new home late that evening, but he was in a cheerful mood. That day, he had managed to save his business.
A difficult road back to the top still lay ahead, but now he had plenty of experience. This time, the journey should be much faster than it had been the first time.
When he entered the apartment, he suddenly felt an overwhelming desire to share his happiness with the woman who greeted him with a delighted smile.
He stepped farther inside.
The apartment was cramped, but everything had been arranged exactly as it had been in his former home.
Looking at Marina, he suddenly understood what she had been waiting for.
“She did all this for me,” he realized. “She wanted me to feel comfortable in this apartment. That matters deeply to her.”
“Thank you, Marina.”
Without thinking, he awkwardly wrapped his arms around her.
To his surprise, he found himself looking into her wide-open eyes.
They remained like that for almost an entire minute.
Marina was the first to recover.
“Pavel, come and eat.”
He sat at the table, eagerly eating potatoes and a cutlet while repeatedly glancing at the woman sitting opposite him.
“She really is a wonderful woman. Why didn’t I notice it before? Because Vika was always there, overshadowing everyone around her. I was blind—completely blind.”
Then an extremely simple thought came to him.
“Why am I sitting here silently? Do I really have nothing to say to her?”
“Marina, I saved my business today. And you deserve some of the credit.”
“What do I have to do with it?” Marina’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Three days ago, I had no strength or desire left to fight. You were the only person who reached out and offered me help.”
“Oh, stop it,” she said, but her eyes shone with happiness.
That night, they went to sleep in separate rooms.
Only two or three hours earlier, Pavel had been desperately tired. All he had thought about was reaching a bed. But now, he could not fall asleep.
“Could Marina be my other half? Those are exactly the kind of eyes I have dreamed about all my life. I wonder what she would say if I simply told her that.
“But what could she say? For an entire year, I had a beautiful wife, and Marina knew it. She saw it every day. Now that I’ve lost all my money and my wife has left me… What would it look like?”
He lay awake for a long time until an incredible thought entered his mind.
“What if I went into her room right now? What would I say to her? But perhaps the most important thing isn’t what I say. The important thing is simply to go.”
He lowered his feet to the floor and sat there for a long time.
Then he stood up and slowly walked out of the room.
He approached Marina’s door and stopped uncertainly, listening.
The bed creaked.
He heard a sigh.
Then he firmly pushed the door open.
Pavel’s business began growing rapidly.
Marina helped him in every way she could and carefully saved every ruble. Within a year, they had accumulated enough money for a new four-bedroom apartment and a wedding.
There was no reason to delay the wedding any longer, especially since their family would be growing in six months.
Most importantly, Pavel finally understood that this was the true love he had dreamed of all his life.