“I don’t print money!” Irina threw her wallet onto the table and tiredly rubbed her temples. The cheap clock with the worn strap showed almost eleven at night.
Lawn and garden maintenance
Anatoly did not even look up from his phone. The bluish glow of the screen lit up his unshaven face.
“Could you at least wash the dishes? I’m dead on my feet after two shifts,” Irina said, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear.
“I’ll wash them tomorrow,” Anatoly muttered, not tearing himself away from the endless social media feed.
Irina looked around the kitchen. Dirty plates had been piling up in the sink for three days already. Empty cans were lined up on the windowsill. Their apartment, once always cozy and clean, now looked like a den.
“Tolya, we need to talk,” Irina said, sitting down on the edge of the sofa.
Sofas and armchairs
“Are you starting again?” her husband grimaced and put his phone aside. “Let’s do it tomorrow, huh? My head is splitting.”
“Your head is splitting every day!” Irina’s voice trembled. “Six months have passed. You haven’t even written a résumé!”
Anatoly jumped up from the sofa. His face twisted.
“And you think it’s easy to find a decent job? Without connections, without someone pulling strings? I’m not going to become a taxi driver or a courier!”
“Nobody is talking about taxis! But you have to do something,” Irina sighed. “Our savings are melting away. Yesterday you withdrew five thousand. What for?”
“Are you watching me?” Anatoly grabbed his jacket. “I’m a man! I have the right to relax with my friends!”
“While I work myself to exhaustion at two jobs?” Irina’s eyes filled with tears.
Once, they had dreamed of a big house. Of children. Of traveling. Now their conversations had turned into nothing but accusations and excuses.
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Sofas and armchairs
Lawn and garden maintenance
Sofas
“I need some air,” Anatoly headed for the door. “Don’t wait up.”
The front door slammed so hard that the cup on the table jumped. Irina sank onto the sofa, burying her face in a pillow. It smelled of chips. Once, Tolya used to bring her roses for no reason at all. Now their conversations resembled a battlefield.
Irina opened the mobile banking app. There was just over twenty thousand left in their joint account. Her salary barely covered rent and food. A little more, and they would have to dip into the second account. Into the money Irina had long been saving for a car.
Her phone vibrated. A message from her friend Katya: “How are you? Holding up?”
Irina smiled bitterly. Holding up? She was clinging with the last of her strength to a marriage that was cracking at the seams. To a husband who had turned into a stranger.
She looked at the framed photograph on the wall. Their wedding. Anatoly in a formal suit and she in a white dress. Happy, in love. Where had that time gone? When had Tolya stopped being her support and become a heavy burden?
Irina knew something had to change. Otherwise, this endless struggle would simply crush her. But she still loved her husband. And she still hoped that the Anatoly she had once married would return.
In the morning, Irina got up before the alarm. Her eyes were swollen from crying, and her head buzzed. She quietly went to the kitchen, trying not to wake her husband, who had come back near dawn and was now loudly snoring on the sofa.
After making tea, Irina looked at the calendar. Today was Wednesday, the day of her extra shift in the accounting department of the shopping center. She sighed, imagining eight hours of numbers and reports, and then four more hours on the evening shift.
“I wish I could take a day off,” Irina murmured, massaging her temples.
Her phone vibrated. Her boss unexpectedly offered her the chance to work only until lunchtime today — the reports had been submitted ahead of schedule. And her work at the shopping center was finished quickly.
Irina could hardly believe her eyes. For the first time in six months, fate had given her a gift.
The spring sun gently warmed her face. Irina took a deep breath and decided to walk home — it was only twenty minutes on foot.
Near the entrance to the building, Irina slowed down. The window of their apartment was wide open. Through the noise of passing cars, she heard Anatoly’s voice. He was speaking loudly, almost cheerfully. Irina was surprised — her husband rarely talked to anyone on the phone.
Irina quietly opened the door with her key. The hallway was dark. Her husband’s voice came from the kitchen.
“Mom, don’t worry, I’ve thought everything through,” Anatoly said briskly, with an enthusiasm Irina had not heard from him in months. “Now is the perfect time to invest in real estate. That country house outside the city is an ideal option.”
Irina froze, pressing herself against the wall. A country house? What country house?
“We’ll take your savings, add ours with Irka, and it’ll be just enough,” Anatoly continued. “The country house will be registered in my name, of course. Irka doesn’t need to know.”
Irina covered her mouth with her hand. Her heart began pounding so loudly it seemed Anatoly should have heard it. Her husband and mother-in-law were planning behind her back to spend their joint money.
Irina’s thoughts raced feverishly. For three years, she had been saving every kopeck, dreaming of having her own car. After the wedding, she had agreed to a joint account because she trusted her husband. And now Tolya, who had been lying on the sofa for half a year while she worked two jobs, was planning to dispose of their savings!
Sofas and armchairs
“Of course, we’ll arrange everything tomorrow,” Anatoly laughed. “Irka will be at work until evening, so there’s plenty of time. I’ve already found a plot — six hundred square meters with a little house. I’ll fix the roof, repair the fence — it’ll be beautiful! We’ll go there for the whole summer.”
For so many years, she had believed this man. Loved him. And he was not even going to consult her.
Carefully, trying not to make the floorboards creak, Irina stepped back toward the door. Slipping out of the apartment, she hurried toward the bus stop.
The bank was not crowded. A young employee with perfect makeup smiled at Irina.
“How can I help you?”
“I need to transfer money from an account,” Irina said, her voice unexpectedly firm.
Fifteen minutes later, everything was done. Irina transferred the savings to her mother’s account.
On her way home, Irina thought through every step. Anatoly must not suspect that she knew everything. Not right away.
Irina slammed the door loudly, as if she had just returned from work.
“I’m home!” she called, trying to make her voice sound normal.
Anatoly was lying on the sofa, buried in his phone. He did not even turn his head.
“Mmm,” he grunted instead of greeting her.
Irina went into the bedroom, where the chest of drawers and the old wardrobe stood. She took out the large suitcase they had used for their trip to the sea. Almost four years ago. Back then, they had still been happy. Back then, Tolya had been a different person.
Or had she simply not seen what he was really like?
Irina placed the suitcase on the bed and unzipped it.
From the living room came the murmur of the television. Anatoly, as usual, was watching football. Irina smiled bitterly. Her husband would not even notice as she packed all his things.
“Tolya, I washed your T-shirts,” she called, pulling his clothes out of the wardrobe. “I’ll put them on the shelves!”
“Uh-huh,” came the reply from the room.
Irina quickly opened a second suitcase and began folding Tolya’s shirts, trousers, and socks. Ten years of marriage fit into two suitcases and a box of documents. Funny.
The ringing of her phone made Irina flinch. It was Ekaterina, her best friend.
“How are you? Have you talked to him already?” she asked without preamble.
“I’m packing his things,” Irina answered quietly, moving farther away from the door. “He doesn’t even suspect anything.”
“Are you sure? Maybe you should still try to talk?”
Irina shook her head, though her friend could not see it.
“Katya, he and his mother were planning to spend my savings without my knowledge. After everything I’ve done. After all these months. There’s nothing to talk about.”
“Stay strong, sweetheart. If you need help, I’m here.”
“Thank you,” Irina said, then hung up and returned to packing.
She rolled her husband’s things into the hallway. Irina adjusted the collar of her blouse and entered the living room. Anatoly was sitting in the armchair, absorbed in the game.
“Tolya, I need to have a serious conversation with you,” Irina said and turned off the television.
“Hey!” her husband protested. “It was the decisive moment!”
“It really is the decisive moment,” Irina said, crossing her arms over her chest. “I want you to leave today.”
Anatoly laughed, thinking it was a joke. But when he met his wife’s serious gaze, he stopped short.
“What’s wrong with you, Irka? Have you lost your mind?”
“I would lose my mind if I stayed with you even one more day,” Irina cut him off. “I know everything about your plans. About the country house, about how you and your mother were going to use our savings.”
Anatoly turned pale, then flushed red. He sprang up from the armchair.
“Were you spying on me?”
“I came home early and heard everything,” Irina replied. “Every word.”
She turned around and went to the kitchen. Anatoly rushed to his phone, checked the balance, then ran into the bedroom. There he opened the laptop and logged into online banking.
“Ira!” he roared so loudly that the windowpanes trembled. “Where is the money? Why is the account empty?”
Irina calmly poured herself some tea. Anatoly burst into the kitchen, his face twisted with rage.
“What did you do with our money?” he grabbed Irina by the shoulder. “That’s my money too!”
“Have you forgotten who saved that money? You didn’t transfer a single kopeck into that account. The money is in a safe place,” Irina said, shaking off his hand. “I transferred it to my mother.”
“What?! How dare you!” Anatoly shouted. “Return it immediately!”
“It is my savings, Tolya,” Irina answered calmly. “I earned them. Especially during the last six months, while you were lying on the sofa. And you wanted to steal them and buy a country house for your mommy.”
“Steal?! Have you gone crazy? I just wanted to make an investment. For both of us!”
“For you and your mother,” Irina said, placing the cup on the table. “I heard you say that the country house would be registered only in your name. That I didn’t need to know. All the cards are on the table, Tolya.”
Anatoly became confused, then started shouting again.
“That’s my money too! I’ll report you to the police!”
“Go ahead,” Irina shrugged. “But first explain what money you lived on for the last six months. I can show card statements. And tell them how you quit your job without saying anything to me.”
Anatoly fell silent. Then he went into the hallway and saw his suitcases.
“What kind of circus is this?” he hissed.
“Your things,” Irina answered, stepping out of the kitchen. “I packed everything. Your toothbrush too. Leave, Tolya. Now.”
“I’m not going anywhere! This is my apartment!”
Lawn and garden maintenance
“It’s a rented apartment,” Irina reminded him. “And I’ve been paying for it for the last six months. So the choice is simple: either you leave now, or I call the police. I’ll tell them my husband is threatening me. Who do you think they’ll believe?”
Anatoly looked at his wife as if he no longer recognized her. Where had the quiet, obedient Irka gone, the one who was ready to forgive him everything in the world?
“You’ll regret this,” he hissed, grabbing the suitcases. “My mother will never forgive you for this.”
“Send my regards to Polina Evgenievna,” Irina smirked. “Tell her to save up for the country house herself.”
Anatoly stormed out of the apartment, slamming the door behind him so hard that a porcelain figurine fell from the shelf — a housewarming gift from his mother.
Irina slowly sank onto the chair in the hallway. Tears streamed down her face — not from grief, but from relief.
Her phone was ringing nonstop. Polina Evgenievna was attacking her with messages and calls. Irina read the first few: “How could you?” “You’ll answer for this!” Without hesitation, she blocked her mother-in-law’s number.
The following days turned into a real nightmare. Anatoly alternated between begging to come back and threatening her. Polina Evgenievna tried calling from other numbers. Irina held firm. A month later, she filed for divorce, attaching documents showing her income and expenses for the last six months.
After the divorce, Irina found herself at a car dealership. She ran her hand over the smooth hood. It was not the new car she had once dreamed of. But it was exactly the car she could afford with the money she had saved.
“I’ll take it,” Irina said decisively.
After all the documents were signed, already sitting behind the wheel of her new car, Irina turned on the radio. Her favorite song began playing — the very same song she and Tolya had danced to at their wedding. Irina wanted to switch it off, but suddenly realized she no longer felt pain. Only a light sadness for the time that had passed.