“My new family will be living here tomorrow!” my husband announced. I silently handed the keys over to the new owners of the apartment.
“My new family will be living here tomorrow!” my husband announced. I silently handed the keys over to the new owners of the apartment.
“Pack your things by morning and clear out the master bedroom,” Andrei said, taking off his watch and setting it on the dresser. “People are coming by tomorrow, and I don’t want to make an unpleasant scene in front of a child.”
I sat by the window with my phone in my hand. A message from Vera glowed on the screen: “Nina Pavlovna, we’ll be at your place in the morning. The buyers are very grateful that you aren’t dragging out the transfer.”
“What people are coming to my apartment?” I asked, keeping my voice steady.
Andrei smirked and pulled a duffel bag out of the closet.
“Don’t start with that ‘my apartment’ nonsense again. We’ve been married for eleven years; I’ve lived here and paid the utility bills. My new family is moving in here tomorrow, and you can stay with Sveta for a while.”
I was fifty-two years old, and Andrei was fifty-five. But at that moment, he spoke to me as if he were explaining to a helpless relative where she had been temporarily assigned.
I thought only one thing: So he finally said out loud what he’s been plotting behind my back.
“And who exactly is this new family?” I asked, placing my phone face down.
He stopped folding his shirts. Andrei was clearly expecting tears, shouting, or accusations, and my calm question caught him off guard.
“A woman I want to live with. She has a son, a nine-year-old boy. The rest of the details will only hurt you right now.”
“How considerate. Does my sister already know I’m supposed to move in with her?”
“I haven’t called Sveta yet, but she won’t kick you out,” my husband replied irritably. “You’ll survive the first period, and then you’ll find something suitable.”
He had already decided everything. Where I would sleep, where they would put a desk for someone else’s boy, and how long it would take me to vanish from his new life.
“What time are they coming?” I asked.
“In the morning. You’d better leave early so Christina doesn’t feel awkward.”
“Fine. I won’t get in anyone’s way.”
Andrei looked at me closely.
“That’s right. Honestly, I didn’t expect you to be so reasonable.”
He went to the bathroom, and I opened Vera’s message again.
My suspicions hadn’t started yesterday. First, Andrei had begun asking about the apartment too often. He wanted to know why it was registered only in my name and suggested sorting out his share “for the sake of family peace.”
I had bought the apartment before we got married. Andrei knew that from day one.
Then he suddenly suggested I go live with my sister. Supposedly, a distant relative of his was coming to visit and had nowhere to stay.
I refused.
A few days later, a neighbor met me by the elevator.
“Ninochka, do you have new guests?” she asked. “Yesterday Andrei was showing the apartment to some woman. She even told the boy they’d put his desk by the window.”
I didn’t say anything at the time.
I went upstairs and, for the first time, looked at the rooms not as the owner, but as a person they were planning to get rid of.
A strange hair tie was lying on top of the fridge. The shared computer’s history showed a search for a school near our house. In the trash bin, I noticed a crumpled sheet of paper with a list of furniture.
“Nina’s sofa to go. Closet to be emptied. Master bedroom for the child.”
That very evening, I called Vera.
She worked in real estate and had once helped an acquaintance of mine. I asked her to appraise the apartment, but warned her right away that my husband must not know anything.
“If we sell quickly, we can get about eight million two hundred thousand rubles,” Vera said after inspecting it. “We’ll have to look for buyers who are already ready to close.”
“Find them. It’s important to me not to drag this out.”
A suitable family was found quickly. Mikhail and Oksana were moving from another city and were in a hurry to secure housing. They put down a deposit of four hundred thousand rubles and followed through on everything we agreed upon.
We finished the main formalities on the morning of the very day Andrei announced his new family to me.
All that remained was to hand over the apartment.
Andrei came out of the bathroom and saw my suitcase.
“You actually started packing?” he asked with a pleased smile. “I knew you wouldn’t make a fool of yourself.”
“I decided to take what I need.”
“You can get the rest later. Just leave the sofa. Christina thinks it will fit in the kid’s room.”
I slowly turned to my husband.
“Is she already picking out which of my things to keep?”
“Nina, don’t nitpick. You turn every little thing into a huge drama.”
“Then we won’t discuss it at all.”
I zipped up my suitcase.
I barely slept that night. Not because of the sale.
It hurt that Andrei hadn’t even offered to talk about a divorce and calmly go our separate ways. He had picked out a spot for me at my sister’s, disposed of my sofa, and assigned new residents.
In the morning, I called a car.
Andrei came out of the bedroom when the driver was already waiting by the entrance.
The continuation is in the first c0mment
