Our story began like many others: marriage, children, worries, concerns. I would wake up at five in the morning, make breakfast, send the kids off to school, rush to work, then pick them up, take them to their activities, and help with homework.
Then one day, my husband packed his things and told me he was leaving for another woman. It was a reaction I never expected.
By evening, I would barely have time to get up before doing the dishes, cleaning, and ironing. Every day felt like a broken record.
And my husband? At first, he worked long hours, then went on “business trips,” and eventually started disappearing for entire nights.
And now, here he was, stacking his belongings.
My husband packed his things and told me he was leaving for another woman. I didn’t expect this kind of reaction.
“Can I help you?” I asked, smiling.
He froze, looked at me, seemingly lost.
“What? Where are the tears? The scandal? You’re really just going to let me leave like this?”
I smiled.
“What’s stopping you? We’ve been living like neighbors for a long time. There’s no respect, no warmth here.”
My husband packed his things and said he was leaving for another woman. I didn’t expect such a response.
He grunted.
“No support? Everything I earn, I give you!”
I sighed.
“Oh, of course. The apartment’s mine, the car’s mine. So, go ahead, darling. Go with God.”
When the door closed behind him, a wave of pain washed over me, but not sadness. No. I suddenly realized how many years I had lived a life that wasn’t really mine.
But I didn’t allow myself to wallow in sorrow. I bought clothes I once thought were “inappropriate for a married woman.” For the first time in years, I went to the hairdresser, changed my hairstyle, had a manicure. I put on red lipstick and smiled at my reflection in the mirror.
“Valentina Borisovna, it looks like you’re blooming!” said the neighbor. “Maybe it’s love that’s making you shine?”
“Oh, rather the absence of it!” I laughed.
But as soon as I started enjoying my new life, someone knocked on the door.
“Open up! My key doesn’t work!”
My husband packed his things and told me he was leaving for another woman. It was a reaction I never expected.
“Of course, it doesn’t work,” I replied without opening the door. “I changed the locks.”
“Please, open. I realize I was wrong. You’re the only one I love.”
I leaned against the door and smiled.
My husband packed his things and told me he was leaving for another woman. It was a reaction I never expected.
“Maybe you simply have nowhere to go?”
There was silence behind the door. Then, I heard his heavy footsteps as he walked down the stairs.
How naïve he was. He thought I would wait for him? No, darling. Now, I have my own life. And in this life, I feel good.