Lenya’s affair was exposed in a foolish, unexpected way. He had always arranged his meetings with other women carefully, avoiding popular cafés and other crowded places. He was generous with gifts and bouquets, but preferred to give them to a woman in private, with no witnesses around. Although Leonid was technically single, he was in a serious relationship with a beautiful, successful woman named Tatyana. They lived as partners without being legally married. Neither of them was in a hurry to have a lavish wedding, register their marriage, or even get a stamp in their passport.
This time, though, Lenya slipped up. He and his latest girlfriend were planning to spend some time alone in an apartment rented by the day. Too impatient to wait, he drove to the café where she was relaxing with her friends to pick her up. There he came face to face with an acquaintance of Tatyana’s. She wasted no time telling Tanya that she had seen him leave with his arm around a woman she had never seen before.
Tanya worked as a manager at a well-established company, earned a good salary, and had a firm personality that suited her position. Lenya, by contrast, was good-natured and preferred to solve problems through conversation and persuasion. He could tell a joke brilliantly, acting out all the parts, pay a woman a compliment, or sing while playing the guitar.
Both earned decent money, owned apartments, and had cars. They lived in a kind of guest marriage: sometimes Lenya spent the night at Tatyana’s place, and sometimes she stayed at his. By an unspoken agreement, neither bothered the other with jealous scenes or interrogations. Lenya did not know whether Tanya was faithful to him, and he made no effort to find out. Their occasional nights together and peaceful coexistence the rest of the time suited him well.
Tanya did not seem especially interested in sex. Leonid, on the other hand, enjoyed it very much. He preferred to pursue married women who were dissatisfied with their husbands but had no intention of divorcing them. He avoided single women who were actively looking for a relationship.
That very weekend, Lenya had made plans with a lovely woman named Sveta. She had recently married an older, rather flabby man who was not particularly adventurous. He had a successful business, was generous, and was not especially jealous. Sveta saw Leonid “purely for her health,” as she put it, and had no intention of changing her marital status. That suited him perfectly.
For both of them, it was almost an ideal arrangement, and they intended to enjoy it to the fullest. Their previous meetings had brought them, as people used to say, “deep satisfaction,” and everything suggested they would continue seeing each other regularly. But things did not work out that way.
That weekend, Tatyana confronted Lenya, and he had to listen to a great many unpleasant things. It turned out she had been absolutely convinced that sex interested him as little as it interested her, and that their rare nights together were enough for him.
After the usual protests from an unfaithful partner—“It’s not what you think!” and “We were just fooling around; your friend invented a whole soap opera!”—Tatyana accepted that he had done nothing serious. Or perhaps she merely pretended to believe him. Either way, a measure of peace returned to their relationship.
Lenya had no reason to relax, however. Soon Tanya announced that it was time for a serious talk. When they had it, Leonid learned that she wanted to take their relationship further: register their marriage, turn one of their apartments into a shared home, run a household together, and think about having children.
Lenya pretended to be delighted. The next day they went back to their separate homes to prepare for the major changes ahead. In truth, he did not object strongly to the idea. It was about time he got married, and Tatyana had many qualities besides her lack of passion. She cooked delicious meals, knew how to make a home comfortable, had an even temper, rarely caused a scene, and earned very good money. If she had been warmer in bed, Leonid might have given up his affairs with other men’s wives—at least as a regular habit—and tried to become an exemplary husband.
But what was he supposed to do now? He had already planned a delightful little trip, supposedly for work but actually a short cruise with Sveta, who fully approved of the idea. Surely he could not pass up an opportunity like that.
So he struck a bargain with himself. He would follow Tanya’s plan. He would also take the cruise with Sveta. Afterward, he would end things with her and all his other girlfriends and become a faithful husband. Business trips were a normal part of Lenya’s job, so arranging his departure and explaining it to Tatyana was easy. How Sveta explained her own absence did not particularly interest him. She had managed it, and that was enough.
The cruise was so pleasurable that, when he returned, Lenya hid away in a rented apartment for another day to sleep and recover. Sveta had been tireless and endlessly inventive. After that, he could not bring himself to end their passionate meetings. They kept seeing each other, and Lenya abandoned all caution. Eventually, he was caught in the act.
On that day, they could not get a rental apartment, so the lovers went to his place without giving it much thought. Tanya had said she would stay at her own apartment. Apparently, she suspected something after all. She arrived unexpectedly, unlocked the door with her key, and walked in while they were together. There was no point in denying anything. He had been caught, and any claim that she had misunderstood would have sounded pathetic.
The next day, he called Tatyana and asked to meet. She answered calmly, without anger or tears, saying she would be free after seven and would wait for him at her place.
Maybe I can still fix this, he thought hopefully. He bought a bouquet, a small cake, and a bottle of champagne, deciding to appeal to her emotions.
He arrived at half past seven and held out the flowers and the bag containing the cake and champagne.
“Here. These are for you. Please forgive me.”
She took the flowers without interest and laid them on a shelf in the hallway. She set the bag on the floor beside it.
“Come into the living room.”
“Tanya, I’m begging you, please forgive me. I’ve wronged you terribly…”
“And what am I supposed to do now? Wipe away a few touching tears, pull you to my chest, and whisper that all is forgiven?”
“N-no, I just…” Leonid mumbled, bewildered. He could not understand her behavior. Why wasn’t she shouting, breaking down, or at least crying?
“All right, let’s end this performance. As I understand it, you regret what you did and solemnly promise it will never happen again?”
“Yes, yes! I swear, that was the last time. Never again—”
“Well, wonderful!” she interrupted. “Consider yourself forgiven.”
“So you forgive me?” Lenya asked, confused.
“Yes, I forgive you. You can be sure of that. Did you drive here?”
“Yes… Why does that matter?”
“Because you won’t need to call a taxi. You can put your things in the car and leave.” She pointed to a corner of the room, where Lenya saw a suitcase and a travel bag. “That’s everything of yours. I hope I haven’t missed anything. Go home. You’re free as a bird. Fortunately, we don’t have to file any divorce papers. We can simply go our separate ways.”
“Wait… You said you forgave me. I thought…”
“You know that old saying about the turkey who thought, too? Please understand one simple thing: I won’t live with someone who betrayed me. Yes, I’ve forgiven you. But as the song goes, I’ve forgiven you and let you go. Let’s do this without shouting or fighting,” she said with a crooked smile, “and part like civilized people. There’s the door. I wish you all the best.”
He could not remember going down to his car, putting the suitcase and bag inside, getting behind the wheel, starting the engine, or slowly driving out of Tanya’s courtyard. He felt humiliated and filthy, but there was nothing he could do. He had no grounds to complain, either. After all, she had forgiven him.
