Lyubov froze in the middle of the hallway, holding a bag of groceries. Standing in the doorway was Galina Petrovna — her husband’s mother — with two enormous suitcases and an unbothered expression on her face.
“So, I’m moving in with you for good,” her mother-in-law replied calmly. “I rented out my apartment. So, where is my room?” she asked her daughter-in-law.
Lyubov slowly set the grocery bag on the floor. A thousand thoughts flashed through her mind at once. She and Sergey were renting a two-room apartment themselves, barely making ends meet, and now this…
“Galina Petrovna, but we never agreed on this…”
“What is there to agree on? I’m Seryozha’s mother. I don’t need permission to live with my son,” the woman said, walking past Lyubov and dragging her suitcases behind her. “Where is Seryozha?”
“At work,” Lyubov answered automatically, still trying to process what was happening.
Galina Petrovna was already inspecting the apartment, peeking into the rooms. In the bedroom, she grimaced with disgust.
“What kind of curtains are these? Like in a hospital. And the bedding is so… cheap.”
“We rent this apartment, Galina Petrovna. We don’t have the means to…”
“You don’t have the means?” her mother-in-law turned to her. “That is exactly why I rented out my apartment. I’ll receive good money, and I’ll live here. Economical, isn’t it?”
Lyubov took a deep breath, trying to stay calm.
“But that’s unfair. You’ll be getting income from your apartment while living at our expense?”
“At your expense?” Galina Petrovna laughed. “Girl, you’re forgetting yourself. My son pays for this apartment, my son earns the money. And what do you do? Shuffle papers around in your little office for pennies?”
Lyubov worked as a manager at a logistics company. Yes, her salary was lower than Sergey’s, but she also contributed to the family budget.
“I work too, and…”
“Oh, come on,” her mother-in-law waved her hand dismissively. “The second room is mine now. Move your things out.”
“That’s Sergey’s office…”
“It was an office. Now it’s my room. Seryozha can work in the kitchen if he needs to.”
Lyubov pulled out her phone and called her husband. He answered after the third ring.
“Lyuba, I’m in a meeting. What happened?”
“Your mother arrived. With her things. She says she’s moving in with us permanently.”
“Oh, yes, I forgot to tell you. Mom called this morning and said she was renting out her apartment. Well, it’s only logical that she would move in with us.”
“Logical? Seryozha, we rent this apartment! We have two rooms!”
“Lyuba, don’t dramatize. She’s my mother. Where else is she supposed to live?”
“In her own apartment!”
“The one she’s renting out. Lyuba, I can’t talk right now. We’ll discuss it tonight.”
He hung up. Lyubov stood there with the phone in her hand, while Galina Petrovna was already dragging her suitcases into what had once been the office.
“And besides,” her mother-in-law called over her shoulder, “it’s about time you two had children. You just live for yourselves. Selfish people.”
That evening, Sergey came home in a wonderful mood. He hugged his mother and kissed her on the cheek.
“Mom, how was the trip? Are you tired?”
“I’m fine, son. I’m settling in little by little. Lyuba is helping me,” Galina Petrovna said, casting a meaningful glance at her daughter-in-law.
Lyubov stood at the stove, stirring soup. She hadn’t managed to get any real work done all day — her mother-in-law had constantly demanded things, criticized, and rearranged belongings.
“Seryozha, we need to talk,” she said quietly.
“Later, Lyub. Mom, tell me about the apartment. Did you rent it out for a good price?”
“Thirty-five thousand a month!” Galina Petrovna announced proudly. “I rented it to decent people, a married couple with a child.”
Lyubov turned sharply.
“Thirty-five thousand? And we pay forty for this apartment!”
“So what?” her mother-in-law shrugged. “That’s your problem.”
“Galina Petrovna, but you’ll be living here, using utilities, eating…”
“Lyubochka,” her mother-in-law’s voice turned icy, “are you begrudging Seryozha’s own mother a piece of bread?”
“Mom, Lyuba didn’t mean it that way,” Sergey intervened.
“No, that’s exactly what I meant!” Lyubov threw down the ladle. “Your mother is going to receive money for her apartment and live at our expense! That’s not fair!”
“Lyuba, are you out of your mind?” Sergey frowned. “She’s my mother!”
“So what? Does that give her the right to be a parasite?”
“A parasite?” Galina Petrovna shrieked. “I gave birth to Seryozha, raised him, educated him! And who are you? You came to everything ready-made!”
“What ready-made? We earn everything ourselves!”
“You earn?” her mother-in-law snorted. “Your pathetic fifteen thousand?”
“Twenty-five!”
“What difference does it make? Seryozha earns three times more!”
“Mom, Lyuba, stop it!” Sergey slammed his fist on the table. “Mom is staying. Period. Lyuba, you have to accept that.”
“I have to?” Lyubov stared at her husband with wide eyes. “I have to accept that your mother will live at our expense while receiving decent money?”
“Why are you stuck on the money?” Sergey snapped irritably. “Mom has the right to do whatever she wants with her apartment!”
“Of course she does! But then let her live on that money!”
“So you’re suggesting that my mother rent an apartment? When she has us?”
“Seryozha, we don’t even have our own apartment! We’re saving for a down payment!”
“So what? Is Mom stopping us from saving?”
“Yes! Yes, she is! She means extra expenses!”
Galina Petrovna theatrically threw up her hands.
“Seryozhenka, do you hear that? Your wife counts every penny! Greedy woman!”
“I’m not greedy! I just want fairness! If you receive thirty-five thousand, you could at least contribute part of it to shared expenses!”
“That is my money!” her mother-in-law snapped. “I earned it!”
“Renting out an apartment is not work!”
“Lyuba, enough!” Sergey barked. “You’re crossing every line! Apologize to Mom!”
Lyubov looked at her husband. Then at her mother-in-law, who was smiling triumphantly.
“You know what? Go to hell! Both of you!”
She ran out of the kitchen and slammed the bedroom door.
The next few days turned into a nightmare. Galina Petrovna fully settled in and behaved like the mistress of the home. She rearranged the furniture, threw away Lyubov’s things that she considered “tasteless,” and demanded that specific dishes be cooked.
“Lyubochka, I don’t eat pasta. Make cutlets.”
“Lyubochka, this vase needs to be thrown out. Hideous.”
“Lyubochka, why do you get up so late? Proper wives get up at six in the morning.”
Sergey noticed nothing. Or rather, he didn’t want to notice. When Lyubov tried to talk to him, he brushed her off.
“Lyub, why are you nitpicking? Mom just wants to help, to make the home cozier.”
“This is not her home!”
“This is our home. And she is part of the family.”
On Friday, Lyubov came home from work and discovered that her cosmetics had disappeared from the bathroom.
“Galina Petrovna, where are my things?”
“What things? Oh, that mess? I threw it out. It was cheap junk anyway, only taking up space.”
“You threw away my cosmetics?”
“Well, yes. Seryozha doesn’t need a wife who smears cheap stuff on her face. Buy something proper.”
Lyubov clenched her fists. A wave of anger rose inside her, one she had barely been holding back all week.
“Give me my things back.”
“They’re probably already in the trash bin,” her mother-in-law shrugged indifferently.
That evening, Lyubov met Sergey in the hallway.
“Your mother threw away my cosmetics. All of them.”
“Lyub, you’ll buy new ones. What’s the problem?”
“The problem is that she had no right to touch my things!”
“God, here you go again. Mom meant well.”
“For whom?”
“For us! Lyub, what is happening to you? You’ve become so… aggressive.”
“I’ve become aggressive? Seryozha, your mother has taken over our apartment!”
“Don’t talk nonsense. Nobody has taken anything over.”
On Saturday, Galina Petrovna decided to do a “deep clean.” She threw away Lyubov’s favorite blanket — “some old rag” — rearranged all the dishes because “it was inconvenient,” and even rehung the pictures because they were “tasteless.”
Lyubov came home from her morning run and didn’t recognize her own kitchen.
“What is going on here?”
“I’m putting things in order,” her mother-in-law replied with satisfaction. “You lived here like pigs.”
“We lived normally!”
“Maybe normally for you. But not for my son. He deserves better.”
“Then let your son pay for that ‘better’!”
“He does pay! And you’re just a freeloader here!”
“I am not a freeloader!” Lyubov shouted. “I work! I pay for groceries! I clean, I cook!”
“Oh, any woman would marry Seryozha! Handsome, successful! And who are you? A gray mouse!”
Something inside Lyubov snapped. She grabbed a cup from the table and hurled it against the wall. The cup shattered into pieces.
“Enough!” she screamed. “Enough! I am not a gray mouse! I am your son’s wife! And if you don’t like that, go back to your own apartment!”
“How dare you!” Galina Petrovna shrieked. “Seryozha! Seryozha!”
Sergey rushed out of the bedroom.
“What is going on?”
“Your wife has gone mad! She’s breaking dishes! Insulting me!”
“Lyuba, what are you doing?”
“What am I doing?” Lyubov turned to her husband. “Your mother calls me a freeloader, a gray mouse, throws away my things, and I’m the one to blame?”
“Lyuba, calm down…”
“I will not calm down! Seryozha, either your mother moves out, or I do!”
“Don’t blackmail me!”
“This isn’t blackmail. It’s a fact. I can’t live like this anymore.”
“You can’t just leave like this!” Sergey stood in the bedroom doorway, watching Lyubov pack her things into a suitcase.
“I can, and I am.”
“Lyuba, let’s talk calmly. You’re blowing everything out of proportion…”
“I’m blowing everything out of proportion?” Lyubov spun around sharply. “Your mother lives at our expense while receiving thirty-five thousand a month! She throws away my things, insults me, and I’m blowing things out of proportion?”
“Mom just… she’s used to living her own way…”
“Then let her live her own way in her own apartment!”
“Lyuba, be reasonable. Where will you go?”
“To a friend’s place. Then I’ll rent a room.”
“On your salary?” Sergey snorted.
Lyubov froze.
“What did you say?”
“Well… I didn’t mean it like that…”
“No, you meant exactly that. Just like your mommy. My salary isn’t enough, right?”
“Lyuba…”
“Shut up!” she exploded. “You know what? For three years I put up with your mother! For three years she humiliated me every time we met! And you stayed silent! Always silent!”
“She is my mother…”
“And I am your wife! Or I was. That’s it, Seryozha. I’m leaving.”
Galina Petrovna appeared in the doorway.
“Wonderful! Leave! Seryozha deserves better!”
Lyubov looked at her. Then she slowly set down the suitcase and walked right up to her mother-in-law.
“You know what, Galina Petrovna? You are a terrible mother. You raised a mama’s boy who is incapable of making independent decisions. You destroyed his family with your selfishness and greed. And do you know what the funniest part is? When I leave, you’ll have to pay for this apartment. Because Seryozha’s salary won’t be enough for everything. Then we’ll see how long you last here with your thirty-five thousand!”
“How dare you…”
“Shut up!” Lyubov roared so loudly that her mother-in-law stepped back. “You are a greedy, selfish old woman! And you will get what you deserve — loneliness!”
She grabbed her suitcase and headed for the exit. Sergey tried to stop her.
“Lyuba, wait…”
“Don’t touch me!” she pulled away. “Live together. Mother and son. Just like you wanted!”
The front door slammed.
Sergey stood in the middle of the hallway, not knowing what to do.
“It’s good that she left,” Galina Petrovna said. “We don’t need a daughter-in-law like that. We’ll find you someone better.”
Sergey nodded mechanically, though everything inside him tightened.
For the first week, he held up. His mother cooked his favorite dishes, comforted him, and said that Lyubov would definitely come back, crawling on her knees.
But Lyubov did not come back. She didn’t answer his calls or messages.
In the second week, the bills arrived. Sergey realized with horror that his salary truly was not enough. The apartment was forty thousand. Utilities were eight. Groceries were at least twenty. And his salary was seventy-five thousand. That didn’t include transportation, clothes, or unexpected expenses.
“Mom, we need to do something about money.”
“What is there to do? You have a good salary.”
“It’s not enough. Lyuba was right. Her contribution was significant.”
“Then ask for a raise!”
“I can’t just ask for a raise like that!”
“Then find a side job.”
“Mom, maybe you could contribute from the money you get for your apartment?”
Galina Petrovna snorted indignantly.
“Have you lost your mind? That’s my money! I’m saving it for old age!”
“But you live here!”
“So what? I’m your mother! You are obligated to support me!”
Sergey looked at his mother and suddenly saw what Lyubov had been talking about. Greed. Selfishness. Complete indifference to his problems.
A month passed. Sergey fell into debt and took out credit on his card. Galina Petrovna continued demanding delicacies, new clothes, and cosmetics.
“Mom, I have no money!”
“What do you mean, no money? You work!”
“I spend everything on the apartment and food!”
“Then work more!”
“I already work twelve hours a day!”
“Then it’s still not enough! Your father, may he rest in peace, provided for the family!”
“Father had his own apartment! He didn’t have to pay rent!”
“That’s your problem!”
Sergey looked at his mother and no longer recognized her. Or perhaps, on the contrary, he finally saw the real her.
Problems also began at work. Constant stress, lack of sleep, thoughts about debts — all of it affected his productivity. His boss had already reprimanded him twice.
One evening, Sergey came home completely exhausted. His mother was in the kitchen watching a series on her tablet.
“Mom, what’s for dinner?”
“Nothing. I didn’t cook.”
“Why?”
“And why should I cook? I’m not a servant!”
“But… you’re home all day…”
“So what? Your wife was obligated to cook. I am not!”
Sergey silently opened the refrigerator. Empty. He had spent the last of his money before payday, and payday was still five days away.
“Mom, give me money for groceries.”
“I don’t have any.”
“What do you mean, you don’t have any? You got the rent money!”
“That’s my money!”
“Mom, I have absolutely nothing! I’m in debt!”
“That’s your problem. You shouldn’t have let your wife get away.”
Something inside Sergey broke. He sat down on a chair and covered his face with his hands.
“Mom, leave.”
“What?”
“Leave. Go back to your apartment.”
“It’s rented out!”
“Terminate the contract.”
“Have you lost your mind? I’m not going to lose money!”
“And I’m losing my life!” Sergey suddenly shouted. “Leave! You destroyed my family! You’re leeching off me! Leave!”
“How dare you speak to your mother like that!”
“Leave!” Sergey jumped up, his eyes burning with anger. “Immediately! Or I’ll throw out your things!”
“You wouldn’t dare!”
Sergey silently went into his mother’s room and began throwing her things out of the wardrobe.
“What are you doing? Stop it!”
“Leave! Tomorrow! Or I’ll put everything out on the stairwell!”
“Seryozha, come to your senses!”
“I have come to my senses! Finally! Lyuba was right! You are selfish and parasitic! You receive thirty-five thousand and eat through my last money! Leave!”
Galina Petrovna stepped back. She had never seen her son like this before.
“Fine,” she hissed. “I’ll leave. But you’ll regret this!”
“I already regret it! I regret letting you come here! I regret losing my wife! I regret obeying you for so many years!”
The next day, Galina Petrovna left. Sergey remained alone in the empty apartment. No money, in debt, without his wife.
He dialed Lyubov’s number. Long rings.
“Hello.”
“Lyuba… forgive me.”
“Why are you calling, Seryozha?”
“Mom left. I kicked her out.”
“Congratulations.”
“Lyuba, let’s meet. Let’s talk.”
“What is there to talk about? You made your choice.”
“I was wrong! Forgive me! Come back!”
“No, Seryozha. I rented a room. My ‘pathetic’ salary is enough for me. I’m free and happy.”
“Lyuba…”
“Go live with Mommy. Oh, she left? Then live alone. Or find another ‘gray mouse’ who will tolerate your mother.”
“Lyuba, please!”
“Goodbye, Seryozha.”
Short beeps.
Sergey sat in the empty apartment and understood — he had lost everything. The wife who had loved him. The family they had been building. And all because of what? Because of a mother who thought only of herself.
The phone rang. His mother.
“Seryozha, the tenants refuse to move out before the end of the lease! They’re demanding a penalty! You have to help me!”
“That’s your problem, Mom.”
“What do you mean, my problem? I’m your mother!”
“The mother who left me without a penny. Deal with it yourself.”
He hung up.
Two weeks later, Sergey had to move out of the apartment — he had no money for rent. He moved into a room in a communal apartment.
Galina Petrovna paid the penalty to the tenants and returned to her apartment. But now she had to look for work — her pension wasn’t enough, and her son no longer helped her. At sixty, she got a job as a cleaner in a supermarket.
Lyubov met someone else six months later. Someone who valued and respected her. They rented an apartment together, and a year later they bought their own.
Sergey continued living in the communal apartment, paying off his loans. Sometimes he saw his ex-wife on the street. She looked happy. And he understood — it was his own fault. He should never have chosen between his mother and his wife. He simply needed to protect his family. But he couldn’t. A mama’s boy.
Galina Petrovna often cried in the evenings in her apartment. Alone. Her son didn’t call or visit. She had lost everything because of her greed and selfishness. She wanted to live at someone else’s expense, but in the end, she was left unwanted by anyone.
That is how greed and disrespect destroyed a family. And justice prevailed — everyone got what they deserved. Lyubov found happiness because she wasn’t afraid to defend herself. And those who thought only of themselves were left with nothing.
