A car passed outside the window, leaving black tracks across the white asphalt. Anna watched as the snow gradually covered them. Everything gets erased, she thought. Everything passes.
The doorbell pulled her out of her stupor. She walked slowly down the hallway, where his jacket still hung on the hook. She had never been able to bring herself to put it away.
“Anya, open up. It’s me,” her mother called in her usual demanding tone.
Anna opened the door. Valentina Petrovna burst into the apartment, vigorously shaking the snow from her fur coat.
“It’s freezing outside! And why are you sitting at home? You need to go to work, see people. Otherwise, you’ll lose your mind within these four walls.”
“Mom, I am working. I work remotely now.”
Anna closed the door and trudged into the kitchen to put the kettle on.
“Remotely, remotely… It seems to me that you’re simply hiding from life. Look at how Lena lives. She is raising two children on her own, goes to work every day, and helps them with their homework in the evenings. And what about you? You’re still young and beautiful, but you behave like an old woman.”
Anna mechanically set out the cups. Conversations about how she was supposed to live had become constant after Mikhail’s death. Her mother believed that a year was more than enough time to grieve.
“Speaking of Lena, I talked to her yesterday. She’s having housing problems. Her landlady is selling the apartment and making her move out. Finding anything decent for what she can afford is practically impossible. The children are young. They need stability.”
Anna nodded as she poured boiling water into the teapot. Her sister’s problems seemed distant and unreal. Over the past year, the entire world had become blurred, as though Anna were looking at it through cloudy glass.
“And you have an empty apartment,” her mother continued. “The one you inherited from Zinaida Nikolaevna. It’s been sitting unused for a year. You could help Lena.”
Zinaida Nikolaevna had been Mikhail’s mother. She had died three months after her son, as though she had been unable to survive the loss. She had left the apartment to Anna.
“You became like a daughter to me,” she had said shortly before her death.
Anna had not visited the apartment even once since the funeral. She had not been able to force herself.
“Mom, I’m not ready…”
“Not ready for what? What would it cost you to give her the keys? Lena will clean everything and put the place in order. The children will have their own room. Right now, Maksim sleeps on the sofa, and Katya doesn’t even have a proper place to do her homework.”
Anna remained silent, stirring sugar into her tea. Her mother took her silence as agreement and continued developing the plan.
“I’ve already arranged everything with Lena. She booked a moving truck for tomorrow and is packing her things. We only need the keys. Where do you keep them?”
“Mom…”
“What do you mean, ‘Mom’? You understand that this is the right thing to do. The apartment is empty while people are suffering. They’re family. There are children involved. And you’re alone. Isn’t one apartment enough for you?”
Anna put down her cup. Something stirred inside her for the first time in a long while.
“I never said I agreed.”
“What is there to discuss? It goes without saying. Lena is your own sister, and those are your niece and nephew. They’re not strangers.”
“But I’m not ready. I need time to think.”
Her mother’s expression darkened.
“Time to think? What is there to think about? You’ve been sitting around thinking for a year. It’s time to live instead of thinking. And you need to help Lena instead of only grieving for yourself.”
At that moment, her mother’s phone rang. Valentina Petrovna grabbed it.
“Lena? Yes, I’m at her place. I’ll get the keys now… What? Don’t worry, everything is fine. Of course she’ll give them to us…”
Anna stood up from the table and went into the living room. Through the wall, she could hear her mother’s muffled voice reassuring her sister.
Anna approached the photograph on the dresser. It was a picture from her wedding to Mikhail. They were young, happy, and full of plans for the future.
“Anya, come here!” her mother called.
Anna returned to the kitchen. Her mother held out the phone.
“Lena wants to talk to you.”
“Anya, thank you so much,” her sister said excitedly. “I’ve already told the landlady we’re moving out. I booked the truck for tomorrow. The children are so excited. They’ll finally have their own room. Maksim is already asking when we’re moving.”
Anna listened and felt everything inside her tighten. They had already decided everything without her. For her.
“Lena, maybe you shouldn’t rush. Let’s keep looking for something else.”
“What is there to look for? Do you know what prices are like now? Your apartment is in a good neighborhood, and there’s a school nearby. Besides, the place is empty anyway. What’s the point…”
“Lena, I need time to think.”
There was a pause. Then her sister’s voice changed, becoming hurt and resentful.
“Think? Anya, I’ve already arranged everything. I told the landlady we’re leaving. I paid a deposit for the truck. The children are waiting. What am I supposed to do now?”
Anna silently handed the phone back to her mother and walked to the window. Outside, the snowstorm had intensified.
“Yes, Lena, don’t worry. We’ll settle everything now,” her mother said into the phone. “You’ll move tomorrow, just as planned.”
Anna turned around.
“Mom, I’m not giving you the keys.”
Valentina Petrovna froze with the phone in her hand.
“What did you say?”
“I’m not giving you the keys. Not now. I need time.”
“Lena, I’ll call you back,” her mother said quickly before placing the phone on the table. Her face had turned red with indignation.
“What are you doing? She has already organized everything!”
“Why did you decide everything without me? Why didn’t you ask me?”
“What do you mean, we didn’t ask? I told you!”
“You told me, but you didn’t ask. You simply presented it as a done deal.”
Her mother stood up, her entire posture radiating outrage.
“Anna, have you completely lost your mind? What done deal? What are you even talking about? This is basic human decency! Lena is in trouble, and you can help her, so help her!”
“What if I can’t?”
“You can’t?” her mother sneered. “What would it cost you? You’re alone! Aren’t two apartments too much for you? Your sister is struggling in rented apartments while you’re living in luxury!”
The words struck like a slap.
“Alone.”
“Living in luxury.”
Anna felt something break inside her—not painfully, but as though a barrier that had restrained her for a long time had suddenly collapsed.
“Living in luxury?” Her voice was quiet, but there was something dangerous in it.
“Yes, living in luxury!” her mother continued. “You sit there with your two apartments, with no children, no husband, no real responsibilities. Lena is raising two children on her own, and every penny counts. What is she supposed to do? Live in some miserable corner?”
“And what am I supposed to do? Give away everything I have?”
“You have more than you need!” her mother nearly shouted. “You don’t need a second apartment! You haven’t even been there once! A normal woman would have had children and a family by now instead of spending all her time on her career!”
“A normal woman?”
“Yes, a normal woman! Not like you. You’re thirty-four, and you spent all those years at universities, then focused on work. You wasted money on all sorts of nonsense—trips to Europe, courses. And what did it get you? No children, no husband…”
“I had a husband!”
“You did, and now he’s gone. And you never managed to have children. So what do you have now? You’re alone with your apartments and money. At least Lena has children. She has a future.”
Anna listened in silence. Every word her mother said opened her eyes to the way the people closest to her saw her.
Incomplete.
Selfish.
Living the wrong kind of life.
The phone rang again. Her mother grabbed it.
“Lena, yes… No, we haven’t agreed yet… She’s being stubborn…”
Anna walked over and took the phone from her mother.
“Lena,” she said calmly. “I’m not giving you the keys. I’m sorry. Find another option.”
“Anya, what are you doing?” her sister’s voice trembled. “I’ve already arranged everything! The children are packed! What am I supposed to do now?”
“The same thing you were doing before. Search. Rent somewhere. Find a solution.”
“But you have an apartment! An empty apartment!”
“Yes, I do. But it belongs to me.”
“Anya, we’re family…”
“Family asks. It doesn’t make decisions for you.”
Anna ended the call and placed the phone on the table. Her mother stared at her in disbelief.
“What have you done? Lena and the children will end up on the street!”
“They won’t. She’ll find something.”
“For what she can afford? Are you out of your mind?”
“Mom.”
Anna walked to the coat rack and took down her mother’s fur coat.
“I need you to leave.”
“What?”
“Please leave. Right now.”
“Anna, you really have lost your mind! You’re throwing your own sister onto the street because of some apartment!”
“I’m not throwing anyone onto the street. Lena will find housing, just as she has before. And you need to leave. I need to think.”
“What is there to think about?” her mother persisted, although she took the coat. “Don’t you see what you’re doing? Your selfish whims are destroying this family!”
“What whims? I simply want to decide for myself what happens to something that belongs to me.”
“Do you have no conscience? Lena is suffering with her children, and you…”
“Mom, leave. Right now.”
Valentina Petrovna pulled on her coat, making her indignation obvious with every movement.
“Fine. Just remember that this will not be forgotten. Lena won’t forget it. The children won’t forget it. You’ll regret this someday.”
“Maybe.”
“And don’t call us later when you’re completely alone. We’ll manage without you somehow.”
Anna opened the door.
“Goodbye, Mom.”
When the door closed, Anna leaned her back against it and slowly sank to the floor.
The silence in the apartment was deafening. But for the first time in a long while, it did not feel lifeless. There was something alive in it.
She stood up and walked into the kitchen, where the keys to the second apartment lay on the table. It was a small set attached to a keychain bearing a photograph of Zinaida Nikolaevna and Mikhail.
Anna picked up the keys.
“You became like a daughter to me,” she remembered her mother-in-law saying.
Zinaida Nikolaevna had not loved her because of the children Anna had never given birth to. She had not loved her because Anna was a proper woman according to her mother’s standards.
She had simply loved her.
Because Anna had made her son happy.
Because she had stayed beside him during difficult times.
Because she had been herself.
Anna took out her phone and found the number of the real estate agent who had helped her and Mikhail buy the apartment.
“Svetlana Igorevna? This is Anna Belova. Do you remember helping us choose an apartment? Yes, thank you. Listen, I have an apartment that I want to rent out. Could you help me find reliable tenants?”
As she explained the details, a plan began taking shape in her mind.
The rental income would pay for a second degree—a master’s degree in psychology, something she had dreamed of even before getting married. Mikhail had supported the idea, but Anna had always postponed it.
“Yes, I can show the apartment tomorrow. Just warn the tenants that it will need some minor repairs.”
After ending the call, Anna approached the window. The snowstorm had stopped, and the snow lay in a smooth white blanket.
Clean.
Ready for new tracks.
The phone rang.
It was her sister.
“Anya, please… The children are already packed. I don’t know what to tell them.”
“Lena,” Anna said gently but firmly, “I know things are difficult for you right now. But my decision is final. That apartment is everything I have left from Mikhail and his mother. I’m not ready to simply give it away.”
“But it wouldn’t be forever! I would pay the utility bills and fix the place up.”
“Lena, had you come to me and asked, had you explained the situation, we could have discussed everything. But you and Mom simply decided for me. You didn’t even ask whether I wanted it or whether I was ready.”
“We thought you would agree.”
“Why? Because I’m alone and ‘two apartments are too much for me’?”
Her sister fell silent.
“Lena, I’m going through a difficult time. I need stability. I need control over what happens in my life. And you want to take even that away from me.”
“But what am I supposed to do now?” Her sister’s voice broke into tears.
“The same thing thousands of people in your situation do. Search. Ask the landlady for more time. Contact real estate agencies. Consider places farther from the city center.”
“That’s easy for you to say when you have a choice.”
“I didn’t always have a choice either, Lena. I lost my husband. I could have broken down and given up. But I got up and continued working. I continued living.”
“That isn’t the same.”
“It is exactly the same. Life puts us in difficult situations. We either search for solutions or wait for someone else to solve our problems for us.”
After speaking with her sister, Anna did something she had not done in an entire year. She opened her laptop and visited the university website.
Master’s degree in psychology.
Application deadlines.
Tuition fees.
She calculated everything. The rental income should be enough to pay for her studies, with some money left over for living expenses.
Anna leaned back in her chair and smiled for the first time in a long while.
It was not forced or polite.
It was genuine.
She had a goal.
Something of her own that did not depend on her mother’s or sister’s opinion.
The next morning, she got up early and, for the first time in months, prepared breakfast with pleasure. Not a hastily made sandwich, but a real breakfast—an omelet with fresh herbs, fresh bread, and coffee brewed in a cezve.
Then she went to the second apartment.
She stood outside the door for several minutes, gathering her courage.
Then she turned the key.
The apartment greeted her with the smell of dust and stale air. But sunlight poured through the windows, and particles of dust danced in the golden beams.
Anna opened the windows and let in the fresh air.
On the dresser in the bedroom stood several photographs: Mikhail as a little boy with his parents, their wedding picture, and the last photographs they had taken together.
Anna picked up one of the frames. It showed her and Mikhail at his mother’s country house, laughing about something.
“I’m beginning to move forward,” she said aloud. “Not without you. With you, but forward.”
She spent the entire day in the apartment, making a list of everything that needed to be done.
Minor renovations.
New curtains.
Checking the plumbing.
By evening, she had a detailed plan.
When she returned home, she found a dozen missed calls from her mother and sister.
Anna did not call them back.
A week later, a young family moved into the apartment—a pair of teachers with a little boy. They were so grateful for the clean, comfortable home at a reasonable price that Anna knew she had made the right decision.
She submitted her application for the master’s program in March. She passed the interview and entrance examinations. Her professional experience and motivation worked in her favor.
Her mother did not speak to her for three months.
Her sister found an apartment in a residential district farther from the city center, but it was cheaper. The children adjusted to their new school.
Life continued.
On the day Anna received her student ID, she went to the cemetery to visit Mikhail. She placed fresh flowers on his grave and showed him the card.
“Do you remember how I dreamed of becoming a psychologist? Now I’m going to do it. Thank you for always supporting my dreams.”
That evening, her mother called.
“Anya? It’s me.”
“Hello, Mom.”
“How are you? I heard you’ve started studying.”
“Yes. I’m doing a master’s degree in psychology.”
“That’s good,” her mother said uncertainly. “And… are you renting out the apartment?”
“Yes. To good people.”
There was a pause.
“Anya, I… Maybe we said things we shouldn’t have said back then.”
“Mom, I’m not holding a grudge. You wanted to help Lena. I understand that. But I have my own life and my own plans.”
“And how is Lena?”
“She’s fine. She settled in. The children have adjusted to their new school.”
“You know, she says it may have worked out for the best. The neighborhood is quieter, and the neighbors are nice.”
Anna smiled. Of course, no one would openly admit they had been wrong, but it no longer mattered.
“Mom, come visit me. I’ll tell you about my studies.”
“I will. And… Anya?”
“Yes?”
“I’m proud of you. You’re strong.”
After the conversation, Anna stepped onto the balcony.
The evening city stretched out below her, the windows of the buildings glowing with warm light. Behind each window was a different life, with its own joys, problems, and decisions.
She thought about how easily people attached labels to others.
“Alone.”
“Incomplete.”
“Selfish.”
And yet behind every person was an entire world filled with meaning, dreams, and plans.
Anna was not alone.
She carried the memory of a love that continued to warm her.
She had a purpose that made life worth living.
She had the opportunity to help others by drawing upon her own experiences of pain and recovery.
Two apartments?
Yes, perhaps that was a lot for one person.
But she was not living in luxury. She was building the foundation of her future.
A future she had chosen herself, without looking back at other people’s ideas of how a woman was supposed to live.
The streetlights came on below, and the city began to sparkle.
It was beautiful.
Tomorrow would bring a new day, new lectures, and new discoveries.
And Anna was ready for them.
She was no longer hiding from life.
She was rebuilding it—according to her own rules, for her own goals, with respect for the memory of the past and faith in the future.
After all, everyone has the right to follow their own path.
And to own two apartments, too.
