Oksana plugged in her phone to charge and only then realized she was smiling. Sometimes good news sinks in before your mind catches up. The bonus arrived at the end of October—unexpectedly, though she had earned it. The project had dragged on for eight months, and no one had really counted the overtime. Now the accounting department had transferred an amount that finally let her breathe easy.
Alexei found out that evening. Oksana told him herself, simply and without ceremony. She poured some tea and said, “You know, I’ve saved everything I need for my share of the wedding now.”
Her fiancé looked so delighted that she almost laughed. He stood up, hugged her, and then talked for ages about how they could finally choose a date, book a restaurant, and call a photographer. Oksana listened and thought: It’s really happening.
They both wanted a modest wedding with the people closest to them. About thirty guests, a nice venue, live music. Nothing lavish, and no long toasts from relatives they barely knew. Oksana’s parents knew about the plans, wished them well, and stayed out of the way. That was one of the things she appreciated about them.
Alexei’s mother was another matter.
Galina Yuryevna lived outside the city in a house she had inherited after her husband died six years earlier. It was a large, solid house, but it needed constant attention. First the roof, then the pipes, then the yard. Galina Yuryevna dealt with it all herself as best she could, and took every opportunity to remind her son that her means were limited.
Alexei called her two days after his conversation with Oksana. Oksana didn’t hear what they said; she was in another room sorting through documents. He spoke for a long time, quietly. Then he came into the kitchen with a strange expression on his face.
“I told Mom about your bonus,” he said, sitting down at the table.
“Why?” Oksana looked up.
“Well, she asked how things were going. It just came up.”
Oksana shrugged. It had come up, then. No harm done.
A week later, Alexei spoke to his mother again. This time Oksana heard something from the kitchen—not his words, but his tone. His voice was gentle and cautious, as if he already knew the conversation would be difficult.
Alexei came back and sat opposite her. He was silent for a moment.
“Mom says we could postpone the wedding,” he finally said.
Oksana set down her mug.
“What do you mean?”
“Well… the renovations on her house have stopped. She ran out of money halfway through. She thought we might be able to help.”
“How, exactly?” Oksana asked evenly, because she still didn’t quite understand.
“Well… with your bonus. Temporarily.”
Oksana stared at him in silence. Then she nodded slowly, as though checking that she had heard correctly.
“So she wants me to give her the money I saved for our wedding—to renovate her house.”
“Not give it to her.” Alexei winced slightly. “Help her. Temporarily. She’ll pay it back.”
“Alexei, I saved that money for the wedding. We agreed we’d pay for it ourselves. I worked on that project for more than six months.”
“I understand.” He lowered his eyes to the table. “It’s just that Mom says the work has stopped, the contractors are waiting, and she has no money. She feels awkward asking, but…”
“And how am I supposed to feel?” Oksana interrupted. Her voice came out quieter than she intended. “How am I supposed to feel about this?”
Alexei didn’t answer. He looked past her. Oksana got up, poured herself a glass of water, and drank it standing by the sink. The silence stretched on.
“I’m not giving her the money,” Oksana finally said. “That isn’t up for discussion.”
Alexei nodded, so slightly she could barely see it. She couldn’t tell whether he agreed or had merely heard her.
Two peaceful days passed, and Oksana almost decided the matter was closed. Then Galina Yuryevna called her directly, on Oksana’s phone, although she had previously called only her son.
“Hello, Oksanka,” her future mother-in-law said in a warm, almost affectionate voice. “I wanted to talk to you myself, without anyone in the middle. Are you busy?”
“No. Go ahead.”
“I realize Lyosha didn’t explain it properly. He always mumbles.” Galina Yuryevna gave a quiet laugh. “Don’t think I’m asking for a gift. Just lend me a little for a couple of months. Half my house is torn apart, and the workers left the job unfinished. Everything’s at a standstill. Do you understand?”
“I do,” Oksana said. “But I saved that money for a specific purpose. For the wedding.”
“But the wedding isn’t tomorrow!” Galina Yuryevna sounded almost cheerful. “Can’t you wait a little? You’re young. You have time. Meanwhile, my roof is unfinished, pipes are sticking out in one of the rooms, and winter’s coming.”
“I understand that you’re in a difficult situation,” Oksana replied. “But I’ve been planning my share of the expenses for a long time. I’m not prepared to change those plans.”
There was a pause.
“So you’re refusing,” Galina Yuryevna said. Her tone changed at once. It wasn’t angry yet, but the warmth was gone.
“Yes.”
Galina Yuryevna said a brief goodbye and hung up.
Oksana put down her phone and looked out the window. Several pots of herbs stood on the sill—basil, mint, and something else. One of them had needed watering for ages, and she kept forgetting. For some reason, she noticed it now.
Alexei barely spoke that evening. He ate in silence and looked at something on his phone. Oksana left him alone. She understood that this was hard for him. His mother was pressuring him, and he was caught in the middle. It was unpleasant. But there were different ways to stand in the middle.
On the third day, Galina Yuryevna came over in person.
Oksana opened the door to find her future mother-in-law on the doorstep, wearing a coat and carrying a large bag. She looked like someone determined to settle the matter immediately. Alexei stood behind her. He had clearly known his mother was coming and, for some reason, hadn’t warned Oksana.
“Good afternoon,” Oksana said evenly, stepping aside to let them in.
Galina Yuryevna entered the hallway, looked around, and hung her coat on a hook without being asked.
“Come into the living room,” Oksana said. “Would you like tea?”
“No tea.” Galina Yuryevna walked into the living room and sat in an armchair. “I came so we could talk properly, person to person. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Go ahead.” Oksana sat on the sofa. Alexei stood in the doorway with his arms crossed.
“Oksana,” Galina Yuryevna began. Her voice was different now—neither affectionate, as it had been on the phone, nor angry. Just direct. “Lyosha told me how much your bonus was. I understand it’s your money. But I’m asking you to understand my situation. The work on my house stopped halfway through. The contractors have been waiting for over a month. I’ll pay you back by spring; I have a way to get the money. But right now, I need help.”
“I heard you,” Oksana said. “You already explained this over the phone.”
“You didn’t want to listen over the phone.”
“I listened to everything you said. And I answered.”
Galina Yuryevna placed her hands on her knees and sat up straight.
“You do understand that I’m Lyosha’s mother? That I’m his family?”
“I do.” Oksana said nothing more.
“Then why are you refusing to help? We’re not strangers.”
“Galina Yuryevna, the money we’re talking about is money I saved for my wedding to Alexei. We want to get married in the next few months. That’s what the money is for.”
“What wedding?” Galina Yuryevna threw up her hands. “Half my house is torn apart! The workers started pulling things out, and now everything’s just sitting there! When winter comes, am I supposed to live in a house that’s half dismantled?”
“It’s your house,” Oksana replied calmly. “And it’s your renovation. I’m sorry you’re in this situation, but it isn’t a reason to change the plans Alexei and I made.”
Galina Yuryevna turned to her son.
“Lyosha, say something to her. Explain that people don’t behave like this.”
Alexei was silent. He stared at the floor, his fingers gripping his sleeve.
“Oksana,” he finally said quietly, “maybe we really could… find a way? Just temporarily.”
Oksana looked at Alexei for a long moment. Then she glanced at Galina Yuryevna and back at him.
“What does ‘temporarily’ mean?” she asked. “You want me to put money I earned into a house that has nothing to do with me, then wait to get it back—and postpone our wedding in the meantime?”
“Well, maybe we could move the date.” Alexei shrugged without looking at her. “By six months. It isn’t the end of the world.”
“No,” Oksana said, short and firm.
Galina Yuryevna rose from the armchair.
“All right, then,” she said. The softness was gone from her voice, along with any attempt to sound understanding. “Let me explain this simply. You earned that money, yes. But you’re going to marry my son. That means his family is your family now. And when a family has a problem, a decent person doesn’t say no. A decent person helps.”
“I earned the bonus myself,” Oksana replied evenly. “And I’ll spend it on what I saved it for. Our wedding.”
“What wedding are you talking about?” Galina Yuryevna threw up her hands again. “The renovations on my house have stopped! There are rooms without finished ceilings, exposed pipes, and workers waiting! And you keep talking to me about a wedding?”
“Yes, the wedding,” Oksana said. “Because Alexei and I made these plans, and I saved this money for them. I’m not going to change that.”
Galina Yuryevna turned sharply toward her son, almost accusingly, as though Alexei were to blame for the way the conversation was going.
“Lyosha. Do you hear what your fiancée is saying?”
Alexei slowly moved away from the doorway. He came into the room and sat on the sofa—not beside Oksana, but at the other end. He rubbed the bridge of his nose.
“Oksana,” he began carefully, “I understand this is unpleasant for you. But Mom’s right that the house is urgent. The wedding… well, the wedding can wait. Six months won’t change anything.”
“Alexei,” Oksana said, “your mother has no claim to my bonus. Legally or otherwise. It’s money I earned at my job.”
“No one’s saying it isn’t your money,” Alexei said with another shrug. “But we’re going to be a family. Families help one another.”
“We aren’t a family yet. And even if we were, that wouldn’t mean I had to pay for someone else’s renovation.”
“Someone else’s?” Galina Yuryevna raised her head. “That’s Lyosha’s house! He grew up there! It’s his house too!”
“It’s your house, Galina Yuryevna,” Oksana replied. “It’s in your name. They’re your renovations and your contractors.”
The room fell silent for several seconds. Galina Yuryevna looked at Oksana with an expression she had never seen on her before. It wasn’t irritation, and she was no longer trying to persuade her. It was something colder.
“You’re greedy,” Galina Yuryevna finally said. “Plain greedy. I thought you were a decent girl. Lyosha said you were smart and hardworking. But you’re just greedy.”
“Mom,” Alexei said with a grimace. “Don’t.”
“Why not?” she demanded, raising her voice. “She refuses to help when we have a problem. That’s greed. What else would you call it?”
“I’d call it ‘my money, my choice,’” Oksana said.
“Exactly!” Galina Yuryevna slapped the arm of the chair. “My money, my choice! You only think about yourself! You don’t care that we’ll face a cold winter in a house that isn’t finished!”
Alexei stood up, walked to the window, and turned his back to them.
“Oksana,” he said without turning around. “I’m asking you. Not as your fiancé. As a person. Help us now. Please.”
Oksana looked at Alexei’s back, at his slightly slumped shoulders. He was standing apart from her by the window, on his mother’s side of the room. Suddenly, the picture became so clear that there was nothing left to think through.
“Alexei,” she said quietly. “Do you understand what you’re asking?”
“I do.”
“No. You’re asking me to put the money I saved for our wedding into a house that has nothing to do with me. And you’re supporting your mother after she just called me greedy.”
Alexei turned around. He looked bewildered.
“I’m not… I’m just trying to find a solution.”
“You’ve already found one,” Oksana replied. “You’ve decided my opinion doesn’t matter.”
Galina Yuryevna started talking again—about responsibility, about what a wife should be, about the house and the coming winter. Her words seemed to come from every direction, catching at Oksana and pressing in on her. As Oksana listened, she felt something inside her grow tired. It wasn’t the argument that exhausted her. It was what she now understood.
She could suddenly see the years ahead. Galina Yuryevna would have another problem. Alexei would stand by the window. And the same question would come again: would she help or not? Once more, she would have to choose between her own plans and someone else’s renovation. Or someone else’s debt. Or someone else’s anything.
Oksana looked at her engagement ring. It was delicate, with a small stone. Alexei had spent a long time choosing it. He’d brought it to her in a little box and had been a bit nervous when he put it on her finger. That had mattered then. Now she simply looked at it.
Then she took it off.
Alexei noticed first. He froze.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
Oksana stood, walked over to him, and placed the ring in his hand.
“There won’t be a wedding,” she said. “At all.”
Alexei looked at his palm, then at Oksana.
“You’re serious.”
“Yes.”
“Because of one conversation?” His voice faltered. “Because of one argument with my mother?”
“Not because of the argument. Because of what you did during it.”
Galina Yuryevna stepped closer. Her face was flushed, and her eyes held something like anger mixed with confusion.
“You’re breaking off the engagement over money?” she said. “Over some renovation? Do you even understand what you’re doing?”
“I do,” Oksana replied. “Better than I did a few minutes ago.”
“Lyosha, say something to her! She’s lost her mind!”
Alexei said nothing. He looked at the ring in his palm, then raised his head.
“Oksana, don’t make this decision right now, while you’re upset. Let Mom leave, and we’ll sit down and talk properly.”
“We’ve been talking properly for two weeks,” Oksana said. “On the phone and here today. I explained the same thing every time. And every time, you took her side.”
“I didn’t take her side. I asked you to find a compromise!”
“A compromise means both people give something up. You only asked me to give something up.”
Alexei closed his fist around the ring.
“Don’t do this,” he said quietly. “Please. We’ve been together for three years.”
“I know,” Oksana said. And she did. Three years was a long time. But it didn’t erase what had happened in that room over the past hour.
Galina Yuryevna was still talking. She said Oksana was hurting herself, that she shouldn’t throw away this opportunity, that Lyosha was a good man and his fiancée didn’t appreciate him. Her words were loud, but Oksana had stopped listening. Everything that mattered had already been said. The decisive moment had come earlier, when Alexei stood by the window and asked her to help, standing apart from her and siding with his mother.
“I’d like you both to leave,” Oksana said evenly, looking first at Alexei and then at Galina Yuryevna. “This is my apartment.”
“We aren’t finished,” Galina Yuryevna said, drawing herself up.
“I am,” Oksana replied, and walked into the hallway.
She opened the door and stood beside the frame. She didn’t shout or explain anything more. She simply waited.
Galina Yuryevna left first. She didn’t say goodbye. She took her bag from the hook and went out without even looking at Oksana. Alexei lingered in the hallway. He put on his jacket slowly, as if hoping something would change in those thirty seconds.
“Oksana,” he said at the threshold, “you know Mom is always like this. It doesn’t mean we can’t build a life together.”
“I need a man who stands beside me,” Oksana replied. “Not a mama’s boy.”
Alexei went out. The door closed.
Oksana stood in the hallway for a while. Then she went into the living room, moved the armchair back into place, and picked up a cushion Galina Yuryevna had pushed onto the floor while she spoke. She poured herself a glass of water and drank it by the sink.
Her phone lay on the table. An hour later, Alexei sent her a long message about their three years together, about how she was making a mistake, about how his mother had been wrong but he couldn’t leave her alone with her problem. Oksana read it. She didn’t reply.
Galina Yuryevna wrote the next day. Her message was shorter and angrier. She said Oksana would regret this, that people shouldn’t make decisions in the heat of the moment, and that Lyosha deserved better.
Oksana deleted the message and blocked her number.
Alexei called several more times that week. Oksana answered once. She listened, promised nothing, and asked him not to call again. He stopped calling.
The wedding was canceled. The money remained untouched. Oksana opened a separate savings account and moved everything she had set aside into it. It wasn’t for anything in particular now. She would simply let it sit there.
Work carried on as usual. The next project was already waiting—a big one, with a good team. In November, she was promised another quarter of interesting work. Oksana thought about it over her morning coffee and realized she was looking forward to it, without other people’s demands and renovations weighing on her mind.
She finally watered the basil on the windowsill. It recovered within a few days, standing upright again with its little leaves and a strong, pleasant scent. A small thing, but a nice one.
Sometimes Oksana thought about Alexei. Not bitterly; she simply remembered him. The care he had taken choosing the ring. How nervous he’d been. The time, during their first year together, when they drove somewhere in October and came home late, laughing in the car about something silly. All of that had been real. But so was the moment he stood by the window and asked her to give in, without noticing how much he himself had already given in.
She still had her money. The wedding hadn’t happened. Life went on quietly, at its own pace, without other people’s voices filling her hallway.
Oksana didn’t consider it a loss.
