«He just used me. It’s like my eyes have been opened. Why didn’t I notice anything before? I must have been too naive. I trusted people too much. Now I’ll be more cautious. I used to think that this could happen to anyone, but not to me. Well, no, it turns out that no one is immune.
Until recently, my husband and I lived in my apartment, which my parents gave me before our wedding. It’s a very nice apartment, almost in the center of the city, but it was still too small for the two of us. Kolya kept telling me that someday we would buy a bigger apartment, or even build a house… He was just feeding me lines, in other words. He painted everything in colors, how he would find another job, how we would save money and… In short, he convinced me that he was uncomfortable living in my apartment, that it wouldn’t always be like this. In reality, everything was quite convenient for him. He was only a hard worker in words. In life, he didn’t lift a finger to fulfill his dreams. After all, my apartment was the limit of his dreams. And here he decided to really try his best.
It seemed to me that everything was fine between us. We never even argued. We lived as if we were soul to soul. We supported each other in everything. We shared everything that was on our minds with each other. Everything, but not everything, as it turned out… I thought I had found the man of my dreams. He was so caring, so charming. I just had to think of something, and he was ready to fulfill my wish. He tried his best to make sure I needed nothing, that I walked in silks and almost ate from golden dishes. Now I understand what all this was for.
My friends envied me. Their husbands didn’t spend as much time with them as my Kolya did with me. We constantly went somewhere with him: to parks, on rides, to the movies… Just like teenagers. I thought: how good it is that this fire, which many extinguish after the wedding, has not gone out for us. I lived and rejoiced. But I should have been thinking with my head…
It turns out that he didn’t court me for nothing. He fulfilled every whim of mine. He constantly had one thing on his mind… When I think about it now, I even get scared: how is it possible? Can someone be so hypocritical? Was there not a drop of sincerity in him all this time? Were our relationships just a game for him from the beginning to the end? No matter how hard I tried to convince myself otherwise, I had to admit that he was just a cheater and a heartless person.
But nothing foreshadowed trouble. There was peace and harmony in our family. Or at least, it seemed so to me. In reality, all this time he was harboring his cunning plans.
Kolya then worked in a coffee shop, and I was a gym administrator. It turned out that I earned more than he did, and Kolya was absolutely fine with that. As far as I understand, the coffee shop where he worked was not a very popular place, hardly anyone went there, so Kolya basically loafed around all day. If he wanted to, he could have found another job, there’s no problem with that in our city. But he needed nothing, he had already found a way to earn some money… For a while, I knew nothing about this way.
Most of the expenses were on me. Kolya promised that it wouldn’t always be like this, that one day he’d find a better job… But he only said that for the sake of saying something. He was quite comfortable sitting on my neck. Our budget was common, and he didn’t hesitate, without asking me, to buy front-row tickets for some match, tickets for himself and his friends. He said that he sometimes really needed to relax, that if he didn’t rest properly, he wouldn’t be able to work. Of course, of course, he really strained himself, bending his back at his work.
Otherwise, if we don’t touch on money issues, everything seemed wonderful… As if. Only that’s the thing, you can never leave money issues aside. Sometimes it is in them that a person shows himself.
As naive as I was, I still started to suspect something. It all started with finding a comb in our apartment. It wasn’t my comb, of that I’m sure. It never would have occurred to me to doubt my husband’s fidelity before. I thought he was still madly in love with me. And here you go: a stranger’s comb. I couldn’t get over this discovery for a long time.
What could I think? That my husband decided to take up hairdressing? Of course not. The answer was obvious: my husband was bringing someone home while I was at work. I didn’t tell Kolya about my find. I kept doubting, didn’t want to believe. He was still tender and gentle with me, and here’s how it all turned out… My tender and gentle beast.
‘How could he have the conscience?’ I thought. I had no idea that he simply didn’t have one. I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to be one hundred percent sure… If I had told him about the comb, he would have come up with something, and would have been more careful afterward. I wanted to catch him red-handed. For several days, I kept thinking about what to do, kept doubting.
But then one day I was sitting on the sofa reading, and suddenly I noticed a long black hair on the backrest. ‘No, this is too much,’ I said to myself then. I didn’t want to live in uncertainty. I needed to figure everything out for myself. Otherwise, I just wouldn’t have been able to sleep at night. I can’t imagine how you can live in the same house with a person who is deceiving you. Yeah, I can’t imagine, and yet I lived with a common swindler for so long.
To find out who exactly my husband was bringing home, I decided to install hidden cameras. When everything was ready, I started waiting. Every day I reviewed the recordings, but noticed nothing suspicious. I was already thinking of giving up on my idea: ‘What if Kolya accidentally notices the cameras… What then?’ I would probably have removed them, but an inner voice asked me to wait a little longer… And I listened to it. And not in vain. Soon I finally saw something interesting. The bird flew into the cage, just needed to close the door.
Once, while reviewing the video recordings, instead of a young beauty, I saw an elderly woman. I didn’t understand at first. But the next moment it dawned on me that I knew this woman too well, even too well. It was my dear mother-in-law. She didn’t come alone, Kolya was with her.
At first, I felt somewhat calmer: ‘The main thing is that he is faithful to me. How could I even suspect him of anything?’ I was already about to turn off the recording, thinking that Kolya just invited his mom over, what’s the big deal? He knows that we don’t get along, so he decided to spare me the need to smile at her and pour her tea… But what I heard made me shudder (I didn’t just install cameras, but also eavesdropping devices—I prepared for everything, and, as it turned out, not in vain).
‘I’ll send my wife on vacation, and then sell her apartment, I’ve already found buyers,’ I overheard my husband’s conversation.
I rewound that part of the recording several times. My eyes nearly popped out at his words. ‘And this is my Kolya speaking? The same Kolya who swore love and fidelity to me? Does he want to trick me like this? Well, dear, beloved, you picked the wrong one, this trick won’t work with me).
From the reaction of my mother-in-law to Kolya’s words, I understood that she was simply delighted with his plan. I, of course, knew that she had a grudge against me, but to go this far… This was a real conspiracy. And how long, I wonder, had they planned all this? Maybe Kolya got to know me specifically to get my apartment? What if he has a whole business? What if he’s courting someone else at the same time?
I needed to act, this couldn’t be left like that. I was indeed planning to take a vacation soon. I thought I’d spend it at my parents’ in the countryside, but Kolya suggested I go to the sea. He found everything, paid for everything. He had never tried so hard for me before. He had never been so accommodating, so caring.
He kept telling me how good it would be for me there, what the beaches were like, what the air was like… I agreed with everything, thanked him. And he kept dismissing it: no need for thanks, but that’s what a husband is for, to please his wife. I’ve been too long without the sea, always working and working, it’s time to know my limits. I just nodded in response.
He really tried: he booked a room in a four-star hotel, just a hundred meters from the sea. Just a dream, I think, not a vacation. And not just for one week, but for two he was sending me there.
In the last days, which I had to live with him under one roof, I was amazed by his acting talent. He was all attention, just the perfect husband… I was constantly afraid that he would somehow find out what I knew… I, of course, removed the cameras after finding out everything I wanted.
Even my mother-in-law started treating me better in those last days. She came with pies, you understand. She said how wonderful and remarkable I was. How lucky her son was with me. ‘Well,’ I think, ‘no, that’s nonsense. Your son wasn’t lucky with me. You won’t be able to lead me by the nose anymore.’
And then one day, when he, as usual, after filling me with his tender words, finally left for his shift (before that he decided to take a vacation so that nothing would distract him from implementing his plan), I called a locksmith and changed the locks. Right after that, I felt much calmer. His feet would no longer be in my apartment. I was glad that I outsmarted him. All this time, he, of course, thought that I could just be played with, that I wouldn’t notice what he was doing right under my nose. He probably thought he was very smart and cunning, a great schemer found. Well, I’m not made of straw either.
When he came back and tried to open the door, he was probably very surprised. I wish I had seen his eyes then. He started knocking and ringing, asking what was wrong. I didn’t hide from him what was wrong. I told him straight up about everything: I know what he was planning to do, and also I know that he wouldn’t succeed. He, of course, pretended that he had no idea what I was talking about. He asked me to open up so that we could discuss everything… Maybe there was some misunderstanding… But what kind of misunderstanding can there be when I have a recording of his words? He pleaded with me, begged, and I just laughed at him. How far is he willing to humiliate himself to get my apartment. Again and again, he told me stories about how he loves me and can’t live without me. I listened at first, and then stopped, turned the music up louder, got some ice cream, and went out on the balcony to enjoy the first days of summer. When I came back from the balcony a couple of hours later, he was still at the door, his voice hoarse from talking.
No, I didn’t feel sorry for him. Let his mom feel sorry for him, but I won’t. I just had a few formalities left to officially part with him. And I removed them. It turned out to be not at all difficult. After everything was done, I felt free. In addition, I was finally safe.
Soon I went to the sea. Only in one thing was my ex-husband right: I really love the sea, and I hadn’t been there for a long time. Always working and working, it’s really time to relax a bit. In the end, I think I deserved it.
I don’t know what will happen with Kolya next, but I’m somehow not interested. The main thing is that he stays away from me. I don’t want to see him anymore. I hope now he’s biting his elbows and waiting for his next paycheck. He’s still lucky that he got off so easily. Let him know, jokes are bad with me.
From now on I will be more cautious. I hope I will still learn to trust people. After everything that happened to me, I can’t be completely sure of anyone. Everyone seems too suspicious to me now. I won’t tell anyone anymore that I have an apartment. I hope I will still find a person who will love me for who I am, not for what I have…
Now I know how important it is to sometimes take the first step, to not live in doubts, to not let yourself be deceived. The main thing is not to be afraid and start acting, make decisions, take your destiny into your own hands, then no Kolyas and no mother-in-laws will be scary to you.»
