Lida was climbing the stairs of a nine-story apartment building, holding a bag of groceries in one hand and a bag of children’s toys in the other. An October evening was settling over the city, and the dim light in the stairwell was already on. After a ten-hour workday at the insurance company office, all she wanted was to get home as quickly as possible to four-year-old Maxim.
Her husband Vitaly had not worked for the past six months. At first, he said he was looking for a suitable job, then he began blaming his poor health, and by autumn he had stopped leaving the house altogether. Lida supported the family alone. She did not complain, but the exhaustion grew heavier with each passing day.
That morning, the couple had another argument. Lida had asked her husband to at least pick their child up from kindergarten, but Vitaly refused, saying he had a headache. Then Lida said she was tired of being the only breadwinner in the family and that it was time for him to take responsibility.
“Do you think I’m an idiot and don’t see what’s going on?” Vitaly suddenly exploded. “You’ve found someone! That’s why nothing is ever good enough for you, that’s why you keep nagging me!”
Lida stared at her husband in confusion. There was no one in her life, not even remotely. All her free time went to work, their child, and household chores.
“Vitaly, what are you talking about? What someone?”
“Don’t pretend! You think I don’t notice how you’ve started dressing, how late you come home!”
“I come home late because I work! And I dress the same as always!”
But her husband was no longer listening. He slammed the door and went to his mother, who lived in the neighboring building. Lida was left to get the child ready for kindergarten and herself ready for work.
That evening, as she climbed to the seventh floor, Lida thought that it was time to have a serious talk with her husband. They could not go on living like this—one person dragging the entire family along while the other only accused and did nothing.
But on the landing in front of her apartment door, a surprise was waiting for her. Nina Fyodorovna, her mother-in-law, stood right by the door, arms spread wide, blocking the entrance.
“You don’t live here anymore! Get out!” the elderly woman shouted as soon as she saw her daughter-in-law.
Lida froze on the step, staring at her mother-in-law. The grocery bag slipped from her hand and fell to the floor. Frowning and tilting her head slightly, Lida tried to understand what she had just heard.
“Nina Fyodorovna, what is going on?” Lida asked quietly.
“You don’t know?” Her mother-in-law took a step forward, looming over her. “You think you can abandon your husband, abandon your child, and go wandering around with strangers?”
“I haven’t abandoned anyone. This is my apartment, and I’m asking you to move away from the door.”
“Yours?” Nina Fyodorovna laughed bitterly. “You are no longer the mistress here! My son told me everything! About your lover, about how you’re destroying the family!”
Lida slowly picked the bag up from the floor, trying to stay calm. She could not wrap her head around it—what lover, what was this even about? The only men in her life were her husband, her son, and her male colleagues at work.
“Nina Fyodorovna, I have the keys to the apartment. I live here legally. Please move aside.”
“I’m not moving anywhere!” her mother-in-law shouted, banging her fist against the door. “Since you’re so independent, since you don’t value your husband, go to your lover! There’s no place for you here anymore!”
Neighbors began peeking out because of the noise. The door across the hall opened slightly, and the worried face of Galina Ivanovna, the neighbor, appeared. Footsteps came from below—someone was climbing the stairs and had stopped on the landing beneath them, listening to the scandal.
“What kind of circus is this?” grumbled the neighbor from the eighth floor, looking out through his doorway.
Lida turned to the neighbors.
“Galina Ivanovna, you know this is my apartment, don’t you? That I’m registered here and pay the utilities?”
“Of course I know,” the neighbor nodded. “Lida, what’s going on?”
“They won’t let me into my own home,” Lida said, taking her phone out of her bag.
“Oh, look at her running to complain!” Nina Fyodorovna cried triumphantly. “Go on, call whoever you want! I’ll still throw you out of here!”
Lida calmly dialed the emergency service number.
“Good evening. I am not being allowed into my apartment. Address: Lenin Street, building eight, apartment forty-two. Yes, I am the owner. I have the documents with me.”
Nina Fyodorovna turned pale.
“What, you called the police? On your own mother-in-law?”
“On a person who is illegally preventing me from entering my own home.”
“How dare you! I’m not a stranger to you! I’m your child’s grandmother!”
“And that is exactly why your behavior is inappropriate. Maxim is inside alone, and you are making a scene on the stairs.”
Her mother-in-law faltered. Indeed, her grandson was left unattended in the apartment while she stood by the door and refused to let his mother reach him.
“Maxim… but he…”
“He is home alone because his father went to complain about his wife to his mother, while his mother was working to earn money for food.”
Galina Ivanovna frowned.
“Nina Fyodorovna, is the child really alone in the apartment? That’s dangerous!”
“I… Vitaly said…” the mother-in-law stammered, realizing she had gone too far.
“Vitaly said what?” Lida took a step toward the door. “That I had found someone? Where is the proof? When did you see this imaginary lover?”
“Well… he wouldn’t accuse you for no reason…”
“He would. Because he is ashamed to admit that his wife supports the family while he lies at home and does nothing.”
The landing filled with people. Neighbors from different floors leaned out of their doors, drawn by the shouting. Nina Fyodorovna looked around, realizing that the situation was slipping out of her control.
“Nina Fyodorovna,” Galina Ivanovna said quietly, “maybe you shouldn’t air family matters in front of everyone? Lida is a good woman. She has never brought anyone here.”
“How do you know?” the mother-in-law snapped.
“Because I live across the hall and I see who comes and goes. In five years, there hasn’t been a single strange man in that apartment.”
Voices came from below—the police officers were coming up. Nina Fyodorovna jerked toward the stairs, but her retreat had already been cut off.
“Good evening,” a young lieutenant greeted them politely after climbing onto the landing. “Who called?”
“I did,” Lida said, showing her documents. “I am not being allowed into my own apartment.”
The officer carefully examined her passport and registration certificate.
“Lidia Sergeyevna Krotova, apartment forty-two?”
“Yes.”
“And who are you?” the lieutenant turned to Nina Fyodorovna.
“I’m her mother-in-law. Nina Fyodorovna Krotova.”
“Are you registered here?”
“No, but…”
“Then on what grounds are you blocking the owner from entering her home?”
Nina Fyodorovna stood there in confused silence. Saying in front of the neighbors and the police that her daughter-in-law was cheating on her husband felt awkward, especially without any proof.
“You see, there are family problems here,” the mother-in-law muttered.
“Family problems are resolved within the family, not on a stairwell landing,” the lieutenant said sternly. “Clear the way.”
Nina Fyodorovna reluctantly moved away from the door. Lida inserted the key into the lock and opened the apartment. Maxim was sitting in the children’s room, playing with construction blocks, but when he heard his mother’s voice, he ran into the hallway.
“Mom!” the boy cried, hugging Lida’s legs. “Grandma was shouting behind the door. I got scared.”
“Everything is fine, sweetheart. Grandma was just worried.”
The police officer entered the apartment, made sure the child was all right, and drew up a report. Nina Fyodorovna stood in the hallway with her head lowered.
“Lidia Sergeyevna, if this happens again, contact us immediately,” the lieutenant said, closing his notebook. “You have every right to protect your home.”
When the police left, Lida closed the door and leaned back against it. Maxim clung to his mother’s skirt and quietly sobbed.
“Mom, where’s Dad?”
“Dad is at Grandma’s. He’ll come soon.”
But Lida was not sure her husband would return. And honestly, after today’s scandal, she did not really want him to. If Vitaly was ready to invent nonsense about lovers just to justify his own laziness, what kind of trust could there be?
Lida fed her son dinner, bathed him, and put him to bed. Only when Maxim had fallen asleep did she allow herself to think about what had happened. Her mother-in-law had clearly not acted on her own initiative—Nina Fyodorovna had never interfered in the young family’s affairs so actively before. That meant Vitaly had not simply complained to his mother about his wife. He had invented an entire story about infidelity.
Why? To look like the victim instead of a man who had been sitting at home for six months at his wife’s expense? To gain his mother’s support and justify his own inaction?
At half past ten, the phone rang. It was Vitaly.
“Lida, what are you doing? Mom told me you called the police!”
“Your mother prevented me from entering my own apartment. On what grounds?”
“She wanted to talk to you like a decent person!”
“Is shouting on the stairs what you call decent? And was the child supposed to sit home alone while your mother put on a performance?”
Vitaly was silent for a moment.
“Fine, maybe Mom went too far. But you understand why she reacted that way…”
“I understand. Because you told her about an imaginary lover.”
“Not imaginary! I can see what’s happening to you!”
“What exactly do you see, Vitaly? Name the facts.”
“You’ve changed. You’ve become cold, you’re always at work…”
“I became cold because I’m tired of supporting a grown man who does nothing. And I’m always at work because money doesn’t earn itself.”
“So there’s no one?”
“Of course there’s no one! Where would I even find time for a personal life if I’m carrying this family alone?”
Vitaly was silent again.
“Then I’m sorry. It’s just… it seemed to me…”
“Nothing seemed to you. You were looking for an excuse for your own laziness. It’s easier to accuse your wife of cheating than to admit you’re doing nothing for the family.”
“Lida, I understand that I was wrong…”
“Wrong? You turned your mother against me, she made a scandal in front of the neighbors, and she frightened our child. All because of your fantasies.”
“All right, I’ll come home and we’ll discuss everything…”
“Don’t come today. I need time to think.”
Lida ended the call and sat down in an armchair. Outside the window, autumn rain was pouring down, drops running along the glass and reflecting the streetlights. For the first time in a long while, the apartment was quiet and peaceful.
The next day, Lida woke up with a clear head and a firm decision. Vitaly had called all night, but her phone had been on silent. In the morning, she got Maxim ready for kindergarten and went to work as usual.
During her lunch break, her husband showed up at the office. He looked rumpled, his eyes red—apparently, he had not slept.
“Lida, I need to talk to you,” Vitaly said, sitting down on a chair beside his wife’s desk.
“Talk.”
“Yesterday Mom did something stupid. I didn’t ask her to make such a scene.”
“But you did tell her the story about the lover?”
Vitaly lowered his eyes.
“Yes. But I really thought…”
“You didn’t think. You were looking for excuses for the fact that you’ve been sitting at home for six months doing nothing.”
“All right, I admit it. I was wrong. Let’s forget all of this and start over.”
Lida set her pen aside and looked at her husband.
“Vitaly, are you ready to go to work tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow? But I still haven’t found anything suitable…”
“You see? You’re not ready to change anything. And I’m no longer willing to live under these conditions.”
“What do you mean?”
“Divorce. Through the court, since we have a child and shared property.”
Vitaly turned pale.
“Because of one argument? Lida, you can’t do this!”
“Not because of an argument. Because you prefer to accuse me of sins that don’t exist instead of taking responsibility for the family.”
“But Maxim… You’ll deprive the child of his father!”
“Maxim will not be deprived of his father. You will see your son according to a schedule. But we will live separately.”
Vitaly tried to persuade her. He promised to change, to find work, to help more around the house. But Lida saw in his eyes the panic of a man afraid of losing his provider, not a husband fighting for his family.
“The decision has been made,” Lida said firmly. “Tonight you will take your things and go to your mother.”
“And if I don’t leave?”
“I’ll call the police. Yesterday I already made sure the law is on my side.”
Vitaly stood up and headed toward the exit.
“You’ll regret this. It will be hard for you without a husband.”
“It hasn’t been hard for me without a husband for the past six months. It was hard with a husband who only consumes and gives nothing in return.”
That evening, Lida picked Maxim up from kindergarten and went home. There was no one on the landing—everything was quiet and calm. Vitaly came an hour later, silently packed his things, and carried them out in bags.
“Dad won’t live with us anymore?” Maxim asked, watching his father fold his clothes.
“No, sweetheart. But Dad will come visit you.”
“Why?”
“Because adults sometimes cannot live together. But Dad still loves you.”
Vitaly kissed his son goodbye and left without saying a word to his wife.
The following week, Lida filed for divorce. The process was not easy—she needed income statements, apartment documents, and Maxim’s birth certificate. But Lida methodically gathered everything required.
Nina Fyodorovna came twice, asking her to make peace with her son and promising not to interfere in the young family’s affairs anymore. But Lida was unshakable.
“Nina Fyodorovna, your son didn’t work for six months and lived at my expense. And when I asked him to take responsibility, he invented a story about infidelity and turned you against me. That isn’t a mistake—that’s character.”
“But he promises to change!”
“Promises are easy. Action is hard. I no longer believe his promises.”
Her mother-in-law left upset, and Lida returned to her household chores. For the first time in six months, the apartment was in order—no one scattered things around, no one left dirty dishes, no one lay on the sofa all day.
At first, Maxim missed his father, but he quickly got used to the new routine. His mother became calmer, played with him more, and read books to him. Vitaly came on weekends and took walks with his son, but he no longer asked to come back home.
A month later, the court set a date for the divorce hearing. Vitaly tried to claim half of the apartment, but the lawyer explained to him that the home had been purchased by Lida before the marriage with her own money. The husband only had a right to the furniture and household appliances bought during their married life.
“So I’m left with nothing?” Vitaly protested at the hearing.
“You have hands, an education, and the ability to work,” Lida replied calmly. “The sooner you start, the better it will be for everyone.”
The court divorced the spouses without obstacles. Maxim stayed with his mother, and his father received the right to see the child on weekends. Child support was set at one quarter of Vitaly’s official income, but since he had no official income, the amount turned out to be symbolic.
“What now?” her friend Olga asked when Lida told her the divorce process was over.
“Now we live peacefully. I work, Maxim grows up, no one makes scandals or accuses me of things I didn’t do.”
“And if Vitaly wants to come back?”
“He won’t. He needed a provider, not a wife. And he can’t provide for me.”
Lida turned out to be right. Vitaly lived with his mother for several months, then found a job and moved into a rented room. He no longer sought family life—apparently, he had realized that his comfortable existence at someone else’s expense was over forever.
Maxim got used to seeing his father on weekends. Sometimes they went to the park, sometimes to the movies. Vitaly gradually learned to be a father, not just a person who lived in the same apartment as his child.
And Lida finally felt like the mistress of her own life. No one stopped her from entering her own apartment, no one accused her of nonexistent sins, and no one expected her to support a healthy adult man.
Nina Fyodorovna occasionally called to ask about her grandson, but she no longer invited herself over. After that shameful evening on the stairwell landing, her mother-in-law understood that Lida was not someone to be trifled with. If a woman was willing to call the police on relatives, it meant she had boundaries, and crossing them was dangerous.
One winter evening, while putting Maxim to bed, Lida thought about how much life had changed in six months. Her child was healthy and happy, the apartment had become a real home instead of a place where she had to listen to accusations and support a dependent.
“Mom, you’re not sad anymore,” Maxim noticed, hugging his mother before sleep.
“Was I sad?”
“Yes. When Dad was home. But now you’re happy.”
Lida kissed her son on the forehead.
“Sometimes adults have to make difficult decisions so that things can become better for everyone.”
“And did things become better for us?”
“For me—definitely. And for you?”
Maxim thought for a moment.
“For me too. You play with me more now.”
Yes, the decision had been right. Lida no longer allowed her husband and his mother to control her life. Her own apartment remained her home alone, a place of peace and respect. And no one dared block her path anymore—neither to her own doorstep nor to her own happiness.