On the fridge in their new apartment, Sergey noticed a list of guests and tasks. Next to his older brother’s name, it read: “Table, chairs, tools.” Olga—his wife—wasn’t mentioned at all, even though she’d spent three months greeting workers here and scrubbing the tiles clean after construction.
“Did Larisa forget to write someone down?” Sergey asked, running his finger over the list.
Andrey blamed it on the kitchen assembly being moved to Saturday and quickly changed the subject.
They asked for help before inviting as guests
Andrey was six years younger than Sergey and had always relied on him since childhood. Whether it was moving a wardrobe or fixing the car, he always called his older brother. Sergey worked as a mechanic at a bus depot—he was handy and rarely said no.
Sergey and Olga’s son was away studying in another city. They lived modestly, slowly saving up for repairs to their summer house. Olga worked shifts as a storekeeper at a hardware shop. She got along with her younger brother-in-law, but with Larisa—his wife—things were getting more difficult.
Andrey and Larisa bought a two-bedroom apartment in a new building. With the mortgage, renovations, and new furniture, their money disappeared much faster than expected. Larisa wanted everything to look beautiful, and insisted it should all be ready for the housewarming. Sometimes Andrey suggested they save a bit, but she’d just show him other people’s interior photos and insist: you renovate not for one year, but for many.
Even during the move, Larisa ordered the brothers to rearrange the furniture a number of times. Andrey obediently moved boxes from room to room—even when everything was already in place.
A week later, Larisa asked Olga to meet the electrician. He was almost two hours late, then took a long time checking all the outlets. Olga swapped work shifts and spent most of her day in her relatives’ apartment. When Larisa got home, she ran her finger along the dusty windowsill.
“You could’ve at least wiped it down. You were here anyway,” Larisa said.
Olga was packing her lunch container into her bag. She replied that she came to let the electrician in, not to clean the apartment. Larisa immediately took offense—how could she not spare five minutes for family?
At home, Olga told her husband everything, but asked him not to call Andrey: everyone was exhausted by the renovations. A few days later, Larisa insisted Olga sew curtains for both rooms. Olga offered to hem some ready-made drapes, but refused to start from scratch—work inventory was going on at her job.
At Sunday lunch at Valentina Petrovna’s, the brothers’ mother, Larisa loudly complained that now even relatives send you to the tailor instead of helping. Olga couldn’t hold back and pointed out that the tailor had actually given her a very reasonable price.
“See?” Larisa said to her mother-in-law. “Now even here I’m being told how to spend my money.”
Valentina Petrovna set the ladle down by the pot and asked everyone not to argue at the table. Sergey stayed silent again. On the way home, Olga asked why he always waits for his younger brother to fix everything himself. Sergey grumbled that he doesn’t want every family Sunday to turn into a showdown.
Half was a gift, the other half was silently put on their tab
The kitchen cost 540,000 rubles, including custom fabrication and installation. Larisa insisted on tall cabinets and an expensive countertop. Andrey suggested postponing the order since the renovations had drained their savings, but the housewarming date was already set.
One day, while helping his brother carry out construction debris, Sergey found out that they hadn’t actually ordered the kitchen yet. That evening, he talked it over with Olga and suggested they give the young couple half the cost of the kitchen as a gift.
“Two hundred seventy thousand?” his wife repeated, placing a washed plate in the rack. “That’s what we’ve been saving up for the roof.”
“The roof can wait. Andryukha is struggling with the mortgage and doing his best. Let’s help them out, just this once.”
Olga agreed, but asked to set the exact amount right away. After the curtain incident, she didn’t want any misunderstandings. Sergey promised to explain everything clearly.
They all went to the furniture salon together: Andrey, Larisa, and Sergey. Andrey signed the contract for making and installing the kitchen. According to the terms, half had to be paid upfront with the rest due within three working days after installation and inspection. Sergey transferred 270,000 rubles to the firm, referencing the contract number. The sales associate gave Andrey a payment confirmation.
“This is from Olga and me—a gift,” Sergey said as they left the showroom. “Will you be able to handle the rest?”
“Of course,” his brother replied. “We’ve put some money aside for a car. If we need to, we’ll use that.”
Soon after, during lunch at Valentina Petrovna’s, Larisa boasted that almost three hundred thousand had been saved up for a car. While chopping vegetables for salad, Olga awkwardly asked if they might have to spend that money on the kitchen for now.
“Are you tallying our expenses again?” Larisa set her phone aside. “The kitchen’s almost paid for. Do we have to be reminded of every ruble of your gift until we’re old?”
Olga apologized for the clumsy question, but Larisa kept talking about how you shouldn’t bring up help as leverage. Sergey couldn’t take it:
“No one’s holding it over you. You both promised to pay the remaining amount yourselves.”
After lunch, Andrey asked his brother not to argue with his wife. When pressed on where the other 270,000 would come from, he just answered, “We’ll figure it out.”
There was no spot for Olga on the guest list
The kitchen installation was moved by the company from Thursday to Saturday—the same day as the housewarming. Andrey suggested postponing the celebration, but Larisa refused. She asked Olga to be there in the morning to let in the installers since she’d be busy cooking.
“I can’t, I have a shift,” Olga replied. “And Andrey will be home that Saturday.”
“Can’t you switch shifts? Is it really so hard to do this for us, just for one day?”
After Olga refused, Larisa ended the conversation. On Wednesday, Sergey came by for his tools and saw that same list hanging on the fridge, but Andrey didn’t want to talk about it.
That evening, Larisa called herself. She asked for the table to be delivered early, then spoke in the same businesslike tone she used to assign tasks during the renovation:
“I’m not expecting your wife at the housewarming. You can come, but leave Olga at home. I don’t want to hear any comments in my own apartment.”
“Larisa, she helped you so much with the move. Are you serious?”
“She did help—a lot, no one argues. But this is my celebration, and I choose the guests. If you don’t like it, don’t come.”
“Then I won’t come.”
Larisa was furious: he’s Andrey’s own brother, yet lets his wife make decisions for him. Sergei replied that he and his wife always make choices together. After the call, he texted Andrey to say they wouldn’t be attending the celebration and reminded him about settling the remaining payment for the kitchen.
Andrey called right back, asking Sergei not to be upset with his wife. Sergei stood by the window, listening, and then asked:
“Did you hear how she refused to invite Olga?”
“I heard. But the apartment belongs to Larisa too.”
“But Olga’s help is fine with you, isn’t it?”
His brother didn’t answer. Instead, he asked if Sergei would bring the table. The oldest brother told Andrey he could pick it up from the garage himself.
Olga caught the tail end of the conversation. She took the dress she’d set aside for Saturday off the hanger, smoothed the sleeve, and hung it back in the closet. Sergei told her about Larisa’s call without sugarcoating anything. Olga neither cried nor argued—instead, she just asked why he hadn’t set conditions with his brother earlier, when she was still helping with the workers.
“I thought you would make up,” Sergei admitted.
“And I thought you’d at least tell them once that I don’t have to earn an invitation.”
On Thursday, Andrey picked up the folding table and chairs from the garage. As the brothers loaded them into the car, Andrey again promised that the kitchen payment would be discussed with Larisa.
“Just don’t count on me paying a second time,” Sergei warned.
“Yeah, I get it!” Andrey snapped as he slammed the trunk shut.
The assembler asked the most awkward question
The installers arrived around eleven on Saturday. Andrey moved the boxes out of the way and covered the floor with cardboard. The countertop needed to be trimmed near the pipe, and a cabinet door had to be adjusted, so the workers stayed until the guests started arriving.
The day before, Andrey reminded his wife about the remaining payment. She insisted that Sergei would surely add more money and she wouldn’t touch the car savings—they’d been saving up almost two years.
“So what are we going to do?” Andrey asked.
“We’ll figure it out after the party. Don’t ruin my mood.”
The first guests arrived at ten to five. Their mother brought a pie and Andrey’s friends gave flowers. Coats were hung in the hallway, shoes placed by the cabinet. Salads were already set out in the living room.
By five o’clock, Nikolai had finished. He asked Andrey to check the cabinet doors, drawers, and countertop. Andrey opened the doors and pulled out the drawers several times, made sure everything worked, and signed the acceptance form. The assembler pulled the company’s payment sheet from his folder.
“Here’s your copy. So, who will pay the remaining 270,000? By contract, you have three business days after installation. I’ll leave the invoice with the client, and payment is transferred to the company.”
Larisa overheard the sum from the kitchen door. She came in carrying a plate of cut vegetables and set it at the end of the table.
“What do you mean, who? Sergei will pay. He made the first payment, after all.”
Nikolai looked at Andrey and calmly explained that Andrey was listed as the client. Who helped with the initial payment wasn’t the workers’ concern; the remaining amount was Andrey’s responsibility. Larisa turned to her husband.
“Call your brother. Let him explain why he left us hanging in front of everyone.”
Andrey asked her to lower her voice, but by then a few guests had already come out from the living room. Nikolai closed his folder and his assistant carried out the tools.
Sergey didn’t answer the phone right away—they were at the store with Olga, picking out paint for their summerhouse gazebo. Andrey started to explain that the workers had finished, but Larisa grabbed the phone from him and switched to speaker mode.
“Sergey, if you decided to give your brother a gift, why can’t you see it through?” she asked loudly. “We have guests here, and the workers, and now you’re making us look like we don’t pay our bills.”
Sergey replied that he and Olga had given exactly 270,000, just as promised. The rest was Andrey’s responsibility.
“But you’re family!” Larisa protested. “Or does your wife decide when you can help out?”
“It was Olga’s idea to give the money. We’d been saving up for several years. And you didn’t even want to invite her to your table.”
By the hallway door, one of the guests awkwardly moved some shoes and went back to the table.
“I’m the hostess and I don’t have to put up with her lecturing me!”
“That’s your right. But you don’t have the right to control our wallet.”
The conversation in the living room died down. Andrey took the phone from his wife.
“Sergey, that’s enough. Sorry for calling you. I’ll handle everything myself,” he said, turning off speaker mode.
Andrey took the documents from Nikolay, clarified the address to confirm the payment, and saw the collectors off to the elevator. Coming back, he overheard his wife complaining to her mother about the relatives.
“Larisa,” Andrey said in front of the guests, “my brother already paid 270,000 for our kitchen. We’re responsible for the rest. I told you this before.”
Valentina Petrovna silently walked into the living room. One of their friends gently suggested they finally sit down at the table. Andrey brought the missing plates from the kitchen and set them out for the guests. Larisa stayed standing next to the new kitchen set.
In the end, they had to pay for the celebration themselves.
The guests left earlier than usual. Andrey’s mother helped put the dishes in the sink and went home. Larisa was almost silent all evening, and Andrey served tea and reheated the food by himself.
After the last guest left, Andrey sat next to his wife. She was looking at photos of the car they’d been saving up for on her phone.
“Tomorrow we’ll transfer the money for the kitchen,” Andrey said. “There’s enough in our savings account.”
“So that means I don’t get the car?”
“Not yet. We ordered the furniture ourselves and I signed the contract. Sergey warned us twice.”
Larisa suggested borrowing from Valentina Petrovna, or calling Sergey again, but Andrey refused: his mother’s pension was small, and his older brother had already made a gift. They talked until almost midnight. Larisa never admitted she’d demanded too much, but in the morning she opened her banking app and transferred her savings to Andrey’s account. He sent 270,000 to the company and forwarded the payment confirmation.
continued in the comments
On Monday, Larisa canceled the appointment to see the car she’d been saving for.
That evening, Andrey called his brother to let him know the kitchen was paid for and to apologize for the drama. Larisa, however, still feels wronged.
“I wasn’t even there,” Sergey remarked. “How could we have ruined her celebration if she never invited us?”
Andrey didn’t argue. That was the end of their conversation.
At the next family dinner, Andrey showed up without his wife. Olga came to the table a little later than everyone else. Andrey pulled out a chair for her and admitted he should have stood up for her back during the argument about the curtains.
“It’s not about the curtains,” Olga replied. “What upset me was that you would accept help from me, and then talk to me like I was the help.”
Andrey nodded. No one brought up the topic again at the table.
Two weeks later, Larisa messaged Sergey and asked him to move a dresser to her mother’s place. In the past, he would have immediately started searching for furniture straps and checked his schedule for Sunday.
This time, he just sent her the number for a moving taxi. On Monday, Andrey informed their mother that the dresser had been moved and that they had paid for the delivery themselves.
Sergey read Larisa’s brief message: “Thank you, we’ve taken care of it,” put his phone down on the shelf in the hallway, and went to help Olga hang up the freshly washed curtains in the bedroom.