“You…”
“I don’t even know what to say.
I thought you left.”
“And you got married,” she said calmly.
“They told me you disappeared, that you were with someone else. I searched for you, but my father… he did everything to make sure I didn’t believe you.”
They stood facing each other, like two people between whom—years of pain, oblivion, and silence. Viktor extended his hand:
“Shall we talk?”
They stepped out into the hallway.
Svetlana walked slowly, but she didn’t tremble. She was no longer the girl who had been humiliated. Now—she was a woman who had survived hell and lived through it.
“I had a child,” she said.
“While I was in prison. From you. And I raised him.
Without you.”
Viktor closed his eyes. Something inside him broke.
“Where is he?”
“Over there, in the hall. At the wedding.”
The man turned pale.
“Sasha?”
“Yes.
He’s our son.”
A pause. Just footsteps on the cold floor and the muffled sound of music from the hall.
“I have to see him. Talk to him.”
“He’s not ready yet,” Svetlana replied.
“But one day, he will see. That’s it. I’m not holding a grudge.
It’s just… everything is different now.”
They returned to the hall. Viktor offered her to dance. A waltz.
Light, almost weightless. They spun around, and the guests watched. Sasha stood, unmoving.
He didn’t understand: who was this man? Why did mom look like she belonged in this world? Why was everyone looking at her, not him?
And for the first time in his life, he felt ashamed.
Ashamed of every word he had said, of his indifference, of the years he had spent thinking he knew everything. Ashamed that he hadn’t seen her—truly.
When the music stopped, he approached his mother:
“Mom… Wait… Who is this?”
Svetlana looked him in the eyes. Smiled—not with bitterness, but with warmth, where pain and understanding mixed.
“This is Viktor.
Your father.”
Sasha froze. The surrounding world felt distant, as if underwater. He shifted his gaze from one to the other.
“You… serious?”
“Very.”
Viktor stepped forward:
“Hi, Sasha.
I’m Viktor.”
Silence. No one said a word. Just looks.
Just the truth hanging in the air.
“To the three of us,” Svetlana said, “we have a long and difficult conversation ahead.”
And they walked out together. Not loudly, not theatrically. Simply—beginning a new life.
Without lies. Without past hurts. With the truth.
And, perhaps, with forgiveness.
