fort to keep calm, “Igor and I had planned…”

“What had you planned?” the mother-in-law interrupted again. “To kick me out?

When I have problems?”

“Mom, maybe…” Igor started, but stopped under the sharp gaze of his mother.

“What, son? Are you against me now?” Tears glistened in Alla Sergeyevna’s eyes. “I raised you, brought you up, and now you’re kicking me out?”

“No one is kicking you out, mom,” Igor surrendered.

“Of course, stay.”

All plans for the anniversary, the surprise, the first joint trip abroad—all were happening before their eyes.

“Igor, can I talk to you for a minute?” Liliya pulled her husband aside into the bedroom.

“There!” they heard behind them. “Already starting to turn him against his mother!”

In the bedroom, Liliya closed the door and turned to her husband:

“Igor, tomorrow is our anniversary. I had a special surprise…”

“What surprise could be more important than your own mother?” Igor sharply replied.

“You see—she has problems! She wants to help us, to teach you…”

“To teach?” Liliya could not believe her ears. “She constantly humiliates me at every opportunity!

Calls me useless…”

“She’s just worried about me,” Igor stubbornly argued. “Wants everything to go well for us.”

Something inside Liliya finally broke. Two years of patience, lies, and manipulations had achieved their limit.

“You know what,” she said quietly, but each word sounded like a sentence, “if you don’t see a problem in this, maybe you should leave with her.”

“What?” Igor asked in astonishment.

“You heard me.

Take your mother and leave my apartment.”

“You can’t kick us out!” the husband protested. “I’m your husband!”

“Look carefully,” she said calmly. “These are the documents for the apartment.

It belongs to me, remember? You have no right to be here without my consent.”

Igor quickly scanned the papers. His face turned dreadful pale.

“But…” he tried to say something but stopped.

“Enough.

Enough humiliation and deception,” Liliya bitterly smiled. “I can no longer tolerate it.”

She resolutely escorted them to the door. Her patience had run out.

That night, lying sleepless, Liliya made an important decision.

In the morning, she contacted the real estate agency and sent an official eviction notice to Alla Sergeyevna. It wasn’t long before the mother-in-law burst into the apartment, quietly followed by Igor.

“How dare you?!” exploded Alla Sergeyevna.

Liliya slowly rose from the sofa, where she was sorting through documents. 

“How dare I?” Liliya quietly repeated.

“Very simply, Alla Sergeyevna. I am your landlord.”

Alla Sergeyevna froze in place, her jaw slightly dropped.

The paper in her hands trembled.

“What nonsense are you talking about?” the woman hissed through her teeth. “My landlord is a large company, not some…”

“Not some useless person?” Liliya softly finished the sentence, approaching the table. “Here, take a look for yourself.

Here are all the documents for the house where you live, and for this apartment too. I have owned these properties for five years, having received them as an inheritance from my parents.”

“All this time…” he whispered. “All this time you…”

“Yes,” nodded Liliya.

“All this time, I lowered your rent. First, I reduced it by three times, then by another ten percent. I did this out of respect for you, Igor.

But unfortunately, I never received mutual respect.”

“Lilechka, darling…” she cooed. “I didn’t know anything! You must understand—I was just worried about my son…”

“Worried?” Liliya bitterly asked again.

“By spreading rumors? Humiliating me at every opportunity?”

“I got carried away!” exclaimed Alla Sergeyevna, energetically waving her hands. “All my words were said in a burst of emotion!

I always treated you like my own daughter!”

Liliya declined.

“No, Alla Sergeyevna. It’s too late. For two years, I endured your nitpicking, your mockery, your contempt.

I kept silent when you called me useless. I smiled when you criticized my cooking. I didn’t show it when you spread dirty rumors about me.”

Igor tried to intervene:

“Lily, maybe…”

But his wife immediately cut him off:

“No, Igor.

Now I see you with different eyes. Do you know what I realized? Not once did you defend me.

Not once did you stop your mother when she accused me. You always took her side.”

“I just wanted to avoid conflicts…” he muttered.

“Avoid conflicts?” Liliya laughed without joy. “And I didn’t want to live in a lie.

I didn’t want to experience humiliation every day. If you couldn’t protect me from your own mother, what kind of husband were you?”

“The saddest thing is that I really loved you. I hid my position because I wanted you to love me for myself, not my money.”

She approached the cabinet and took out an envelope.

“Look.

These were tickets to the sea—my gift for our anniversary. I planned to surprise you. But your mother ruined everything.

And you let her do it.”

Alla Sergeyevna jumped up from the chair:

“Lilechka, let’s forget everything! I will apologize, make amends! How can you kick us out onto the street?!”

“No, Alla Sergeyevna,” Liliya coldly replied.

“You are given a month to find new housing. That’s a generous period, considering the circumstances.”

“Igor!” Alla Sergeyevna shrieked. “Make her see reason!

You can’t allow her to treat your mother like this!”

But Igor kept silent, staring at the floor. Liliya took out another envelope:

“Here are the divorce papers. I’ve already prepared everything.

Sign them—and you can take your mother and leave.”

“Lily, please,” finally

“Let’s start over. I’ll change, I promise!”

“No, Igor. It’s too late.

My love for you disappeared the moment you chose her, without even trying to hear me. Now I understand: with her around, you’ll never become a real man.”

A month later, Liliya sat in her office, placing the final signature on the divorce documents.

“You know,” she said to her lawyer, closing the folder with the documents, “now I am free. No one can humil.iate me or tell me how to live anymore.”

Looking back, Liliya realized: everything that happened was for the best.

She lost a husband but found herself. And these trials were worth it.