Anna stood in the kitchen, absorbed in pleasant chores. Outside, the morning was slowly brightening, flooding the room with soft golden light. Today was her day off—the first in many weeks of intense work—and she had planned every hour in advance.
“Anyuta, how about we hit the shops? Update your wardrobe, have some fun?” — the cheerful voice of her friend, Irina, rang brightly over the phone.
The thought of noisy malls and fitting rooms sparked no enthusiasm in Anna.
“Thanks for the offer, Irochka, but I have other plans,” she replied gently. “I want to cook something delicious and take it to Sergey at work. I haven’t been to his auto shop in a while. Then maybe tidy up at home, wash the curtains, clean the windows.”
After finishing the call, Anna started the washing machine, its steady hum becoming the soundtrack for the start of her day. She pulled out pots and pans, beginning to prepare the dishes her husband loved so much. Cooking hadn’t brought her much joy before, but everything changed when Sergey came into her life.
He often said there was nothing more delicious and heartfelt than homemade food prepared with care and attention. Anna learned, practiced, and discovered new recipes, all just to see the smile of satisfaction on his face.
A few hours later, neat containers of still-warm food were lined up on the table. Anna surveyed the results of her labor with satisfaction. She packed the containers into a roomy bag and added a package of freshly baked sweet buns—Sergey would surely want to share them with his coworkers.
Her friends were often surprised when they saw her: whatever happened to that proud, independent, slightly aloof girl they once knew? But Anna would just shrug. Why hold on to that coldness when you could become softer, warmer?
When you want to create comfort for someone you love, to fill the home with the scents of fresh baking and cleanliness, it’s worth making many changes. She was ready to do whatever it took to make her partner feel happy, protected, and loved.
Determined to surprise him, Anna didn’t warn her husband about her visit. She imagined his delight at seeing her. She timed her arrival to coincide with his lunch break, and everything was going perfectly: the bus was on time, the roads were clear, and now she was approaching the familiar door of the auto shop.
“Hi, Artem. Where’s Sergey?” she asked the young man at the reception desk.
“Anna, hello! It’s been a while since you’ve been here. You look wonderful, you’re just glowing from within,” he said warmly, smiling.
Anna responded with a shy smile. Compliments were nice, of course, but a shadow of unease stirred in her heart: what if Sergey overheard and misunderstood these words?
“Thanks, Artem, don’t embarrass me. Where’s my husband?”
“He’s in the workshop, at his usual spot. The guys are about to go to lunch soon. And you, I see, brought treats? It smells amazing, makes my mouth water.”
Anna nodded and headed deeper into the shop, toward the area where her husband usually worked. The door to the repair zone was slightly open, and familiar scents of motor oil, metal, and gasoline drifted out.
She stepped inside, then froze at the threshold, seeing Sergey. He was sitting on the floor, leaning against a car wheel, animatedly talking with his partner, Dmitry. Anna paused for a moment, admiring his profile, his focused expression.
“So, Sergey, what are you going to do about Marina? Will you give her another chance, or keep playing the devoted family man?” Dmitry asked, taking a wrench from his friend’s hand.
Sergey sighed heavily.
“What am I supposed to do with her? Haven’t decided yet. First, I need to tighten my finances, earn a bit more. She’s not going anywhere. Marina swears she loves me and says she’ll never let go again.”
Anna’s heart trembled and seemed to fall into an abyss. Her temples throbbed at the familiar name. Marina—his ex, his first, and seemingly only true love. Their story had ended painfully; she had chosen another man, who seemed more promising at the time.
Sergey suffered for a long time, and Anna had been there for him, supporting and listening, gradually transforming from a friend and confidante into his wife.
“And what about you? You have a wife. Anna may not be a model, but she’s smart, skilled, and has a wonderful character. Finding someone who won’t betray you is rare these days.”
“I feel sorry for her, Dima, you understand? But you can’t command the heart—it gravitates elsewhere. Anna is amazing, I won’t argue. She’d move mountains for me, do anything. But with me now… it’s not right. When I’m with Marina, everything inside boils, I feel truly alive, I experience real emotions. You know what I mean?”
“And you think that’s real love?” Dmitry snorted skeptically.
“I don’t know what to call it… and what difference does it make? With her, I feel the thrill, with Anna… calm, like with a sister. Yes, I’m attached to her, but the fire, the passion isn’t there. I’m still young, I want that. For now, I’ll just put things with Anna on pause. I’ll say I’m exhausted at work.
I don’t want her to get pregnant now, then I come and say I’m leaving. Let Marina wait a bit longer, think it over. We saw each other yesterday, she almost cried, said she misses me terribly.”
Each word pierced Anna’s soul like a hot needle, leaving deep, painful scars. Sergey spoke of his betrayal so easily, so calmly, as if discussing the weather…
He had been deceiving her all this time, and she had been too blind and trusting to notice anything. Her friends had hinted that they’d seen Marina in the city, but Anna brushed it aside, refusing to believe it.
She was certain that even if his ex did come back, Sergey—remembering his past pain—would never reconnect with her. After all, he had married her, sworn love and loyalty. But now it turned out he had stayed with her simply because it was convenient?
“Of course, I love coming home to the smell of fresh food, where it’s always clean and cozy. And I do like Anna, that’s true. But she… she’s not Marina. She even gives me massages after a hard day, but it’s not the same… Ah! I’m probably acting like a complete idiot.
I’m afraid to make a mistake if I go back to the past. I need to weigh everything properly. After work today, I’ll meet Marina again. We’ll see where it goes.”
Dmitry only shook his head, silently disagreeing. And Anna… she couldn’t move, couldn’t make a sound. She stood there, pressed against the doorframe, staring at her husband, while the echo of his merciless words rang endlessly in her ears. How is this possible? Why? Why her?
Tears welled up and slowly streamed down her cheeks, hot and burning. Suddenly, she felt someone’s touch. It was Artem. He gently took her by the shoulders and led her aside, into a quiet corner of the reception area.
“I’m sorry. I should have warned them right away that you were coming,” he said softly. “You weren’t supposed to hear that.”
“It’s alright. This is even better. Now I know the truth. I know I was just a backup option, a convenient and comfortable match. Please don’t tell him I was here. Okay? I’ll decide for myself what to do. I don’t want him to know…”
Artem nodded firmly and silently. Anna handed him the bag with the containers and the packet of sweet buns.
“Here, share this with the guys. I’m not taking it back home.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to give it to him?”
She only nodded, unable to utter a word. She no longer wished to be convenient. She no longer wanted to chase after a husband who was making plans with another woman behind her back. Instead of returning to the home where a loving wife was waiting, he was rushing to a date, dreaming of something happening between them.
No… Anna understood that her place in Sergey’s life had been an illusion. Honestly speaking, it had never existed at all. She had invented that love herself, built a fragile sandcastle and believed she had become his whole world. But in reality, she had been nothing more than a temporary substitute, a quiet harbor where he waited out the storm before diving back into the ocean of passion with someone else.
She didn’t remember how she walked outside, how she made her way along the familiar sidewalks. The scenery outside the bus window blurred into shapeless smudges. Once in the apartment, she silently began packing her things. The place belonged to him—it had been bought before their marriage.
Though they had chosen the furniture together, hung the curtains together, arranged every corner with care over three years of marriage, now she didn’t want to take anything from it. Only the essentials. Only her own belongings. She just wanted to disappear, to leave and try to forget.
Giving the apartment one last, farewell look, Anna closed the door firmly. She dropped the set of keys into the mailbox, called a taxi, and went to her grandmother’s. Now she was returning to the place where her journey had once begun. Pain tore her chest apart, but deep inside, a quiet certainty was growing: she would survive.
She would get through this pain. How could it be otherwise? She wasn’t going to break or give up on life because of a man who failed to appreciate her. On the contrary—she wanted to fill her days with new colors, new meaning, and regret nothing.
She didn’t curse Sergey, didn’t put all the blame on him. When her grandmother, Lyudmila Petrovna, asked why she had returned, Anna simply said that she and her husband were too different, and so their paths had diverged. The elderly woman didn’t pry—she simply hugged her granddaughter and promised she would always be her support.
Sergey called late in the evening. Apparently, his date had gone well, since he returned home so late and found it empty.
“Anya, where are you? What happened? It was your day off. You didn’t even call.”
But what was the point? Before, when she called him during the day, he often got irritated, saying he was at work, not on vacation, and had no time to chat.
“I left you, Sergey. I’m sorry, but we’re too different. I can’t live like this anymore. I feel that you don’t love me, and I… I need that love. Do you understand? So just let me go.”
“But how? Why didn’t you talk to me first instead of just disappearing? Anya, that’s not how problems are solved.”
“I know you’re seeing Marina again. And I wish you both happiness. I don’t resent you. Just give me a divorce, and our paths will never cross again.”
Every word came with immense effort. Above all, she admitted to herself: this was the end. Their shared story was over. A sharp, piercing pain stabbed her chest, but this was only the beginning.
The beginning of her new, independent life. Sergey was silent on the other end of the line. He couldn’t find words for excuses, because he understood his guilt. He didn’t try to convince her to come back, didn’t insist on talking—he simply hung up.
Almost two months passed. Anna received the long-awaited divorce papers and slowly began to heal her wounded heart. She stopped analyzing the past, stopped thinking about what she could have done differently, how she might have influenced his feelings. You can’t force someone to love you, no matter what.
It had suited him that she loved him, and he allowed himself to be loved. But now she wanted something different. She dreamed of meeting someone who would love her just as deeply and selflessly as she had once loved. She wanted to feel truly desired and happy. Anna began with herself: paying more attention to her appearance, her health, her hobbies.
She went shopping with friends again, treating herself to new clothes. She took a more promising job and started saving money for her own, albeit small, apartment, because she didn’t want to depend on anyone for the rest of her life.
A chance encounter at the mall with Artem became an unexpected but pleasant event. Irina had gone off on urgent business, and Anna didn’t want to go home yet, so she agreed to his offer to have a cup of coffee together. Sitting at a table in a cozy café, Artem, a little shy, admitted to her:
“You burst into my life like a ray of light on a cloudy day. From the very first time we met, I knew you were extraordinary. But I didn’t dare say a word, since you were married to my friend. I tried not to think of you, but can you forbid your heart from feeling? I’m not asking for anything, not pressuring you. I just wanted you to know… Maybe someday, you’ll give me a chance? I understand that perhaps now is not the right time.”
“Yes,” Anna said, unexpectedly even to herself. “I’m ready to give this chance and see what comes of it.”
Artem was an interesting, attentive, and tactful conversationalist. His words sounded sincere, and Anna felt that a few meetings would help her get to know him better and see whether there was a genuine connection between them. She didn’t hesitate and agreed to their first date.
It turned out they had far more in common than they had imagined. They could talk for hours about anything and everything, not noticing the passage of time. They felt comfortable and at ease with each other. Anna decided to trust fate. In Artem’s eyes, she saw that spark, that warmth she had longed for in her marriage.
She felt her wounded, cautious heart gradually thawing, ready to love again. Perhaps it was too soon to plunge back into the ocean of emotions, but what was the point of running from feelings that brought so much light and hope?
Sergey realized too late the depth of his loss. His fleeting infatuation with Marina quickly burned out, leaving only the bitter ashes of disappointment. The emptiness of missing Anna became unbearable.
He found himself searching for her face in crowds, entering the empty house with a secret hope that it was all a bad dream, that she would appear at any moment. But it never happened. He longed for her, and finally, painfully, he understood that he had loved his wife all along—but he had voluntarily turned away from that love, unwilling to see or acknowledge it.
Sergey never got the chance to speak with his ex-wife. Anna found the strength to move forward. She met someone who wanted to protect her, care for her, and love her every day. With Artem, she felt a sense of security and happiness she had never known before.
He helped her heal old wounds and believe once more that love truly exists. Sergey, meanwhile, had convinced himself of love for another for too long; he was ready to betray the person closest to him, and now he could only bite his elbows, realizing his mistake. Anna mentally wished him to find his own path and peace, and she stepped into a new life… a life in which she was not only loving but deeply, truly, and devotedly loved in return.
