After taking the child away from his wife following the divorce, the husband soon realized he had made a grave mistake
Sergey slammed the door and exhaled. That was it. He’d taken him. Legally. The court had sided with him, so it must have been the right decision. Dima’s school bag stood by the refrigerator, his jacket lay crumpled on a chair. The boy stared at the floor in silence.
“Dim, what’s up? Hungry? We’ll eat properly now.”
“I don’t want to.”
“What do you mean you don’t want to? It’s already eight in the evening, you were at school all day.”
“I don’t want to, Dad.”
Sergey opened the refrigerator. Empty. Completely empty. Some old kefir, mayonnaise, dried-out sausage. He had forgotten to buy food. Yesterday he’d thought, I’ll go tomorrow, and today it had been court all day—stress, paperwork, lawyers.
“Listen, how about we order pizza? You like mushroom pizza, right?”
Dima nodded, but without any enthusiasm. Sergey took out his phone and dialed. While they waited for the delivery, the boy sat on the couch staring at his tablet. Silent. Sergey turned on the TV and found some action movie. Forty minutes later the pizza arrived. They ate in silence.
“Dim, why are you so sad? You should be happy. We live together now.”
“Uh-huh.”
“You wanted to live with me yourself, remember? You said so.”
“I did.”
“Well, here we are. We’re living together. That’s cool, right?”
The boy took a bite of pizza and stared back at his tablet. Sergey looked at him and felt irritation rising. Was it really that hard? He’d tried so hard. Spent half a year collecting documents, going to court, spending money.
He’d proven he was a good father. That the mother was always at work, always busy. And here he was—ready to take care of his son every single day. And now… he had taken him. And the child sat there, completely withdrawn.
“Alright, let’s go to bed. We have to get up early tomorrow—you’ve got school.”
“Where will I sleep?”
“Well, on the couch for now. We’ll buy a proper bed later, with drawers.”
Dima nodded. Sergey took a blanket from the closet and laid it out. The boy lay down fully dressed.
“At least change. Sleeping in jeans isn’t comfortable.”
“I don’t want to.”
“Dima, what’s going on? You’re not little anymore.”
“Dad, leave me alone.”
Sergey clenched his fists. Then exhaled and stepped away. Fine. The kid was tired. It had been a hard day. Tomorrow would definitely be better.
In the morning Dima woke up soaked. He’d wet the bed. Sergey saw the wet blanket and froze.
“Dim, you’re eight years old already!”
“I didn’t do it on purpose.”
“How could it not be on purpose? You’re a big boy!”
“I didn’t want to! I just woke up and it was already wet!”
The boy burst into loud sobs. Sergey scratched the back of his head and sighed. Great. Now this too. He took the blanket off and tossed it into a basin in the bathroom. He gave Dima a clean T-shirt and pants.
“Hurry up and get dressed. We’re going to be late for school.”
They left the house at half past seven. Sergey held his son’s hand tightly. At school, Dima walked slowly, looking around. At the entrance he stopped and stood rooted to the spot.
“Dad, will Mom come pick me up today?”
“No. I told you yesterday—you live with me now.”
“When will I see her at least?”
“I don’t know exactly. Sometime later.”
“When is ‘later’?”
“Dima, don’t whine right now. Go to school.”
The boy flinched and slowly walked toward the doors. Sergey stood at the entrance, lit a cigarette, then drove to work.
That evening he picked Dima up from school. The teacher, Maria Petrovna, stopped him by the classroom door.
“Sergey Vladimirovich, may I speak with you for a moment?”
“Yes, of course. What happened?”
“Dima had serious problems today. He was completely silent all day, didn’t answer any questions in class. He didn’t eat anything at lunch. And also… he cried during the long break, alone in a corner.”
“I understand. Thank you very much. I’ll talk to him at home.”
They left the school together. Dima walked beside him silently, head down.
“So, what happened at school?”
“Nothing happened.”
“The teacher told me you were crying.”
“I wasn’t crying.”
“Dima, don’t lie to me.”
“I’m not lying!”
“Then what happened?”
“Leave me alone!”
The boy suddenly jerked away and ran down the sidewalk. Sergey quickly caught up and grabbed him by the hood of his jacket.
“Stop. Where are you running?”
“Let me go!”
“I’m not letting you go anywhere. First explain what’s going on with you.”
“I want my mom!”
Dima broke down sobbing uncontrollably. Sergey was completely at a loss. What was he supposed to do now? How could he calm him down? He crouched in front of his son and took his shoulders in both hands.
“Dim, listen to me. Your mom… she’s very busy with work. She doesn’t have time to take care of you.”
“That’s not true! She was always home with me!”
“Well… things are different now.”
“Why are they different?”
“Because that’s what we adults decided.”
“I don’t want to live like this!”
“Dima, that’s enough. Let’s go home.”
They walked in silence for about twenty minutes. Sergey felt something tightening inside him. How had this even happened? He’d done everything right legally. Proven to the judge that the mother wasn’t perfect. That he could raise the child better than she could. And now what? The child was suffering every day. And he, Sergey, had no idea what to do next.
At home, Dima immediately lay down on the couch again. He didn’t eat dinner at all. Sergey tried to talk to him calmly, but the boy just turned his face to the wall. An hour later he fell fast asleep. Sergey sat alone in the kitchen, drinking beer from a can. One thought kept pounding in his head: What do I do? What do I do now?
On the third day, Dima didn’t get up from the couch at all. He spoke quietly, saying his stomach hurt badly. Sergey got scared and called a doctor to the apartment. She arrived quickly, examined the boy carefully, and said calmly:
“Physically, he’s completely healthy. But the child is under severe stress. You can see it yourself—he’s completely tense.”
“So what should I do now?”
“Talk to him properly. Calmly find out what’s bothering him so much.”
The doctor left the apartment. Sergey sat down next to Dima on the couch.
“Alright, tell me. What exactly hurts?”
“I don’t know.”
“What do you mean you don’t know?”
“It just hurts. Everything.”
“Where exactly does it hurt?”
“Everywhere inside.”
Sergey sighed heavily. Then he took out his phone and called his mother. She arrived about an hour later. She came into the apartment and looked at Dima for a long time…
“Sergey, what on earth are you doing to the child?”
“What am I doing?”
“The child is just wasting away here. Take a good look at him.”
“I’m doing the best I can!”
“Then do it the right way. He wants to go back to his mother.”
“Mom, don’t start this again.”
“I’m not starting anything. I’m just telling you the truth. You took him away out of sheer stubbornness, and now you don’t even know what to do with him.”
“I didn’t take him out of stubbornness!”
“That’s exactly why you took him. Out of stubbornness. And out of anger. You were offended by Lena back then, so you decided to hurt her through your son.”
“That’s not true at all!”
“It is true. Sergey, you’re a grown man. Use your head. Dima is suffering every single day. He’s genuinely miserable. And what are you doing? Proving to everyone that you’re right?”
Sergey didn’t answer. He went out onto the balcony to smoke. He lit a cigarette with trembling hands. Heavy thoughts spun in his head. Was his mother right? Maybe she was completely right. Had he really taken Dima just out of anger? To hurt Lena? To make her finally understand how deeply offended he had been?
That evening his mother went home. Dima lay motionless on the couch. Sergey came up to him and carefully sat down beside him.
“Dim, listen to me. Do you want to go see your mom tomorrow?”
The boy suddenly lifted his head and looked at his father.
“Really? I can?”
“Really. We’ll go see her tomorrow morning.”
“You’re not lying?”
“I’m not lying.”
Dima quickly hugged his father tightly. Sergey slowly stroked his head. Inside, everything ached for some reason.
The next day they drove to Lena’s place. She lived two districts away. Sergey stopped the car by her apartment building.
Dima jumped out of the car and immediately ran toward the entrance. Sergey followed very slowly. Lena opened the door quickly. Dima ran straight into her arms. She picked him up and held him tightly. She began to cry loudly. The boy was sobbing uncontrollably too.
“Mom, I missed you so much!”
“I missed you so much too, my sunshine.”
Sergey stood silently in the doorway, watching them both. And suddenly he understood one thing very clearly: he had ruined everything himself. Absolutely everything. He had taken the child not because it would be better for him, but because he was deeply hurt by his wife. He had been proving his righteousness to everyone, while Dima was simply suffering. And Lena was suffering too.
“Lena, can I talk to you?”
She raised her head and looked at him. Her eyes were completely red from crying.
“Yes. Dima, go to your room for now.”
The boy ran there quickly. Lena wiped her tears with her hand and looked at Sergey in silence.
“What did you want to say?”
“I… Lena, forgive me for everything.”
“For what exactly?”
“For everything that happened. For taking Dima away from you. For not thinking about him at all. Or about you. I just… I was very offended by you. And I decided to prove to everyone that I wasn’t as bad as you said back then.”
“Sergey…”
“No, let me finish. I was a complete idiot. I thought I could handle it alone. That I would raise him much better than you. But in the end, I can’t even manage to buy food properly. Dima cries all the time, wets the bed at night, doesn’t study at school at all. I just can’t cope. And I’ve realized one thing: he really needs his mother. He needs you.”
Lena wiped her tears again with her palm.
“Are you really serious about this?”
“Absolutely serious. Lena, let’s do this together somehow. Not as husband and wife like before. Just… raise our son together, properly. He’ll come to you all the time, live with you. And I… I’ll help him. Truly help him. Not out of anger, not to prove anything to anyone. Just be a normal father.”
Lena was silent for a long time. She looked at him carefully. Then she slowly nodded.
“Alright. Let’s try it that way.”
Sergey exhaled with enormous relief. Inside, everything immediately felt much lighter. He went into Dima’s room. The boy was sitting on his old bed.
“Dim, listen carefully. You’ll stay living here with Mom.”
“For good? Like forever?”
“Well… you’ll live with her here all the time. And I’ll come to see you regularly. I’ll take you every weekend. We’ll go for walks, go to the movies together. Are you okay with that?”
Dima nodded quickly. Then he hugged his father tightly.
“Dad, you won’t leave us completely, will you?”
“No, of course not. I’ll always be close to you.”
“You really promise?”
“I truly promise.”
They hugged tightly. Sergey suddenly felt hot tears welling up in his eyes. He quickly wiped them away and quietly left the room.
A week later, Dima was doing well at school again. He completely stopped crying during lessons. Sergey picked him up every Saturday morning. They went to the movies together, walked in the park. Talked about everything. Talked calmly, properly. Without shouting, without mutual resentment.
One day in the park, Dima suddenly asked:
“Dad, will you and Mom ever make up completely?”
“I don’t know for sure, Dim. Maybe not.”
“I’m really sorry about that.”
“I am too. But you know… sometimes adults just can’t live together properly. That doesn’t mean they don’t truly love you.”
“I understand that now.”
“That’s good then.”
They walked slowly through the park. Dima held his father’s hand tightly. Sergey looked down at him and thought to himself: This is how it should have been from the very beginning. Not stubbornly proving anything to anyone, not getting offended over little things. Just always being there for your son. Simply loving him sincerely. And then everything will be absolutely fine.
