“Hello,” she said in response, not very politely.
– Well, why are you so confused? Come in, wash your hands, change your clothes and come to the table! – the sister-in-law commanded impudently. – Misha and I roasted such a chicken – it’s mind-blowing. The smell is divine. Haven’t you smelled it yet?
Maya chirped as she took the bags of groceries she had bought on her way home from work from her still confused daughter-in-law, and seemed not to notice her displeased face.
For some reason, Maya was now acting like the owner, as if she lived here and Irina had come to visit her.
The sister-in-law went into the kitchen, taking away the groceries that Ira had bought.
– What do you have here? – Irina’s husband came out into the hallway. – Darling, don’t keep us. Mayka is right, we’re hungry already. Let’s get moving and sit down at the table.
Irina silently walked into the bedroom to change into her home clothes and gasped.
There were so many other people’s things in here that it was no longer her bedroom.
– What’s going on? – Irina exclaimed with offense. – Kostya, come here!
– What do you have here? – the husband opened the door to the room, joyful for some unknown reason. – You can’t even change your clothes without me?
– Why are you so happy, I don’t understand? Like a fool with a candy! – Irina was nervous.
– Ir, what’s wrong… We have guests, and you’re in a bad mood again. Is something going on at work?
My husband’s naive behavior was a little infuriating.
– Guests? – Irina asked in surprise, hanging her dress in the closet. – Then what is this? Guests have come to visit us with suitcases full of things? Don’t you want to explain anything to me?
Irina tried to find her house clothes among the other people’s clothes, carelessly scattered throughout the room.
– Listen, well, I wanted to explain everything to you later. Everything happened so quickly…
– What happened? – Ira asked sharply. – What is going on in our apartment?
“Maya and Mikhail moved in with us,” the husband said calmly.
– What!? Kostya, are you out of your mind? We have a two-room apartment! And it’s good that our son is still at camp. And why to us and not to your mother-in-law?
– They are temporary. Why are you reacting like that? You are not hysterical. Let’s go have dinner. We’ll talk later, I’ll tell you everything. It’s really awkward…
– It’s uncomfortable for him! And do you think all this is comfortable for me? – Irina waved her hand around the room where someone else’s clothes were carelessly thrown around.
– Well, let’s go. My sister and her husband are going for a walk after dinner, they’ve already warned me. And you and I will just talk and discuss everything. Without witnesses.
Irina gave in. Although it was necessary to immediately dot all the i’s. After all, what happened next could not be called anything other than impudence.
– Well, how do you like the chicken? – Maya asked hopefully, looking at her brother and sister-in-law. – And the salad? Irinka, you haven’t even tried my salad.
“Thank you, the chicken was enough for me,” the hostess answered dryly.
— Do you want some tea? I brewed such amazing tea. We will drink it every day now! The tea is formulated to help you lose weight and give you an energy boost at the same time. I think it’s time for you and your brother to lose weight too. Misha and I have been drinking it for a month now. And I think the results are obvious.
“I have an allergy, so I don’t drink drinks with unknown ingredients,” the daughter-in-law answered.
Irina got up from the table and opened the cabinet where there were boxes of tea and a package of coffee beans. She planned to brew her favorite bergamot tea.
But the shelf was empty.
– And…where? – She looked confusedly first at her husband, then at Maya.
——————————————-
– Irus, I did a bit of housekeeping here. Basically, I threw out all the unnecessary stuff, – the sister-in-law answered carelessly.
– Extra? – Irina was taken aback.
– Well, yes. You had so much there. Why? The longer the teas stand, the more they lose their taste and aroma. They simply age. Especially since I’m going to put my tea there, which we’ll all drink together – rooibos, mate, hibiscus, oolong – the sister-in-law began listing with rapture.
“Who gave you permission to be the boss here?” Irina asked, not very tactfully and quite loudly.
– Okay, enough… Why are you arguing with me about this? We still have to live together, – Maya said with resentment. – Let’s go for a walk, Misha – we need to move after dinner. And let Kostya and Irina talk. It’s obvious that they have such a need.
– No, do you see what’s going on? She’s bossing around my kitchen, throwing out my favorite tea, cooking my products, passing them off as her culinary creations, and I’m supposed to keep quiet? Why, explain this to me, dear? And finally explain why they fell on our heads! – Irina was indignant.
– Ira, don’t be so nervous. You’re so upset, as if something really terrible had happened to us. Well, Mayka and her husband will live with us for a couple of weeks. No big deal. As soon as they buy an apartment, they’ll move out, – Kostya explained.
– Did they sell theirs? But why? – Ira was surprised. – I thought they had a wonderful two-room apartment. What kind of nonsense is this? They don’t even have children yet, although they’ve been living here for five years.
Irina couldn’t cope with her emotions. They were off the charts. And the prospect of having to endure her sister-in-law, who poked her nose into everything, and her husband in her house was terrible.
“They want to buy a three-room apartment,” Kostya answered.
– What? Why do they need her?
– Maya wants to turn one room into a salon. We’ll see clients at home – massage, aromatherapy and stuff like that.
— Massage? Your sister and massage? She’s a dreamer! You saw her thin hands. And you need to learn this. And not just do whatever your little finger on your left foot wants.
Irina even burst out laughing at that moment, although she was in no mood for laughing.
– She has some kind of certificate. My sister took courses. And about strength – you’re wrong. She’ll do a facial massage, and there’s no need for muscles.
– Okay, we’ve sorted that out. But why did they sell the apartment without choosing one in advance that they would immediately move into after selling the old one and buying a new one? Well, that’s elementary! That’s what all normal people do.
— They had one apartment in mind. But it was quickly bought, and they had some kind of hitch with selling their apartment. And now they are looking for a new one. They took the furniture and appliances to some warehouse for temporary storage, and they came to us.
– Why to us? Why not to your mother, Kostya? Well, that would be logical! Wouldn’t it? – Irina still hoped that the situation could be changed by sending her sister-in-law and her husband to her mother.
– Ir, have you forgotten? – the husband looked surprised.
– What? Don’t speak in riddles! I’m already on edge.
– Mom doesn’t like Mikhail. She was against their marriage even then, five years ago. And nothing has changed now. To this day, she can’t forgive Mike for disobeying her. How are they going to live there, what are you talking about?
– Excellent! Your sister doesn’t want to upset your mother, and I have to put up with them here… by the way, how long?
– Well, in about two weeks, I think they’ll cope. They’ll find a suitable option.
– No! A week, no more. Otherwise, you know me, I’ll make such a scene that no one will be able to resist. And then, I hope you haven’t forgotten with your sister’s problems that we have to pick up Petka from camp in a week? That’s it! No one should be here when our son gets home!
But Irina thought too highly of people. She believed in their decency. That they were responsible for their words. She was wrong. Maya and Mikhail were not going to move out of their place in a week.
Living with five people after the return of the 12-year-old son was inconvenient. The bathroom, always occupied by the sister-in-law, and the queue for the toilet in the mornings were only half the trouble.
The three of them, Kostya and their son now lived in the living room, having moved their sister-in-law and her husband into their bedroom.
To Irina’s indignation, the husband responded simply: my son and I are one family, so the three of us will spend the night in the big room. And they have their own family, smaller, and they will spend the night in the bedroom.
In the kitchen, too, things were going in a strange direction. Mikhail was still going off to work somewhere, and his sister-in-law was sitting at home, waiting for her salon to open. And she was spending all her energy on culinary delights and masterpieces.
Another would be happy that in the evening there is ready food for the whole family at home and there is no need to stand at the stove. But not Irina.
– Why are you so mad? Be happy, you don’t have to do anything after work. Your sister-in-law will cook and wash, – Ira’s colleague reasoned.
– No way! Eating what she cooks means not loving yourself! Firstly, she cooks only from my products. And you must admit, that’s impudence. And secondly, she finds recipes that are impossible to eat. She simply wastes products and that’s it. And you can’t make her wash the dishes. Such a task is not for ordinary mortals.
– And who washes it? – the colleague was surprised.
— My brother has to clean up after her. Because I don’t even go into the kitchen in the evening, I try to grab a bite to eat in the cafe across the street. So my husband takes the rap.
– Yes, things… In that case, drive them away. Don’t wait. Why do you need such a hassle?
– Go away! Easy to say. My husband is against it. He says I’m intolerant. And since we’re all related, we should help each other.
But one day Irina couldn’t stand it any longer and kicked out her uninvited tenants. She used one trick.
Irina somehow survived the fact that the expensive shampoo and conditioner in the bathroom, which she bought especially for her thick hair, had long since run out. And she also tried to survive the fact that Maya stubbornly walked around the apartment in her favorite satin robe, which her husband had once given her for New Year’s. True, she made a remark to her sister-in-law.
– Oh, I can’t, I felt sorry for some rag! – she reacted strangely.
But when Irina didn’t find her favorite earrings with topazes and a small scattering of diamonds along the outline in the box, she couldn’t stand it anymore.
– Maya, did you take my jewelry? And what can we expect from you next – will you climb into our bed? – Ira was no longer shy in her expressions.
– So what if I took it? I needed to impress the bank so they would give me a good loan. So I borrowed it from you, – the sister-in-law explained simply.
– Where are the earrings? Give them back right now! – Ira screamed so loudly that the walls shook. – Thief!
– Darling, why are you so upset? Don’t make noise, – Kostya tried to smooth things over.
– I’ll give them back now, they’re lying around in my bag somewhere. Big deal, she threw a tantrum here. And she even called me names, Maya was the picture of calm.
— Lying around in a bag? Do you even know how much they cost? Konstantin, quickly take my jewelry from your crazy sister! Immediately!
“Girls, don’t fight,” Kostya tried to reconcile his sister and wife, but it was all in vain.
And late in the evening, when Maya was lying locked in their bedroom, Irina overheard a conversation between her husband and son-in-law, which they were quietly conducting on the balcony.
– Kostya, tell yours – let her not quarrel. This can’t be. We’ll all quarrel now – so what? We still have a long life together, – Mikhail said discontentedly.
– What should I do? Ira is nervous, and I can understand her. My sister is acting impudently.
– We must be patient, Kostyan. I paid off my debts after selling our apartment, but I haven’t earned enough for a new one yet. I have a couple of ideas, but I still need to work on them, – the son-in-law reasoned.
“What? What did I just hear?” Irina was taken aback. “Are they staying with us for a long time? Am I supposed to live in this mess for who knows how long? Well done, hubby, you did me a favor!”
Irina barely restrained herself from making a scene right there. Only her sleeping son restrained her.
The next day she took time off from work and went to her mother-in-law, who lived alone in a two-room apartment.
– Raisa Semyonovna, don’t you think that you’ve settled in very well here? – Irina began without greeting.
– What? Are you planning to make a scene? – the mother-in-law said, perfectly understanding what her daughter-in-law was going to talk about.
– Yes, I intend to. Moreover, I will threaten you. And even blackmail you, – Irina continued menacingly.
– Irina, just be patient a little. You are all young, it is easier for you to get along together, and you can come to an agreement, – Raisa Semyonovna decided to use a trick. As always.
– No! We can’t come to an agreement! And I won’t tolerate anything anymore. Let your shameless daughter and her husband move here.
“Otherwise?” the mother-in-law asked, seeing her daughter-in-law’s fighting spirit.
– Otherwise, I’ll tell your unloved son-in-law about how many cohabitants Maya had before him. I think he’ll be interested to hear.
– What are you talking about? Are you really going to stoop to that? – Raisa Semyonovna gasped.
– Definitely. But that’s not all. I’ll file for divorce from my spineless husband, and he’ll come live here with you, too.
Irina saw what a struggle of emotions was going on inside her mother-in-law. Her face depicted indignation, surprise, and anger.
– Okay. Tell Maya to move in with me. Otherwise you’ll ruin everything, you terrible person!
– I’m normal. But what your children are doing is just out of the ordinary! You haven’t instilled in them any respect for others, or tact, or basic human concepts. And I don’t want my Petya, looking at such relatives, to grow up like his weak-willed father.
Irina left. And in the evening, when she returned home from work, she no longer saw the impudent, uninvited guests there.
– You settled them here without asking me about it! – Irina told her husband sternly. – But this will never happen again. Otherwise – divorce. Understand this once and for all. Our apartment is only our territory and I will not allow you to make a mess out of it.
Maya and Mikhail have been living with their mother-in-law for the second year now.
