He grew tired of his wife, left her for a young intern, but after ending up in the hospital, he finally understood whom he had lost.
For several months, Andrei had been thinking about divorce. He didn’t want scandals, accusations, or dramatic scenes. He simply wanted to leave quietly, as if one day he had walked out of the apartment and never returned.
He and Maria had been married for seven years. They had no children, rarely argued, and lived a peaceful, predictable life. Every morning seemed identical to the one before it. Maria was an almost perfect wife. The apartment was always clean, dinner was ready on time, and she somehow knew what Andrei needed before he even asked.
Once, he merely thought about coffee, and a moment later she entered with a cup.
“How do you always know what I want?” he asked.
“I just feel you,” Maria smiled. “Because I love you.”
Andrei only nodded.
His feelings had slowly disappeared. He wasn’t angry with her. He simply felt nothing.
Maria seemed to notice. She stopped coming into his study as often, stopped touching him unnecessarily, and eventually stopped waiting for him by the door in the evenings.
Then Valeria appeared.
She was a young intern working temporarily in Andrei’s department. She was everything Maria was not—energetic, spontaneous, flirtatious, and full of life. Her laughter filled the office, and Andrei found himself watching her more often than he should.
Valeria noticed.
She lingered near his office, started unnecessary conversations, adjusted her hair when he looked at her, and smiled in a way that seemed to promise something.
Andrei began thinking about her constantly.
Then one evening, they were alone in the elevator.
The doors closed.
Valeria stepped closer and kissed him.
“I wanted to know what you tasted like,” she whispered before walking away.
Andrei remained frozen inside the elevator, his heart pounding.
Soon their harmless flirting became something more. Eventually, they ended up together in a hotel on the outskirts of the city.
For the first time in years, Andrei felt alive.
He convinced himself that he wasn’t betraying Maria. He was simply reclaiming the excitement his life had lost.
When he returned home, Maria was sleeping in the living room. Dinner was waiting beneath plastic wrap.
Andrei sat beside her.
Maria opened her eyes, and they silently looked at each other.
He wanted to apologize, but no words came.
Maria asked nothing. She only turned toward the wall.
Andrei understood that somehow, she already knew.
Yet the following day, he went back to Valeria.
A few days later, Andrei left on a business trip, and Valeria followed him.
On the third day, while returning alone in the rain, Andrei was crossing the street when a woman pushing a stroller suddenly stepped into the road. A car came speeding around the corner.
Without thinking, Andrei pushed the woman and stroller aside.
The car struck him instead.
He remained unconscious for several days.
When he finally woke, doctors explained that his spine had been seriously injured. There was even a possibility that he might never walk normally again.
The first person Andrei saw beside his bed was Maria.
She was holding his hand.
She didn’t cry or ask questions. She was simply there.
Valeria came only three days later.
She entered the room but stayed near the doorway.
“I’m young,” she said awkwardly. “I wasn’t expecting something like this. This isn’t the life I want.”
Then she left.
At that moment, Andrei understood that Valeria had never truly loved him.
Maria stayed.
She spoke to doctors, brought him food, handled paperwork, and sometimes slept sitting beside his bed.
After Andrei was discharged, life became difficult. He could no longer perform his job properly, and eventually the company dismissed him.
Treatment, rehabilitation, and medication were expensive. Maria’s teacher’s salary became their only reliable income.
One day, Andrei noticed that her earrings were gone.
“You sold them?” he asked.
“They were only things,” she replied. “I didn’t want you to suffer.”
Something inside Andrei began changing.
Months later, during spring, he invited Maria to a small restaurant. She smiled during dinner, and for the first time he noticed how warm her smile really was.
“What can I do for you?” he asked.
Maria looked at him quietly.
“I would give my life for you,” she said. “But I don’t need anything anymore. I only want you to live.”
Soon afterward, Andrei received a call from Alexei Lvovich, the father of the woman he had saved during the accident.
“I owe you,” the businessman said. “Come work with me. You won’t need physical strength. I need your mind and your loyalty.”
The opportunity changed Andrei’s life.
He began working again, earning money, and rebuilding his confidence. His health improved as well.
And gradually, he realized that what he wanted most was Maria.
He wanted to start again and finally become the husband she deserved.
He even planned to propose to her again.
But before he could, Maria disappeared.
That morning she had made breakfast, adjusted the blanket over his legs, and kissed his cheek.
That evening, she was gone.
A note was waiting on the table.
“I knew about Valeria. I knew about the hotel. I stayed silent because at that time I had lost our baby. I didn’t want to live, but I stayed because of you. Now I’m leaving because of myself.”
Andrei read the letter again and again.
He found Maria the following day and begged her to speak to him.
“I didn’t know,” he said. “Forgive me.”
“You knew enough,” Maria answered quietly. “You simply didn’t care.”
Then she closed the door.
Three years passed.
Andrei’s business expanded dramatically. He became wealthy and respected. He had employees, an impressive office, business trips, and everything he had once believed would make him happy.
Yet every evening, he returned to an empty apartment.
One night, hearing a familiar song on the radio, he suddenly called the station and asked to dedicate a message.
“For Maria,” he said. “If you’re listening, I miss you every day. I understand everything now. Forgive me.”
For the first time in years, Andrei cried.
Several weeks later, he was walking through a park when a little red-haired boy of about four accidentally ran into him.
The child stared at Andrei.
“Dad?”
Andrei froze.
A woman quickly approached.
“Matvey, that’s not your father.”
But the boy refused to move.
“He is my dad! Mom said he would find us!”
The woman apologized and hurried away with the boy.
Andrei couldn’t forget the child’s face.
The eyes.
The mouth.
The stubborn chin.
Everything reminded him of himself.
A week later, fate brought another surprise.
After being attacked by a robber one evening, Andrei was taken to an emergency clinic.
While he sat waiting for treatment, a doctor entered the room and looked down at his chart.
Then she raised her eyes.
“Andrei?”
It was Maria.
She silently treated his wound.
The next day, Andrei returned and left her a short note.
“I didn’t know. Please talk to me.”
Two days later, Maria called.
Her voice was trembling.
“Matvey fell and hurt his lip. He’s fine, but… he keeps asking for his father.”
Andrei immediately drove to her apartment.
Matvey was sitting on his bed with a bandage beneath his lip.
When Andrei entered, the boy’s face brightened.
“Dad.”
Andrei sat beside him and took his small hand.
Then he looked at Maria.
“You knew?”
“Not when I left,” she explained. “I discovered I was pregnant afterward. I was angry and afraid. Later, I told Matvey that one day you would find us.”
“I sent you that message on the radio.”
Maria smiled through tears.
“I heard it. We both cried. Matvey said, ‘That was Dad.’”
A week later, Maria and Matvey came to Andrei’s apartment.
The rooms that had felt cold for years suddenly seemed alive.
Matvey ran everywhere, laughing and asking questions.
“Mom! Does Dad have ice cream?”
They all laughed.
Maria walked into the kitchen.
Andrei gently touched her shoulder.
“Do you think we can make this work?” she asked.
“If you stay, I’ll spend the rest of my life trying.”
Matvey suddenly ran into the kitchen carrying a pillow.
“I’m sleeping here so I can hear Dad snore!”
Maria laughed.
Andrei knelt down and hugged his son tightly.
Then Maria sat beside them.
Their hands touched.
This time, neither pulled away.
Andrei closed his eyes and listened to their laughter filling the apartment.
For years, he had searched for excitement, success, and freedom.
Only now did he understand what happiness had always been.
It was simply having the people who loved him beside him.