“Enough, Helen! Enough!” Peter shouted at his wife, his voice echoing in the small flat. “You’ve worn me down with your constant criticisms of my parents! My brothers! My sister! How much longer is this going to go on?!”

“How much longer?!” she retorted, lowering her voice slightly. “But it’s perfectly fine for them to meddle in our lives, is it? You don’t say a word to them, do you?”

“I only speak up when I’ve had enough! My parents certainly don’t do anything like that!”

“Nothing like that?! They’ve been trying to either crash in on us or squeeze money out of us for nearly a year now…”

“They do no such thing! As for Danny and Luke coming over, they had business in town! Do you expect them to rent a flat?”

“Believe it or not, normal people do just that! They rent a flat, book a hotel room, anything, rather than barging in with two grown men into a tiny flat! We don’t live in a mansion with spare guest rooms! It’s a one-bedroom!”

“Oh, what a problem!” Peter scoffed. “But I understand, for you, everything is a problem! You’ve got no siblings; you were spoiled as an only child! But in our family, we’ve been taught since childhood that if someone needs help, you’re obliged to help—no exceptions…”

“No exceptions?!” Helen interrupted, her voice thick with accusation. “No exceptions for the flat size? For my opinion as your wife? For the fact that I wasn’t hired to wash and feed three men? What?!”

“Not this again…”

“Want to talk about something else? Sure!” she sneered. “When we were saving for the mortgage, your sister needed money for dental work because she couldn’t keep her mouth shut and ended up losing four teeth… What did you do? That’s right! You gave her our savings! And then…”

“I didn’t give everything away! Why do you keep bringing this up?”

“If you had given everything away, you’d be needing dental work too, trust me!”

Peter couldn’t help but chuckle, even though he had been fuming moments before.

“And how would you have managed that?” he asked, trying to contain his laughter. “Would you have asked Daddy for help? I can just imagine that…”

“Why would I need to ask anyone when I have this?” She grabbed a frying pan from the stove and glared at him. “I can handle this myself!”

“I’d love to see you try! You’d run to complain like a dog with its tail between its legs! If you could even manage to walk far…” he added, his voice quieting.

“Is that so? ‘If you could manage to walk far’?” Helen asked, her tone now laced with hurt.

“You were the first to start raving and threatening me! So don’t play the victim now!” he shot back. “You can’t stand that I have family I help! You scream at me for taking time away from you to assist my relatives! But they’re my family too! It’s not my fault you don’t understand that!”

“And what am I to you? A maid? A live-in servant for you and your ever-expanding family?”

“What do you mean ‘what’? You’re my wife! I’m your husband! So drop this nonsense, or our marriage won’t last a minute!” He pressed his finger down on the frying pan she still held, forcing it down.

“Because right now, I don’t feel like your wife, Pete! It feels as though you married me just so you wouldn’t have to get a mortgage on your own and to have a full service set up at home for you and your endless family!”

“Don’t make up nonsense! I love you, even if you’ve clearly lost it, but…”

“Who’s responsible for my recent meltdowns? Who pushed me to this point? Me?”

“Are you saying I did this?” He was genuinely taken aback, a tinge of offense flickering across his features.

“You and your relatives, whom you always put above me! All I want is for nobody to intrude in our lives! I want a normal family! To have children! But you…”

“And I don’t want that?” he retorted, brows raised in disbelief.

“Apparently not!”

“Stop making up rubbish, Helen! You fill your head with nonsense, and then everyone around you is at fault: me and my family, too! You create that mess!”

“Of course, it’s my fault that you can’t grasp that your OWN family comes before everything else! While your extended family remains important, they’re not your priority any longer!”

“Right, okay! Don’t fill my ears with this rubbish! They are and will always be my family! If you don’t like it, Helen, maybe…”

“Maybe what?”

“Nothing!” Peter shouted once more, voice booming. “Just leave me alone! I’m sick of this!”

Fuming, he stormed out of the kitchen, leaving Helen behind.

For a moment, Helen considered following him, but she refrained. She knew that continuing this fight would only spiral, possibly ending in a divorce—an option that occasionally flickered through her mind. She was exhausted from fighting to keep her family independent while fending off Peter’s intrusive relatives. Yet, he continued to blame her for it because, to him, it was entirely normal that nearly every weekend he was dragged away from home to visit his parents in the countryside, constantly helping his younger brothers while regularly supporting his sister too. After all, Peter was the only one out of his entire family living in the city; everyone else remained in the village, like vultures circling him for a free meal. And Peter never could refuse them, giving away everything he could. Sometimes Helen thought that if one of his brothers asked to borrow her, he wouldn’t hesitate. They are FAMILY!

Nearly a month after their quarrel, Peter prepared to head to his parents’ place early in the morning while Helen still slept. But as he was about to leave, she woke up and asked:

“Where do you think you’re going at this hour?”

“Oh… Did I wake you? I’m sorry… I’ll be home soon!”

“But you didn’t answer my question!” she insisted, the demand in her tone unmistakable.

“I… Mum called! I need to visit urgently; I’ll be back by lunchtime tomorrow!” Peter stumbled over his words at first but then spoke with more confidence, determined not to let his wife see any doubts about the trip.

“What do you mean?!” she asked, irritation swelling in her voice. “We’re supposed to go to the concert together today! We bought tickets a month ago! Have you lost your mind?!”

“Go with someone else! Don’t make a fuss over nothing!”

“Who?”

“Take any of your friends! It’s no skin off my nose! Just go for a change! I have important family matters to attend to!”

“What matters?”

“Not important!”

“What do you mean not important, Peter?!” Helen’s anger escalated.

“Jules’ friend is in town! She was practically part of the family until she left for London! Now we’re having a family gathering! Mum called me late last night while you were asleep and told me!”

“Is this the same friend that you all used to fawn over?”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“I mean the woman you dated for almost three years, the one who ended up leaving you! Is that her?”

Peter could see Helen had figured it out, and there was no use pretending any longer.

“Yes! Yes, that’s her!” he finally admitted, letting out a heavy sigh.

“And so you’re just leaving me here alone to go and see her?” Helen asked cautiously.

“Honestly, Mum called! It’s a family meeting! Dinner and everything! It just happened that way, Helen! I can’t say no to Mum, especially with a big event going on…”

“Then go back to your mummy! She’ll find you a new wife to cater to all your family’s whims! Oh, wait, she already has!”

“Why do you keep saying that? Nobody is looking for anyone, Helen! You’ll never understand what a real family is and how every member should support each other!”

“Is that so? Because I’ve noticed that neither you nor your family has been supportive of us! They just want to suck us dry! And now they’re trying to push your old girlfriend onto you as well!”

“Nothing like that will happen, don’t make things up!” Peter defended himself. “And I don’t see anything wrong with meeting an old acquaintance who…”

“Old acquaintance?!” Helen scoffed at the term. “She’s your ex who wanted you back even while you were with me! ‘Old acquaintance’? Please! So what am I, then? Just passing through?”

“Well, if I’m your husband, why wasn’t I invited to this ‘family dinner’, but your ex is?”

“Because everyone loves her, and you annoy everyone the way you’re annoying me right now!” Peter snapped back, his patience wearing thin.

“Is that so?” she asked quietly. “Well… then go…”

“What? Just like that? And why were you giving me a hard time just now?” he asked, surprised by her sudden composure.

“Because everything just clicked into place now, Peter!” she replied. “Go back to your real family, to your beloved woman who clearly means more to you than I do! Go! I won’t hold you back any longer or create scandals and fuss! I’m done!”

“I don’t understand! Where are you going with this?”

“I’m saying I’ve had enough of the humiliation!”

“You’re the only one humiliating yourself when you throw a fit, Helen! You’re to blame for that! Nobody forced you to act that way! If you’d been more like Julia’s friend, you’d have been accepted by my family too! If you’d been more responsive, always there to support, things could have been different! But you are, as I said, the classic example of an only child! You’ll never understand!”

“No, Pete! I understand it perfectly now! I once thought I could be important to you, but it’s clear you have your heart set on other women! Your mother and sister and…”, she meant to include his sister’s friend but changed her phrasing, “and that other woman in your life! I’ll be filing for divorce so I’m not tied to your dysfunctional family anymore! That’s enough for me! Enough!”

“What do you mean?” Peter asked, alarmed.

“I mean exactly that! Get ready, don’t dawdle. You need to impress your new London lady! Or she might not want you and whisk you away to London! What would your relatives do then?”

“Try doing that! See how far you get!” he snarled.

“And what are you going to do? Seek revenge? Go ahead! Your family hates me already! I’d say it’s already in place!”

“I’ll wipe the floor with you, Helen! So…”

“Go ahead and take that out on the one you’re about to see! You mean nothing to me now! Nothing!”

As soon as she finished, Peter grabbed her by the throat and pushed her against the bed. Helen struggled to scream, to say anything, it was difficult to breathe.

“I said, just try filing for divorce! I’m not sharing this flat or taking on another mortgage! So either you shut up and go to your concert tonight, or I’ll strangle you right now! When I come back, I’ll say I was never home, and when I arrived, I found your rotting corpse! Do you understand?!”

But Helen couldn’t respond; all she could do was try to catch her breath. At that moment, Peter’s phone rang, and he let go of her to answer. Taking the chance, she quickly grabbed a vase from the bedside table and smashed it over his head.

Peter went down like a sack of potatoes. Helen immediately called the police, explaining that Peter had tried to strangle her, and she had struck him in self-defense. Surprisingly, the officers arrived swiftly, initially fearing she had killed him. They were relieved to find he had simply been knocked out.

When the doorbell rang, Peter stirred but had no idea it was the police and lunged at Helen just as she opened the door. That was his undoing. He didn’t manage to inflict any further injury before the officers apprehended him in their grasp. He would not be attending any family dinners but had a different engagement lined up.

Meanwhile, Helen seized the opportunity while Peter was taken into custody to gather her things, file for divorce, and arrange for a friend to take her in temporarily. Her friend, going on holiday with her husband and kids, wouldn’t mind the company and could keep an eye on Helen’s flat. She planned to visit the cat and the dog anyway, so it seemed easier this way.

By the time her friend arrived, Helen had finalized the divorce and may not have divided the assets yet, but she had secured her own flat and moved her things. Peter was seething with anger; Helen had done everything he feared, including missing out on the long-anticipated date with the love of his life—not even catching a glimpse of her.

After property division concluded, Peter headed off to London to see his sister’s friend, only to find he was unwanted. The girl was in a serious relationship heading toward marriage, and he wasn’t even allowed to stay over as her boyfriend made it clear: “NO!”

Thus, Peter found himself utterly alone in the vast city, unknown to him, without a penny to his name for the return journey since he had squandered his share of the flat’s sale on gifts for his heartthrob, leaving him with nothing and without a place to sleep. As for his family, they were unwilling to assist him, lacking even enough funds to send him a return ticket…