“Enough, Laura! Enough!” Peter shouted at his wife. “You’ve had it with constantly throwing mud at my parents! My brothers! My sister! How much longer can this go on?!”

“How much longer can it go on?!” Laura repeated, a little quieter now. “But it’s fine for them to meddle in our family affairs, isn’t it? And you never say anything to them, do you?”

“I only speak up when I’ve had enough! And my parents certainly don’t behave like that!”

“Don’t behave like what?! They’ve been trying to either barge into our flat or fleece us for money for nearly a year now… or…”

“They don’t do anything of the sort! As for when Ivan and Charlie came over, they had business in the city! Should they have rented a flat?”

“Imagine, normal people actually do just that! They rent a flat, a hotel room, or at least something, instead of barging into a small flat with two grown men! We don’t live in some mansion with guest rooms! It’s a one-bedroom!”

“Oh, come off it! What a problem! Well, I see for you, it’s all a problem. I get it now! You’ve got no siblings; you grew up as the only selfish child in your family! In our family, we’ve always been taught that if someone needs help, the others are obliged to help, regardless…”

“Regardless of what?!” Laura interjected. “Regardless of the size of the flat? Regardless of your wife’s opinion? Regardless of the fact that I didn’t sign up to clean and feed three men? What?!”

“Are you bringing this up again?”

“Want to talk about something else? Fine!” Laura sneered coldly. “When we were saving for our mortgage, your sister needed money for a dentist because she can’t keep her mouth shut and had four teeth knocked out… What did you do? Right! You gave her our savings! And then…”

“I didn’t give everything away! Why are you yelling about this again?”

“If you had given everything, you’d need the same services as her! Believe me!”

Peter chuckled at the remark, even though he’d just been furious.

“And how would you manage that?” he asked, still half-laughing. “Would you ask Daddy for help? I’d have given him a piece of my mind…”

“Why would I ask anyone for help when I can handle it myself?” She reached for the frying pan on the stove, glaring at her husband. “I would have dealt with it!”

“I’d love to see you try! You’d be the first one to complain and feel sorry for yourself! If you could manage to get far enough…” he added quietly.

“Oh, really? ‘If you could manage to get far enough’?” Laura asked, calmer now but hurt.

“You started this mess, threatening me! So don’t play the victim now!” he retorted. “You can’t stand that I have family and friends that I help! You keep shouting at me that I’m tearing myself away from my family! But they’re my family too! It’s not my fault you can’t understand that!”

“And what am I to you? Just hired help? A maid with benefits? Who am I?”

“Who are you? You’re my wife! And I’m your husband! So drop this now, or our marriage won’t last long!” He pressed his finger down on the frying pan in Laura’s hand, causing her to lower it.

“I don’t feel like your wife anymore, Peter! It feels like you married me just to avoid taking the mortgage alone and to have someone at home to cater to your every need and that of your endless relatives!”

“Please don’t make up nonsense! I love you, even if you seem a bit off these days.”

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

“Are you suggesting that I’m the cause of this?” he asked, genuinely surprised.

“It’s you and your relatives, whom you keep putting above me! All I want is for no one to meddle in our lives, for us to have a normal family! For there to finally be children! And you…”

“And I, you think, don’t want that?!”

“Evidently, no!”

“Stop inventing this nonsense, Laura! You fill your head with these thoughts, and then everyone’s at fault: me and my family! You’re doing this to yourself!”

“Of course, it’s my fault that you haven’t realized that YOUR family is the most important thing! While your relatives… yes, they’re family, but they’re not your immediate family anymore!”

“Right, sure! Don’t start with that rubbish!” He was increasingly agitated. “They remain my family! And if you don’t like it, Laura, maybe…”

“Maybe what?”

“Nothing!!!” Peter shouted at his wife once more. “Just leave me alone! I’m fed up!”

He stormed out of the kitchen, leaving Laura alone.

For a moment, Laura considered chasing after him but refrained. She understood that this argument would not end well and might even lead to a divorce. The thought had crossed her mind occasionally. She was just exhausted from battling for her family’s independence against Peter’s bothersome relatives. Peter only grew angry at her for it; to him, it seemed entirely normal that he was yanked from home almost every weekend to visit his parents in the village and constantly provide for his younger brothers and his sister; after all, he was the only one from his family who had moved to the city, while everyone else remained in the village. They circled around him and his family like vultures, clawing for whatever they could take, while Peter could never say no and gave everything he could. Sometimes Laura thought that if one of his brothers asked for her to help him out, he wouldn’t refuse that either. They were FAMILY!

Nearly a month later, Peter planned to visit his parents early one morning while Laura was still asleep. However, before he could leave, she stirred and asked,

“And where do you think you’re off to at this early hour?”

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

“But you’ve not answered my question!” Laura insisted.

“I… Mum called me, Laura! I need to go immediately; I’ll be home by lunch!” Peter began to stumble over his words but eventually found his confidence so that Laura wouldn’t think he doubted this trip and might change his mind.

“What do you mean?!” she asked, growing exasperated. “What lunch? We were supposed to go to that concert together today! We bought tickets a month ago! You’ve completely forgotten…”

“Just go with someone else! Stop making a mountain out of a molehill!”

“With whom?!”

“Anyone! What do I care? Take one of your friends! Have fun! I’ve got urgent matters at home; I can’t miss this!”

“What matters?”

“It’s not important!”

“What urgent matter, Peter?!” Laura’s frustration was mounting.

“Julia is back! She was part of our family for years before she moved to London, and she’s in town, so we’re having a family evening! Mum called almost in the middle of the night after you went to bed and told me!”

“Please tell me it’s not the same girl you and the whole lot of your friends chased after?”

“What are you talking about?”

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

Peter realized his wife had figured everything out and that hiding it any longer was pointless.

“Yes! Yes, that’s her!” he finally confessed with a heavy sigh.

“And you’re leaving me alone at home just to go and see her?” Laura asked cautiously.

“I’m telling you, Mum called! We’re having a family gathering, dinner and all that! It just happened this way, Laura! I can’t say no to Mum, especially for such an event…”

“Then rush back to your mother’s apron strings; she’ll find you a new wife who will cater to all your family’s needs! Oh wait, she’s already done that!”

“What are you talking about? No one’s looking for anyone for me, Laura! You’ll never understand what a real family is and how everyone in it should support one another!”

“Yeah? I just didn’t notice anyone supporting you or us! Everyone just tries to milk us dry! And now your old flame is going to come back to haunt us!”

“There will be nothing of the sort! Stop making things up!” Peter defended himself. “I see nothing wrong in meeting up with an old acquaintance who…”

“An ‘old acquaintance’?!” Laura was incensed by his description. “That’s your ex-girlfriend, who was asking you out even while you were with me! ‘Old acquaintance!’ Aha! And what am I then? Just someone that happened to be passing by?”

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

“Because everyone likes her, and you drive everyone mad, just like you’re driving me mad right now!” Peter shouted back, finally exasperated by Laura’s questioning.

“Is that so?” she asked quietly. “Well… if so, then you should certainly go…”

“Go? Just like that? And why have you suddenly shifted your stance now?” He was confused by her suddenly calm demeanor.

“Because everything has fallen into place now, Peter!” she replied. “Go to your real family, to your beloved woman, who is clearly more important to you than I am! Go! I won’t stop you anymore, or cause these arguments and meltdowns! I don’t want that anymore!”

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

“I’ve had enough of this humiliation!”

“You’re the only one humiliating yourself when you throw your fits, Laura! You’re the one who chooses to act like this! You weren’t forced to behave this way! If you were a little more normal, like Julia’s friend, you’d also be embraced in our family! If you were more giving, you’d always go with me and never refuse genuine help! Yet, you’re just like I said, the classic spoiled only child! You’ll never understand!”

“No, Peter! I fully understand now! I used to think I’d be important to you, but now it’s clear you already have your ladies! Your mother, your sister, and…” She resisted adding Julia’s friend but decided to phrase it differently. “And now an old flame too! I’ll be filing for divorce so I won’t be tied to your dysfunctional family anymore! Enough is enough!”

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

“I mean directly! Start packing; you need to impress the newly arrived Londoner! What will happen then if she finds out you’re not up to par this time? How will your family react? Where will they go?”

“Just try filing for divorce!” Peter shouted angrily. “Then I’ll…”

“And what will you do? Be vengeful? Fine! Your family will hate me? That’s already happened!”

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

“Go and wipe the floor with the woman you’re planning to see! You have no ties to me anymore! This is it!”

As soon as she finished speaking, Peter lunged at her, grabbing her by the throat and pushing her onto the bed. Laura couldn’t scream or say anything; she couldn’t breathe.

“I said: just try filing for divorce! I’m not splitting this flat or taking on any more mortgages! So either you hush up and go to your concert tonight, or I’ll strangle you right now, and when I return, I’ll say I wasn’t home, and when I came back, I found your stinking corpse! Do you understand?”

But Laura could not respond, no matter how hard she tried. Then Peter’s phone rang. He released her to answer it, and in that moment, she quickly grabbed a vase from the nightstand and smashed it over his head.

The blow rendered Peter unconscious, and Laura promptly called the police, explaining that her husband had choked her and that she’d struck him in self-defense. The officers arrived surprisingly quickly, thinking they were responding to a possible murder. But it turned out it was just a case of her defending herself.

When the doorbell rang, Peter woke up, unaware that it was the police. He lunged at Laura just as she opened the front door. That’s when Peter was caught. He didn’t have the chance to inflict any more harm on Laura; instead, he was struggling against the officers and even attempted to charge at them. So he wouldn’t be going to any family dinner; he had a different appointment ahead of him…

Meanwhile, Laura took advantage of Peter being taken into custody to gather her belongings and spoke with a friend about staying at her place for a while. Her friend was going on holiday with her husband and kids soon, so Laura wouldn’t be imposing and could keep an eye on her flat. She still needed to check in on the cat and dog, so this arrangement seemed easier.

By the time her friend arrived, Laura was already divorced. While the division of assets hadn’t been entirely resolved yet, she had rented a new flat and moved out. Meanwhile, Peter was seething with rage at Laura for doing exactly what he had dreaded, losing out on a long-awaited reunion with the love of his life without even getting a glimpse of her.

Once the assets were finally divided, Peter headed to London to stay with his sister’s friend, but he learned that he was unwanted there too. That girl had a serious relationship, and things were moving toward a wedding, so she didn’t allow him to crash there, leaving him without a place to sleep.

Thus, Peter found himself utterly alone in a vast city he didn’t know, without a penny to his name, since he had squandered his half of the proceeds from selling the flat on gifts for his love, and now had nothing to show for it. Unsurprisingly, his relatives were unwilling to lend him a hand either, as they too lacked the funds to send even a ticket back for him…