“— Irka, brace yourself! I have news — but don’t panic, all right?” Vika’s voice was unusually tense.
“What happened?” Irena asked warily. Her friend was normally calm and almost emotionless, but today something in her tone was different. “Come on, spit it out. The suspense is worse — I will panic.”
“You said your Borya left on a business trip this morning, right?”
“Yes, early today.”
“That’s a lie…” Vika’s voice dropped, becoming low and flat. “He didn’t go anywhere. Your husband is still in the city.”
Irena and Boris had been married for almost twenty-two years. They met back in college. Love didn’t spark between them right away — they were friends at first, part of the same group, just hanging out together. For a while they even lost touch, then fate brought them back together, and that time it turned into something real.
Boris proposed to Irena while they were on vacation at the seaside. It was beautiful and romantic — a candlelit dinner at a restaurant overlooking the sunset over the ocean.
After twenty-two years of marriage, Irena could say with absolute certainty: these were the happiest years of her life. Boris had never raised his voice at her, always listened, always asked her opinion before making decisions.
Fifteen years ago they’d had a son, Roma. Boris had been a devoted father — up at night with the baby, warming bottles, soothing him to sleep, doing everything most men avoided.
“With a husband like that, you should’ve had ten kids, not one!” her friends and relatives used to tease. “He’s a gem — not a man but pure gold!”
Still, Irena never dared to have another child, and Boris never pressured her. He believed in quality over quantity — and he raised Roma to be a good, kind boy who had everything, but never acted spoiled.
Knowing Boris inside and out, Irena had never once doubted his faithfulness. He never came home late, never behaved strangely, never ogled other women. He adored her, even after two decades, still looking at her with admiration.
That’s why Vika’s words didn’t fill her with panic or confusion. Irena simply decided her friend must be mistaken — she’d probably seen a man who only looked like Boris.
“No, sweetheart, it couldn’t be him. Boris got up at five in the morning and drove to the airport for check-in.”
“Ira,” Vika said gently, “I didn’t just see him. I spoke to him.”
“What?”
“Yes. He didn’t recognize me — we’ve only met once, ten years ago. Honestly, I didn’t recognize him at first either. If he hadn’t shown me his passport, I might not have realized who he was.”
“His passport?” Irena repeated blankly. “Why on earth did you see his passport? Did you get a job at the airport or something?”
“What does the airport have to do with this? I needed his ID to sign a rental agreement. He rented an apartment from me for a week, you see?”
“You’re joking, right?” Irena’s voice tightened. She didn’t want to believe it, but Vika had no reason to lie.
“I’m not joking. I even took photos of his documents — I’ll send them to you now.”
When Irena opened the photo on her phone, her perfect world shattered. It was Boris’s passport — her husband’s passport — the man she had trusted completely for twenty-two years.
“Why… why would you rent him the place?” she stammered, her voice trembling. “You realized who he was…”
“Sweetheart, please don’t cry,” Vika said softly, though her own voice trembled with pity. “I rented it to him so we could figure out the truth. I don’t want you living in a lie.”
“What do we do now?”
“Call him. Ask how his flight went. If he keeps up the business trip story, then we’ll have to act fast.”
“Act? How exactly?”
“We’ll go there together and keep watch. We’ll see who comes to visit him. We need to catch him red-handed — otherwise he’ll spin another story, and you’ll never know for sure.”
“How will we know it’s another woman? People go in and out of buildings all the time.”
“Don’t worry, I’ve got everything set up. My neighbors and I installed a security camera by the door recently — we can see everyone who comes near the apartment.”
Irena didn’t like the idea of spying, but she agreed — she had to know if Boris was hiding something.
When she called him, she tried to hint around, but he didn’t crack. He said he’d arrived safely, that work would keep him busy. The calmness of his lie hurt more than anything. When she hung up, she called Vika immediately.
“When do we go? I want to look him in the eyes when I catch him with another woman.”
“Right now! I’m ready.”
The two of them spent half the day parked outside the building, phone screens showing the camera feed. They watched and waited. If some glamorous stranger had shown up, they were ready to storm the apartment and catch Boris in the act. That was the plan.
But hours passed — and nothing happened.
“Maybe you were mistaken,” Irena sighed. “Or maybe he went out while we weren’t watching.”
“We checked the footage — he’s definitely inside. I just don’t get it. Why isn’t he leaving? Why isn’t anyone visiting?”
They waited until nightfall, exhausted, and finally decided to stop.
“Let’s come back tomorrow,” Irena suggested. “He’s probably asleep by now. Look, the lights are off.”
“Fine,” Vika agreed. “We’ll see everything anyway — the camera runs 24/7.”
The next morning, Vika checked the overnight recording. Boris hadn’t left once. Only at nine a.m. did a delivery guy show up with two grocery bags.
“No one else?” Irena asked.
“No one. Just the courier.”
They spent another long day in the car. The result was the same.
“I don’t understand why he’s sitting in there. Maybe the camera’s broken? Maybe someone already came?”
“No, the feed’s fine. I don’t get it either. Maybe he knows we’re watching?”
“I doubt it…” Irena murmured. Suddenly her expression changed. “What if he’s sick? He’s been having chest pains lately. What if something’s really wrong and we’re just sitting here while he’s…”
“Ira, don’t start imagining things,” Vika sighed. “Your husband isn’t a cat who goes off to die alone.”
“Then I don’t know what to think. Give me the keys — I’m going in. I’ll ask him myself.”
“You sure? If you don’t catch him red-handed, he’ll just sweet-talk his way out of it.”
“I know my husband. I’ll know if he’s lying.”
Reluctantly, Vika handed over the keys and followed her upstairs.
It was already dusk. The light was still on inside the apartment — another sign, Irena thought, that Boris was awake.
She quietly unlocked the door and stepped inside. The hallway was dark, but a dim glow came from behind the closed bedroom door.
“Shh,” Irena whispered. “I’ll listen first, then I’ll burst in.”
“Okay…” Vika muttered.
Irena crept closer. From inside came silence — and then, suddenly, Boris’s voice:
“So that’s how it is?! You’ll pay for this! Take that, you wretch!”
Irena’s eyes widened. She turned to Vika and whispered, “There’s someone in there! Your camera must be broken after all.”
Vika barely had time to shrug before Irena flung the door open.
She expected to see her husband with another woman — but Boris was alone, wearing headphones, sitting in front of a massive monitor. He hadn’t even noticed them enter.
“Borya! What is going on here?!” Irena shouted. He didn’t react. She walked up and touched his shoulder.
“Ah!” Boris jumped and spun around, eyes wide in shock. Then he pulled off the headphones. “Darling?! What are you doing here?!”
“I should be asking you that! You’re supposed to be on a business trip!”
“Well… uh…” he stammered. “It’s like this… I took a short vacation. I just wanted to relax — well, actually, to play some games…”
“Games?! You rented an apartment to play video games?” Irena felt a wave of relief — mixed with anger.
“Yeah. Roma got me hooked. But I feel silly playing at home. You wouldn’t understand. So I rented a console and a flat. Been gaming nonstop for days.” He noticed Vika and blinked. “Wait, how did you find me?”
“How?” Irena said, smiling now. “Through a friend. This is Victoria — you probably don’t remember her, but she remembered you. She called me as soon as you moved in.”
“No way,” Boris chuckled. “Out of all the apartments in the city, I rented hers?”
“Exactly!” Irena laughed. “See? I’ve got eyes everywhere. Keep that in mind next time.”
Laughing over the ridiculous misunderstanding, Boris packed up his things and went home with his wife. From that day, Irena trusted him completely again. To make sure he didn’t feel the need to “hide out” for gaming anymore, she let him spend his whole vacation at home with his console.
“Wow, that was awkward,” Vika admitted later, embarrassed. “I probably should’ve told him I knew you.”
“No,” Irena smiled. “You did the right thing. Honestly, I’m glad it happened. Now I know Boris would never betray me — not for another woman, at least. Maybe for his games…”
She laughed softly. “But we’ll talk about that later.”