Marina unlocked the apartment door, entered, and turned on the light in the hallway.
The first thing that caught her eye was a pair of red women’s shoes in the hallway. She recognized them instantly; they were shoes…
At work that morning, Marina felt ill. She experienced sudden nausea and dizziness.
She had been feeling slightly unwell for the last couple of days but had tried to ignore it. Now, she felt genuinely sick.
“What’s wrong?” her office neighbor, Anya, asked worriedly.
“I suddenly felt nauseous, and my head started spinning,” Marina replied, unbuttoning her blouse collar and wiping her sweaty forehead.
“Could you be pregnant?” Anya asked with a sly smile.
“Yeah, right, say something like that!” Marina dismissed her. “I probably ate something spoiled.”
“What could you have eaten that’s spoiled if you’re such a proponent of healthy eating?” Anya giggled.
Marina pondered. What if she really was pregnant? No, it couldn’t be. Or could it…
“Listen, Anya, I still want to get checked out. Just in case. I’ll run to the pharmacy.”
Marina got up from her chair, left the office, and quickly headed towards the exit…
Ten minutes later, she stood in the office bathroom, unable to take her eyes off the two lines on the test.
She was pregnant!
Marina didn’t know whether to be happy or upset. She and her husband Andrei were not ready for children yet. But since it happened… Maybe it was fate?
Her thoughts were jumbled. Marina realized she couldn’t work normally today and went to her boss, Irina Ivanovna, to ask to go home.
The boss, learning of the situation, smiled kindly:
“Of course, Marisha, go home. Rest, pull yourself together, and I expect you back at work tomorrow.”
Marina didn’t walk home; she flew. She couldn’t wait to share the news with her husband. He had the day off. What a surprise it would be when she unexpectedly appeared at the doorstep with such news!
Marina unlocked the apartment door, entered, and turned on the light in the hallway.
The first thing that caught her eye was a pair of red women’s shoes in the hallway. She recognized them instantly; they were the shoes of her friend Alla.
“What is Alla doing at our home, especially at this time?” Marina wondered, surprised as she entered the living room.
There was no one in the living room, but voices were coming from the bedroom.
Already suspecting something was wrong, Marina quickly moved towards the sounds, swung open the door, and froze on the threshold…
Andrei and Alla were passionately discussing something.
Marina gasped in surprise, and the couple turned their heads in fear towards her.
“Marina-a-a?” Andrei stretched out, confused. “Why are you home so early?”
Alla said nothing, only wrapped herself in a blanket and blinked fearfully, looking at her friend.
What happened next, Marina remembered with difficulty.
It seemed she screamed, threw things, chased her husband and friend out of the apartment, then fell on the bed and cried loudly for a long time.
Then she sat on the floor, staring into the void.
When she came to her senses, it was already dark outside. The apartment was silent.
Five days later, Marina was walking to a private clinic to sign up for an abortion. During these days, she had made a firm decision…
Andrei came home only once, just to collect his things and tell Marina they were divorcing.
It turned out he and Alla had been seeing each other for six months, and it was love.
Marina didn’t tell Andrei about her pregnancy. She realized her husband was serious about the divorce and didn’t want to hold a person with a child who no longer loved her.
She thought long about whether to keep the pregnancy or not and decided she didn’t want anything connecting her to the traitor, not even a child.
Moreover, she understood that she couldn’t handle the baby alone. And no one could help: her parents lived in another city, and her salary wouldn’t cover a nanny.
Remembering all the events of the past week, Marina reached the clinic. She sat in a chair in front of the office, waiting for her turn.
A few minutes later, a patient left, and from behind the door, the doctor’s voice called out:
“Come in!”
Marina entered. The doctor looked up from his papers.
“Anton?!” she exclaimed in surprise. “Is that really you?!”
Anton had been her classmate and first love. In the eleventh grade, Marina was secretly in love with him but never dared confess her feelings.
At graduation, he asked her to dance, and at the end of the evening, he timidly kissed her on the cheek.
Her heart skipped from happiness, but she was so embarrassed that she didn’t even let the boy walk her home, which she later deeply regretted.
After graduation, Anton moved to another city to study medicine, and since then, they hadn’t seen each other, although Marina often thought of him.
And now here he was sitting in front of her—grown up, matured, and still so handsome.
“Marishka! What a meeting!”
Anton was clearly glad to see her.
He stood up from behind the desk, approached, and hugged her.
This unexpected meeting so surprised Marina that she momentarily forgot her troubles.
For about ten minutes, the former classmates chatted animatedly.
Suddenly, Anton remembered:
“Oh, what are we talking about! You’re here for a consultation! Tell me, what brings you in?”
This phrase brought Marina back to reality, and her face saddened again. She sighed heavily and told her former classmate about her husband’s affair, her friend’s betrayal, and the unexpected pregnancy.
“And you’ve decided to get rid of the child?” Anton looked at her attentively.
“Yes!” she said firmly.
After the examination, Anton offered his former classmate:
“Marina, let’s go to a cafe this evening, sit down, talk. After all, an abortion is a serious decision, you can’t just make it like that. You don’t mind?”
“Okay.”
She wanted to talk to Anton, to learn more about his life.
That evening, Marina and Anton sat in a small cafe and talked about everything under the sun. They reminisced about their school years, joked, and laughed.
For the first time in the last week, Marina felt good. She enjoyed talking to Anton and didn’t want to leave.
Suddenly, Anton brought up Marina’s pregnancy. He tried to persuade her to keep the baby, saying that she would regret it because the baby was innocent of her husband’s betrayal.
“Do you have any children yourself? Are you even married?” Marina interrupted him.
“I was… But I can’t have children. My wife left me when she found out.” Anton said quietly, looking down.
A pause hung in the air. Anton averted his eyes. When he looked at Marina again, tears were streaming down her cheeks.
“You know,” Marina whispered, “I actually want this child, but I’m afraid I can’t handle it.”
“Nonsense! You’ll manage! And if it gets tough, I’m always here.” The friend reassured her with a smile and patted her hand encouragingly.
The conversation ended with Anton offering to become Marina’s personal doctor and oversee her pregnancy…
For the first time in recent days, Marina slept peacefully. It felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders.
“Ah, if only I had been braver back then, at the school graduation, maybe Anton and I would be together now…” she thought as she drifted off to sleep.
The next evening, there was a knock at Marina’s apartment. She opened the door and froze in surprise. Anton stood on the threshold with a bag of fresh fruit in his hands.
“Came to visit my patient!” he said, a bit shyly, smiling. “May I?”
“How did you know my address?” Marina asked, perplexed.
“It’s on your medical card!” laughed the friend.
“Well then, come in!” smiled the hostess.
Marina and Anton sat in the kitchen, drinking tea and talking.
“You know, Marisha,” Anton suddenly said, “I was in love with you in school. But I was afraid to confess. Then, at the prom, when we danced, I thought I had a chance. But you ran away from me.”
“Oh, if you knew how I scolded myself for that!” Marina replied fervently. “I was in love with you too, but I was very shy. I often remembered you afterward, regretting that you moved to another city.”
For a few minutes, Anton was silent, thinking. Then he looked straight into Marina’s eyes and said seriously:
“Marisha, maybe it’s not too late? Maybe fate is giving us a second chance?”
“But I’m pregnant… by another man.” Marina said, bewildered. “Why would you want someone else’s child?”
“So what? I’ll never have my own children anyway, but I want to be a father.” Anton smiled warmly.
“I agree.” Marina said shyly and felt like a lovesick high school girl again.
Anton moved closer to her, hugged her, and kissed her. Marina clung to him tightly. Tears streamed down her cheeks. But this time, they were tears of happiness.
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