She only wanted to see who hed left her for…
Parshin walked straight into the kitchen, still in his coat, and sat at the table.
“I love another woman. Shes expecting my child. Im leaving you for her,” he said bluntly, without preamble.
Vita turned off the tap and faced her husband.
“Is it that girl who sells apples at the market? Tanya, isnt it?” she asked calmly.
“You knew?” Parshin looked up, startled.
“Darling, youre a terrible liar. Of course I knew. Tell medo you love her, or are you leaving just because of the baby?”
“Im sorry.” He lowered his head.
*And what about the last ten years we spent together? Do they mean nothing to you? What about me?* Her eyes screamed the words, but Vita stayed silent.
“Are you planning to marry her?” she asked instead.
“Not now.”
“Then lets keep things as they are at the department. I dont want gossip or whispers in the corridors.”
“Agreed. Shall I go, then?” He stood.
Vita turned back to the sink, turned the water on, and stared at it until Parshin was gone.
Hed left quicklyprobably just took the essentials. Or maybe hed be back?
She turned off the tap, sat down in the chair hed just vacated, and dropped her head onto her folded arms. But she didnt cry.
***
She hadnt cried a month earlier, either, when her friend told her shed seen Parshin with another woman.
“One of his students?” Vita had asked. “They always fall for him. What do they even see in him?”
“No. She sells fruit at the market near the university. Names Tanya. Moved here from the countryside, lives in a shared flat on Victoria Street. Twenty-three years old,” her friend rattled off the details like a detective delivering a report.
“How do you even know all this?” Vita frowned.
“Small town. Ive got a friend in that buildingLisa Dawson. You remember her, same year as us? Your Parshins there all the time.”
“I dont recall. He told me he was staying late for extra tutorials.”
Some things you had to see for yourself. The next day, Vita decided to follow him. She knew his schedule, dressed discreetly, and waited in the hall, hidden behind a pillar.
When he left the building, she trailed him at a distance, careful not to stare at his back. He might have sensed it and turned around. She wanted to keep her dignity, to avoid looking desperate. She just wanted to see who hed left her for.
He stopped near the market stall where the girl sold apples and other fruit. A short queue of three people waited. The girl, in a sleeveless puffer vest over a jumper and jeans, weighed the fruit briskly. When she leaned over the crates, a thick braid swung over her shoulder, loose strands falling into her face. Shed straighten up, blow them aside, and smiledimples forming in her cheeks. She served customers patiently but kept glancing at Parshin with dark, lingering looks. *Probably short-changing them. Should I report her to Trading Standards?* Vita thought bitterly.
An elderly woman meticulously inspected each apple before finally nodding.
“Take some plums too,” the girl suggested. “Theyre sweet and softgood for jam.”
The woman hesitated, squeezed a few, then shook her head.
“No, just the apples. How much?”
The bag weighed nearly a kilo, but the girl named a ridiculously low price. The woman beamed, paid, and hurried off before the girl changed her mind.
*She pities the elderly!* Vita was surprised. *Not out of kindness, though. The fruits going bad anywayshe can write off the loss. Or is she putting on a show for Parshin?*
Vita passed the stall daily but never paid attention to the girl. Yet Parshin had.
Once the last customer left, he approached her. Vita saw the way the girl looked at himlike he was a god. *Well, hes practically a PhDimpressive for someone like her.* The girl adjusted his scarf, brushed invisible dust from his shoulders. The tender gesture stung. Vita had assumed it was just an affair. But this was love.
She couldnt see Parshins face but knew he gazed at the girl with the same warmth. Not waiting to be spotted, she walked away.
That evening, alone at home, Vita finally broke down.
***
Shed noticed him at university firstquiet, serious, never at parties, no close friends, indifferent to girls. Handsome, if not for the brooding glare under heavy brows. There was something mysterious about him. He reminded her of Heathcliff.
One day, she sat beside him in a lecture.
“Bored?” she asked.
He looked at her and smiledhis whole face transformed. *He is beautiful,* she thought. After that, they sat together often. Soon, he was walking her home.
“What do you even see in him?” a jealous friend asked.
“Youd steal him if I told you,” Vita replied.
Their relationship grew slowly. By their final year, they were close, and they married soon after graduation. His parents werent theretheyd died in a car crash years earlier. That explained his silence and distance.
But in bed, he was tender. Afterward, hed read her Byron, Auden, Eliot. He read beautifully. Vita listened, heart fluttering. His voice touched something deep inside her.
She longed for a child but knew it was unlikely. As a girl, shed fallen through ice playing on a frozen river. Doctors said shed probably never conceive. She and Parshin had been together over ten yearsno miracle came. He reassured her they could adopt, but she wanted her own.
After university, they both stayed on as lecturers.
Lately, their relationship had settled into something calm, almost friendly. They were rarely aparthome and work together. For Vita, that was enough. But AlexanderParshin, as she called himwanted passion, excitement. And a child. So hed found a simple girl whod give him one.
When Vita learned about the baby, jealousy pricked hernot because hed strayed, but because hed have what she couldnt.
At the department, they acted as before. Only now, they left separately, inventing excuses to stay late or leave early. No one questioned it.
Parshin moved into the shared flat with Tanya. Vita hoped hed change his mind, but weeks passed without him returning. Leaving work, she avoided looking toward the market.
She found out about the baby between lectures. He approached her, eyes shining, and whispered the news. She forced congratulations. He rushed to the hospital.
That evening, he came to her doorstep, sobbing. Tanya was deada stroke. Vita held him as he wept.
“The babys alive. A girl. What will you do?”
“Ill take her,” he said hoarsely.
“And work?”
“My aunt will help at first. Ill cut my hours.”
But by spring, his aunt leftshe had a garden to tend. He hired a nanny but fired her the next day when he found the baby crying while the woman scrolled on her phone.
Days later, he called Vita.
“Please. I cant do this alone.”
“You left me, and now youre asking for help?”
“Just come.”
Anger aside, the baby was innocent. The moment Vita held her, she forgot her hurt. Parshin had named her Alicesaid Tanya loved Adele and often hummed her songs. Alice Alexandra Parshin. It had a nice ring.
At first, Vita visited dailycooking, ironing, walking the baby. But then the flatmates complained. The owner was dead; a stranger and a child lived there now. They had to leave.
“Pack your things. You and Alice are moving in with me,” Vita said without hesitation.
For a while, they slept apart. The first time Alice said “Mummy,” Vitas heart nearly burst.
One evening, returning from work, she heard laughterAlices high giggles, Parshins deeper chuckle. She paused in the doorway. The toddler wobbled toward him; he caught her, tossed her in the air. Both laughed. Vita had never heard him laugh like that. Tears welled.
“Youre back?” He turned. “Look!” He set Alice down, stepped back. She toddled to him.
He couldnt stop talking about her first steps. That night, they were close again. He read to her, and her heart swelled.
“Did you read to her too?” she asked cautiously.
He paused. “Once. She didnt understand.”
Alice grew, resembling Tanya more each day.
One afternoon, Vita and Parshin passed the market. A different womanolder, with garish red hair and chipped nail polishnow ran the stall. She winked at Parshin.
“Lets go,” he muttered, disgusted.
That evening, as Vita washed dishes, he hugged her from behind.
“Thank you. Without you I adore you both.”
“Without you and Tanya, thered be no Alice.”
Vita forgave. If shed held a grudge, thered be no Alice, no second chance. Just a lonely life.
She pitied Tanyagone too soon. But shed left Alice behind. One day, theyd tell her about her real mother. Or maybe not. Vita had raised her, loved her as her own. That was enough.
