— «So what, am I supposed to go around hungry now?» Leo exclaimed indignantly, feeling his anger boiling inside him.
«—Of course not,» Anna replied calmly. «You can go to the store, buy groceries, and make yourself dinner. Or have something delivered. You have money.»
«—Is this a strike?» he finally asked. «Are you now refusing to fulfill your ‘womanly duties’?»
«I’m tired of being the cash cow in this family! Why should I carry the entire burden alone?» Leo slammed his briefcase down on the table and pointed at the new blender. «Have you bought something again?»
Anna stared at her husband in surprise. It was so unexpected that she couldn’t immediately come up with an answer. Dinner was almost ready, the apartment was clean, the laundry was done—everything was in order, as always, after a full day of work.
«Leo, I’ve been dreaming about this for a long time. It was on sale, and I paid for it with my salary…»
«With your salary!» he interrupted, pacing the kitchen. «And what’s left of that? Penny! Who pays for our apartment? Me! Who pays for the car? Me! Who covers all the basic expenses? Me again!»
Anna turned off the stove and wiped her hands on her apron. Steam rose from the pot to the ceiling, filling the kitchen with wonderful aromas, but her appetite for dinner had vanished.
«But I work too,» she said quietly. «All day, by the way. We buy the groceries with my salary. I also cook, clean, and wash…»
«Yes, yes, you’re simply holy,» said Leo, slamming the cupboard shut and pulling out a cup to pour himself some water. «You know what? I’ve had enough. From now on, everything will be fair. We’ll split the expenses fifty-fifty, because you’re way too comfortable hanging on to me.»
«What do you mean?» Anna folded her arms.
«Exactly as I say. If we’re so modern and equal, we’ll pay the same amount. We share the bills, the phone, and all our other shared expenses. That’s fair – instead of just putting everything on me!»
Part of her wanted to object that his suggestion had nothing to do with fairness—it was more like a kind of servitude: she’d have to put almost her entire salary into the shared household, while the daily chores wouldn’t just disappear.
She had something to say, but why argue when they could do it exactly the way he wanted?
«Okay, Leo. You want it fair—fifty-fifty. Then let’s do it that way.»
Anna woke up before the alarm went off. Leo was still asleep, with his back to the wall. Yesterday’s conversation kept circling in her head. Quietly, she got up and went into the kitchen.
After four years of marriage, they had arranged the division of responsibilities in a way that now seemed disproportionate to her. Yes, Leo earned more.
Yes, in the first year—when she was still a student in her final semester—it made sense: he provided for her financially, she managed the household. But later, Anna also started working! First part-time, then full-time. And the housework? It was all hers to handle.
She opened her laptop and looked at her bank statements: her salary, utilities, groceries, daily expenses… Almost everything she earned went to the family.
And her contribution—cooked lunches and dinners, laundry, clean apartment—didn’t that count at all?
The memory of her first meeting with Leo—back then simply Leo—brought a sad smile to her face. How attentively he had courted her!
How he had said she was his queen and he would do anything for her. And now? «Cash cow,» yes… How quickly, with some men, romance turns into accounting.
Anna took a sip of tea and thought. If he really wanted to divide everything equally—fine. But then really equally.
«And you know, Igor, I told her yesterday: That’s it. We live like modern couples—fifty-fifty,» Leo explained, leaning back in his office chair and addressing his colleague.
Igor looked up from his monitor and studied it carefully.
«And how did she react?»
«You won’t believe this—she agreed!» Leo grinned triumphantly. «Immediately, almost without discussion.»
«Seriously?» Igor raised an eyebrow. «Just like that?»
«I’m telling you—she agreed immediately. She must have realized I was right.» Leo clicked his mouse and opened a new file. «So what? Fair is fair.»
«Everyone has their own idea of fairness,» Igor said philosophically, returning to his work. «My aunt always says, ‘Be careful what you wish for—it might come true.'»
«What does that mean?» Leo frowned.
«I have no idea,» Igor smiled. «But it sounds clever, don’t you think?»
Leo laughed and turned back to his computer. A strange feeling briefly ran through him, but he pushed it aside. Everything would be okay. Anna was a sensible woman.
At that moment, Anna was standing in the store in front of the shelves, thoughtfully examining the price tags. In the past, she would have filled the entire shopping cart—for a week, for the whole family.
Today, her small basket held only a yogurt, a package of cheese, bread, and a single chicken breast. She didn’t even glance at the fish fillet that Leo loved so much.
The evening fell unusually quietly. At home, Anna quickly prepared chicken breast in the oven with vegetables, ate dinner, cleaned up, started a load of laundry, and settled down on the sofa with her tablet—she had three series on hold that she was dying to watch, but never found the time. A message from Leo appeared on her phone: «I’ll be there in half an hour. What’s for dinner?»
Anna smiled and put the phone down without answering.
The key turned in the lock, and Leo entered the apartment. His day had been exhausting, and he couldn’t wait to sit down to dinner. Usually, delicious aromas would waft from the kitchen by this time of night…
«Hey, Anyut, I’m home!» Leo called as he took off his coat.
No answer. Leo went into the kitchen and found it empty and clean, with no signs of cooking. Opening the refrigerator, he saw yogurt, cheese, and some vegetables on the half-empty shelves.
«Anna!» he called again and walked into the living room.
His wife was sitting on the sofa, engrossed in something on her tablet, wearing headphones. Noticing her husband, she pulled out one of the earbuds.
«Oh, hi. You’re home already?»
«Yes, I am. And where’s dinner?» Leo looked around, as if expecting the food to be hidden somewhere in a corner of the living room.
Anna looked at him, slightly surprised.
«What dinner?» she asked. «Did you give me money for dinner? No! So what am I supposed to do?»
Leo froze, incredulous at his ears.
«Are you serious?» His voice rose almost to a shout. «I come home after a hard day at work, and you didn’t even make dinner?»
«You didn’t give me any money for your share of dinner,» Anna explained calmly, taking out the second earbud. «You said yesterday – fifty-fifty. I bought something with my own money, cooked for myself. Just as agreed.»
«But…» Leo stammered, completely confused. «I didn’t mean it like that! I meant the shared expenses…»
«Exactly. Shared expenses – shared. Dinner isn’t just for me, but for you too. Those are shared expenses, so I bought groceries just for me,» she shrugged. «And made dinner just for me.»
«And what am I supposed to do now, go to bed hungry?» Leo bristled, anger boiling inside him.
«Of course not,» Anna replied calmly. «You can go to the store, buy groceries, and prepare dinner. Or order something. You have money.»
Leo stared at her, not understanding where his ever-caring, patient wife had gone. Who was this woman with the cold, serene gaze?
«Is this some kind of strike?» he finally asked. «Are you refusing to fulfill your womanly duties?»
Anna slowly put her tablet aside and turned fully to her husband.
«Womanly duties?» she repeated, her voice hardening. «I dutifully fulfilled them until yesterday. But yesterday you suggested we split the money fifty-fifty—and that got me thinking: Why are you treating me so unfairly?»
«Me?!» Leo gasped indignantly. «I—I…»
«Yes, you,» Anna interrupted. «We used to pay the big bills with your money, and buy groceries and a few small things with mine.
And on top of that, I cooked, cleaned, and did the laundry. Every evening after work. And on the weekends, I did a deep cleaning and prepared food for several days so we at least had a little time during the week. Remember last Sunday?
I stood in the kitchen cooking for three hours. And then I cleaned the apartment for three hours. That’s six hours of work—almost a full workday. On my day off.”
Leo was silent, trying to process her words.
“And now you say—fifty-fifty,” Anna continued. “Fine, fine. But then we really do it fifty-fifty.
Not just with the money, but also with the housework. Cooking—take turns or each of us does it individually. Cleaning—we divide who does what. Laundry—everyone does their own. What do you think?”
Leo shifted restlessly from one foot to the other.
“Listen, this is… I don’t even know how to use the washing machine…”
“I’ll show you,” Anna smiled. “It’s nothing complicated.”
“And besides—if you don’t cook or clean, what do I need you for?” Leo blurted out, and he immediately regretted it.
Anna looked at him long and hard, then slowly got up from the sofa.
«Providing for the family is a man’s duty,» she said quietly. «But for some reason, I never ask why I actually need you, even though you’ve always only half-heartedly contributed to it, because I had to work too.
And now you want to abandon your manly duty altogether.» She inclined her head slightly. «But you see—I’m not asking that question. Because we are a family. At least, that’s what I’ve always believed.»
A heavy silence fell over the room. Leo stared at the floor, feeling his righteous anger slowly turn into shame. Anna stood erect, shoulders back, waiting for his answer.
«Sorry,» he said finally. «I got carried away. Let’s go back to the way we used to be, okay?»
He expected Anna to be overjoyed, fall into his arms, and start dinner right away… But she just shook her head.
«Why would I do that?» she asked with genuine curiosity. «I used to make you dinner, iron your shirts, and wash the dishes.
But now I’ve already eaten, done everything, and was just about to watch a new episode. It’s actually more convenient for me this way, you know.»
With these words, she returned to the sofa, put her headphones back on, and turned on her tablet, while Leo remained standing in the middle of the room, his mouth open in amazement.
«Mom, you wouldn’t believe what she pulled,» Leo said into the phone, holding it close to his ear and repeatedly glancing into the almost-empty refrigerator as if food were magically appearing there.
«I believe it, I believe it,» his mother’s voice laughed. «And she did the right thing. You really got cheeky, son.»
«What?!?» Leo almost dropped the phone. «Whose side are you on?»
«The side of justice, Leo. Do you think your father used to just bring home money? He also cooked while I was working and spent time with you. And now he practically does everything himself since I got sick. That’s what a real man looks like.»
Leo fell silent. He’d never noticed this side of his relationship with his parents.
«But that’s how we’ve always done it,» he murmured. «I always provided for the family, and Anna took care of the house.»
«But now she works and runs the household too,» his mother remarked gently.
«And how’s that fair?» Leo couldn’t find a reply. After talking with his mother, he ordered food, ate alone in the kitchen, and for the first time seriously considered how much Anna did each day.
The first few days without dinner, clean shirts, and a comfortable home felt like a cold shock to Leo. By the end of the week, he cursed the ridiculous idea of «fifty-fifty.»
Who would have thought running a household could be so exhausting? The entire refrigerator was full of half-cooked food, scrambled eggs were burning on the stove (his third attempt!), and the delivery prices made his eyes pop out of his head.
He tried three times to cook meat the way Anna did. And three times he failed spectacularly. The first time, he didn’t defrost it properly; the second time, he oversalted it so much it was inedible; and the third time, he somehow left it in the oven.
Luckily, the fire alarm didn’t go off, but he had to air out the kitchen for two hours.
By now, Anna felt like a heavy weight had been lifted from her shoulders. No more rushing from work to the store, no more «What’s for dinner?» and «Where are the clean socks?»
A simple dinner for herself, a quiet evening with a book and her favorite TV shows. On Wednesday, instead of doing laundry as usual, she even treated herself to a meeting with Mashka at a café after work—imagine that! On the weekend, while Leo wrestled with the vacuum cleaner, she simply lay on the sofa with a book. Bliss…
Leo watched all this through gritted teeth, but had to admit his wife was right. On Friday, he couldn’t take it any longer.
He left work early, rushed to the supermarket, bought a bunch of «a thousand little things,» and ran home, determined to put everything back in order.
He went all out, just like in the early days of their relationship: candles, a bottle of that semi-sweet red wine Anna secretly loved (even though she always claimed to prefer dry wine), and most importantly—an oven-roasted chicken.
It wasn’t a culinary masterpiece, of course, but it was made from the heart.
As the key turned in the lock, Leo almost jumped with excitement. Anna stood in the doorway, breathing in the cozy scents she had long forgotten.
«What is this?» she asked suspiciously, pointing to the set table and the flickering candles.
«Dinner,» Leo answered simply. «For both of us. I made it.»
They sat down at the table, and Leo poured wine into their glasses.
«I’ve been thinking a lot these last few days,» he began. «And I’ve realized I was wrong. You’ve always done much more than I noticed or appreciated.» Anna listened attentively, not interrupting.
«I propose a new arrangement,» Leo continued. «We both work full-time, and we both take care of our home. I’m willing to take on some of the household chores—shopping, washing dishes, taking out the trash, maybe something else.
I’m not very good at it yet, but just tell me what you need. And as for finances… let’s contribute to the household budget based on our salaries. I’ll do 65 percent, and you’ll do 35 percent. Isn’t that fair?»
Anna turned her wine glass thoughtfully in her hand.
«You know,» she finally said, «I agree. But on one condition. We really divide the housework, and not just in a way that I’m constantly monitoring and reminding people.»
«I promise,» Leo said firmly, nodding. «I even made a list and a plan. Look, here,» he said, handing her his phone with an open file. «I’ve got everything planned out.»
Anna looked over the list and smiled.
«You know, you could actually make a pretty decent husband,» she said with a mischievous smile.
Leo laughed and raised his glass.
«To a new beginning?» he offered.
«To partnership,» Anna corrected as they clinked their glasses together.
They sat in the kitchen for a long time, talking and making plans. And despite its slight dryness and saltiness, this roast chicken seemed to be the most delicious dish in the world that evening.
