A week later, Grigory was discharged. They gave him all the necessary documents, a disability certificate, and prescriptions for medication. A hospital social worker helped him find a place in a home for the disabled, but Grigory refused. He didn’t want to go there. He wanted to live on his own. He returned to his room in the communal apartment. The neighbors looked at him with curiosity but offered no help. Grigory somehow made it to his bed and collapsed onto it. His body ached, his head was spinning. He understood: living alone would be very difficult. His disability pension was minuscule. It was barely enough for food and medicine. He could no longer work.
Grigory tried to contact Yelena to ask for help. She responded coldly: “You should have thought about that earlier. Been a good husband.” Kamila and Pavel didn’t visit him. Yelena had convinced them that their father was a loser and a weakling, from whom there was nothing to gain. They grew up with this idea and wanted nothing to do with him.
Grigory was completely alone. No one came, no one called. The neighbors in the communal apartment weren’t interested in him. He lay in bed for days on end, staring at the ceiling and thinking about his life. How did it all go so wrong? When did he make the fatal mistake? Was it when he left Larisa? Or earlier? Maybe when he stopped loving his family and started looking for the easy way out? There were no answers. Only emptiness, pain, and the realization that he had brought this upon himself.
One evening, he made up his mind. He took out his old phone and found information about Yelisey online. He found out where he worked – a law firm in the city center. Grigory knew that going there would be humiliating. But he had no choice. He needed help.
He managed to take a bus to the center. Limping, leaning on a cane, he climbed to the third floor of the old building where the firm was located. He opened the door and entered the reception area. The secretary, a young woman, looked at him with bewilderment.
— Hello. Who are you here to see? — she asked politely.
— Yelisey Cherdantsev, — Grigory said. — Tell him… Tell him his father is here.
The woman raised her eyebrows in surprise but nodded.
— Please wait a moment.
She went into an office. Grigory sat down on a chair in the reception area, breathing heavily. His legs ached, his back hurt. A minute later, Yelisey came out. He had grown up, become a tall, well-built young man with a firm gaze and confident movements. He was wearing a smart suit and tie. He looked successful, established. Yelisey stopped in the doorway of his office. He looked at his father without emotion.
— Why are you here? — he asked curtly.
Grigory stood up, leaning on his cane.
— Yelisey, son… — he began.
— I am not your son, — Yelisey cut him off. — Answer the question. Why are you here?
Grigory swallowed hard.
— I need help. Financial help. I’m disabled, I can’t work. Maybe you could help me? Financially… Pay some amount per month, whatever you can afford.
Yelisey listened in silence. Then he smirked. Coldly, without joy.
— You want me to help you? — he asked again. — Seriously? I understand this sounds…
— …Strange, — Grigory mumbled. — But I have nowhere else to turn.
Yelisey nodded.
— Yes, I know. And I can tell you this: you have no right to receive alimony from me. Because you didn’t pay alimony when you abandoned us and left fifteen years ago.
Grigory turned pale.
— But I’m disabled. I have nothing to live on.
— And did my brother and I have anything to live on when you left? — Yelisey asked harshly. — We were ten and fifteen. We were left with a dying mother, without money, without support. You abandoned us. Now reap what you sow.
— Yelisey, I’m begging you… — Grigory took a step forward, extending his hand.
Yelisey stepped back.
— You know what’s funny? — he continued. — You didn’t come to apologize. Not to say you’re sorry. You came to ask for help. You’ve always only thought about yourself. And you still do.
Grigory opened his mouth to object, but no words came. Yelisey was right. He hadn’t come to make peace. He had come to ask…
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