“You took out a loan for your family, and now you want to drag me into it too? No, my dear — from now on, you’ll deal with it on your own!” the woman said firmly.

Adelina walked into the apartment, slipped off her shoes at the door, and immediately sensed that something was wrong at home.  Stepan was sitting at the kitchen table, staring at his laptop screen and nervously tapping his fingers.

Bank logos, loan calculators, repayment schedules, and interest rates flashed across the screen. “Hi,” Adelina said as she entered the kitchen. “What are you looking at?”

“Nothing special,” her husband replied without looking up.

“I’m just checking loan options.”

An uneasy shiver ran down her spine.

She stood by the refrigerator and watched him closely.

“And why do you need that?”

“Just curious,” he shrugged, though his attention was far too focused.

Adelina didn’t push the conversation further.

She poured herself a glass of water and went into the other room. But a heavy sense of foreboding had already settled inside her — sticky and suffocating, like a storm about to break.

That evening, during dinner, Stepan finally spoke.

“Listen, Adelina… Nina called me today.”

Nina was Stepan’s younger sister, 28 years old, working as an administrative assistant at a beauty salon.

“What happened?”

“She needs a car,” he said. “She says commuting by bus is too hard. It takes her an hour to get to work, and she’s exhausted.”

“Then she should buy one herself.”

“She doesn’t have money for a down payment,” Stepan said hesitantly.

“She’s asking for help. We could take out a loan, buy the car, and she would pay it back gradually.”

Adelina put her fork down.

“We’re still paying off the refrigerator loan.”

“There’s only a little left. It’ll be done in three months.”

“And how big would this new loan be?”  “Around two hundred thousand.”

“For a decent used car. Nina found a 2010 Hyundai Solaris.”   “Two hundred thousand…” Adelina leaned back.

“Do you understand how much money that is?”

“I do. But she’s my sister.”

“How am I supposed to refuse her?”

“And how exactly is she going to repay it?”  “From her salary. She earns forty thousand, and after rent she has twenty-six left. She could give half.”

“We don’t even have money for a bathroom renovation… and you want to push us into another debt?”

“This is family, Adelina.”

“Your family,” she corrected calmly. “Not mine.”

The tension in the room rose sharply.

“So now everything is yours and mine?” he snapped.

“No, but—”

“Then what?”

“Nina is an adult. Let her solve her own problems.”  “They won’t approve a loan for her!”

“And how is that suddenly our problem?”

Stepan began pacing the kitchen nervously.

“You’re heartless, Adelina.”

“I’m not heartless. I just see that we’re sinking into debt because of other people.”