In Budapest, inside one of the apartment buildings, a woman’s angry voice echoes loudly through the stairwell right now: “What is the matter with you again?! How long can this go on?! I am completely fed up with it all!”
At this very moment, Enikő and Máté are making their way up the stairs. They stop dead in their tracks, as though they have run into an unseen barrier. Their eyes lock for a second, and in that brief glance, words are unnecessary. Both realize without speaking that leaving is the best option right now. Letting out a simultaneous sigh, they turn around and quietly walk away from the building. It is obvious they have no plans to return to the apartment this evening.
Who would want to spend the evening listening to endless parental arguments? Certainly not these two! The siblings stride confidently toward the neighboring entrance that is where their grandmother, Katalin, lives. Lately, her apartment has become their true sanctuary. While they used to visit only on weekends, now they seek shelter there almost every night.
The atmosphere in their parents’ home has long become utterly unbearable. The parents, as if forgetting everything else, yell at each other nonstop. Worse still, they increasingly try to drag the children into their disputes.
Sometimes the mother turns sharply to her daughter and demands right now: “Tell me, am I right? You agree with me, don’t you?”
Other times the father, without waiting for an answer, turns to his son: “No, I am right here! Confirm it!”
Enikő and Máté stay silent. They do not want to choose sides or become part of this endless conflict. They simply crave peace, calm, and warmth all of which they find at their grandmother’s.
Such scenes repeat day after day, like a tune stuck on repeat that no one dares to stop. The children have learned to recognize the subtle signs that an argument is about to begin. From the tone of voice, the sharpness of movements, the way the parents exchange looks all these become signals that it is time to go. Who among the children enjoys living in constant tension, where any conversation can turn into a loud scandal in an instant?
The siblings cannot understand what triggered this catastrophe. Their family was never perfect, like those in commercials, but earlier the parents knew how to negotiate! Arguments happened, of course they always do but they ended not with shouts but with calm talks. Mother might frown, father might raise his voice slightly, but within half an hour everything was resolved. Everyone would sit at the table again, drink tea, and discuss weekend plans.
About two years ago, everything changes… It is as if someone has swapped the old parents for new ones ones who now find reasons to argue over the most ordinary things. A dirty cup left on the table? Cause for a long speech about carelessness and disrespect. A shirt hung on the wrong hook? Reason for sarcastic comments about order in the house. A teaspoon forgotten in the sink? Almost a crime, deserving minutes of discussion!
One evening, Enikő sits in the kitchen at her grandmother’s, absentmindedly stirring her tea with a spoon. She stays quiet for a long time, watching the amber swirls in the cup, then suddenly asks with bitterness: “How can this be, grandmother? Everything changed after their joint vacation. What happened there?”
Katalin pauses for a moment, sets her cup on the saucer, and gently runs her hand over Enikő’s arm. She herself only guesses at the reasons for the family discord, and these guesses do not please her at all.
“Adults will sort it out themselves,” she replies softly, trying to make her voice sound confident. “Sometimes people need time to figure out the best way to act.”
Enikő nods, but distrust shows in her eyes. She knows her grandmother is hiding something, but she does not press. What is the point? As long as they see her as a child, they will not share anything serious.
“We cannot take these shouts anymore!” Máté exclaims with desperation in his voice. “We cannot do homework properly or read a book! I do not even remember the last time we all sat at the table together as a family. If it is so hard for them to be together, let them divorce it will be easier for everyone!”
The words come out on their own, but they hold all the truth of the recent months. Máté speaks not only for himself he knows his sister feels the same! There has been no peace in their home for a long time: either mother says something sharply, or father replies irritably, and soon another quarrel starts, from which there is no escape…
“Máté…” Katalin says, taken aback. She sets aside her knitting, looks closely at her grandson, and slowly shakes her head. “Have you thought about what will happen if they divorce? You will have to be divided. Are you ready to live separately from Enikő?”
“We will live with you!” Enikő says immediately, looking at her grandmother with pleading eyes. “We are already here almost all the time! You are not against it, are you?”
Katalin freezes. She understands her grandchildren’s feelings she sees how hard it is for them, how tired they are of the endless parental arguments. On one hand, the children will indeed be safe here in a calm, friendly environment where they can do homework without shouts, read books in silence, and feel protected. She loves them immensely and is ready to surround them with care.
On the other hand, what about their parents? How to explain that the children no longer want to live at home? Will they agree to such an arrangement? And if they do how will it affect their relationship with the children? Will this lead to a complete break in relations with the parents?
“Let us not rush,” the woman says, taking a deep breath. “I am always happy to have you here, you know that. But let us first try to talk to your mother and father. Maybe together we can find a way to fix everything.”
“Do not worry, we will talk to them ourselves,” Enikő states confidently, smiling happily. Grandmother has almost agreed, and that is the most important thing! “Just do not refuse us, please! We really cannot stay there anymore! It will be better for them separately otherwise one day they might really hurt each other! I saw father raise his hand at mother yesterday… He did not hit her, honestly! But he was on the edge.”
Enikő falls silent, recalling that terrible moment. She had gone to the kitchen for a glass of water and froze in the doorway: father stood half-turned to mother, his hand suddenly raised, and mother instinctively ducked. A second later father lowered his hand, but that second stretched into eternity for Enikő.
“Grandmother, agree!” Máté supports his sister. He steps closer, takes his grandmother’s hand as if afraid she will refuse now. “We will help you with everything around the house. Just do not send us back there. They pay no attention to us at all! Yesterday I went to father and said there would be a parent-teacher meeting. Do you know what he answered? ‘Go to mother!’ So I went. Guess what mother said?”
“Go to father?” Katalin asks quietly, already knowing the answer.
“Exactly!” Máté says with a bitter smile. “And then they argued for two more hours about who would go to the meeting. They sat in different rooms and shouted at each other across the hallway. I just stood there listening.”
“I asked them to sign permission for a museum trip,” Enikő adds, lowering her eyes. Her fingers nervously fiddle with the edge of her sleeve. “And now I am the only one in class who will not go. Neither of them signed the paper. Instead, they started arguing again mother shouted that it is father’s duty, and father proved that mother should handle school matters.”
Katalin looks at her grandchildren and sees how exhausted they are. In their eyes is not childish tiredness the kind that builds up over months, when every day is like the previous one, when instead of family warmth there are constant arguments, instead of support there is indifference.
“It is always like this,” Máté sighs, dropping his shoulders. His voice sounds tired, as if he has repeated this hundreds of times. “Any request from us turns into a reason for a new fight. We do not even want to come home. A couple of days ago we came at eleven in the evening and do you think they scolded us? No! They just sent us to bed without asking where we had been. But then they spent a long time accusing each other of bad parenting.”
The teenagers sigh in unison again. In recent months they have seriously considered that their parents’ divorce is the only way out of this situation. But they fear the prospect of separation from each other, which would inevitably follow the divorce. One of them would stay with mother, the other with father, and their usual closeness would turn into rare weekend meetings.
They go over options, discussing them in whispers in the evenings when they are alone in their room. Once Máté jokingly suggests running away from home just take backpacks and go wherever. He says it with a smile, trying to lighten the mood, but Enikő unexpectedly takes the idea seriously. Her eyes light up for a second, then she quietly says: “What if we really leave? At least for a couple of days…” At that moment both realize the situation in the family has become so unbearable that even the thought of running away does not seem so crazy.
And then it hits them: grandmother! Why not move in with her? This thought occurs to both at the same time, as if they are thinking in unison. Enikő is the first to voice it: “Let’s ask grandmother if we can live with her? She definitely will not argue and shout. And we will not have to listen to these endless disputes…” Máté immediately picks up: “Yes! She is kind, always supports us. And her apartment is big there will be enough space for us.”
They begin to mentally paint a picture of the new life: peaceful breakfasts, the chance to do homework in silence, evenings playing board games with grandmother. No shouts, no accusations, no need to hide in their room to avoid getting caught in the crossfire. For the first time in a long while, hope flickers in their hearts. Let the parents sort things out among themselves, and they will finally find peace that is what Enikő and Máté think, imagining how they will live with their grandmother…
*************************
“Mother, father, we need to talk seriously,” the twins say firmly, standing before their parents right now. They have waited specifically for the evening when both are home and resolutely enter the living room. Enikő holds Máté’s hand tightly it helps her stay confident. “But first promise to listen to us to the end before giving your opinion.”
Mihály looks up from his phone, surprised. Anikó, who is arranging things on the sofa, straightens up sharply. Her face shows an expression as if the children have said something completely unthinkable.
“This is all your upbringing!” she snorts, crossing her arms over her chest. “The children are already setting conditions for us! As if we have to report to them!”
“Who is talking!” the man flares up instantly, putting down the phone. “I am constantly at work, trying to provide for the family. You have always been with them! And what have you taught them? Why do they now give orders?”
The twins exchange glances. They expected something like this that the conversation would immediately go into the usual channel of mutual accusations. But they cannot back down.
“Enough!” Enikő exclaims, almost with tears in her voice. She takes a step forward, trying to speak clearly and calmly, although everything inside her trembles. “Máté and I have thought about it and decided that you need to divorce.”
The room falls silent instantly. Anikó freezes with her mouth slightly open, and Mihály slowly rises from the sofa.
“That is news!” the mother’s voice sounds threatening. “Enikő, you are still too young to tell adults how to live! And what else have you ‘decided’? Maybe you will also divide the apartment for us?”
“If you do not divorce, we will go to the child protection services,” Máté says, gripping his sister’s hand tightly as if drawing strength from it. His voice sounds firm, although inside he does not fully believe he is saying this seriously. “And then, father, you might lose your job. In your company they do not like scandals, right? You yourself said that reputation is everything.”
“And you, mother,” Enikő continues, looking straight into her mother’s eyes, “will stop being respected by the neighbors. They will not even talk to you! Everyone knows how you shout at each other, and we will add details!”
“They are threatening us! Just look at them!” Anikó finally manages to squeeze out, shifting her gaze from one child to the other. “These are our children! How can you do this to us?”
“We are not threatening,” Máté says quietly but confidently. “We just want you to understand: living like this is impossible. We are tired! Tired of the shouts, of you not hearing us, of even simple requests turning into scandals.”
“You will divorce, move apart, and we will live with grandmother,” the children finish in chorus, as they rehearsed in advance. “This will be better for everyone: for us calm, for you without constant conflicts. We no longer want to be between you, like between two fires.”
The parents freeze. For the first time in a long time, they have nothing to say. Usually in such conversations they immediately start arguing, interrupting each other, looking for someone to blame but now both seem speechless.
Their thirteen-year-old children are behaving completely unexpectedly! Enikő and Máté stand side by side, holding hands, and look at their parents firmly, without the usual shyness. And they are talking about such serious things that the adults have tried not to think about.
The spouses themselves have thought about divorce more than once. But they have always been stopped by the same question with whom will the children stay? Separating the twins seems unthinkable they are incredibly close, always do everything together, support each other. The parents cannot imagine how to tear one from the other, force them to live in different houses, see each other only on weekends.
They have not considered the option with grandmother before. For some reason this thought has never occurred to them perhaps because both are too absorbed in their grievances and mutual claims. But now, hearing the children’s proposal, Mihály and Anikó involuntarily wonder: what if this is the solution? Grandmother loves her grandchildren, she has a spacious apartment, she is always happy to see them… Maybe this will really solve at least part of the problems?
“I will call mother,” Mihály finally says through his teeth. His voice sounds muffled, as if the words are hard to say. “If she agrees…”
He does not get to finish the sentence. Anikó sharply interrupts him, and in her voice sounds such fatigue that it surprises even herself: “Then we will finally stop tormenting each other. Call her. I will be happy not to see your face every day.”
Her words hang in the air. She does not want to be so sharp, but after years of accumulated grievances and disappointments, these words come out on their own.
“And how glad I will be!” Mihály replies, trying to hide behind irony the pain her words have caused him.
There is no anger in his tone only a bitter smile at what their family life has become. He takes out his phone and slowly dials his mother’s number. As the rings go through, both spouses look in different directions, avoiding each other’s eyes. They do not yet know where this conversation will lead, but they understand: the point of no return may already have been passed…
**************************
On that day the Horváth family makes a fateful decision. It all starts with a long conversation between Mihály and his mother. Katalin listens attentively, without interrupting, only occasionally asking clarifying questions.
When Mihály finally lays everything out to the end, a pause follows. Grandmother takes a deep breath and says: “If you both understand that this will be better for the children, I agree. They will be safe here, I will take care of them.”
In the evening the spouses meet in the kitchen for the first time in a long time without shouts and mutual reproaches. They sit opposite each other and begin to discuss the details. Gradually, step by step, they agree on one thing: divorce is the only reasonable way out of the situation. The children will move to grandmother, and the parents will monthly transfer funds to her for their support in Hungarian forints.
At the same time, no one intends to abandon the children to fate. Both father and mother swear to visit on weekends but on different days to minimize contact between themselves.
“I will come on Saturday morning, take them for a walk, and you on Sunday,” the man says tiredly, to which his still wife nods in agreement. “This will be easier. The main thing is that the children do not feel abandoned.”
Their main goal is to reduce communication to a minimum and thereby avoid new conflicts. They agree not to discuss each other in front of the children, not to try to pull them to their side, not to sort out relations in their presence.
“We are still their parents,” Mihály says. “And we must remain so, even if we are no longer spouses.”
And as time shows, the decision turns out to be ideal. The children finally can relax and start living like ordinary teenagers. Enikő signs up for a drawing club she has long dreamed of this, but earlier there was no time due to constant worries. Máté starts going to football, finds new friends in the team. They again spend time together: walk around Budapest, go to the cinema, discuss school matters without fear that at any moment another scandal will start.
Stability returns to their studies as well. Now they have a quiet place for classes, no one distracts with shouts and arguments. Homework is done calmly, without nerves, and this immediately reflects on their grades. Teachers notice the changes: “You have become so attentive, kids! Keep it up!”
Gradually life enters a new rhythm not ideal, but calm and predictable. The children no longer hide in their room, do not flinch at loud voices, do not worry about every step. They simply live as teenagers should, who have been lucky to find support in the most difficult circumstances…
************************
Five years later, life in the Horváth family flows measured and calm. Enikő and Máté have long become accustomed to the new order: studies, clubs, meetings with friends, warm evenings with grandmother. The parents still come on alternate days each on their own day, with gifts and attention, but without mutual claims. Over these years they have learned to communicate restrainedly, politely, without previous outbursts of anger.
The first personal contact between the former spouses occurs at the children’s graduation party. The school organizes a formal evening, and both parents, of course, come. They are initially wary, taking seats in different parts of the hall, but gradually the ice melts.
When the dancing begins, Mihály unexpectedly approaches Anikó: “Shall we dance? Remember the past.”
She hesitates a bit, then nods.
After the evening they sit for a long time in the school yard, watching the graduates have fun by the fountain. The conversation starts on its own first about the children, then about the past.
They talk a lot that evening, recall the happy moments of their marriage and behave quite decently. They speak not of old grievances but of the good things that once connected them. The twins, watching their parents from afar, cannot be happier. Still, it hurts them to see how two of their closest people treat each other almost like enemies.
But suddenly thunder strikes from a clear sky. The next day Mihály and Anikó invite the children to a café. Over a cup of tea, looking at each other, they take each other’s hands, and Mihály announces with a wide smile: “Children, your mother and I have thought about it and decided to get married again. Over these years we have realized that our feelings have not faded! We still love each other and want to become a family again.”
His voice sounds joyful, as if he is sharing the happiest news in his life. Anikó beams, clearly expecting an enthusiastic reaction.
The twins exchange glances their faces instantly darken. Distrust flickers in Enikő’s eyes, Máté clenches his fists under the table. The same mistakes again! What is going on in their parents’ heads? Can they live together without conflicts?
“Are you serious?” is all Enikő can manage to say.
“Absolutely,” Mihály replies confidently. “We have both changed. Learned to listen to each other. And we want to give our family a second chance.”
The children are silent. Conflicting feelings rage inside them: on one hand, they want to believe that the parents have really been able to change; on the other they fear a repeat of the pain they experienced once.
However, Enikő and Máté do not try to dissuade them. They do not even comment on this statement, which greatly offends the parents. Anikó looks at the children in confusion: “What, you are not happy? We thought you would be happy for us.”
But the twins only exchange glances and shrug. What could they say? “Do not do this! Do not ruin your lives!”? The words stick in their throats. They do not want to seem callous, but they cannot pretend that everything is fine either.
Until the end of the meeting the conversation does not flow well. The parents try to talk about their plans, the children nod politely, but their thoughts are elsewhere. On the way home Enikő quietly says to her brother: “I hope they know what they are doing.”
Máté only sighs in response…
****************************
“So we are going to the capital?” Enikő opens her laptop, preparing to browse university websites. “Far away from this madness. I can already imagine how this circus will end!”
“Of course we are going,” Máté says firmly, and in his voice sounds a maturity beyond his years. He runs a hand through his hair, as if trying to shake off the burden of the last months. “They will live peacefully for a month, maybe two at most. Then everything starts again: shouts, door slams, accusations… I do not want to be a hostage to their relationship anymore. I do not want to wonder every morning what mood they woke up in and whose turn it is for another stream of complaints.”
He stands up and paces the room, mechanically collecting scattered textbooks. One thought spins in his head: why do adults, who should be examples of wisdom and stability, behave like unbalanced teenagers? Why, instead of solving problems, do they keep stepping on the same rake over and over?
“We need to leave,” he repeats, stopping at the window. Outside the glass, dusk slowly falls, painting the city in soft orange tones. Máté looks into the distance, as if trying to see his future there. “Far away. So far that their arguments cannot reach us. Let them sort it out themselves. We are no longer their psychologists, not mediators, not lightning rods. We have our own life, our own dreams, and I will not let them destroy them with another round of parental madness.”
“When do we submit the documents?” Enikő asks calmly.
“Tomorrow,” Máté replies without hesitation. “To make sure we do not change our minds.”
The girl nods silently, without taking her eyes off the monitor. On the screen flicker pages of Budapest university sites she has been studying the study programs, dormitory living conditions, employment prospects after graduation for a week. Next to the laptop in her notebook grow lists: pros and cons of each option, required documents, submission deadlines, contacts of admissions committees.
“The main thing is to study calmly, without being distracted by their arguments,” she says quietly, as if summing up her thoughts. “Good that we will be so far.”
“Exactly,” Máté agrees, sitting down next to her. He slightly tilts his head, reading the lines on the screen. “And when they start figuring out again who is to blame, we will not even hear it. Let them call, complain, try to call us for a ‘family council’ we are no longer participating in this. And their desire to ‘give the relationship a second chance,'” he says with a bitter smile, “that is their choice, not ours.”
*************************
Anikó and Mihály do go through with the second wedding after all. This time they consciously refuse a lavish celebration: they do not want extra expenses, do not want to attract attention, and honestly, they do not feel the need for anything grandiose. They limit themselves to a modest ceremony at the registry office and dinner with the closest ones parents, a few friends, children.
In the photos from that day they look truly happy. They smile, hold hands, look at each other with tenderness and warmth. In the frame their intertwined fingers are visible, soft glances, light touches. It seems that all grievances are forgotten, that the years of separation have been beneficial, that now they definitely know what they want, and only a bright future awaits them ahead. The children, looking at these pictures, involuntarily wonder: maybe this time everything will really turn out differently?
But… alas, no. The first weeks after the wedding pass surprisingly peacefully: the spouses try to be more attentive to each other, say “thank you” more often, do not nitpick over trifles. However, old habits gradually begin to return. Already after a month, raised tones sound again in their apartment. At first these are restrained reproaches quiet but sharp: “You did not clean up after yourself again?”, “Why did you not warn that you would be late?”, “You could help, since you are home.”
Then open conflicts begin. Arguments arise over trifles: someone left wet towels in the bathroom, someone forgot to buy bread, someone turned on the TV too loud… The words become sharper, the voices louder, the pauses between quarrels shorter.
And after two months, as Máté predicted, the situation heats up to the limit. One evening an argument about who should buy groceries turns into a real storm. Mihály, unable to restrain himself, in a rage throws a cup at the wall it breaks with a loud ring, shards fly across the kitchen. Anikó, no less enraged, grabs a plate from the table and throws it to the floor with force. The sound of breaking dishes echoes through the apartment.
After such scenes the parents invariably try to call the children. Each time the conversation starts the same way: one of them dials the number, barely catching their breath after the quarrel, and immediately pours out the accumulated grievances.
“Can you imagine what he said today?” Anikó breaks into tears when Enikő picks up the phone. “He does not even try to understand me!”
“Son, you have to understand me, she completely cannot control herself,” Mihály says agitatedly to Máté. “I am trying, really trying, but she seems to be looking for a reason!”
But Enikő and Máté have learned to gently but firmly interrupt these monologues. They no longer get drawn into long discussions, do not try to figure out who is right and who is wrong. Their responses are short but firm.
“Mother, I am in class right now, I will call back later,” Enikő says calmly, looking at the clock: twenty minutes left before the lecture starts, but she does not want to listen to another monologue.
“Father, I have urgent work, let us discuss this on the weekend,” Máté replies, not taking his eyes off the laptop screen. He knows that if he lets the parent talk, the conversation will drag on for an hour, and then he will also have to calm them down.
“Later” and “on the weekend” invariably get postponed. The children find excuses studies, part-time job, meetings with friends and gradually calls from parents become rarer. Enikő and Máté do not feel guilty about this: they are simply protecting their nerves and time, knowing that they cannot change what is happening between mother and father.
The twins really have their own life rich, meaningful, far from parental dramas. Each of their days now consists of their own worries, interests, and plans, not of waiting for another quarrel behind the wall.
Enikő immerses herself in studying psychology. She likes to figure out how the human soul is arranged, why people act one way or another, how one can help those who find themselves in a difficult situation. In her third year she begins to volunteer at a center helping teenagers from disadvantaged families. There she leads group classes, helps the kids express their feelings, find ways out of difficult situations. Enikő sees echoes of her own past in these teenagers and tries to give them what she once lacked: attention, support, a feeling that they are heard.
Máté finds himself in IT. From the first years he becomes passionate about programming the logic of code fascinates him, the ability to create working systems, solve complex technical problems. He spends a lot of time at the computer, learns new programming languages, participates in student hackathons. In his fourth year his team takes third place in a regional competition for developing mobile applications this gives him confidence and shows that he is moving in the right direction. Máté gets a part-time job in a small IT company, where he quickly establishes himself as a responsible and capable employee. Working on real projects, he learns to interact with colleagues, properly allocate time, find solutions in non-standard situations.
The twins begin to plan their future without looking back at parental scandals. Enikő dreams of opening her own practice, helping families find common ground. Máté thinks about his own business. They discuss plans over a cup of tea in a café, build schemes, write down ideas in notebooks. And in these moments they feel: they have support. They have a path. They have a life that belongs only to them.
When Anikó and Mihály try once again to drag them into their problems call in tears, start telling how bad everything is, how they do not understand each other the twins respond calmly and firmly. They have discussed in advance how they will conduct the conversation so as not to break down, not to fall into the usual role of mediators.
“Enough, dear parents, sort it out yourselves,” Enikő states firmly. “You have your life, we have ours.”
“But you are our children!” Anikó sobs. “You must support us!”
“If you behaved normally, and not like little children, we would support you,” Máté immediately declares. “You made a mistake by getting married again, and you continue to torment each other. You cannot coexist normally in one space, so why do you torment each other? Divorce already and move apart.”
These words may seem cruel, but… the brother and sister simply want to live peacefully.
