So I come here to ask for opinion because my wife, Lena, she is very upset, and I think maybe she is overreacting, but perhaps I am wrong. It is about money, you know, always it is about money.
For many years, Lena and I, we have this big dream. A house. Not a big fancy mansion, no, just a simple house, with a garden, maybe for vegetables. It was a big dream, for sure, we had it. So we saved. Every month, we put money into a special account. Not so much money, because life is expensive, you understand. But we tried. For like five years, we put money. It was very slow. We had maybe one-third of what we need for the down payment. It felt like we were never going to get there. Always, the prices for houses, they just go up, up, up.
I work very hard. My job, it is stressful. Long hours, difficult customers. I come home, I am tired. Lena, she also works, but her job, it is not so much pressure. She is good at what she does, yes, but she does not have the same kind of pressure, I think. So sometimes, I feel like I am carrying a lot of the burden, you know? The main money, it comes from my side.
A few weeks ago, my friend, Dmitri, he came to me with a big opportunity. Dmitri, he is very smart, always with new ideas. He told me about this new company, a tech startup, which is going to be very, very big. He said they are developing a new kind of software for energy efficiency, something revolutionary. He said, “Listen, this is the chance of a lifetime. You put in a little money now, and in one year, maybe two years, it will be ten times, twenty times more. Imagine, you can buy that house, not just one, but two houses!”
I thought about it a lot. I looked at the papers Dmitri showed me. It looked very professional. All the numbers, the projections, they were very good. It made sense to me. Why wait another ten years to save for this house when we can invest a little and get it so much faster? This is smart thinking, no? This is being proactive. This is making our dream come true sooner.
So, I thought, okay, the house fund. It is sitting there, not doing much, just growing very slowly. It is our money, yes. But I also contribute a lot to it. More than Lena, I would say, because my salary is higher. I thought, if I take a part of it, not all of it, and invest it, it is for the house anyway. It is to help us get the house. So I took twenty thousand from the savings account. It was a big sum, for sure, but Dmitri said it was the minimum to get a good share in this startup. I gave it to him, and he said the investment was made.
I did not tell Lena right away. I wanted to surprise her. Imagine her face when I tell her, “Look, we invested, and now we will have the house money very soon!” I thought she would be so happy, so proud of me for being smart and taking initiative. But then, she saw the bank statement. I do not know how, maybe she checks it sometimes. She saw the big withdrawal.
She came to me, and her face, it was like she saw a ghost. “What is this?” she asked, very quiet, but her eyes were like fire. I tried to explain. I said, “Lena, my love, it’s for the house! It’s an investment! Dmitri, he has this amazing opportunity, it will make us rich!”
She did not listen. She started to shout. I have never heard her shout like this. She said I was irresponsible. She said I was selfish. She said I ruined our dream. She said I stole our future. Stole! It is our money! My money too!
I tried to tell her that it is a good investment, that Dmitri is reliable. She just kept saying, “You did this without asking me! This was our shared money! Our shared dream!” She said I betrayed her trust. She is now sleeping in the guest room. She says she does not even want to look at me.
I think she is just scared. She does not understand how these things work. You have to take risks to get big rewards, no? And it is my money too, I put it there. I am trying to make our future better, faster. I am not a bad person. I am trying to be a good husband, to get us the house sooner. She always complains about how slow it is, and then when I find a way to speed it up, she gets angry?
So, what do you think? Am I The Jerk here for trying to make our dream come true faster? She is just not understanding how the world works, I think. Please, tell me the truth, because I feel very confused why she is so upset.
