The kitchen cupboard handle fell off while Sanela was taking out tea. Armin immediately said the handyman had done another careless job. It was his third such remark in a month. First a shelf, then the storage room door, now the handle. Sanela had known Nikola for years and wondered why he was suddenly making so many mistakes. Still, she believed the man she lived with and stopped recommending Nikola when friends wanted small repairs done.
Nikola came to inspect the cupboard and immediately noticed different screws. He said he had not installed them. Armin was at work, so Sanela called to check. He answered too quickly, claiming the handyman was now inventing excuses. Nikola did not argue with the telephone. He showed Sanela two old holes and explained that the handle had been moved. Then she remembered the pencil mark she had seen on Armin's hand the previous weekend.
That evening she asked whether he had tried changing anything. He admitted only the handle, then, after several questions, the shelf and door too. He had watched repair videos and wanted to show they could save money. When something went wrong, he put the tools away and left the absent man with the blame. Sanela could not believe how a small wish to appear capable had expanded into a story of somebody else's incompetence, which she had begun spreading herself.
Armin said he had not expected her to take him seriously. Sanela reminded him he had spoken seriously and repeatedly. She did not mind that he could not install a shelf. She minded that he considered it acceptable for Nikola to lose work because of his pride. She asked him to call and explain himself, without her translating his good intentions. She would have to answer for her own recommendations and silence.
She called the friends she had told she no longer trusted Nikola's work. She did not describe her partner's embarrassment in detail to make her confession easier. She simply said she had passed on inaccurate information and still trusted him. Armin's conversation with Nikola was brief. The handyman did not want a lengthy apology. He only asked Armin not to use his name when he made mistakes. Armin found that simple request harder than the argument he had expected.
He repaired the cupboard under Nikola's supervision and properly paid for the time. Afterward he did not circle the kitchen seeking praise. One day Sanela found tools on the table and asked what he was doing. He said he was trying to assemble a stand and did not yet know whether he could. She offered tea. She did not help with the instructions until he asked, and when he made a mistake, this time there was no absent culprit in the house.