Lena heard the doorbell ring and froze with the knife in her hand. Soup was bubbling on the stove, potatoes were frying, and sliced vegetables for salad lay on the table. She glanced at the clock — three in the afternoon, earlier than expected. Could they already be here?
“Lena, that’s probably Vovka!” Sasha, her husband, shouted from the room, and happily stomped toward the door.
Lena closed her eyes and took a deep breath. It had begun.
A whirlwind of voices, laughter, and the smell of cheap perfume burst into the apartment. Volodya, Sasha’s younger brother, was dragging two enormous duffel bags, and behind his shoulder peeked a pretty young girl’s face with false eyelashes. His sister Irina squeezed in after him with three bags, and bringing up the rear was his mother-in-law, Galina Petrovna, holding something wrapped in newspaper.
“Sashenka, my son!” Galina Petrovna rushed to hug her son, nearly dropping the bundle. “Happy birthday, darling! Look, I brought you a little present!”
Lena leaned against the kitchen doorway and watched the reunion scene. Sasha was beaming, hugging his mother, clapping his brother on the shoulder, kissing his sister on the cheek. He was genuinely happy. And she… she was already counting the days until they left.
“Lenochka, hello!” Galina Petrovna finally noticed her daughter-in-law and gave her a routine smile. “Oh, are you cooking something? We already ate on the road, at a gas station…”
“Of course you ate,” Lena thought, remembering how last time they had shown up at lunchtime, devoured everything she had cooked for two days, and then asked if there was any more.
“Hello,” Lena said with a smile so forced her cheekbones ached. “Come in, make yourselves comfortable.”
“Lena, this is Kristina,” Volodya introduced the girl, who had already managed to take off her jacket and was now studying the apartment with a critical look. “We’re, well… dating.”
The third one in six months, flashed through Lena’s mind. Last time it had been Dasha, before that Sveta. Both had left piles of used cotton pads and empty bottles of cosmetic products in the bathroom.
“Nice to meet you,” Lena said. “Make yourselves at home, and I’ll go back to the kitchen…”
But Irina had already gone into the bedroom and announced loudly, so the whole apartment could hear:
“Sasha, you have a new air conditioner here! Wow! Ours at home is still the old one.”
Lena clenched her fists. She and Sasha had saved for that air conditioner for three months. And now…
“Ira, look in the closet, maybe Lena has something she doesn’t need anymore,” Galina Petrovna’s voice carried from the hallway. “A girl needs something to wear, and the shops where they live are so-so…”
Lena rushed into the bedroom just as Irina was already opening her wardrobe.
“Ira, wait,” she tried to speak gently. “Let me look myself and see what I can give you.”
“Oh, come on, don’t be greedy,” Irina waved her hand and pulled a new sweater from the shelf, the one Lena had bought for herself on sale only a week ago. She had not even had a chance to wear it yet. “Oh, this is so cute! Will it suit me?”
“That… it’s new, I haven’t even…”
“So what? You’ll wear it anyway. I won’t ruin it, I’ll be careful,” Irina was already holding the sweater up to herself and turning in front of the mirror. “I’m taking it!”
The sweater disappeared into her bag before Lena had time to object. And Irina was already rummaging further, pulling out the handbag Sasha had given Lena for her last birthday.
“Ira, stop!” Lena could not take it anymore. “Sasha gave me that, I use it.”
“Well, Sasha will give you another one, won’t he, Sashul?” Irina leaned out into the corridor. “Will you give your little sister this bag? And buy Lenka a new one, even better!”
“Yes, of course,” Sasha answered distractedly while dealing with his brother’s bags.
Lena felt the tension building inside her, like a spring wound tighter and tighter. But she held herself back. It was Sasha’s birthday. For his sake, she would endure everything. Two more days.
“Lenochka, come here!” Galina Petrovna called from the living room. “I’ll show you what I brought you!”
In the living room, something unimaginable was already displayed on the table — a poisonous pink plastic chandelier with gilded curls and dangling glass pendants. Galina Petrovna proudly showed off her purchase.
“See? Isn’t it beautiful? They were selling it at our market, it was the last one. I bought it for you!” she beamed. “Your old one is kind of gray and boring. But this one is chic! You’ll hang it in the bedroom, right?”
Lena looked at the chandelier and understood that if this thing appeared in her bedroom, she simply would not be able to sleep there. It was so tasteless that it hurt her eyes.
“Thank you, Galina Petrovna, that’s very… generous of you,” she forced out. “But our bedroom ceilings are low. A chandelier like that won’t work.”
“Nonsense! It will work! Sasha, you’ll hang it, won’t you?” Her mother-in-law was no longer asking, but stating it as fact.
“Yes, Mom, we’ll hang it,” Sasha nodded without even looking at the chandelier.
Lena went into the kitchen and turned on the coffee grinder to drown out the scream rising in her throat. Fine. The chandelier was not the end of the world. Later she could quietly take it to the garage and say it had broken. The main thing was to stay calm. Two more days.
By evening, the apartment had turned into a branch of a dormitory. Volodya and Kristina took the sofa in the living room, Irina settled on a folding bed in the same room, and Galina Petrovna made herself comfortable in the bedroom on the bed, sending Lena and Sasha to a mattress on the floor.
“I’m old, I can’t sleep on the floor, my back hurts,” she explained, already pulling the blanket over herself.
Lena silently brought clean sheets and pillows. In her own apartment, she was sleeping on the floor because her mother-in-law had taken her bed. Wonderful.
At night she was woken by sounds from the living room. Volodya and Kristina were clearly not embarrassed by Irina’s presence on the folding bed three meters away from them. Lena pulled the pillow over her head and squeezed her eyes shut. A day and a half left.
In the morning, she got up at six, as usual, to get ready for work. In the kitchen she found complete chaos — they had clearly had a nighttime snack and had not bothered to clean up after themselves. Bread crumbs, jam stains, dirty dishes in the sink, an open can of stewed meat on the table.
Lena silently washed everything, got ready, and left without waking anyone. At work, she could at least get a little rest.
When she returned in the evening, she found the apartment full of guests. Sasha’s colleagues, friends — about fifteen people were crowding into two rooms. Galina Petrovna was commanding the kitchen, giving orders as if it were her home. Irina was already showing off in Lena’s sweater and telling someone that her beloved sister-in-law had given it to her. Volodya and Kristina had clearly been drinking and were laughing loudly at some jokes.
“Lena, finally!” Sasha hugged her. “I was starting to think you wouldn’t come to my birthday.”
He was happy, surrounded by family and friends. And Lena smiled again, though everything inside her was begging for mercy.
“Lenochka, help bring the salads to the table!” Galina Petrovna ordered. “And where are your large plates? These little ones are no good for serving anything!”
Lena spent the whole evening in the kitchen, chopping, heating, pouring, clearing away. The guests left, thanked them, praised the food. And she had not even had time to properly congratulate Sasha, to give him her present — she had wanted to do it privately. Just the two of them.
When the last guest left, it was already past midnight. Lena collapsed onto a chair in the kitchen, staring at mountains of dirty dishes.
“Lenochka, don’t wash them today, I’ll wash everything myself tomorrow morning,” Galina Petrovna yawned. “I’m going to bed, I’m terribly tired.”
Lena looked at her mother-in-law, then at the dishes, then back at her mother-in-law. She was already heading into the bedroom.
“Lena, come on,” Sasha took her hand. “We’ll deal with it tomorrow.”
They lay down again on the mattress on the floor. Sasha fell asleep instantly, while Lena lay with her eyes open, listening to Galina Petrovna snoring. One more day.
In the morning, when Lena came home from work — the dishes, of course, had not been washed — the conversation turned to plans.
“Mom, maybe it’s time for you to start packing?” Sasha suggested cautiously. “Your bus is tomorrow morning.”
“What bus, son!” Galina Petrovna waved him off. “We decided to stay another week. Volodya wants to go shopping at the local mall, Irinka too. And I need to buy a few things as well — the shops here are decent, not like ours.”
“But Mom…”
“Sasha, come on,” Galina Petrovna was already taking out a list. “Look, here’s what I need. A good nonstick frying pan, a set of towels — I saw nice ones nearby, a terry bathrobe, slippers…”
“Mom, I can’t buy all that. We have our own expenses…”
“What do you mean you can’t?” His mother’s voice turned steely. “Have you forgotten your mother? I raised you alone, without a father! I worked so you would never need anything! And now I can’t ask for anything?”
Sasha lowered his head guiltily. Lena had seen this scene dozens of times. Galina Petrovna was a virtuoso at pressing on guilt.
“All right, Mom, we’ll see,” he muttered.
“That’s my good boy! By the way, Sashenka,” his mother-in-law added as if casually, “why isn’t Lenka planning anything for her birthday? It’s in a month, isn’t it? We could come and celebrate!”
Lena, who had just entered the room with another stack of washed dishes, froze.
“Yes, exactly!” Sasha perked up. “Lena, let’s celebrate your birthday properly. We’ll invite everyone, like we did for mine!”
“Of course, of course!” Irina chimed in. “We’ll come especially for it! I’ll even take vacation time!”
“And Kristina and I will come too!” Volodya added, hugging his girlfriend. Or was it still Kristina? Lena had not managed to memorize her.
“So it’s settled!” Galina Petrovna clapped her hands. “I’ll find a little present for you too, Lenochka. I saw some pretty porcelain figurines at our market…”
Lena set the plates on the table so sharply that they clinked. Everyone looked at her.
“Lena, what’s wrong?” Sasha asked in surprise.
“I… I need to go out,” she grabbed her bag and left the apartment without fastening her coat.
It was cold outside, and a drizzle was falling. Lena walked two blocks, stopped near a twenty-four-hour shop, went inside, and wandered aimlessly between the shelves. She simply needed to be alone.
They would come for her birthday. Her own birthday, which she had planned to spend quietly, just the two of them with Sasha, maybe going to that restaurant they had been wanting to try for a long time. And instead, there would be Galina Petrovna with tasteless figurines, Irina rummaging through her wardrobe, Volodya with yet another random girl. And she would spend the whole evening stuck in the kitchen again instead of accepting congratulations.
No. Enough.
She bought a bottle of water, although she did not want anything, and slowly walked home.
That evening, when Galina Petrovna, Irina, and the couple were already snoring in different parts of the apartment, Lena and Sasha were finally alone in the kitchen.
“Sasha, we need to talk.”
“Yes, of course,” he smiled. “I’m sorry we never got to be alone… I wanted…”
“I don’t want your relatives coming for my birthday,” she blurted out.
Sasha blinked.
“What? Why?”
“Because I can’t take it anymore,” Lena felt everything inside her trembling, but continued. “Sasha, do you even understand what happens when they come?”
“Well… they’re a little noisy, yes, but…”
“A little noisy?” Lena tried not to raise her voice. “Sasha, your brother brings girls home and has sex with them in our living room while your sister is sleeping three meters away! Your sister takes my things without even asking! The new sweater I hadn’t even worn yet — she took it! The handbag you gave me — she took it too, and you said, ‘Yes, of course’!”
“I didn’t think, I just…”
“Your mother brings horrible gifts that hurt your eyes and demands that we hang them in our bedroom. She sleeps in our bed while we sleep on the floor in our own apartment! She eats on our sofa, dropping crumbs, and leaves dirty dishes overnight, promising to wash them in the morning, but she doesn’t! She demands that you buy her half the store, pressing on your guilt!”
“Lena…”
“I come home from work and spend the whole evening stuck in the kitchen, serving guests you invited. I didn’t even have time to properly congratulate you on your birthday! Your present is still lying there unopened because we never got a moment alone!”
Sasha said nothing, staring at the table.
“When they leave, I need a week to put the apartment back in order and recover. And every time I tell myself: fine, it’s his family, I need to endure it. But today you invited them to my birthday without even asking me! Mine, Sasha!”
“I thought you’d be happy…”
“Happy?” Lena gave a bitter laugh. “Happy to spend my birthday serving your mother and washing dishes after guests? Happy to receive a porcelain figurine as a gift, which will go up to the storage shelf together with the pink chandelier?”
“I didn’t know all this bothered you so much,” Sasha said quietly. “You never said…”
“I did say it! Dozens of times! But you didn’t hear me. You were so happy your family had come that you simply didn’t see how hard it was for me. Sasha, I love your family, but I am not obligated to turn my home into a hotel every month!”
Sasha raised his eyes to her.
“Every month?”
“Yes! Your brother came in February, March, and now. Your mother came in January and now. Irina was here in February and now. In four months this year, they have visited us five times! Five, Sasha! And every time for at least three days, sometimes a whole week!”
“I didn’t realize it was that often…”
“Because for you, it’s a celebration. For me, it’s work. I cook, clean, wash their things, tolerate rudeness and tactlessness. And I can’t do it anymore. I have the right to my home, my rest, my private life.”
Sasha was silent for a long time. Then he slowly nodded.
“You’re right. I’m sorry. I really didn’t understand.”
“And that is why,” Lena took his hand, “they are not coming for my birthday. We will celebrate it together. Or with my friends, if I want. But not with your relatives.”
“All right,” Sasha squeezed her hand. “I’ll tell them.”
“No,” Lena shook her head. “I’ll tell them myself.”
The next month passed surprisingly peacefully. Sasha had really heard her — he called his mother back and explained that Lena wanted to celebrate her birthday her own way, in a small circle. Galina Petrovna, of course, was offended — “Am I not family?” — but Sasha stood firm.
Volodya wrote in a messenger that he was still planning to come — “I just want to congratulate Lenka!” — but Sasha replied briefly: “Another time.”
Irina called twice, trying to find out what she had done wrong and why she was not being invited. Lena answered the phone the second time and calmly explained:
“Ira, it’s nothing personal. I just want to celebrate my birthday quietly, without a big crowd.”
“Well, I’m not a big crowd! I’ll come alone!”
“Ira, no. I’m sorry. We’ll definitely see each other another time.”
“Are you offended at me because of some clothes?”
“Because you took my things without permission. Yes. It was unpleasant.”
Irina hung up.
And then Lena’s birthday arrived. In the morning, Sasha brought her breakfast in bed — in their own bed, where they had actually slept! He gave her a beautiful bracelet she had been dreaming of. During the day, they went to their favorite restaurant. In the evening, three of Lena’s friends came over, and they sat together, chatted, and drank wine. It was quiet, cozy, and peaceful. It was the best birthday she had had in years.
At nine in the evening, the doorbell rang. Lena opened the door — on the threshold stood Galina Petrovna, Volodya, Irina, and some new girl. They had bags of food and bottles in their hands.
“Happy birthday!” they shouted in chorus.
“We couldn’t not come!” Galina Petrovna was already trying to squeeze into the hallway. “What kind of birthday is it without family?”
“We thought you’d already celebrated, so now it’s the perfect time!” Volodya winked.
“I took time off work specially,” Irina beamed, as if doing her a favor.
Lena stood in the doorway and looked at them. Four weeks ago, she would have let them in through gritted teeth. She would have smiled, accepted the bags of food, and said, “Come in, of course.” And then she would have spent the whole evening serving uninvited guests on her own birthday.
But not today.
“I did not invite you over,” Lena said clearly and loudly.
Silence fell. Galina Petrovna opened her mouth. Volodya frowned. Irina looked as if she had been slapped.
“What?” her mother-in-law finally managed to say.
“I said: I did not invite you over.” Lena did not raise her voice, but every word sounded firm. “I explained on the phone that I wanted to celebrate my birthday in a small circle.”
“Lenochka, have you lost your mind?” Galina Petrovna tried to push forward. “We’re family!”
“Stop,” Lena did not let her pass. “Galina Petrovna, I respect you as Sasha’s mother. But this is my birthday, my home, and I decide whom I want to see here. I did not invite you.”
“Sasha!” her mother-in-law cried out. “Sashenka, do you hear what your wife is saying?!”
Sasha came to the door. Lena saw how nervous he was — his face tense, his hands clenched. She felt sorry for him. But at the same time, she knew: if he faltered now, everything would be in vain.
“Mom,” Sasha stood beside Lena, “she’s right. You should have asked Lena — it’s her birthday, after all. She didn’t want a big crowd. I’m sorry.”
“You… you’re taking her side?!” Galina Petrovna’s voice trembled. “Against your own mother?!”
“I’m taking my wife’s side,” Sasha said calmly. “On her birthday, in our home. Mom, I love you, but Lena has the right to decide whom she wants to see on her holiday.”
“She turned you against us!” Irina pointed a finger. “We can see it!”
“Nobody turned me against anyone,” Sasha shook his head. “I simply realized that I was behaving wrongly. I invited you too often and didn’t take into account how hard it was for Lena. That was my fault, not hers.”
“Well, wow,” Volodya drawled. “Brother, are you serious?”
“Absolutely. Guys, I’m glad to see you, but not today. Go home. We’ll be in touch and arrange to meet — at a café, on neutral ground, at a time convenient for everyone. But not today, and not here.”
Galina Petrovna stood there with her mouth open. Then her face twisted.
“Fine then! As if we wanted to come so badly! Let’s go!” She turned and walked toward the elevator. “Some son! Abandoned his mother!”
“Mom, don’t make a drama,” Sasha said tiredly. “I’m not abandoning you. I’m just asking you to respect our boundaries.”
“Boundaries!” Galina Petrovna was already pressing the elevator button. “Look at them, boundaries! And when I raised you alone, were there boundaries then?!”
“There were,” Sasha suddenly answered firmly. “I just didn’t see them. Now I do.”
The elevator arrived. The relatives silently got into it, still unable to believe what was happening. At the last moment, Irina threw out:
“You’ll regret this.”
“No,” Lena shook her head. “I won’t.”
The elevator doors closed. Sasha and Lena returned to the apartment. Her friends were sitting in the living room; they had heard everything and were now looking at her with admiration.
“Lenochka, you’re a hero,” one of them said. “I would never have dared to do something like that! Well, to courage! And to our Lena!”
