Irina still could not quite believe it — she finally had a place of her own. A bright apartment with high ceilings, a cosy kitchen that she always kept spotlessly clean, and a small nursery where a cot with rattles already waited for its future occupant. In her free time she would often wander in there and gently rock the empty cot. Sometimes her cat Leo would curl up inside it and doze, and Irina would laugh softly and sing him a lullaby, her hand resting on her enormous belly. A large calendar on the wall was covered in red crosses — her way of counting down the days. Only one month remained before her firstborn would arrive, and she waited for that day with impatient longing and barely concealed fear. Interesting, she thought, how it will all unfold.
