[vicky7]

Chapter 3 – A Family Dinner Party

After Roman had left her apartment Lena prepared her own modest breakfast comprising of low fat cereal, skimmed milk and a cup of her favourite herbal tea. She had to work so hard to stay slim, food didn’t like her too much, and she seemed to only have to look at a bar of chocolate to feel the pounds piling on. Also, for some reason when she was around Roman she could barely eat a thing always concerned she was eating like a pig and was not ladylike enough for him.

As she devoured her breakfast she flicked through Saturday’s newspaper to find bad news, more bad news and wait for it, she thought turning the page hopefully… more bad news. She sighed as she turned the page again this time arriving at the horoscopes section. She didn’t really believe in horoscopes but there was no harm in reading them was there? The first few lines did not really say anything and then she read the last few lines. “If you follow your heart and not your head you will unlock the door to a new era of your life, don’t be afraid.”

Mmm, maybe tonight’s dinner party would finally resolve all the family tension and they would all live happily ever all Lena thought. She wasn’t counting on it but she picked up the phone to call her mother anyway, she had promised after all.


“Yeah Mum, ok.” Lena said trying to bring the conversation to an end.

“Are you sure you don’t need me to come and help you, you’re not the best in the kitchen” Inessa griped.

“I’ve been practising, I’m getting good at cooking now you’ll be surprised, honestly,” Lena answered through gritted teeth. Her mother and her criticism did her head in. Fair enough everyone needs a little constructive criticism but her mother’s criticism was purely destructive. Even when Lena had excelled in her finals the most she got out of her mother was “We expected nothing less of you.” No congratulations, no nothing.

The best thing about her graduation was the brief appearance of her father. He had looked so proud of her and she was so glad to see him even if her Mum and Boris had scared him away. Why Boris had even bothered to attend the graduation she would never know. To him she was just a reminder of Inessa’s past with Sergey, someone who lived in his house but was not part of his family. As far as Boris was concerned his family consisted of Inessa and Katya. There was no room for Lena something he reminded her of on a regular basis she had been pushed out since the day her brat of a half sister was born. If Lena had something Katya wanted it crying until Boris had taken it off Lena and given it to her. She would then smirk at Lena with a knowing look that she was the important daughter, the only one that mattered.

Inessa had never stuck up for Lena, disappearing the second Boris was shouting and cursing at her. Lena had always been studious with little time for boys and Boris would always torment her with his comments, which she could still recall vividly.

“Shouldn’t you be out f**king like other girls?” he would say with venom in his voice. “But then again who would want you? Your own father doesn’t even want you, does he? I bet you wish you were pretty like Katya but that’s never going to happen, so I’d study all you can because you’re always going to be alone, always because you’re ugly!”

Unshed tears would sting her eyes but she would never crack in front of Boris, the hate she felt towards him wouldn’t allow her to show him any weakness, he was a bully and bullies thrived on weakness Lena knew as much. She had simply vowed to work as hard as she could so she could go to University and leave the hell of her ‘family’ existence behind her. The only thing that kept her happy at home had been her beloved Blanca, the most loving cuddly Chow chow ever, always so pleased to see her and being a present from her Dad being all the more special. Since Blanca had died Lena felt she had even fewer reasons to visit the family home.

Once she had hung up the phone she made a list of all the things she had to buy from the supermarket before grabbing her keys and heading out of her apartment block. The block of apartments was full of young professionals just like Lena and she was already on speaking terms with the majority of her floor. She was going to love living here she was sure.

As the supermarket was on the other side of town she had to go by car and as it was Saturday morning the traffic was heavy. When Lena got to the front of the queue of traffic the lights changed from green to red, just her luck! For some unknown reason she felt the urge to look around her and out of the corner of her eye she saw a child sat in a shop doorway a few hundred yards away. Such a little thing, a girl, Lena thought.
She was scrunched up in a ball, seemingly trying to protect herself from the world as people walked by chatting and laughing ignoring her. She was invisible to them - a nobody. Why didn’t anyone care about the little girl? What had she done that had been so bad that the whole world had turned their backs on her? Lena couldn’t help but think.

BEEP, BEEP!

The lights had turned to green and the angry drivers behind her impatiently urged her to go. Lena put the car into gear and sped off in autopilot, distracted with thoughts of the homeless child.


“God, it’s 7.15pm, where is everybody” Lena exclaimed out loud to herself. She was getting very frustrated now, Roman had promised her he would be there by half past six to help her get ready for when her family turned up at seven but he had not arrived and his mobile was switched off and the answer phone had picked up at his apartment. Why the hell was he doing this to her, he knew how important this dinner was to her. She wanted to show her crappy family she had everything now and that she had achieved it all by herself without them and she didn’t need them for anything. Roman had let her down so badly, she was extremely disappointed with him she had been so sure she could trust him.

She could feel the tears starting to come and she looked at herself in the mirror trying to get a grip of herself. She was pretty enough, intelligent, good at her job and a nice person so why should she let any of them get her down. She had been independent most of her life as she had no one to depend on so why did she need anyone now. She was a fighter, it was her against the world and she would win, she had to.

At that moment the doorbell rang and Lena quickly ran a hand through her hair and straightened her tight top and her trousers and walked to the door with a smile fixed firmly on her face. It was the family all wearing grimaces, just for a change.

“Hi!” Lena said over enthusiastically “I was beginning to think you’d got lost.” She joked.

“We did” Boris grunted.

“Oh” Lena’s enthusiasm died it was going to be a long night.

“Can we come in or do we have to wait outside with all the prostitutes?” Katya snarled her pretty features screwed up in obvious distain for Lena.

“Sure, come in and take a seat.” she said ushering them into the living room. Katya and Boris sat down and Boris noticing the television remote control picked it up and flicked on the television set. Inessa who had yet to sit down was wandering around the apartment taking in every detail occasionally flicking her fingers across Lena’s furniture eagerly searching for dust. When she couldn’t find any she turned the conversation to Roman, Lena had wondered how long it would be until she noticed his absence.

“So, where’s Roman?” she probed.

Lena felt uncomfortable, how could she say she didn’t know without making a fool out of herself in front of Boris and Katya. Her mother she could handle but she knew despite the fact they were both watching the television that they were waiting for her reply so they could pounce with their snide comments and she was determined not to give them the satisfaction.

“Can I get you all a drink? Roman will..” Lena was cut off by the sound of the phone ringing. Please let it be Roman she thought to herself. She snatched the phone off the kitchen wall. “Hello?” she asked hopefully.

“Lena, its me honey” Lena could feel herself relax and released the breathe she seemed to have been holding since her family had arrived, Roman was going to save her she was sure. “Hey Roman, where are you?”

“I’ve had a disaster..”

“What? You’re alright aren’t you, please tell me you’re alright” she panicked.

“Lena, Lena, calm down, I’m fine there’s just an emergency at work. I got called in a few hours ago and just got so caught up in it all that I forgot to call. You forgive me don’t you sweetie, I know you’re put a lot of effort into dinner, I’m really sorry, I can’t tell you how disappointed I am that I can’t meet your family”

“What? You mean you’re not coming,” she barked at him down the phone.

“Look, I’m sorry Lena but I’m up to my eyes in it.” Roman said apologetically.

Lena heard laughing in the background at that point that she found confusing, if things were so bad at work why was that girl laughing? “Who’s that?” Lena couldn’t resist asking; she could feel jealousy coursing through her veins at the sound of that haughty laugh.

“My secretary, she’s chatting to one of her boyfriends on the phone.” he replied

“You wanna ask her what’s so funny? When you’ve got an emergency, it’s a little inappropriate when you’re all stressed out.”

“Hmm, yeah, look I gotta go I think I’m gonna be here to at least eleven o’clock so I’ll phone you later on if that’s alright to see how dinner went”

“Ahh that will be great, I’ll miss you baby” Lena said sweetly softening towards him.

“I’ll miss you too, speak to you later” Roman said echoing her tone.

“Ok, bye Roman”

Lena replaced the phone on the receiver and looked around at the family they were all staring intently at her. Before she had the chance to open her mouth and explain away Roman’s absence Boris decided to speak instead. “I take it your baby isn’t coming.” he said sarcastically.

“Roman’s had an emergency at work” she said turning her back on Boris and talking to her mother. Although Inessa never had any sympathy for Lena she thought she might have some for Roman after all she had always liked the sound of rich, handsome Roman despite the fact she had never laid eyes on him.

“That’s such a shame, I really wanted to meet him tonight”

“Yeah, that’s the only reason she wanted to come to have a nosey at this rich guy you’ve been knobbing” Katya piped up.

Lena shot her an evil look and Inessa chided her “Katya don’t talk like that, I came to see how your sister was settling in”

“Yeah, right whatever and she’s not my sister” Katya pointed out. “My Dad’s not a loser!”

Lena lost her cool, she had had enough insults when she was at home but things were different now, this was her home and she wasn’t being spoken to like that by that little sh*t, no way. “KATYA SHUT YOUR MOUTH YOU SILLY LITTLE BITCH!”

“Lena, don’t speak to her like that” Inessa said defending her teenage daughter.

“No, I’ve had enough, I refuse to have those f**king idiots sniping at me the whole time, I’m not at home anymore” Lena raged.

“No, but perhaps its time we were. Come on Inessa, Katya, we’re going, let’s leave her alone like she deserves to be.” Boris got up, eyeballing Lena coldly before grabbing Inessa around the shoulder and marching her out of the apartment.

Katya trailed behind them and Lena could only watch on. To Lena’s surprise Katya turned round and smirked at her. “Lena”

“What?” she answered defensively.

“Can you smell something burning?”

“Oh sh*t!” Lena ran to the oven where smoke was beginning to belch its way through the oven door, hearing Katya laugh and the door slam shut behind her. So much for a new era.