Polina would occasionally reminisce about the time when her husband promised to help her with the child, assuring her that they wouldn’t face any problems in raising their child together. At that time, she was reluctant to leave when everything was going well at work. However, her husband insisted he could support the three of them.
Time passed, and Polina became pregnant. She had to make frequent visits to the doctor. When she asked her husband for assistance, his response was consistently along the lines of, “What’s the problem? I’m working. The hospital is only four stops away; it’s not hard for you to go there yourself.” Polina never even considered taking a taxi. During this period, she noticed that Max struggled to handle everything, and there was no extra money for expenses.
“Exercise is good for pregnant women!” Polina reassured herself, even though the doctor had advised her against physical and mental strain. Polina’s physical activity didn’t end with her trips to the doctor; she had household chores waiting for her at home. Her husband never made an effort to help; he would come home from work and collapse on the couch. A couple of times a week, he would gather his friends in the garage and return home always drunk and not before midnight.
Due to her unresolved lifestyle, Polina ended up in the hospital earlier than expected, in need of pregnancy preservation. But surprises didn’t end there. Polina and Max had a daughter, despite the ultrasound mistakenly indicating a different gender for the child. After this news, Max started drinking even more, and he was severely delayed for their discharge from the hospital. Polina and the newborn Masha had to take a taxi home. Upon arriving home, instead of balloons and flower bouquets, Polina found dust, dirt, unwashed dishes piled up to the ceiling, and dirty clothes on the floor.
After 15 minutes, Polina’s mother arrived. Without saying a word, she began cleaning the house, and Polina helped her as much as she could. Max returned home only in the evening. Polina decided to focus on Masha and ignore her husband. Later, things got worse for Polina. At work, they forced her to switch to remote work right after her maternity leave, or else she would have been fired after the maternity leave. Since nobody helped her with the child, she had to work a full 8 hours with the baby in her arms. In the end, she voluntarily quit her job because she couldn’t manage housework and taking care of Masha while working.
It turned out that Max could only earn enough for himself to buy beer and cigarettes. Polina decided to find work online to earn some money for their daughter’s food. However, the job options were limited, and Polina’s interests gradually narrowed down to the kitchen, her daughter, and housecleaning. She neglected herself and did everything to avoid conflicts with Max. The breaking point came when Max, returning from a drinking spree with friends, stumbled over some Lego blocks and began yelling at Polina for not cleaning them earlier.
“Maxik, but I’ve been working all day,” Polina replied calmly. That day, Max hit his wife for the first time. She didn’t say a word, went to her room, woke up her daughter, and went to her mother’s house. Then she filed for divorce, rented an apartment for herself, but that’s another story.
