Although I did not like to dress up, I decided to dress more festively for my birthday. Anyway, I was asked about it by Victor, who avoided me so as not to reveal his plans for this occasion. But I could be calm, my brother knew too well what he could allow himself to do in preparation. If someone were to prepare any surprise for me, it would be him who would be entrusted with this task.

So I put on a floral dress with long sleeves, thick black tights, and higher boots. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with my hair, so I just tied back the wisps that I had picked up earlier at the front of my head. I did not expect that I would be in such a good mood that day, or how much everything else has time to go bad.

I wasn't quite sure if I could get all the sweets safely back to school, so I warned Victor that I would be taking the car. Although it was not a very long distance and I usually preferred to cover it on foot or by bike. I rode very carefully, also wanting to respect my own work put into decorating the cake for my colleagues. I also left a bit earlier to prepare everything in the staff room. However, I did encounter some problems when I had to open the door while still being burdened with all my errands.

"We will help!" Suddenly I heard a familiar voice behind me.

"Thank you boys," I said with a sigh of relief. "What are you doing so early in school?"

"We have an important game soon and the coach has ordered morning practice too," Chris sighed heavily, holding out his hands and offering help with carrying the rest of the stuff. "Is that the cake? Someone's birthday?"

"Mine actually," I replied, laughing. "I would be grateful if you would help me bring this to the teacher's room."

The teenagers quickly greeted me and complied with my request, of course, they got some cookies from me and an invitation to come over for more after training. That day, I had to offer shortbread cookies, chocolate, and biscuit ones. In the teacher's room, I have already prepared coffee and tea in thermos flasks, as well as plates and cutlery. I also left a note “Dear colleagues! Today is my birthday, so I would be delighted if you could boldly help yourself to this cake. I hope you will also make your day a bit more pleasant :) Lucretia ”. Satisfied with the result, I went to my office and prepared cookies for my students there. I showed my sympathy to others in a way.

Even my art club started to manage somehow, at least one person had been showing up for the past two weeks. Sometimes the girl, who came the other day would come and cheer me up, proudly flaunting that she was the first. The kids would come to hang out with me, sometimes they asked for opinions on their works, and sometimes they just wanted to spend time with someone, then I tried to engage them in games or some creative activities to distract their thoughts from the sometimes unpleasant reality. The most fortunate, however, was when they ate the cookies. Some of the teachers also came to my office to greet me and praise the cake. The headmaster mentioned something about the fact that I could conduct some confectionery workshops, but unfortunately, the school did not have such facilities.

The whole day was going too beautiful, so I had to fight with a strong feeling that something unexpected and not necessarily pleasant would happen. When I was returning to the apartment, my family called me with greetings, it was three calls from my father, mother, and aunt Bernadette. David even forced Meow to make a noise into the camera, the cat was probably not happy about it, but his father was the only human whose existence he considered almost equal. So he did it for his guardian more than for me. When I opened the door, I just hoped Victor wasn't overdoing it and trying to make some big party, as if he had someone to invite at all. Luckily it was just him, Alex, and Hyacinth. On the one hand, it made me very happy, and on the other hand, it caused a bit of surprise, especially the personal presence of the latter.

Brothers were too busy having any discussion of what music should be playing when I came and they didn't notice my entrance, arguing over the remote, facing the TV. Alex stood a bit back, not keeping up with Victor's blinking.

"Have they been arguing like this for a long time?" I asked in a whisper, standing next to him. The young man shuddered a little, frightened.

"A long while," he replied in shock, and only after a while did he realize that the birthday girl was already there. "Happy birthday," he added with a smile. "I hope you will not be disturbed by my presence, and thank you for the cake then."

"Of course not. The most important thing is that it tasted, "I replied. "I like you very much and I am very glad that you are here. Victor wasn't bothering you too much for you to help him, right?" I pointed to balloons and sashes hanging around the living room and gifts lying on the table. He shook his head. "Although we can make coffee, huh?"

We took a few steps to the kitchen and prepared a caffeinated drink. I also took the cake out of the fridge, and Alex began to stick in the candles Victor had bought earlier. While waiting for the water to boil, I tried to ask the young bartender a bit about a few things.

"You don't have to go to work today?"

"No, luckily not. Not until tomorrow," Alex replied with a sigh. "I also had a looser day at university today, so today is a good day for your birthday."

"And a date with my brother?" I smiled. He looked at me surprised and asked how do I know. "You've been meeting for a few weeks now and you always go out on Thursday. Even if Victor doesn't talk about it, he won't hide his excitement at every meeting with you?"

"Really?" he asked, blushing.

"Yes," I replied seriously. "When it comes to love, Victor is really able to give everything to the person he loves, but no one has really given him a chance."

"He didn't tell me about his previous relationships, and I don't want to ask him about it. When the topic is repeated, he immediately becomes depressed," he hinted. "It's completely new to me. I've dated girls a couple of times, but it's my first time going out with… you know," he was embarrassed.

"Relax," I stroked his shoulder. "You can also talk to me if necessary, especially if my brother causes you problems."

The kettle whistled and that got my siblings right. They looked into the kitchen, where I was already pouring coffee and preparing a cup of hot water with a knife to help me cut the cake.

"Lulu, what are you doing here?" the brothers asked simultaneously.

"I'm home from work, I'm making coffee, and what does it look like to you?" I said, pretending that nothing strange was happening at all.

"But it was supposed to be a big shout "surprise", shooting confetti, singing happy birthday to you, you should be surprised and come to it readily and ...", Victor was signing in disappointment.

"Come on, don't worry," I walked over to him and hugged him. "You know that it's hard to surprise me, and the most important thing is that I have my family next to me."

"Happy birthday" he showed more.  "But you won't guess what gift you will get from me, do you?"

"No, I don't know anything," I laughed.

"Happy birthday," Hyacinth finally came up to me and kissed me gently on the cheek. "You look beautiful today and if you don't mind, I'd like you to open a gift from me when we're alone, okay?" he whispered in my ear.