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Larisa was picking up the broken plate from the floor when the doorbell rang. Nine in the evening—she wasn’t expecting anyone. The shards clinked into the trash can—just like two years ago, when Igor used to hurl dishes and shout, “A beauty salon! You can’t even get yourself looking decent!” She looked through the peephole […]

Marina opened the door and froze for a second. On the threshold stood her father and mother—older, drawn, wearing some nondescript jackets she had last seen on them three years ago. Her father was more hunched than she remembered, and her mother nervously fidgeted with the handles of a worn bag. “Hi,” Marina said dryly, […]

Candles. Definitely candles. I placed them all over the table, trying to create that very atmosphere I’d been dreaming about all year. A white tablecloth, crystal glasses we’d received as a wedding gift and never once used, a bouquet of white roses in the center. Everything had to be perfect. My birthday—December twenty-third—always got lost […]

I stood at the entrance to the restaurant, holding my daughter’s hand. Kira was tired after the clinic, cranky, and hungry. We had just gone in for her vaccination, and I had promised her something tasty afterward. The restaurant was nearby, and I also wanted to check how things were going there. I hadn’t been […]

“Andrew, please bring me some water…” Marina’s voice sounded чужим—dry and brittle, like last year’s leaves. It barely pushed through the cottony blanket that had covered her completely. Her body had turned into one solid, aching clot of pain. Everything throbbed—from her fingertips to the roots of her hair. Her skin burned, but underneath it […]

— Are you sure we should go today? It’s a blizzard outside, the roads are probably buried, and honestly I’m not in a festive mood at all, Marina said as she stood by the window, watching snowflakes whirl in the streetlamp’s light and nervously tugging at the belt of her robe. Andrey, tying his tie […]

By the way, I never told you. My folks are coming next week. For about a week.” The words dropped into the kitchen like heavy, dirty stones thrown into a clear stream. Irina froze, her hand holding the carton of milk suspended halfway to the refrigerator. The crinkle of the paper bag on the countertop, […]

Alina sat at a massive oak table covered with countless fabric swatches. She smoothed each piece carefully with her palm, lifted it to the light, and studied the way the silk or satin shimmered. A smile glowed on her face—inside every scrap she could already see a piece of the future, her celebration, her dream. […]

“Why did you transfer fifty thousand to my mother? I asked you not to do that!” Tatiana stood in the middle of the entryway, clutching a bank statement in her hand. Her hands were shaking with anger, and tears of hurt glimmered in her eyes. Dmitry froze in the doorway, not even having time to […]

— Tamara Petrovna? And you… didn’t call. Alina said it as she stepped back into the hallway—and immediately scolded herself for it. It hadn’t sounded welcoming, almost like a reproach. But the exhaustion—sticky, heavy—built up over a day spent bouncing between laundry, cooking, and scrubbing floors, made her reaction slow and honest. Her mother-in-law showing […]