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— Mom, I don’t understand anything. How is this possible?! — Olga looked at her mother in disbelief. — I don’t understand anything either! — her mother, usually restrained and calm, was clearly nervous. — I’m telling you again! Five years ago I put money in this bank on deposit, with interest, and now I […]

Diana stood in the kitchen, staring at the screen of her phone. A message from her mother-in-law, Alla Gennadyevna, glowed like an unnaturally bright spot in the evening half-darkness: “Pasha, just a reminder: my birthday is on Saturday at 6:00 p.m. I’m expecting you and Seryozha. The table will be lavish. Ask Diana on my […]

Listen, Liz, I talked it over with Kostik,” Dima said, turning his phone over in his hands without looking at his wife. “He says it’s stupid to keep the apartment only in your name. What if something happens? Then I’d have to prove my rights afterward.” “What rights?” Liza froze with a towel in her […]

“What kind of lawyer are you? You can’t even string two words together!” — I’d heard those words from my father since childhood. He was a well-known prosecutor in our city, ashamed of my stutter, and he did everything he could to crush my dream. But he failed to account for one thing: while I […]

A sharp ring at the door sliced through the mourning silence of my apartment. Forty days hadn’t even passed since Kostya’s funeral—I still hadn’t learned how to breathe without him—yet my mother-in-law, Larisa Grigoryevna, was already standing on the threshold. And she wasn’t alone. Beside her was a hunched man with a briefcase. She didn’t […]

Zoya left the clinic early — the appointment was canceled, the doctor had fallen ill. Good thing, at least! It had been a long time since she’d been given a gift like this: a free evening, a chance to cook dinner calmly instead of throwing something together in a rush, as usual. She turned the […]

Anna hurried up the stairs of the notary’s office, nearly half an hour late for the appointment. The traffic in the city had been terrible, and the bus had broken down halfway there. Her heart was pounding—not only from walking fast, but also from anxiety. Today the inheritance matter after her grandmother’s death was supposed […]

December turned out to be bitterly cold. The snow lay like a heavy blanket, and every morning Olga stared out the window at the white courtyard, unable to force herself to leave the apartment. Two weeks had passed since the funeral, but time seemed to have stopped. The apartment felt too big and too empty—three […]

Yulia stared out the bus window, watching the first snow lightly dust the sidewalks. December had only just begun, and with it came that agonizing feeling—the upcoming visit to her mother-in-law. The last three get-togethers had ended the same way: barbed remarks about her hairstyle, her dress, how Yulia cooked, how she spoke, how she […]

Olya pushed the apartment door open with her shoulder, a bag full of notebooks in her hands. She had been grading geometry tests until eight in the evening—thirty-two papers, and only about five were done well. The rest were nothing but failing and barely passing marks. Her eyes ached, and her temples throbbed. “Dim, hi,” […]