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Olga closed the door of the notary’s office and stepped outside. An autumn wind tousled her hair, and yellow leaves rustled beneath her feet. In her hands was a folder of documents—certificates of inheritance rights. Five apartments. Everything her mother had left behind. Four months had passed since the funeral. Four months of paperwork, office […]

Irina stood by the window, staring at the gray October clouds. Outside the glass, the first yellow leaves slowly spun down from the poplars in the courtyard. The apartment where she had spent her childhood and youth had now become her only refuge. Three years earlier, her mother had signed it over to her as […]

October evening settled over the city with early twilight. Olya came home from work exhausted, kicked off her shoes in the entryway, and went to the kitchen, where she started reheating dinner. Dmitry was sitting at the table, scrolling through something on his phone and sighing now and then. Lately those sighs had become a […]

November twilight fell over the city early, and Elena, on her way home from work, kept catching herself thinking that the day had barely had time to begin. The bus crawled through traffic, and outside the window a fine drizzle blurred the streetlights into dull smudges. Elena sat by the window, running through her mental […]

— 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 […]