My husband decided to take a time-out; he was tired of the family and the relationship. While he was resting, I found myself. He didn’t call even once. Didn’t check if there was food for our son or me, didn’t ask if I could at least pay the utility bills for the month he still […]
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— Maxim, look what a beautiful girl! — Hello, I’m Natasha. What’s your name? The blue-eyed little girl with funny curls looked straight at the young twenty-five-year-old man. — I’m Nikolai, and this is my son Maxim. — Nikolai, do you have a wife? Nikolai’s wife, overhearing this, burst out laughing. Coming from a five-year-old […]
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— Misha, tell your wife to turn the music down, — his sister Marina’s voice barely hid her irritation. — Mom’s got a headache because of your… well, how do you call it… avant-garde. I lowered the volume. Not because Marina asked me to, but because of my mother-in-law, who was already pressing a finger […]
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Lena carefully moved the tiny vase with a sprig of gypsophila to the center of the table so that nothing would block her view of her mother-in-law’s face. The café was quiet, almost like a temple, and even the sounds were muffled — as if it was forbidden to speak loudly or express emotions too […]
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“Hi, dear, tired today?” asked Mikhail, helping his wife take off her coat and boots. “A little,” Olga replied. “And my head feels kind of heavy today. I don’t know if I’m getting sick or what…” “We should take your temperature,” her husband fussed. “You lie down for now, and I’ll bring the thermometer. I’ve […]
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— That’s it! I’m leaving for a younger woman and we’ll split the apartment. How much longer are you going to keep spending my money! — said Yuri to his already unloved wife. But he didn’t expect what happened next. — Yur, where are you going? — Svetlana peeked out from the kitchen, wiping her […]
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On the city streets, where the pavement was covered with a thick carpet of golden and crimson leaves, late autumn had settled. The air was clear and cool, with a slight fragility, as if it could shatter in your hands like glass. The sun no longer warmed as generously as in summer, but its rays […]
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Arina was always quiet. But not because she was afraid to speak or felt lonely. Her silence was deliberate, like breathing, like a pause before a word truly worth saying. In her family, speech was valued not for quantity but for weight. Every word had to carry meaning. And if it could be replaced by […]
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A draft cut straight through as Irina walked through the empty waiting hall of a provincial train station. She wrapped her four-year-old daughter more tightly in a scarf. Katya, pressed against her mother, curled up on the hard bench, her breath settling in the cold air as tiny clouds of vapor. Outside the dusty windows, […]
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Marina and Irina looked so much alike that they seemed like two drops of water. Even their mother, Olga Viktorovna, joked that she would soon start tying colorful ribbons to their wrists—so she wouldn’t mix up who to give extra food to and who to punish for a broken cup. But the girls just laughed […]
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