Nika hadn’t been herself lately. Serious cracks had appeared in her relationship with her husband, and she didn’t know how to endure the agony of it. It all started with little things—like it usually does. After work Tolya began peppering her with poisonous remarks. His jokes were full of malice; every word cut deeper than […]
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On Saturday, Lera carefully tidied up the already clean apartment. Then she planned the menu and prepared the tastiest dishes, wanting to show Vyacheslav’s mother that she was a good homemaker. But when she went out to take out the trash, she ran into her neighbor on the landing. As usual, he was unshaven, but […]
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— I’m sick of you. Of your fussing, your constant baby talk, that ever-smiling face. ‘Kostyenchka, your soup; Kostyenchka, your slippers; Kostyenchka, you must be tired,’” her husband mocked as he packed his things. “It’s disgusting! I’m wrapped in your care like in sticky cobwebs. The kids are grown; no one owes anyone anything.” “Do […]
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After twenty-five years of marriage, Marina’s husband, Alexander, stunned her with news. Over dinner, which she, as always, had lovingly prepared for him, he said flatly, “We need to talk. I’ve filed for divorce, bought an apartment, and I’m taking my things.” When she asked, confused, about their joint property, he only shrugged: “So what? […]
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Vadim didn’t come into the apartment alone. Behind his broad back, as if hiding and peeking out at the same time, stood a young girl. Her hand clenched the strap of an unnaturally bright bag, and her eyes drank in the details of our entryway with greedy curiosity — the massive mirror in an oak […]
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When the housemaid arrived at her only son’s wedding, she never imagined she would be treated as if she didn’t count—least of all by the bride. Linda Brown stood just outside the glass doors of the Royal Garden Hotel, smoothing the skirt of the best dress she owned: a cream-colored gown she had mended by […]
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“Switch apartments with your brother—he has a family, and you don’t need such a big place!” Maria Viktorovna stirred her instant coffee briskly without looking at her son. Andrei tore himself away from his phone. From the next room came the crash of cartoons and shrieking children. The air was saturated with the smell of […]
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“Let the one you gave the apartment to take care of you.” The words hung in the cramped kitchen like shards of broken glass. Yulia slowly set her phone on the table beside an untouched mug of cooling tea. For a few seconds the screen still glowed with the contact “Grandma,” then went dark. She […]
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Ethan went rigid. Through the SUV’s tinted glass, his seven-year-old, Lily, stared back at him, face ashen, her small fists thudding weakly against the window. The heat outside hovered near 100°F; the air felt like it could scorch a lung. Maria Lopez, the housekeeper, cried out, “She’s not breathing!” and hurled a rock again. The […]
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— Come on, Anya, you’re like a child. My money is mine. Yours is yours. Totally fair, — Dima leaned back on the sofa and laughed loud and heartily. That laugh, which a year ago had seemed genuine and infectious, now clanged in my ears like cheap metal. He looked down at me, and in […]
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