When Fyodor and Tasya got their marriage registered, there was nothing special about their life. No wealthy relatives, no dowry—just a tiny one-room apartment with peeling wallpaper and a creaky sofa that barely fit the two of them. But to Tasya, all that seemed like funny little trifles. She believed—they had everything ahead of them. […]
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Natasha hurried home, wrapping herself tighter in her long, warm scarf. Autumn this year was unusually raw: one day a fine drizzle hung in the air, another the wind blew so hard the trees bent, and today it all came down at once. Natasha was coming back from the institute. Her bag dragged on her […]
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Three days Maria scrubbed every corner of the house, as if her enemy weren’t dust but time itself—the time that had separated her from her son. She woke before dawn, even though the bus wouldn’t arrive in the village until after lunch. She still couldn’t sleep. Andrei was coming home after five years in Germany. […]
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“You’re no longer my daughter. No one knows who he is or where he came from. I’m ashamed of you. Move into your grandmother’s hut and live like an adult. Feel the responsibility for your actions.” “Olya, did you hear? They sent people here on a business trip to help ours. Let’s go to the […]
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Grandfather left me a crumbling village house while my sister inherited a two-room apartment in the very heart of the city. My husband called me a failure and moved in with my sister. After losing everything, I went to the village—and the moment I stepped inside the house, I was stunned… The notary’s office was […]
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He sat on the cold metal bench, wrapped in a threadbare cloak—the same one he used to wear as a housing maintenance foreman. His name was Nikolai Andreevich: retired, widowed, father to one son, and—so he had once believed—a contented grandfather. All of that unraveled in a single day. When his son brought Olga home, […]
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Galina stood by the window and watched Viktor stride toward the neighboring entrance. Again. For the third time that week. He had some kind of little toolbox in his hands. “Where are you off to?” she shouted from the balcony. “To Alina’s! Her outlet’s acting up!” he waved and disappeared into the stairwell. An outlet. […]
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Ira stood at the stove stirring borscht. Sasha paced back and forth across the kitchen. “Salted it again!” He tasted it and grimaced. “How many times do I have to say it?” “I didn’t oversalt anything.” “What’s this then?” Sasha pointed into the pot with the spoon. “The Dead Sea?” Ira clenched her teeth. Thirty […]
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Anna woke up to the sound of a baby crying and glanced at the clock—half past six in the morning. Thirty-two years old, her birthday, and of course it began the usual way: feeding five-month-old Artyom. The baby was crying insistently, waving his tiny fists, and Anna thought that motherhood meant even holidays bow to […]
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— “Your things are outside the door, the keys are on the table, and I don’t want to see a trace of you here!” Evelina’s voice trembled with anger as she hurled yet another bag of the uninvited guests’ belongings into the hallway. — “Eva, have you completely lost your mind? They’re my relatives!” Ignat […]
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