Marina stood in the doorway, greeting her parents with the same friendly face as always. Only the bright bruise under her eye betrayed what she so desperately didn’t want to talk about. “Mom, it’s okay, don’t pay attention,” she said quickly, noticing her mother’s attentive gaze. Elena Igorevna sighed heavily. “It’s your business, daughter. You […]
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The mirror in the bedroom reflected a familiar scene: I was smoothing the folds of a modest gray dress I had bought three years ago at an ordinary store. Dmitry stood nearby, fastening the cufflinks on his snow-white shirt—Italian, as he never tired of emphasizing at every opportunity. “Are you ready?” he asked, not looking […]
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— You know, dear, Mom is right. You’re a freeloader, go get a job! — Ilya barked at his stunned wife. Then he slammed the table so hard that a spoon jumped at the edge. Svetlana froze. She had no idea what to say to him. In her head, a mess of hurt, anger, and […]
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Anya, get up. Mom’s pipes need painting, I bought the paint,” Kirill’s voice, brisk and annoyingly businesslike, broke the morning silence of the bedroom. He stood in the doorway, already dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, radiating the scent of shower gel and self-satisfaction. A bunch of keys swung in his hand as if he […]
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In a quiet but harsh orphanage, hidden among gray brick walls and rare rays of sunlight, two boys were always called brothers. Andrey and Yura — not by blood, but by heart. From early childhood, from their very first steps and swaddling clothes, they were inseparable, like two halves of a whole. Their friendship needed […]
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Sunlight, filtering softly through the sheer curtains, gently fell upon a photograph in a silver frame—a snapshot frozen with the smile of a woman whose life was cut far too short. Vlad sat in his chair, motionless like a statue, silently gazing at Valya’s face. His eyes no longer wept, but inside, everything tightened as […]
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Tatiana stood at the threshold of her home, unable to believe her eyes — her mother-in-law, Valentina Pavlovna, was holding the keys to her apartment. “What does this mean?” Her voice trembled with outrage. “It means exactly that, dear,” her mother-in-law said smugly, shaking the bunch of keys. “Now this house belongs to me by […]
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“My flowers… How could this happen?!” Coming back from work, Anna decided to admire her tulips. They were just blooming and decorating the yard area—which, by the way, no one but Anna took care of. She did it on her own initiative, loving it when the grandmothers from neighboring apartments praised her for her dedication […]
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Anna hurriedly climbed the stairs of the notary office, nearly half an hour late for the meeting. The city traffic jams were terrible, and the bus had broken down halfway. Her heart was pounding not just from the brisk walk but also from anxiety. Today, the inheritance case following her grandmother’s death was to be […]
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— So, has your husband returned from his business trip? — the friend asked sarcastically. — Nadya, don’t. You know it wasn’t a business trip. — Okay, sorry. I thought, unlike Olya, you would stubbornly deny it to the end—that your husband isn’t like that and that we’re all lying out of envy. I wanted […]
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