Single father took in a widow with three children, gave them a roof over their heads. One shared tragedy no one could have foreseen.

Thursday. Early December. The rain poured down in sheets, as if the heavens were weeping alongside the earth. Igor Sokolov was forty-two. He lived quietly, almost invisibly—alone, with his ten-year-old daughter Tamara. In their two-room apartment, laughter hadn’t been heard for a long time. Only footsteps, the ticking of the clock, and memories of Larisa—his […]

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Pregnant and exhausted, she asked for just a glass of water in a café, but they showed her the door. And now, years later, they met again — she and that very bartender.

Katya looked at Roman in stunned disbelief. She couldn’t accept his words — they seemed absurd to her. How was this even possible? “Rom, please tell me you’re joking?” she said in a trembling voice. “Say it’s just a silly game. We’ll laugh, and then you’ll hug me like always. Please say it, Romochka…” She […]

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You spent all the money on your son, and now you want to live in my apartment?” — I asked my mother-in-law, who showed up at the doorstep with suitcases.

Jangling keys in the lock, Margarita opened the apartment door. Voices came from the kitchen, and the now-familiar smell of borscht filled the hallway. Her heart beat faster, and her teeth involuntarily clenched. Again. Viktoria Pavlovna had shown up at her home without warning. “Olezhenka, what kind of pilaf is she cooking for you? That’s […]

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