A heavy, suffocating silence wrapped around the apartment, steeped in the scent of incense and wilting lilies. Marina sat hunched on the edge of the couch, as if crushed by an invisible weight. The black dress clung to her body, itching—reminding her of the cause of this dead stillness: today she had buried her grandmother, […]
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“Valentina, this is no way to do business! What on earth is going on? This is outrageous!” Nadezhda shouted into the phone. “We transferred the full amount to you, didn’t we? Yes, we did! We paid you for all three months, just as we agreed! And what is happening here now?” The woman was speaking […]
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October rain drummed on the car roof as if someone were nervously tapping their fingers. Lyudmila sat behind the wheel, watching the wipers struggle against the streams of water on the windshield. She didn’t hurry to get out — visits to her mother-in-law were always hard for her. Vera Nikolaevna had been in the cardiology […]
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The stack of documents on the lawyer’s polished desk looked out of place, like a shard of rock in the middle of a lake. I stared at my husband’s signature, and the line of his stroke seemed mocking, wrong. It looked similar, but it wasn’t his. “As you can see, Anna Viktorovna, everything is done […]
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— Irina Petrovna, did you by any chance not notice that no one invited you over?” Marina pressed her lips together, wiping her hands on her apron. “— Oh, come on, Marish! We’re like at home here. We’re your own people. What, were you expecting strangers or something?” Sveta laughed, setting her boots right down […]
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“Greedy, are you? Don’t want to help your sister?!” — her mother was indignant. “No, I don’t!” Kristina replied. “I’ll be ashamed to even look my husband in the eye now!” “I knew it. All you ever care about is what he’ll say, what he’ll think. You have no opinion of your own.” “What does […]
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