Katya had always known that beauty was her main trump card. Her mother had been saying it ever since her daughter learned to walk in high heels without tripping over her own feet. “Katenka, you need to make a good match. You’ve got everything for it—looks and charm.” Then she would turn to her elder […]
Продолжение...
Graduation night was supposed to be a shining bridge between childhood and adult life, but for Alisa it turned out to be just another door slammed in her face. The air in the apartment was thick and stale, smelling of old cabbage and dashed hopes. “Go to the dance? Buy a dress?” Her mother, Vera […]
Продолжение...
The first sound forced its way through the thickness of a heavy, dead sleep like a rusty nail through rotten wood. Faint, thin, it was barely distinguishable from the creak of floorboards or the wind moaning in the stove pipe. But a mother’s heart—that tireless, eternal watchman—answered it instantly, clenching tight in her chest. Arina […]
Продолжение...
Larisa stood by the kitchen window, watching the neighbor load a stroller into the trunk of her car. Forty-one years old, and still dependent on public transport and the rare chance to use her husband’s car. Design projects were scattered all over the city, clients wanted meetings at inconvenient times, and there she was, suffering […]
Продолжение...
Yana ran her finger over her smartphone screen, scrolling through photos of resort hotels. Sea breeze, white-sand beaches, cocktails by the pool—that was what she dreamed of after a hard year in the office. Accounting reports and tax returns had long turned life into a gray routine, and only thoughts of vacation helped her hold […]
Продолжение...