Month: September 2025

“You just don’t know how to present yourself,” Kristina drawled, stirring her cocktail with a straw. A bracelet studded with stones glittered on her wrist. She said it with that light, almost careless condescension that was her calling card. “It’s not about presentation,” Olya Yeremina answered quietly, studying a crack on her cup of cheap […]

Through the heavy curtains, the last rays of evening light seeped in, spreading across the expensive Persian rug in weary, dull streaks. The air in the living room—usually scented with rare flowers and exquisite perfume—felt heavy today, electrified, charged with the sense that a storm was coming. “Katya again? Valery, do you seriously think I’m […]

— “Mom’s turning sixty in two days, so clear out for a week—she can’t stand the sight of you,” my husband announced… Tatyana absentmindedly ran her finger over the fogged-up window, tracing strange patterns as the October evening slowly settled over the damp courtyard. The radiators hadn’t been turned on yet, and a clammy chill […]

— “What does pity have to do with it? Temporary registration is a serious legal step. You understand there could be problems…” she said, trying to stay calm, though the story of a friend kept circling in her mind—how that friend once took in relatives “temporarily,” and five years later still can’t get them deregistered. […]

Irina stood by the kitchen window, watching as October leaves swirled in the air before falling onto the wet asphalt. Ten-year-old Katya was fussing with her homework at the table, glancing at her mother now and then in the hope of getting help with math. “Mom, how do I solve this problem?” the girl asked, […]

“Sign it, Kseniya Arkadyevna, and let’s put an end to this farce.” Rodion carelessly slid a folder of documents toward me. His well-groomed fingers drummed on the mahogany desk, and that same smirk I’d come to hate over the years played on his lips. The smirk of a predator cornering its prey. “What is this?” […]

On a rain-lashed evening in a sleepy town, a young waitress named Emily Parker spotted four little girls pressed to the fogged window of her diner. Their sweaters were ripped, their cheeks chalky, and in their eyes lived the quiet ache of hunger and being nobody’s child. Emily felt something pull tight inside her chest. […]

When her husband walked out, Priya was only twenty-five. He said he was leaving for work overseas—and then vanished from her life as if he’d stepped off the edge of the earth. Priya cried until her ribs ached. Even so, with swollen eyes and hands that wouldn’t stop trembling, she stood by the stove and […]