“Where do you think you’re rushing off to? My mom’s coming over and the table’s empty!” the husband burst out.

A September morning turned out to be chilly. Irina was standing in front of the bedroom mirror, carefully straightening the collar of her business suit. The documents for an important meeting were neatly placed in her briefcase, her phone checked twice. Everything was going according to plan. Outside, yellow leaves slowly swirled in the air, […]

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Mom is feeling bad! It’s her heart!” my husband was shouting into the phone while my mother-in-law was howling in the locked apartment, the siren screaming over her wails. “Send a patrol,” I replied.

The first thing was the smell. A light, barely noticeable trail of someone else’s perfume — “Red Moscow,” I think. I came home after a 24-hour hospital shift, dreaming only of a hot shower and my own bed. Andrei met me in the hallway, gave me a routine peck on the cheek. “Mom dropped by, […]

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“Why on earth do you think I’m going to register Rita in my apartment?” Alina looked at her mother-in-law in surprise.

Alina, we need to have a serious talk. Rita needs a residence registration, and you now have your own apartment,” Tatyana Vitalyevna placed her hands on the table, as if marking the importance of the moment. Semyon sighed hopelessly. Sunday lunch at his parents’ had suddenly turned into a family council. He had a feeling […]

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“You’re jealous of your brother, he has a family and you’re all alone!” my mother shouted. But I kicked her out of my home along with her suitcases.

The new apartment smelled of paint and something else—a mix of fresh tiles and cheap linoleum, even though I’d tried to choose “the more expensive, more practical kind.” The door thudded shut behind me, and silence fell. The kind of silence I’d dreamed of my whole life. No fights, no “Tanya, clear the table, Andrei […]

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Did you really think, darling, that you and your mother could actually take my apartment away from me?” I stared at my ex-husband in surprise.

Alina stared at the WhatsApp invitation for a long time. “Let’s meet like adults. Talk. No drama. Dimka.” She wanted to delete the message. Everything had already been decided: divorce, division of property, her apartment would remain with her — thankfully, the paperwork was in order. But something twinged inside. Maybe he really did want […]

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