The relatives decided to celebrate the second day of my sister-in-law’s wedding at our place—I didn’t argue, but I greeted the guests in my own way.

Lena woke up because the phone wouldn’t stop ringing. She reached for the nightstand and picked up the receiver. On the screen—her mother-in-law. “Good morning,” Lena’s voice was sleepy, hoarse. “Lenochka, are you still not asleep?” the mother-in-law was brisk and cheerful. Far too cheerful for nine in the morning after last night. “I was […]

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After marriage, property becomes joint! That means my boy moves in without any fuss!” the mother-in-law barked.

Get out of here!” Marina’s voice trembled like a thin string about to snap. She stood in the doorway, barefoot, hair disheveled, clutching a bundle of children’s toys. At her feet—suitcases jutting out at odd angles, as if thrown together in a hurry. And opposite her—a whole delegation: her mother-in-law with a frozen smile, her […]

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Let’s make it simple: you’ll pop out of my apartment like a cork from a bottle,” Elena advised her husband. “And you’ll forget the way here.

Anatoly froze in the middle of the living room, holding a folder of documents. His face went pale, then flushed. “What do you mean, ‘out of your apartment’? We bought it together!” “NO,” Elena cut him off, gripping the certificate of title in her hand. “This is my grandmother Vera Pavlovna’s apartment. She signed a […]

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One more time you or your mommy say I’m wasting my time, I’ll burn all your fishing gear that you blow half your salary on! Do you hear me, Lyosha?! I’m the one feeding us with my ‘hobby’ while you sit on your backside in the office!

— Again the whole apartment smells of vanilla; there’s no air to breathe,”—Raisa Pavlovna’s voice, sharp and dry like last year’s leaf, broke into the kitchen before she herself did, shattering the focused working atmosphere. Anya didn’t flinch. She only gripped the offset spatula a little tighter, continuing with surgical precision to smooth the snow-white […]

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What do you mean your apartment isn’t divided? I was counting on a share after the wedding,” my husband said irritably about the apartment I had owned before our marriage.

For Elena, receiving a court summons for the dissolution of marriage was no surprise. The last year of her life with Anton had felt like a slow, painful fading. His constant late nights at work, the coldness, the distant gaze—all of it left no doubt. And a month ago he simply came home, packed his […]

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