Lera woke up not to an alarm clock, but because the room was stuffy—like a rush-hour bus where the driver forgot to turn on the AC and the passengers are convinced fresh air is bad for your health. She automatically stared at the ceiling: a spider in the corner seemed like the only living creature […]
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“Are you suggesting I give away what I worked seven years for? Are you out of your mind?” Svetlana looked at her husband as if she were seeing him for the first time. In her eyes there was less anger than bewilderment. Andrey drummed his fingers nervously on the tabletop. His patience was running out […]
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— Three hundred thousand rubles for some nonsense! — Galina Mikhailovna’s voice trembled with outrage as she burst into the apartment without knocking. — I just ran into the neighbor—she told me everything! Larisa froze, a cup of tea in her hands. A Saturday morning that had started so peacefully turned into a battlefield in […]
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Yana heard the familiar notification sound on her phone and glanced at the screen. A transfer from her parents had arrived at exactly nine in the morning, as usual. Thirty thousand rubles—the familiar amount her mother and father sent every month. “Your parents sent money? Great, then we’ll buy my sister a phone,” her husband […]
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The scrape of a key in the lock sounded at the exact moment I finished arranging the vases with the chrysanthemums I’d just bought. Autumn flowers filled the apartment with a special scent—sharp, slightly bitter, the kind that brings back memories of walks through the park with fallen leaves rustling underfoot. I wasn’t expecting visitors. […]
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Katya stood by the window, gripping a cup of coffee that had already gone cold. Behind her, pages rustled—Sergey was flipping through the newspaper, pretending not to notice how tense she was. “We’ll move in with Mom, and we’ll give the apartment to my brother,” he finally said without looking up from the news. “He’s […]
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