Yana, a designer, arrived at her new client Elizaveta’s a little early. The door was slightly open, and when she stepped inside, she saw her husband Pasha in someone else’s robe and slippers. “Pasha, what are you doing in my client’s apartment?” Yana asked. He snapped irritably, “Did you mix up the address, Yana?” Elizaveta […]
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Lara sat in the kitchen staring at the documents. Her hands were trembling. Viktor stood by the window with his back to her. “Vitya, are you serious?” “Absolutely.” “But it’s been thirty years…” “That’s exactly why. Thirty years of deception.” Lara set the papers aside. Her head was spinning. Her whole world had flipped upside […]
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The Bonus That Tore Them Apart “I’m telling you—we earned this!” Rita tossed an envelope onto the table. “One hundred thousand, Vlad. One hundred thousand! Can you imagine what we could do with the kids’ room?” Vladislav slowly set his phone aside. “That’s great news. But don’t spend the bonus yet—my sister Karina’s wedding is […]
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— Are you deliberately trying to make my mother have a heart attack? Nicholas rasped, hurling the remote onto the table as if he were tossing away a red-hot coal that had scorched his palms. — Don’t be so dramatic, please, Elena replied indifferently, without looking up from the dishes. The water in the sink […]
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Zoya stood by the window of her apartment, watching the bustle of the street below. In her hands she held a cup of hot tea, a faint wisp of steam curling up from it. The past few months had been especially hard—her relationship with Andrei was coming apart at the seams, and she was withdrawing […]
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Svetа’s new perfume hit me in the nose the moment I walked in—sharp, cloying, the smell of a winner. “Katya, my God, I’m so happy!” Sveta, my best friend, squeezed me in a hug. Her movements were quick, predatory. The fussiness I used to mistake for hospitality now looked different. “Come in—just a second… I’ll […]
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— And what if your son did that to you?!” her mother-in-law shot back with a counterargument. “He wouldn’t!” Rita forced out through clenched teeth and ended the conversation. What was the point of going round and round in circles? “Your mother called again,” Rita said in response to the questioning look from her husband, […]
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“I’m entitled to property,” Georgy declared. “What property? Are you out of your mind?” Polina didn’t understand. “My property!” “Go sleep it off!” Polina slammed the door in Georgy’s face. “He’s definitely drunk—how else could he be talking such nonsense?” Polina fussed around the apartment in a pointless whirl, tidying up and putting random things […]
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The dress had been hanging on the coat hanger for three days already. Every morning I walked past it and looked at it—blue, with tiny flowers, simple but new. I hadn’t bought anything for myself in a long time. Somehow there was never time, and no point either. Where would I go, a retired housewife? […]
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The gravel under my car’s wheels rustled irritably as I turned onto the familiar country lane. I was smiling. Igor thinks I’m meeting friends in the city, but I’m racing to him instead. A surprise. He’d said there was a crunch at the dacha—he had to finish some urgent project that required total concentration. Our […]
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