Galina Petrovna walked in without knocking—using her own keys, as always. Lena was standing at the stove and didn’t even turn around. “Lenochka, I brought cottage cheese. Real stuff, not that store-bought garbage. I see your fridge is empty—what are you feeding Andrey?” Her mother-in-law went into the kitchen and started unloading groceries. Lena silently […]
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Four pairs for three people. There’s an extra pair in this house!” Galina Petrovna demonstratively recounted the slippers in the entryway, bending her fingers as she went. An extra pair? I stepped out onto the landing with relief. Strangely enough, something that felt like joy spread through my chest. For seven years I’d waited to […]
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The key scraped loudly in the lock—too loudly. Ksenia stepped into the apartment and, with a sigh of relief, kicked off her sky-high heels onto the parquet floor. Right away she caught a strange, unfamiliar smell. Odd—her Sasha didn’t usually cook. She walked into the living room and froze in the doorway. On the sofa, […]
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— “Dusty, Darina. I taught you that you need to start cleaning from the top down. First wipe the cabinets, then the shelves, and only then do the floor.” Galina Viktorovna’s voice—level and devoid of emotion—cut through the silence of the entryway. Her index finger, crowned with an impeccable manicure, slowly drew a line across […]
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Marina’s kitchen was exactly the kind every woman over thirty dreams of: spacious, spotless, the tiles gleaming, a tablecloth on the table—not stained with borscht—and food in the fridge that you wouldn’t be ashamed to serve even your mother-in-law. Though, of course, for Tatyana Petrovna you could serve it on a golden tray and she’d […]
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— Olya, you have to understand—we’re not strangers. Stasik wouldn’t approve if he found out you’re treating us like this, Anna Petrovna’s voice—oily and syrup-slow—filled the whole kitchen. She sat at the table Olya had polished to a shine just an hour earlier and acted as if she’d been the one to choose the furniture […]
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