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Tanya waved to the cashier and stepped away from the supermarket checkout. The day off had been an unexpected gift—her boss had released the entire department early after a successful quarterly report. Tatyana smiled. The surprise for Seryozha would be perfect! Sergey had been disappearing to the dacha for the third week in a row. […]

Marina shoved the dirty dishes into the dishwasher and turned on the express-wash mode. The Friday dinner had been a success: Igor devoured her signature mushroom pie with gusto. Even Nastya, who always wrinkled her nose at any dish “that upstart” cooked—as she called Marina behind her back—ate two slices. “I’m going to take a […]

The call from my aunt caught me in the middle of the workday, tearing me out of the monotonous drone of the office, where time dripped like an old, leaking faucet. I was sitting at my desk flipping through reports when suddenly my phone—usually silent as a coffin—vibrated with such persistence, as if trying to […]

— Nastya, come in,” came Igor Petrovich’s voice — casual and weary, as though he were being distracted from something more important. But Anastasia, who had worked at the company for twenty years and had learned every nuance of her boss’s intonations, instantly sensed — something was wrong. This wasn’t just a summons. She stepped […]

The maternity ward of Saint Thorn Medical Center was unusually crowded that morning. Though Amira’s delivery was progressing normally, the room filled with twelve doctors, three senior nurses, and even two pediatric cardiologists. Not because of any complication — but because the scans had raised questions no one could answer. The fetus’s heartbeat was almost […]

Anna pulled the keys from her bag and pushed the door open carefully, trying not to wake Sergey. The hallway was dark, filled with a warm, spicy aroma—he must have reheated delivery pilaf again, probably late at night. His boots were abandoned in the middle of the floor, one knocked over as if kicked off […]

Yulia straightened the tablecloth and moved a plate a couple of centimeters to the right. The eighth time in the last ten minutes. The perfect dinner wasn’t working out. She heard the front door slam. “Pasha, is that you?” she called from the kitchen. “No, it’s the robbers!” her husband chuckled as he walked into […]

Sveta knew for sure—their keys were gone. She had turned the entire entryway upside down, checked the pockets of her jacket and Andrei’s jeans, even looked under the doormat. Nothing. “Andrei! Have you seen our keys?” she shouted nervously, opening yet another drawer. “Which ones exactly?” Her husband appeared in the kitchen doorway with a […]

Anya didn’t even notice when new tenants moved into the apartment of old Baba Katya, who had passed away. She simply bumped into them one morning on the landing. She was locking her door when the neighboring one opened: first a man appeared, followed by a little boy with an enormous backpack hanging off his […]

She walked the dog along the park alley, feeling the tension in her shoulders turn into a dull, aching pain. Duke was lunging forward, nearly yanking the leash from her weakened hands. Every pull echoed inside her with the words of her son and daughter: “selfishness,” “so much time,” “hard to help?” Coming toward her […]