News 51 Media

It had been only three weeks since we buried our mother, and my brother had already called an appraiser for the house. In the yard of our parents’ home in Volgograd, apples were dropping one after another, thudding dully against the ground. The house—a small two-room place from the 1970s with a wooden veranda—seemed smaller […]

Love checked the bank app notifications while she waited for the bus. Her salary as a sales manager at a large IT company allowed for a comfortable life—eighty thousand a month plus bonuses. Igor worked as a mechanic at a factory, earned about thirty thousand, and didn’t make much effort to look for anything better. […]

Victoria had always thought of herself as a kind, responsive woman. When she married Konstantin three years ago, her relationship with his mother, Lyudmila Georgievna, was quite friendly. Her mother-in-law often dropped by, helped with housework, and Victoria genuinely appreciated the support. The first time she was asked to hand over her bank card for […]

— “Karina, you should at least eat properly,” my mother-in-law, Zinaida Arkadyevna, said, her voice scraping my nerves like a dull knife. “You’ve gone practically transparent. What is our Dmitry thinking? Skin and bones.” I slowly lifted my eyes from the plate with the barely touched salad. The entire Voropayev family was at the table. […]

“You just don’t know how to present yourself,” Kristina drawled, stirring her cocktail with a straw. A bracelet studded with stones glittered on her wrist. She said it with that light, almost careless condescension that was her calling card. “It’s not about presentation,” Olya Yeremina answered quietly, studying a crack on her cup of cheap […]

Through the heavy curtains, the last rays of evening light seeped in, spreading across the expensive Persian rug in weary, dull streaks. The air in the living room—usually scented with rare flowers and exquisite perfume—felt heavy today, electrified, charged with the sense that a storm was coming. “Katya again? Valery, do you seriously think I’m […]

— “Mom’s turning sixty in two days, so clear out for a week—she can’t stand the sight of you,” my husband announced… Tatyana absentmindedly ran her finger over the fogged-up window, tracing strange patterns as the October evening slowly settled over the damp courtyard. The radiators hadn’t been turned on yet, and a clammy chill […]

— “What does pity have to do with it? Temporary registration is a serious legal step. You understand there could be problems…” she said, trying to stay calm, though the story of a friend kept circling in her mind—how that friend once took in relatives “temporarily,” and five years later still can’t get them deregistered. […]

Vika went to the concert without her husband. She didn’t know he would be there too. She was sure he was at work… Vika had planned to go to the concert with her husband. She had bought the tickets a month in advance. All week she’d been getting ready to see her favorite actor. New […]

Irina stood by the kitchen window, watching as October leaves swirled in the air before falling onto the wet asphalt. Ten-year-old Katya was fussing with her homework at the table, glancing at her mother now and then in the hope of getting help with math. “Mom, how do I solve this problem?” the girl asked, […]