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Marina paced the living room nervously, lost in deep thought. She was torn by conflicting feelings—a mix of confusion and inner unease. Nothing had gone the way she’d planned, and now she didn’t know which choice to make. The day before, during a visit to the notary, she’d been stunned by unexpected news: six months […]

I was taking plates down from the shelf for the guests when I caught a snatch of conversation in the hallway. Nina, my cousin, was whispering to Artyom, but clearly enough: “She works at a bank—she gets bonuses and incentives… They say Marina’s already paid for everything. Can you imagine what a celebration it’ll be?” […]

“Do you even realize what this means?” the angry mother asked. “Today is the first, and the fifth is the final deadline! Is your mind capable of grasping that fact?” Svetlana Viktorovna had been lecturing her son for ten minutes already. The reason—his wife Kira had once again failed to transfer the mortgage payment. Artyom […]

— “What do you mean ‘Elena Vladimirovna’? You’re only twenty-nine!” her friends would remark, chuckling. — “It stuck,” Lena would wave it off. “For clients I’m Elena Vladimirovna; for suppliers—especially. And for colleagues.” Lena was building her business and meant it seriously. So at work the tone was businesslike, with no chumminess. — “Come on, […]

“Mom called. She’s complaining about life again. She’s exhausted by my brother’s family,” Igor said, washing the dishes. “Well, everyone gets what they deserve, right?” I replied, spooning my husband’s lunch into a container for work. “I’m just tired of hearing about the kids making noise and how cramped it is for all of them […]

It so happened that little Taya’s parents divorced and left their daughter in the care of her grandmother, Agnessa. Taya’s mother went off to Saint Petersburg to be with a new lover who wanted nothing to do with another man’s child. Grandmother Agnessa sighed heavily and scolded her wayward daughter, but she took Taya in […]

Olga was slowly stirring the buckwheat on the stove when the front door slammed so hard the glass in the display cabinets rattled. The September morning had only just begun, but her husband had already dashed off somewhere and come back in a near-frenzy. “Wife, have you lost it? Why doesn’t your card work?! I […]

Lena had always known the value of her apartment. Not in rubles, but in the meaning her late father put into it when he said, “Daughter, this is your fortress. As long as you have your own place, you don’t have to bow to anyone.” The two-room apartment on the fourth floor of a panel-built […]

“I’m pregnant,” I said, and a smile spread across my face on its own. Kirill, who was standing by the window, froze. He didn’t even turn around, but in the glass I saw his shoulders tense. I was waiting for a hug, for joyful shouts—anything but that strange, motionless pose. “I am too,” came Lena’s […]

“Mom, hi, I urgently need your help.” Her son’s voice on the phone sounded like he was talking to a bothersome subordinate, not to his mother. Nina Petrovna froze with the remote in her hand, never turning on the evening news. “Hello, Kirill. Did something happen?” “No, everything’s fine,” Kirill exhaled impatiently. “It’s just that […]