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“Starting next month, my entire salary will go to my mom. She needs it more.” The words fell into the kitchen silence as casually as crumbs from the table. Stas didn’t even think it necessary to lift his gaze from his phone screen, which cast a cold bluish light across his serene face. He simply […]

“Here. She… looked everything over again.” Kirill’s voice was muffled, guilty, like that of a schoolboy bringing home a report card with a failing grade. He didn’t enter the room—he seeped into it, trying to make as little noise as possible, as if hoping his presence would go unnoticed. In his hand, he held a […]

“You finally came? I thought I wouldn’t live to see it.” Andrei stepped over the threshold of his mother’s apartment, shaking off the weight of a long workday. The air was familiar, dense, heavy with the smells of valocordin and fried onions. All he wanted was to collapse into the old armchair, drink tea, and […]

“What do you think you’re doing? Are you out of your mind?” Igor’s voice was no louder than a whisper, but the steel grip of his fingers digging into Kristina’s forearm spoke louder than any shout. He nearly dragged her out of the brightly lit, noisy living room into a narrow, dim corridor, where the […]

When I walked into the restaurant in a terrycloth robe the color of fresh carrots and house slippers with pink pom-poms, the waiter didn’t believe at first that I was the birthday boy’s wife. I swear I saw his eye twitch as he tried to figure out whether I was a lunatic or this was […]

A Nanny for the Billionaire’s Triplets All of Manhattan knew the legend of the Harrington triplets. Three six-year-old boys—Liam, Noah, and Oliver—had become famous for managing to drive away any nanny, governess, or housekeeper who dared to take the job. Their pranks had long since turned into near-urban folklore: food “battles,” doors slammed right in […]

Natalya was wiping dust off the coffee table when she heard a familiar crunch. She lifted her head and froze. On the dark surface she had just cleaned, trash had reappeared. Sunflower seed shells. She glanced at the sofa, where Inga, her sister-in-law, sprawled. — Inga, maybe stop making a mess? — Natalya’s voice trembled […]

Zinaida snapped the MacBook lid shut with such ferocity it was as if the laptop were to blame for all her troubles. It had been a rotten day. The client had changed the spec three times, and the doctor on the phone hinted at increasing her medication. As if she weren’t already a walking pharmacy. […]

While cleaning the house of a wealthy lady, a cleaner accidentally came upon an old locket and a photograph—items that had belonged to her long-deceased grandmother. “Of course, I should have known better than to let the likes of you into my house! Next you’ll be hauling off the walls!” sneered Snezhana Olegovna, her lips […]

Life in the village of Orekhovo was like an old, sun-faded photograph—achingly familiar, washed-out, but no less dear to the heart for it. For Alisa, this little world, tucked away among endless fields and whispering forests, was both cradle and cage. She grew up to the accompaniment of cows’ lowing and the morning clatter of […]