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A heavy, suffocating silence wrapped around the apartment, steeped in the scent of incense and wilting lilies. Marina sat hunched on the edge of the couch, as if crushed by an invisible weight. The black dress clung to her body, itching—reminding her of the cause of this dead stillness: today she had buried her grandmother, […]

“Valentina, this is no way to do business! What on earth is going on? This is outrageous!” Nadezhda shouted into the phone. “We transferred the full amount to you, didn’t we? Yes, we did! We paid you for all three months, just as we agreed! And what is happening here now?” The woman was speaking […]

October rain drummed on the car roof as if someone were nervously tapping their fingers. Lyudmila sat behind the wheel, watching the wipers struggle against the streams of water on the windshield. She didn’t hurry to get out — visits to her mother-in-law were always hard for her. Vera Nikolaevna had been in the cardiology […]

The stack of documents on the lawyer’s polished desk looked out of place, like a shard of rock in the middle of a lake. I stared at my husband’s signature, and the line of his stroke seemed mocking, wrong. It looked similar, but it wasn’t his. “As you can see, Anna Viktorovna, everything is done […]

— Irina Petrovna, did you by any chance not notice that no one invited you over?” Marina pressed her lips together, wiping her hands on her apron. “— Oh, come on, Marish! We’re like at home here. We’re your own people. What, were you expecting strangers or something?” Sveta laughed, setting her boots right down […]

“Greedy, are you? Don’t want to help your sister?!” — her mother was indignant. “No, I don’t!” Kristina replied. “I’ll be ashamed to even look my husband in the eye now!” “I knew it. All you ever care about is what he’ll say, what he’ll think. You have no opinion of your own.” “What does […]

— Well, did you eat that up? — Vlad barged into the kitchen, swinging his car keys like a scepter. — The deal is closed. I told you I’d crush them. Anya slowly lifted her gaze from the laptop screen. His flushed, triumphant face was mirrored on the glossy surface. She silently closed the lid. […]

“Well, birthday girl, are you ready to shine?” Mark entered the bedroom with two glasses of sparkling wine, wearing that very smile that still made something flutter inside me, even after twenty years. He set the glasses down on the vanity, his reflection merging with mine in the mirror for a moment. I was adjusting […]

Natalya’s story—the first time she told the truth Natalya stood at the stove, slowly stirring the oatmeal. The kitchen was so quiet that even the faint crackle of the gas seemed loud. Outside, a cold dawn tinted the sky a grayish blue—the color of someone’s eyes who has been tired for a long time but […]

It was one of those gray, colorless days when the sky seemed to press the earth down with its weight. A day when even the air felt heavy, and the birds were too tired to sing. Maria, a young maid in the Lanskoy household, had just finished sweeping the marble steps at the front entrance. […]