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The little bell above the door chimed softly, almost inaudibly, but that sound had always been special to him. Viktor Orlov stepped into “Orlov Café,” the establishment that had once been his dream and had since become a network of four locations across the city. He wore a simple dark jacket, worn jeans, and a […]

— “Sveta, you look absolutely stunning in that dress!” her friend exclaimed, taking in the bride. “We’ll do your hair next—and you’ll look like a real princess!” Svetlana ran a thoughtful hand through her hair, looking at herself in the mirror. “Maybe I should dye it darker? What do you think?” “Absolutely not! Dark shades […]

When Vadik found out what had happened to his younger sister, he rushed home at once. He’d heard stories like this before, but never could have imagined it could happen to someone of his own blood. His mother had called a couple of hours earlier and told him everything. It turned out that classmates had […]

Valya was no longer going to put up with it. She didn’t understand why Dima had started treating her this way—had he stopped loving her? Today again he came home late at night and went to sleep in the living room. In the morning, when he came out to breakfast, Valya sat down across from […]

Anna never trusted her husband. So she had to rely only on herself. That’s just how their family life had turned out. Her husband Viktor was as handsome as a poppy in bloom. He was always the life of any party. He drank in moderation, didn’t smoke, wasn’t obsessed with soccer, fishing, or hunting. In […]

Olga gripped the steering wheel tightly when she heard those words. In the rearview mirror she could see the satisfied face of Valentina Petrovna, who had settled comfortably into the back seat with a bag stuffed full of medicines and cosmetics. “Sorry, what?” Olga asked, hoping she’d misheard. “What’s hard to understand?” her mother-in-law’s voice […]

The rain drummed against the windows of the St. Petersburg apartment when the doorbell rang. Anna lifted her eyes from her laptop and glanced at the clock in surprise—half past eleven at night, on a Wednesday. She wasn’t expecting anyone. Through the peephole she saw a blurred figure with a suitcase. Her heart tightened unpleasantly—something […]

The doorbell rang so unexpectedly that Anna flinched and almost dropped her cup of coffee. Sunday morning promised to be lazy and quiet—they and Maksim had planned to spend it at home with books and TV shows. No guests, no fuss. “Who could that be?” Max looked up from his laptop, frowning in surprise. “No […]

She entered the opera on the arm of a stranger, and in that instant his perfect world crumbled to dust, exposing the ruins he himself had built. The two tickets to the performance—the coveted slips of paper for which he’d been playing the art connoisseur—nearly slipped from Arthur’s numb fingers when he saw the black […]

It all began on a morning that seemed to promise anything but a storm. The sun was just lifting above the rooftops, tinting the sky a tender shade of peach. The air was fresh and clear, and from the fields came the sweet scent of blooming meadow grasses. Anna, as always, had risen before dawn […]