News 51 Media

Sergey sat on an old wooden bench in the very heart of the park, watching as autumn leaves—crimson and gold—whirled in the cool air like dancing couples at a forgotten ball. Gusts of wind would catch them, lift them up, and then let them drift gently down onto the damp ground, forming a soft, rustling […]

I found out about the cheating by accident. No, there was no lipstick on the collar or someone else’s perfume—much more banal than that. His phone buzzed on the kitchen table while he was in the shower, and I glanced at the screen without thinking. “Miss you, kitty. When will we see each other?” wrote […]

When I opened the door and saw Valentina Petrovna on the threshold with two enormous bags, my heart sank. My mother-in-law stood there in her unchanging beige trench coat, hair pulled into a tight bun, lips pressed into a thin line. Her gaze slid over me with that all-too-familiar expression—a mix of disapproval and righteous […]

Marina stood by the window of her twelfth-floor office, looking out at a city bathed in spring sunlight. Five years ago, she couldn’t even imagine that she would ever end up here— in a spacious office with floor-to-ceiling windows and a plaque on the door that read “Deputy Director for Development.” She couldn’t imagine she […]

— By the way, I never told you. My folks are coming next week. For about a week. The words fell into the kitchen like heavy, filthy stones into a clear stream. Irina froze, her hand with the milk carton suspended halfway to the fridge. The crinkle of the paper carton on the countertop, the […]

Olga closed the notary’s office door and stepped outside. The autumn wind tugged at her hair, yellow leaves rustled underfoot. In her hands—a folder of documents. Certificates of inheritance. Five apartments. Everything that was left of her mother. Four months had passed since the funeral. Four months of paperwork, running around to different offices, processing […]

October’s evening wrapped the city in early dusk. Olya came home from work exhausted, kicked off her shoes in the hallway, and went to the kitchen, where dinner was already warming. Dmitry sat at the table, scrolling through something on his phone and sighing from time to time. Such sighs had become regular lately, and […]

— Denis, hi! I’ve got amazing news for you! Tamara Viktorovna’s voice on the phone rang with barely restrained excitement, taut as a string. Denis winced and pushed the blueprint away from him. He was sitting in his humming open-space office, and this brassy call from his mother felt like a marching band bursting into […]

Elena heard the familiar doorbell and froze over the cutting board. The carrot under her knife crunched especially loudly in the sudden silence. She knew that ring—two short, one long. Her mother-in-law. “Lena, open up, it’s Mom!” came from behind the door. Elena slowly wiped her hands on a towel and looked at the clock. […]

Marina was drying her hands on a kitchen towel when the phone rang. The number was familiar—Lena Sokolova, her classmate from the design faculty. They hadn’t spoken in over three years, ever since Marina went on maternity leave. “Marish, hi! How are you, how’s the baby?” Lena’s voice sounded energetic, almost infectious. “Listen, I’m opening […]