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Irina heard a knock at the door just as she was finishing the dinner dishes. Makar had gone to a friend’s place to study for exams; the apartment was quiet, drowsy in that almost-evening way. She wiped her hands on a towel and went to open the door, not really wondering who might be calling […]

The golden light of a Neapolitan evening softly flooded the spacious hall of the Aurora restaurant, tinting the snow-white tablecloths in warm, honeyed hues. The air, dense and saturated, carried a stirring aroma of fresh basil, garlic sizzling in olive oil, and seafood just brought in from the nearby market. At every table a small […]

Liliya bought an apartment at twenty-six. She’d saved for five years while working as a manager at a trading company. Every kopeck went into savings: she gave up entertainment, wore old clothes, economized on everything. When she finally signed the purchase contract, her hands trembled with happiness. A one-room place on the edge of the […]

Yulia set the kettle on the table and took out some bread—the morning was beginning as usual. A fine October drizzle misted the window; a gray sky hung over the city. Yulia turned on the stove, heated a frying pan, and took eggs from the fridge. Artyom sat at the table, scrolling through something on […]

Chapter 1. A Monologue of the Sky The sky over the city darkened in a matter of moments, as if someone above had decided to draw heavy, leaden curtains across the last rays of the departing day. The air, only recently filled with the scents of asphalt and a distant blooming park, grew thick and […]

Anton Petrovich sat in his spacious office furnished with expensive pieces, rereading for the umpteenth time the stack of papers lying on his desk. They were résumés. More résumés. It felt like the process would never end. Thirty-five years old, a stable, thriving business, three major electronics stores in different parts of the city. And […]

In the house that once smelled of apple pie and laughter, there now hung a strange, sticky air of things left unsaid. Artyom increasingly noticed the way his mother Anna’s gaze slid over his father Dmitry’s figure with a detached, almost outsider’s interest. And Dmitry, in turn, seemed to be seeking refuge— in the garage, […]

Marina froze in front of the large hallway mirror, slowly turning to assess her look from every angle. The dress she had chosen after long deliberation fell softly along her figure, shimmering in a deep emerald hue. At her throat sparkled a modest yet elegant necklace—a gift from her husband on their last anniversary. Forty […]

Kolya Vorontsov had been used since childhood to having his merits recognized without question. His mother idolized him, teachers admired him, girls swooned. And how could it be otherwise? Tall, well-built, with a perpetual half-smile on his lips and a sly squint in his gray eyes. At university they called him “the lucky one”—he always […]

Elena slowly leafed through the photographs in the worn leather album she had carefully kept all these years. Her fingers trembled as they touched each picture, lingering on the ones where Olga—her adopted daughter—smiled sincerely at school parties, prom night, the first day of university, birthdays. Twenty years of motherhood had flown by in a […]