The day Svetlana had dreamed about for many years had finally come. But instead of the expected relief, she felt her hands nervously trembling. Fifty-eight years old—is that not too old for a new life? That thought haunted her all morning. She scrutinized herself in the hallway mirror. A strict suit, minimal makeup, hair tied […]
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— Tanya? Zhanna did not expect to see her ex-husband’s sister at the doorstep. The girl was completely soaked, water streaming down from her long hair. — On the way here, a downpour started. My things got wet, I need to wring them out… Can I come in? — Well… come in. Zhanna understood that […]
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A draft cut straight through as Irina walked through the empty waiting hall of a provincial train station. She wrapped her four-year-old daughter more tightly in a scarf. Katya, pressed against her mother, curled up on the hard bench, her breath settling in the cold air as tiny clouds of vapor. Outside the dusty windows, […]
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Several weeks of agonizing waiting passed. Boris Petrovich lay in the intensive care unit—his life hanging by a thin thread, like a bird hesitant to leap from a branch into the abyss. The doctors were doing everything possible, but the man’s body, worn out by severe bilateral pneumonia, was exhausted to the limit. Mechanical ventilation […]
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Trying not to make any noise, 27-year-old Elizaveta Andreevna Malinkina cautiously moved down the corridor toward the room of Alisa — the 14-year-old daughter of the house owner. She needed to check if the girl was asleep so she could finally go to bed herself. For two weeks now, Liza has been working in the […]
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Aline, dear, quickly hustle and set the table for us! That’s it, your problem is solved! You can rejoice now,” said the husband’s aunt, Antonina Alexeyevna, solemnly into the phone. “Hello, Aunt Tonya. What happened? What problem are you talking about?” Aline asked, surprised, as she was busy with housework. At that moment, she was […]
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— Mom, you have to help me. — Sorry, darling, but I don’t owe you anything. These words hung in the air like heavy raindrops before a storm. Ekaterina Vasilyevna tightened her grip on the phone so that her knuckles turned white. On the other end of the line, there was a ringing silence. — […]
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Dima?” Natasha saw her boyfriend through the peephole and, throwing on a robe, opened the door. “So why did you come?” “To talk.” “About what? Are you going to freeze me out again? We’ve already discussed everything,” she stepped back, and Dmitry noticed something interesting in the bedroom: rumpled sheets, two glasses with unfinished wine, […]
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Arkady! Look at this!” Jeanne shoved the phone screen in front of her cohabitant. “Your daughter has completely lost it! How could she send me this?!” Arkady stared at Jeanne’s phone for several minutes before he couldn’t help but chuckle. “You’re still smiling? You’re in on it with her!” “Sweetheart, don’t shout… You wanted to […]
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Lena was riding in a minibus, tightly holding an neatly wrapped box against her. Inside were two homemade pies: a cherry charlotte and a delicate honey cake. These were the treats her mother-in-law, Valentina Pavlovna, loved so much. Her sons and husband never remembered dates, never paid attention to the little things. But Lena — […]
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