If I ever had questions about my place in the family, they were answered the moment I stumbled upon the will. I was in the family apartment—the very same one where I grew up and for which I had been paying the bills for the past five years: utilities, groceries, roof repairs, cleaning help. I […]
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The school banquet hall had been transformed beyond recognition. Brightly colored balloons hanging from the ceiling gently swayed in the light draft, LED garlands twinkled along the walls, and quiet yet festive music played on the stage—a backdrop for an important event. The air was filled with a light bustle, joy, and a touch of […]
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The meeting happened like in a movie. Dima was rushing in his car when suddenly he almost hit a girl — she was hurrying to catch a bus, stumbled, and fell right in front of the car. Fortunately, good brakes and the driver’s quick reaction prevented a disaster. Dima immediately jumped out of the car […]
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— Irina, we are getting divorced. Please be kind enough to move out of here by tomorrow. — What? Anton, did I hear you right? Divorced? — Yes. — And why should I move out of my own apartment? — Yours? You’re mistaken, baby. Here are the documents. Look: the sole owner is me. Irina’s […]
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Sometimes love doesn’t break against the stormy cliffs of betrayal or the icy rocks of indifference, but against the invisible barrier of family ties woven through years of upbringing. That evening, when those words came from the phone screen, I finally understood that all this time I had been just a temporary guest in my […]
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Every evening, when the last rays of the sun painted the sky in golden and pink hues, Anastasia would go to the embankment. There, where the fresh wind tickled the skin of her face and the scent of the river mingled with the city air, she found refuge for her soul. Sitting on an old […]
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“Seven million four hundred thousand,” Orlov, the general director, said. His voice was so steady and emotionless that it sounded less like a number being read aloud and more like a sentence being passed. There was no anger, no sympathy — only emptiness. And it was precisely that which made his words especially terrifying. He […]
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“What are you wearing?” Gleb said with disgust, slowly and contemptuously looking over his wife from head to toe. “You look like some market hag! Do you even realize that we are now people of status?” Each word struck Irina like a whip’s lash. “People of status”… She looked at her husband but did not […]
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Anna stood by the gray, peeling doors of the maternity hospital, like a figure carved from stone — motionless, compressed inside by the weight of loneliness. In her arms, she tightly held newborn Svetka, wrapped in a thin blue blanket that seemed too bright for this gloomy night. Blue — the color they had so […]
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Lena stood by the window of her empty apartment and looked out at the yard where her children used to play. Now Misha was twenty years old, working in St. Petersburg, and Katya was eighteen, studying at university. The apartment seemed huge and uncomfortable without their laughter, without the constant running around, without the pile […]
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