The doorbell rang sharply, slicing through the quiet of Saturday morning. Alina flinched, nearly spilling her coffee on the table. Who could it be at nine in the morning? Her friends always warned her before dropping by, and couriers usually called first. She opened the door and froze for a moment, not understanding who stood […]
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— An hour of nannying costs six hundred rubles. That’s twelve hundred from you, Lenochka. Transfer to my phone number—you know it.” Larisa Pavlovna wasn’t joking. She stood in the doorway of my entryway, adjusting her flawless blowout, holding a small leather-bound notebook in her hands. In it, she had just—right in front of me—made […]
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So, how much did you manage to click today?” Sergey’s voice from the hallway was rough, soaked in street-cold and fatigue. “Come on, quit playing with your toys—I’m hungry.” Marina didn’t answer. She only pressed the headset tighter to her ear, eyes fixed on four faces divided by thin gray lines on her monitor. Her […]
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Yulia Antonovna had long served in the Grigoryev household — Vladimir and Lyudmila. Today the owners had gone somewhere, and the maid, having finished all her chores around the house, sat down to rest by the window. Suddenly, her attention was drawn to a little boy on the street. Skinny and clad in tattered […]
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Since you bought that damn boat so you could take your buddies fishing on it, I’m not going to sit at home either! My daughter and I are going to Turkey on our own, and you can live with your friends and that boat from now on!” Lena said it to her husband the moment […]
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Lera woke up not to an alarm clock, but because the room was stuffy—like a rush-hour bus where the driver forgot to turn on the AC and the passengers are convinced fresh air is bad for your health. She automatically stared at the ceiling: a spider in the corner seemed like the only living […]
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We were celebrating our little boy’s first birthday. Guests, presents, laughter. I thought it was the happiest day of my life. But then the door flew open, and she walked in—my mother-in-law. Without even looking at the guests, she jabbed a finger at me and screamed, “That child isn’t my Pavel’s! I’ll expose you for […]
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Arseny took the last quiche from the plate without even looking up from his phone. He chewed slowly, savoring it—the way people chew only something they truly like. Irina watched him lick his fingers, gathering flaky crumbs from the pads of his fingertips. Her mother, Lidiya Pavlovna, had brought those quiches that morning, still warm, […]
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Elena raised a glass of champagne, smiling at her friend Olga. The birthday party was a success—about twenty people had gathered at the café, laughter never stopped, and for the first time in months she felt like just a woman, not only the mother of one-year-old Yulia. — To your happiness! — she said, just […]
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When jokes turn into weapons and laughter becomes a shield, a woman begins to understand the true cost of her marriage. Sometimes clarity arrives through pain. Chapter 1. Anniversary The cake with fifty candles shimmered in the half-darkness of the restaurant hall, and I felt something inside me tighten into a hard knot. Sergey […]
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