“Registration, Vera. Permanent residence registration—for me, Valera, and our Nikita. We’ve already filled out all the applications on the government services portal. They’re sitting there as drafts. All you have to do is click one button and confirm your consent as the owner of the apartment. It’ll take three minutes, and it would help the … Read more
On Saturday morning, Mom posted a message in the family group chat: “Starting on the first of the month, I’ll need fourteen thousand from you and Pavel every month. I’ve calculated everything.” A photo of an open notebook appeared right after it. The page contained neat rows listing utility bills, groceries, transportation, hair appointments, pharmacy … Read more
Olga stood in the bedroom doorway, watching her husband hurriedly pull on his jeans. The phone on the bedside table was still glowing with a notification from a woman named Yana. The message was brief, but it said more than enough: “I’m waiting for you, darling. I miss your kisses.” “Ol, it’s not what you … Read more
Vika stepped out of the notary’s office clutching a thick stack of documents, still struggling to comprehend what had just happened. A three-bedroom apartment on Arbat Street. Ninety square meters in the very heart of the city. Her grandmother, Klavdia Semyonovna, had left everything to her granddaughter—the only person who had visited the elderly woman … Read more
“Come on, are you serious?” one of the guests exclaimed. A brief silence settled over the table before it was broken by amused laughter and approving comments. Dmitry leaned back in his chair, clearly pleased with the impression he had made. A glass of cognac glinted in his hand. His face was flushed from the … Read more
When I heard Maxim say that my family heirloom should be sold to satisfy his mother’s whims, something inside me snapped. Five years of marriage, patience, and compromise turned to ashes within minutes. But let me start from the beginning. It all began on that disastrous evening when we were getting ready to go to … Read more
“Where are Mom’s things?” Vadim stood barefoot in the middle of the kitchen, wearing a wrinkled T-shirt, staring at me as though I had carried away not two suitcases in the middle of the night, but his entire childhood. I placed a cup in front of him. The tea had just been brewed, and a … Read more
The mother of the groom had been giving her toast for nearly eight minutes. Vika noticed because she noticed things like that. Her job had trained her to keep track of time. Eight minutes was long for a wedding toast. Most people spoke for two or three. But Inna Leonidovna was a thorough woman, and … Read more
The phone rang at twelve thirty. Marina remembered the exact time because she had been looking at the clock above the stove, thinking that for the first time in three months she finally had a Saturday to herself. She could at last watch the series Lyuda from work had recommended. “Marin, listen, Sasha and Lena … Read more
David lifted his eyes from the cup of coffee he had been stirring slowly with a teaspoon. Behind his wife stood an unfamiliar woman of about thirty, wrapped in a towel, her hair wet and her expression perfectly calm. She looked as though she were standing in her own home. “Lyuda, stop being so dramatic,” … Read more