I’m not your girl!” Nastya declared to her mother-in-law, father-in-law, and husband. “And take care of your own old lady yourselves.

Provincial,’ that’s the first word Nastya heard from her future mother-in-law. Yes, she was from a small town, but that didn’t mean it was a backward area. There were excellent schools, even an institute and a university – it wasn’t a province at all, just a small peripheral town. Galina Viktorovna had been watching the … Read more

A modest girl was dressed in a wedding gown for her final journey. What happened at the farewell ceremony made the entire village gasp.

Marina had always been an ordinary girl, not particularly standing out among her peers. In school and play, she kept pace with everyone else. Her dreams changed with age: in kindergarten she fantasized about a beautiful doll, in the early grades—a fancy dress like her friend’s, and in the later years—about a handsome prince and … Read more

After the divorce, the dishwoman took her daughter to work at the restaurant. And as soon as the girl approached the foreign founders and sang a song in their native language.

Rita began to clear an impressive pile of grimy crockery, her mood very sour. There were indeed few reasons for joy. How had she come to be in such a murky place in life? Where had her sanity gone? At first, her mental faculties were completely paralyzed by the romantic feeling that had suddenly overwhelmed … Read more

Mikhail Andreevich froze in the bathroom, listening to the conversation behind the wall.

Mikhail Andreevich froze in the bathroom, straining to listen to the conversation beyond the wall. The partition between the kitchen and the bathroom was thin, and the voice of Artyom—the young man dating his daughter Marina—was clear: — Svetka has money stashed in the wardrobe; take it. But be careful so her mother doesn’t notice… … Read more

— In 1990, I was handed two sick little ones; I raised them as my own, but one did not make it.

Do you believe in miracles, Maria?” Fedor sank heavily onto the porch step, wiping the sweat from his brow with the back of his hand. “In the sky suddenly deciding to listen to our prayers?” “I believe in hard work and perseverance,” Maria replied, gently touching his shoulder. But suddenly her gaze froze at the … Read more

The fugitive convict burst into the old woman’s house amid the storm. But the old lady turned out to be far from ordinary.

Anna Fedorovna sighed deeply as she positioned yet another pot beneath the raindrops that stubbornly pierced through the ceiling. The old woman shook her head, as if conversing with the sky itself. — What a nuisance! And when will it ever stop? The rain seems endless. Could it be that, up above, God’s roof has … Read more

— Don’t like my food? Get out of my house. This isn’t a restaurant, — the daughter-in-law, tired of enduring her mother-in-law’s reproaches, said.

— What’s gotten into you? Why are you acting so high and mighty?” Anna Mikhailovna looked sternly at her daughter-in-law. “Don’t like it? Then get out that door,” the latter replied calmly. Lena cooked fairly well. Even good, if one were to believe her husband. But when she met her mother-in-law, it turned out that … Read more