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The hall was humming with muted conversations appropriate to the occasion. The expensive but frankly stifling banquet hall that Galina Viktorovna Orlova had chosen personally, relying on the advice of the city’s trendiest event planner, pressed down with its ostentatious luxury—gilded stucco moldings, heavy velvet drapes, enormous crystal chandeliers casting cold glints of light. The … Read more

— Marry him? Him?” Her mother’s voice, Zinaida Borisovna’s, was as dry as an old crust and cracked with disbelief. It hung in the air of the tiny kitchen, thick and viscous like cooled jelly. “Masha, are you out of your mind? Do you understand who we’re talking about?” Masha didn’t answer right away. She … Read more

Sofia forced the key to turn in the tight old lock, and the heavy oak door opened with a soft creak, letting her into another dimension, into a world frozen in time. The air in Artem Ilyich’s spacious apartment was motionless, thick, and sweetly spicy. It smelled of dusty velvet curtains hiding the stained-glass windows, … Read more

Go back to your village then,” her husband said irritably, without turning to her. Artyom’s voice was even, but in it she heard cold and exhaustion, as if all feeling had frozen over during the long years of silent evenings and unspoken grievances. He stood by the window, looking at the grey November sky, covered … Read more

The office world of “Horizont-Stroy” was a small universe with its own unwritten but ironclad rules. The main law of this universe was simple: remain invisible to Viktor Sergeevich whenever storm clouds passed over his face. And they passed over it almost constantly. The air in the spacious hall, smelling of expensive wood and freshly … Read more

Outside the office windows on the twenty-third floor, a real storm symphony was raging. Dense streams of rain drummed tirelessly against the sturdy glass, spreading into bizarre, winding rivulets that hurried downward, merging into a single muddy flow. Artyom Voronov leaned back in his massive leather chair, a barely noticeable but immensely satisfied smile playing … Read more

The office air was thick and stale, smelling of old papers and of dust that had settled on the system units. The rays of the setting sun timidly filtered through the blinds, laying long golden stripes across the threadbare carpet. In this silence, disturbed only by the steady hum of the computers, there sounded the … Read more

Sofiya froze on the threshold of her apartment, her fingers clutching the handle of an old, battered suitcase. Outside the window, an autumn rain had fallen over the city—fine and persistent, drawing the streets into a trembling, translucent veil. Droplets slowly slid down, leaving winding wet trails on the glass, like those invisible paths that … Read more

“Vitya, your wife didn’t give me the money you promised me! Sort things out with her as soon as possible, or I’ll tell Mom and Dad everything and you’ll have to have this conversation with Dad!” Alina’s voice, thin and sharp like a shard of glass, hit Viktor at the very moment he turned the … Read more

“I’m here!” That phrase, flung from the doorway in a firm, no-nonsense voice, hit Ksenia like a blast of icy wind. She hadn’t even had time to fully register who was standing there before the massive figure of her mother-in-law was already seeping into the hallway, rudely pushing Ksenia aside with her shoulder. Yevgeniya Petrovna … Read more