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— “Do you even understand what you’ve done?!” Roman’s voice broke into a shout as the door slammed shut behind his mother. Alina stood by the window, holding a cup of tea that had already gone cold. The tea trembled—just like her hands. “I protected myself,” she replied quietly. “You threw my mother out!” Roman … Read more

The phone vibrated on the kitchen table, and Marina saw her mother-in-law’s name on the screen—her heart instantly dropped, like an elevator when it jerks into motion. “Marina, open up, I’m by the entrance with my things!” Galina Petrovna’s voice burst into the line without any greeting. Marina froze with a half-finished mug of coffee … Read more

Nikolai Vorontsov had been used to unconditional recognition of his merits since childhood. His mother idolized him, teachers admired him, girls swooned. And how could it have been otherwise? Tall, well-built, with a perpetual half-smile on his lips and a sly squint in his gray eyes. At university they nicknamed him “the lucky one”—he always … Read more

The phone rang at ten in the evening. An unknown number. “Hello?” “Good evening. Are you Sergei Kravtsov’s wife?” “Yes. What happened?” “Your husband is in the hospital. Admissions. City Hospital No. 1. Come right away.” My heart dropped. “What’s wrong with him?” “Come. The doctor will explain.” Dial tone. I grabbed my bag. My … Read more

Usually, the intercom buzzing at four in the afternoon meant Sergey had forgotten his keys. Without a second thought, Marina pressed the button to unlock the building entrance, not even asking who it was. She was just finishing watering the ficus in the living room—the very one they had bought together when they first moved … Read more

— You decided everything for me again? Dima burst into the kitchen as if someone had set him on fire from behind, slammed the refrigerator door, and stared at Katya like she’d personally offended his entire bloodline. Katya slowly lifted her eyes from her mug of tea, took a breath, and said calmly—but with that … Read more

From the very morning everything was going to hell, and I understood that better than anyone. Not because I felt unwell—no. But because overnight my life had cracked like a badly soldered pipe, and now a biting cold was seeping out of that crack. “Are you getting ready?” Lera, my cousin, asked when I paced … Read more

Are you serious right now, Dashenka?” Galina Petrovna’s voice crackled through the line as if she wasn’t holding a phone, but a microphone at a podium. Dasha pinned her cell phone to her ear with her shoulder and kept drying a plate—so she wouldn’t splash her anger all over the kitchen. “And what’s not serious … Read more

Lena stood by the window, watching as the January twilight tinted the snow with bluish shades. Behind her came the sound of running water—Andrey was washing the dishes after dinner. They had just finished pasta with chicken, an ordinary weekday meal, nothing fancy. Those were the dinners Lena loved most: quiet, homely, just the two … Read more

Darya was sitting on the couch in her small one-room apartment reading a book when Igor came home from work. He looked pensive, even a little tense. After hanging up his jacket, he went into the kitchen, poured himself some water, and stood by the window for a long time, staring out at the evening … Read more