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— Petya, are you in your right mind? — Vera stared at her husband with wide eyes. — How could you?! You actually came up with something like that! Forgive me, but I’m starting to doubt you have any common sense. — And what did you expect? — he answered defiantly. — Our son doesn’t … Read more

Sometimes love doesn’t break against the stormy cliffs of betrayal or the icy rocks of indifference, but against the invisible barrier of family ties woven through years of upbringing. That evening, when those words came from the phone screen, I finally understood that all this time I had been just a temporary guest in my … Read more

Natasha placed a plate of fried potatoes on the table but immediately pulled her hand back—the frying pan was too hot. Her fingers were slightly reddened, but the pain was bearable. The air was filled with the aroma of dill and fried onions, the May sun was shining outside the window, and cheerful children’s voices … Read more

An elderly woman, stooped and exhausted, was slowly trudging along a deserted street on this quiet evening. The wind played with her light brown strands of hair, in which early, sneaky gray had crept in, as if time had decided to mock her and quicken its pace. Her hair escaped from under an old beret, … Read more

Svetlana, my husband Andrey’s own sister, has always been a mystery to me. Not literally — I knew her face well, her voice, even the way she laughed. But understanding what was going on in her head? I never managed that in all these years. It all started with small things that seemed almost unnoticeable … Read more

— Dasha, will you take a ticket to the city? — the bus driver asked, squinting against the bright spring sun. He handed her a crumpled receipt and adjusted his worn cap. — To the last stop, — Darya replied briefly, clutching the handle of her old bag tightly. She decisively headed to the doors, … Read more

— And you paid almost five hundred thousand for this, Nastya? — her mother exclaimed in surprise when she came to visit her daughter to see the renovation that she and her husband had just finished. — Yes, mom! And the five hundred is just for the kitchen set! Everything else cost a pretty penny … Read more

Verochka, open up, it’s family!” — the girl immediately recognized the voices of her relatives. “Aunt Zina, what are you doing here?” “We came to work. You know how things are getting worse and worse in our backwater. So Petya and I decided to go to Moscow to earn money and help my daughter.” “And … Read more

Arkady Petrovich absentmindedly drew crosses in his notebook, trying to turn them into some kind of pattern. Inside, there was emptiness and longing. From the laptop screen, his loyal dog—a Ca de Bou named Azart—was looking at him. Azart was a gift from his best friend Andrey, who had left many years ago to serve … Read more

Elizaveta Andreevna was walking down a deserted street toward the train station, clutching her bag tightly to her chest. It was early morning — the city was just waking up, but to her, everything around seemed frozen, as if submerged in aquarium water. Rare passersby, rare cars, even the pigeons on the sidewalk — all … Read more