Roman Viktorovich Serov, a distinguished-looking man with graying temples, sat in the cramped doctor’s office, clenching his hands so tightly his knuckles had turned white. His face, usually stern and composed, now betrayed a deep weariness, as though years of battling pain had finally etched their mark on him. For ten years, he had been … Read more
I threw the car keys right onto the table. On purpose. So they would clink. So everyone would hear. “Guess what,” I said, taking off my sneakers, “congratulate me. I’m officially on wheels now.” Silence hung in the hallway. From the kitchen drifted the smell of something greasy, suspiciously like “gravy with fried onions,” Valentina … Read more
— I was counting on you, and you turned out to be such a selfish girl… — Mom, you’re asking the impossible… — Alyona began. — Impossible?! Nothing is impossible, if only you wanted it! But clearly, you don’t. So this is how you repay me—with black ingratitude for all those years I raised you, … Read more
“You just need to rest, darling,” my husband Stas’s voice dripped with false concern. “Just a couple of weeks at the best sanatorium. You’ll restore your nerves.” I looked at him, trying to focus my gaze. My head felt heavy, stuffed with wet sand. “I don’t want to go to a sanatorium,” I whispered. Tamara … Read more
The doorbell pierced through the morning drowsiness of the house. Sharp, insistent. I frowned, lifting my head from the pillow. Who could possibly need us this early? Tamara Pavlovna, my mother-in-law, was already shuffling down the hallway. Her whisper was louder than any shout. — Coming, coming! No need to ring so hard… I threw … Read more
In the heart of the city’s most powerful business skyscraper—the lobby of the headquarters of one of the country’s largest conglomerates—there reigned the usual, almost ritual bustle. Morning seemed to flip an invisible switch: with the first rays of sun filtering through the floor-to-ceiling windows, a new wave of ambition, deals, and vanity began. The … Read more
That morning was no different from any other. A new maid had arrived at the country estate of Mikhail Sergeyevich Artamonov. Her name was Lena—young, just past twenty, with a tired look in her eyes as if she had lived not through one sleepless night but through an entire lifetime. In her hands she carried … Read more
I was fired because of my age. As a farewell, I gave my colleagues roses, and I left my boss a folder with the results of my secret audit. “Olga Nikolaevna, we’ll have to part ways,” pronounced Gennady Ivanovich with that very same feigned fatherly softness that usually served him as cover for his meanness. … Read more
The salty wind toyed with Marina’s hair as she, squinting against the sun, laid another stroke on the canvas. Azure bled softly into indigo, forming that very unique shade of the sea on the verge of sunset—so close and yet unreachable, as if trying to hold light in your palms. She was twenty now, but … Read more
The door slammed so hard that a ringing rolled through the apartment, as if a wind from someone else’s fate had burst into the house. On the doormat were traces—thin heels, the scent of expensive perfume, eyes full of laughter—but not hers, not one of their own. “Pack your things and go to the dorm,” … Read more