— “So you’re choosing your pride over our family?” Marina flung the medical report onto the table. — “How adorable. So now you’re going to blackmail me?” Viktor smirked. “Very original.” — “Vitya, it’s just a procedure! Millions of couples do it!” — “Millions of idiots jump off a bridge too. Should I jump as … Read more
Mom, please—just for an hour,” Andrey said for the third time, and with each repetition his voice grew thinner and more pleading. He stood in the middle of their small living room, feeling like a clumsy teenager caught off guard. Galina Borisovna didn’t even turn her head. She sat in the only armchair Oksana loved, … Read more
— Alyona, I was thinking… Sergey’s voice rang out in the room, unexpectedly upbeat and loud. Alyona didn’t turn around. She was kneeling in the middle of the living room, methodically rubbing polish into the door of an old oak sideboard with slow circular motions. The air was thick with the rich, pleasant scent of … Read more
Our boy was born deaf? Leave him at the hospital—I’m not ready to raise a child like that!” My wife’s voice rang with a fury I had never heard in her before. “Olya, what are you saying? He’s flesh of our flesh,” I stared at her as if seeing her for the first time. Her … Read more
Morning in the cozy two-room apartment on the fourth floor began with the familiar, almost ritual bustle—the clink of spoons against cups, the click of the toaster, water running from the tap, and muted laughter. The air was filled with a fragrant palette: coffee, fresh bread, and the faint floral perfume drifting from Alina, who … Read more
— Why hasn’t the floor been washed? And where’s dinner? — Gleb tossed his briefcase onto the couch and looked around the room. — You’ve completely stopped taking care of yourself! Marina froze by the stove, confused. It was past midnight, and she’d been sitting there like a fool, waiting for her husband with a … Read more
— “Come on, Anya, you’re like a child. My money is mine. Yours is yours. It’s fair,” Dima leaned back on the sofa and burst out laughing—loudly, wholeheartedly. That laugh, which just a year ago had sounded sincere and contagious, now grated on my ears like cheap metal. He looked down at me from above, … Read more
— “Misha, look!” I froze by the gate, not believing my eyes. My husband awkwardly stepped over the threshold, bent under the weight of a bucket of fish. The sticky morning chill seeped into my bones, but what I saw on the bench made me forget everything. — “What is it?” Mikhail set the bucket … Read more
At first, Genka thought his mother had simply gained weight. True, it was strange: her waist had suddenly rounded, but otherwise she looked the same. It felt awkward to ask—what if Mom got offended? Dad stayed silent, looking at her with tenderness, and Genka pretended he hadn’t noticed anything either. But soon her belly was … Read more
February greeted me with a dull gray light outside the window—and a ringing phone. The number was unfamiliar, but I recognized the voice at once: Valentina Ivanovna, my mother-in-law. Ex–mother-in-law, to be precise. Andrey and I had divorced six months earlier, and since then his mother hadn’t called even once. “Yelena, we need to talk. … Read more