Son, maybe I’ll go to the seaside with you? The vouchers are already paid for! Zlata will be in the hospital anyway—why let the money go to waste? It’s a five-star hotel; we’ll come back tanned and rested…

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Rodion stood by the window of the cardiology ward, watching the nurses hurry down the corridor. His wife, Zlata, lay in the room—third day after heart surgery. The doctors said everything had gone well, but recovery would take at least a month. “Rodya, are you listening to me?”—his mother-in-law, Evelina Markovna, tugged at his sleeve. … Read more

“Be grateful I didn’t give you toilet paper for your birthday,” Alexei told his wife.

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Marina was setting the birthday cake on the table when Alexey handed her a gift box. Inside lay a nonstick frying pan, twenty-four centimeters in diameter. “Thank you,” Marina tried to smile. “Very… practical.” “You don’t look pleased,” Alexey frowned. “I specifically chose a quality one with a ceramic coating. The salesperson said it’s the … Read more

I’m leaving—support your own relatives yourself from now on! ” his wife presented her wavering husband with a fait accompli.

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Andrey Sergeyevich was pouring morning coffee into their favorite porcelain cups—the very ones his wife had once brought back from a trip to Vienna. Yelena Viktorovna stood by the window, looking at the Mariinsky Theater poster on her phone. “Tomorrow is Swan Lake,” she said dreamily. “Do you remember when we first went? Twenty years … Read more

“Your bonus came in very handy, your sister needs to make a six-month advance payment for rent,” announced her mother.

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Marina stopped on the kitchen threshold and felt the unspoken words catch in her throat. Her hand tightened around her phone—still warm from the director’s message about her bonus. Three voice notes from Lena, her friend with whom she had almost bought tickets for a two-week vacation in Turkey. “What?” was all she managed to … Read more

The husband brought her to an abandoned hut to die, but there she faced an unexpected meeting

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“Larisa, just a little more… Come on, love, you’ve got this!” Her legs barely obeyed. Each step felt like dragging iron weights tied to her ankles. “I want a shower…” Larisa breathed, the last of her strength ebbing away. “Gleb, I can’t. Honestly—I can’t.” Her husband tilted his head with a practiced look of concern, … Read more

The new maid wanted to discover why the owner’s daughter sobbed at night behind her bedroom door. But when she stepped into the teenager’s room…

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Trying to be silent, twenty-seven-year-old Elizaveta Andreevna Malinkina eased along the corridor toward Alisa’s room—the room of the fourteen-year-old daughter of the house. She needed to make sure the girl was asleep before she could finally let herself sleep, too. For the past two weeks, Liza had been filling in at billionaire Voropaev’s estate for … Read more

— I’ve found someone else. Pack your things and get out of my apartment,” the husband declared, but the wife narrowed her eyes slyly.

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— I’ve found someone else. Pack your things and get out of my apartment,” Svyatoslav stood in the middle of the living room with his hands shoved in his trouser pockets. Triumph was written across his face. Zlata slowly raised her eyes from the book she’d been reading, curled up in an armchair. She squinted, … Read more

This story is so old it seems to have grown through time like the root of a mighty oak. One day Granny Galya—our neighbor—told it to me.

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This story—so old it seems to have grown through time like the root of a mighty oak—was once told to me by Granny Galya, our neighbor. She’d come over to borrow a little salt, neighborly and kind. I happened to be cooking at that very moment, baking cabbage pies whose rich, homely aroma filled the … Read more

More slop for dinner again,” my daughter-in-law sneered. She had no idea I was a secret judge on the cooking show she’d just applied to…

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— I’m not going to eat this slop,” Darina pushed away the plate of mashed potatoes with thick meat gravy. “Rostislav, we had an agreement. I’m on a strict regimen, I’m calibrating my receptors.” My son gave me a guilty look, then looked at his wife. He reminded me of an old rope being tugged … Read more