“I know you think this is a gift, but how could you?” Elena held the white envelope between two fingers, as if it might burn her hand. “On our wedding anniversary, Nikolai! Our fifteenth anniversary!” Nikolai stood by the window, looking out at the courtyard flooded with July sunlight. His broad shoulders tensed. “You have […]
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— Here, write this down, — Pyotr Petrovich placed a sheet of paper with neatly written numbers on the kitchen table. — Your salary is too high for one woman. You’ll transfer it to me — I’ll manage it better. Olga froze, clutching a potato-peeling knife in her hand. She blinked several times, trying to […]
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“I’m pregnant,” I said, and a smile spread across my face all by itself. Kirill, who was standing by the window, froze. He didn’t even turn around, but in the glass I saw his shoulders tense. I was waiting for hugs, happy shouts, anything—just not that strange, frozen posture. “I am too,” Lena’s quiet voice […]
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“Here, look at the list. It’s only five hundred and twenty thousand. I calculated everything,” Natalia said, placing a thick folder in front of Sergey. The festive table was noisy. His mother-in-law, Valentina Pavlovna, was celebrating her anniversary, and relatives had come from all directions. The eldest daughter, Natalia, had arrived from Samara with her […]
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“Apologize to my mother on your knees, or it’s divorce,” her husband demanded. Yulia sat at a small table, pulling her cup closer and turning it around on its saucer, as if hoping to spin an answer out of it. Galya listened, propping her cheek on her hand, and nodded a little before her friend […]
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