A pregnant orphan was abandoned by her boyfriend, left to die in poverty. Her decision shocked everyone who learned about it.

Larisa had always considered herself a calculating and cold-blooded person. The orphanage had taught her a harsh truth: rely only on yourself. She had a clear life route — like a project measured down to the millimeter. First, a teacher training college, then a job — modest, but reliable. And later — marriage. Not on … Read more

A well-known surgeon was urgently called out of the operating room to see a pregnant milkmaid expecting triplets. What he saw beneath her dress left him stunned.

The heat was unbearable, even for late May. The sun, like a baker gone mad, scorched from the sky, branding the earth with red-hot iron. The air above the asphalt quivered like a frying pan. Dust kicked up by the occasional car hung suspended, slowly settling on the leaves of the poplars lining the road … Read more

“I could buy you a new apartment and pay off your debts. But I’ll only do it on one condition!” the mother declared to her daughter.

“Happy birthday, Mommy!”—Katya, my only daughter, pecked her mother-in-law, Alla Borisovna, on the cheek. “Here, take this!” Inside a luxurious envelope with gold embossing were plane tickets and a voucher for a two-week vacation in Dubai. Five stars, all-inclusive, a personal butler, spa treatments—the full package. I noticed the Burj Al Arab logo—the most expensive … Read more

Grigory looked at her with disgust again, and Zoya caught it out of the corner of her eye as she looked at herself in the mirror.

The wife, who had been with her husband from the very beginning—back when he didn’t have money even for new jeans and dinner on the table was often just pasta with processed cheese—decided she would not so easily hand over her husband and the family business to that greedy woman. Recently, Grigory informed his wife … Read more

At the bus stop, a woman thrust a little girl into my arms and left a suitcase stuffed with cash—I kept quiet for thirty years, and I never imagined…

Just grab and run, you know? Immediately…” “But why me? What’s so special about me?” Thirty years have passed, yet these phrases still ring clearly in my memory, as if spoken only yesterday. That fateful evening radically changed the course of my life. Now, looking back through the prism of all these years, I clearly … Read more

— What on earth made you think I’d work for free at your sister’s salon? Because she’s your relative? She’s nothing to me! So

— Yulya, Anya just called. She wants to talk. Yulia didn’t immediately tear herself away from what she was doing. She sat at her work desk, which looked more like a spaceship control panel—crowded with lamps, sterilizing devices, and dozens of tiny bottles of bright nail polishes. Methodically, she wiped each drill bit with a … Read more

Vladimir is getting married today. Two months ago he returned to his native village after his military service

Vladimir felt as if the ground itself were springing beneath his feet from happiness. Not from drink—no—from that very pure, bright feeling that had been overflowing him since morning. Today was his day. The day he had waited for two long years, swallowing the dust of army training grounds and rereading to tatters the envelopes … Read more