Don’t rush to call this story a fairy tale. Life is so unpredictable! You never know what it might hold… For a long time, she didn’t know her real name. All she heard was: — Dolly! Fetch it! Dolly, give it here! Dolly, clean up! That’s how her parents addressed her. That’s what her brother and sister called her. And her brother and sister were her main tormentors. There was a six-year age gap with her brother, four years with her sister. As she grew older, she understood why her mother called her not just Dolly but also a “mistake.” …

It happened during one of my shifts as a paramedic. The day had been grueling, and all I wanted was to stretch my aching, exhausted legs on a cot somewhere. But, as luck would have it, a fire broke out at a school in the Maykuduk district of Karaganda. At that moment, every other ambulance crew was tied up with calls, so it fell to me to respond. Meanwhile, a fierce blizzard was raging over the city… The radio crackled with news that during the fire, the school’s security guard had jumped from a third-floor window. Firefighters, rushing through the …

In the post-operative ward, four women lay in their beds, and as one of them remarked, they were all young retirees. They had recently left their jobs, passing their roles to younger colleagues. In a women-only ward, friendships form quickly, and soon everyone knew the ins and outs of their neighbors’ lives: who was in their families, what signature dishes they cooked, and all the usual women’s topics. They even discussed the visitors who came to see them. One visit was enough to reveal the dynamics of a family, but this ward was fortunate—no one could say a bad word …

When Emily entered the house, only her parents were seated at the festively decorated table. — Where are the guests? — Emily asked casually, as if nothing was amiss. — Don’t you know? — her father snapped, pausing his chewing. — What a disgrace you’ve brought upon us… What a disgrace… — Yeah, it’s a shame everyone left… — Emily smiled. — Mom, Dad, I’d like you to meet someone… A brief silence hung in the room, broken when her mother spoke: — Here we go again? — Yup, — Emily nodded. — And who’s this one? — her father …

Jane married for love, believing it would last forever. Everything was like a dream: a white limousine adorned with rings and fluttering ribbons, a lavish restaurant, doves soaring into the azure sky, a dress by a renowned designer, and fireworks lighting up the night… A future filled with pure happiness… And it truly was blissful… for five whole years. Then Andrew dropped the bombshell: those weren’t his dreams, their marriage was suffocating him, their family life was nothing but routine, and, oh, by the way, he was expecting a child… elsewhere. Jane was floored. Wasn’t it her darling husband who’d …