The Daughter Put Her Father’s New “Love” in Her Place
“Arkady! Look at this!” Zhanna shoved her phone screen in her partner’s face. “Your daughter has completely lost her mind! How could she send me something like this?”
Arkady stared at Zhanna’s phone for several minutes before finally losing control and bursting into laughter.
“You dare laugh at me? You’re on her side!”
“Darling, please don’t shout. You wanted to attend my daughter’s wedding, didn’t you? Well, your wish has come true,” Arkady said, forcing himself to stop laughing as he stroked Zhanna’s hand in an attempt to calm her down.
His daughter had certainly done something bold. That did not make it any less amusing, although her joke had a distinctly unpleasant smell to it.
When Arkady left his family, his daughter Liza was sixteen years old. He had not merely walked away. He had traded twenty years of marriage, care, a comfortable home, his wife, and his daughter for Zhanna—a young, surgically enhanced doll who had appeared in the right place at the right time and comfortably settled herself on the lap of the department manager, which was Arkady’s position at the company.
“What about Liza?” his wife Yulia pleaded. She was devastated by her husband’s decision and had no idea what to do next. “Think about her! She’s going through a difficult age. She still has to finish school and apply to university!”
“She’s practically an adult,” he replied with false gentleness. “She’ll understand. That’s just… life.”
In the end, Yulia reluctantly let her husband go and threw herself into her work and raising their teenage daughter.
Liza, however, came to hate Zhanna.
She hated her for appearing in their family like a puddle after the rain: not exactly a catastrophe, but unpleasant and impossible to avoid.
“Mom, you understand, don’t you?” Liza would say. “If that woman hadn’t come to Dad’s office, he would still be with us.”
“I understand, sweetheart. But when a man leaves, he isn’t necessarily leaving for someone. Most of the time, he is leaving someone. Apparently, your father wasn’t as happy with me as I believed. But none of this is your fault. He’ll continue loving you no matter what happens.”
Nevertheless, Liza tried to influence her father. She avoided Zhanna completely and ignored every attempt Arkady made to help the two of them “become friends.”
“Why don’t you want to get to know her?” he once asked.
Liza’s answer was blunt.
“Dad, she’s disgusting. I wouldn’t even sit beside her in the middle of an empty field, let alone become her friend.”
“Liza, please…”
“If you’re happy, live however you want. But don’t expect me to accept her. I didn’t invite her into my life, and I never—ever—will.”
Her father finally listened and decided that he would meet Liza only in neutral places. Zhanna, meanwhile, showed little interest in becoming part of his former family—at least for the time being.
Two years passed.
Arkady still had not married Zhanna. They simply lived together while he promised that he would officially marry her after his daughter turned eighteen.
Then Liza celebrated her eighteenth birthday, and shortly afterward Arkady received the news that she was getting married.
“But why?” he protested after calling her. “Why marry so young?”
“Dad, I love him. It’s forever.”
Liza was excited and refused to listen to her father’s objections. Besides, after divorcing her mother, Arkady was no longer the most important authority in her life.
“Well, if you’re certain, then fine,” he finally conceded. “But I want to meet him.”
“Of course. Come to our place tomorrow evening for tea.”
“We’ll definitely come.”
“Not ‘we.’ You,” Liza emphasized. “I’m inviting you alone. Without her.”
“But Liza,” Arkady objected, “you understand that she’s part of my life.”
“Then decide which part matters more to you, Dad,” Liza said through clenched teeth before ending the call.
That evening, Arkady lied to Zhanna and said that he had to stay late at work.
He went to visit his former wife after all, carrying flowers and gifts. He noticed that Yulia had changed during the past two years—and very much for the better.
Her figure was natural and genuinely hers, not artificially created like Zhanna’s. Her hands were beautifully cared for, yet she was not afraid to get them dirty doing housework or cooking.
“Did you make the lasagna yourself?” Arkady asked enthusiastically as he ate his second serving. “I remember how delicious yours always was!”
Yulia looked calmly at her former husband. There was no resentment or condemnation in her expression. If anything, she seemed to pity him.
“Doesn’t your girlfriend feed you?” was all she asked.
“Well… she has different priorities in life.”
Probably deciding whose lap would be most comfortable to sit on next, Yulia thought, but she kept the comment to herself.
“There he is!” Liza exclaimed, running to open the door.
Her fiancé had arrived.
Liza’s future husband was ten years older than she was. He was independent, attractive, and owned a successful business specializing in interface development and artificial-intelligence-based messaging applications.
Arkady liked such a serious and accomplished future son-in-law.
“Well, then, get married,” he said, shaking the young man’s hand. “You have my blessing as her father.”
“Here, Dad,” Liza said. “I made an invitation for you.”
Arkady looked at the card, which was designed in the shape of a yellow smiling face. Only his name appeared on it.
“Uh… well…”
“That’s the theme of the wedding, so don’t be surprised. Smiley faces and emojis. You understand, right?”
“No.”
“What’s so difficult to understand? You put smiles and little hearts at the end of your messages to me, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Those are emojis, or smiley faces. I’m marrying a software developer, and I’ve enrolled in a programming course myself. We’re technology people, so we chose an emoji theme. To put it simply, we’re expecting you, Daddy.”
“Yes, I’ll tell Zhanna. Thank you for the invitation,” Arkady said, nodding.
“No. There is no plus-one.”
“But what am I supposed to tell her?”
“Tell her we’re inviting only the people closest to us. Tell her this is a family event.”
“She’s part of my family too.”
“But she won’t be attending my wedding,” Liza said firmly.
Arkady drove home while considering every possible excuse and outcome. In the end, he decided not to tell his partner about his daughter’s wedding at all.
Zhanna found the invitation anyway.
She immediately noticed that her name was missing and caused a scene.
“How could you hide your daughter’s wedding from me?” she shouted, waving the invitation in the air.
“I simply hadn’t had time to tell you yet,” Arkady lied.
“Really? Well, now you have time. I’m listening. How much is this ‘wedding’ going to cost us?”
“The wedding is this summer. The groom is a good man, and he loves her. They aren’t asking me for anything.”
“Really?” Zhanna relaxed slightly. “Nothing at all? Not a single penny?”
“No. The groom is wealthy.”
“Excellent. But if anything changes, understand this: I don’t want our household money being wasted on foolishness.”
“Zhanna, Liza is my daughter, and her wedding is extremely important to me. I’ll be giving her a generous present regardless.”
“We’ll choose it together.”
Arkady merely shrugged.
“What about the dress code?” Zhanna continued. “I’ll need a new dress and shoes. I refuse to embarrass myself.”
“Zhanna, you don’t necessarily have to attend,” Arkady said cautiously.
“What do you mean? Who are you planning to go with?”
“No one. I’ll go alone.”
“Are you serious? I’m your woman! If you attend a wedding, you attend with me—or you don’t go at all!”
“It’s Liza’s wedding, Zhanna,” Arkady sighed wearily. “I can’t simply refuse to attend.”
“Then we’re going together. This is not open for discussion. It’s disgraceful to invite only one person from a couple. Who raised Liza, anyway? Doesn’t she know the most basic rules of etiquette? Tell her I’m waiting for my invitation. Otherwise, you won’t be going either.”
The unfortunate Arkady needed advice, so he called his mother.
“If you don’t go to the wedding, Liza will never forgive you,” his mother warned him. “She’ll never invite you anywhere again—not when your grandchildren are born, not to birthdays, nowhere. You’ll end up alone.”
“I have Zhanna.”
“Ha! Who do you think will bring you a glass of water when you’re old? Zhanna?” his mother asked sarcastically.
Life provided an unexpected answer to that question.
Arkady suddenly became ill. He developed a fever and severe weakness.
His beloved Zhanna disappeared for several days because she “didn’t want to become infected.”
“Buy whatever you need yourself,” she called over her shoulder as she left.
There was no medicine, no tea with lemon, no comforting word, and no care.
Liza, however, came to see him. She brought medicine, food, and other supplies.
“Dad, look at yourself,” she said. “You could have died here if I hadn’t come. You don’t need Zhanna. You need a family. Come on, eat something. I brought you broth.”
Arkady’s heart softened, and he told his daughter about his problem and Zhanna’s ultimatum.
“She says either I attend with her or I don’t attend at all. And I… I don’t know what to do. I feel awkward in front of you, Liza. I didn’t want to tell her, but she found the invitation herself. We’re supposed to be a couple, so it doesn’t seem right for me to go alone.”
Her father looked so depressed and suddenly so much older that Liza did not argue with him.
“Dad,” she said quietly, “do you want me to send her an invitation?”
Arkady looked hopeful.
“All right. Let her come. But I can’t promise that Zhanna will still be your partner after the wedding.”
Arkady merely chuckled.
He could not imagine what his daughter might be capable of. At that moment, all he cared about was recovering and resolving his conflict with Zhanna.
But Liza surprised him.
A few days later, Zhanna really did receive an invitation—in the shape of an emoji.
“Have you seen this?” she shrieked. “Is this supposed to be a joke?”
“It’s… a new trend, Zhanna. Their wedding has an emoji theme. That’s the concept. There must have been some kind of error. Liza has a ‘robot’ handling the design. The wedding theme is emojis, and the fact that you received one shaped like a pile of something was probably an accident. It was automatically generated. My future son-in-law works with artificial intelligence,” Arkady explained, barely preventing himself from exploding with laughter.
“And it isn’t excrement,” he added. “It’s a mountain of chocolate. The wedding uses chocolate colors. There’s a dress code.”
Zhanna considered this.
“Emojis, you say? Fine, then. I must attend that wedding so everyone can see what kind of woman you have beside you.”
Naturally, Zhanna deleted the invitation.
She believed she could eat little girls like Liza for breakfast. An invitation shaped like a pile of waste would neither intimidate her nor diminish her desire to attend her stepdaughter’s wedding. Liza’s wedding took place in a luxurious reception hall.
At the entrance, guests were welcomed by entertainers dressed as smiley faces. Every sign read:
“You are the emotion of this day!”
The guests had been informed beforehand that the celebration would include interactive entertainment. Everyone wore bright emoji masks.
The bride’s dress was decorated with tiny hearts and smiling suns. The groom wore a tie featuring a ring emoji.
The moment Zhanna entered the hall, she walked directly into a trap.
“Every guest receives a personal emoji costume,” one of the organizers announced.
Zhanna was handed a brown hat shaped like a pile of excrement, complete with eyes.
“It suits you perfectly,” Liza said with a wink, taking full advantage of the moment.
“I am not wearing this!” Zhanna’s face turned red with rage.
“It’s a condition of entry,” the host said with a shrug. “Everyone wears a costume. We treat all our guests equally.”
The other guests whispered among themselves. Some took photographs beside her, unable to hide their laughter.
Zhanna was forced to accept the brown hat and enter the hall with an expression of intense displeasure.
The host followed her inside. He knew exactly how to behave and had been carefully prepared.
“We’re going to have a wonderful evening!” he announced. “Today we have relatives, friends, former partners and… temporary ones!”
The room fell silent.
Everyone looked at Zhanna.
Then someone laughed.
Zhanna’s face became even redder.
As planned, there were no available seats beside the bride and groom. Zhanna was placed alone at a distant table at the far end of the hall.
“I want to sit with my husband!” she told the host, who had escorted her there.
“I didn’t realize you were married,” he replied. “Fortunately, I brought two brown costumes. When your husband arrives, I’ll give him the second hat. For now, I have to seat the bride’s father and mother—together.”
The host winked and walked away.
The celebration had already begun, and the performers were being introduced. Zhanna had no choice but to remain seated and wait until Arkady remembered that she existed.
Arkady, meanwhile, was engrossed in conversation with Yulia.
She looked magnificent. Her new dress emphasized her natural figure, and her makeup was elegant rather than vulgar like Zhanna’s. Her face was intelligent, and her eyes were full of thought instead of emptiness.
Arkady had no desire to walk to the other end of the hall to join Zhanna.
He looked at his beautiful daughter with pride and admiration. He did not even notice the humiliating “costume” Zhanna had been given.
In truth, he simply did not care.
Arkady’s eyes filled with tears when Liza and her husband began their first dance. He recorded the moment on his phone and failed to notice Zhanna approaching from behind.
“How much longer are you going to stare at your former wife and ignore me?” she demanded, almost snatching the phone from his hand.
“Woman in the excrement costume, do not interrupt the newlyweds’ dance!” someone immediately told her. “Or have you become so deeply immersed in your role that you’ve decided to ruin the celebration?”
She was warned that she would be removed from the hall, so she was forced to remain silent.
Perhaps Zhanna would have endured the humiliation until she found a suitable moment to drag Arkady into her distant corner.
But after the first dance, the host announced another one.
“And now, everyone, please pay attention! We have a surprise from the bride’s father—a special dance featuring Arkady and… the one and only woman he has ever truly loved.”
The host took Yulia and Arkady by the hands and led them into the center of the hall.
Waltz music began to play.
Arkady was confused, but the guests applauded and encouraged him. Not wanting to embarrass himself, he placed his arm around his former wife’s waist.
Red with fury, Zhanna rushed into the center of the room, but the host and the groom stopped her.
“What are you doing?” she screamed. “Are you mocking me? I… I’m leaving!”
“It’s about time,” the groom replied with satisfaction.
“And this… this is staying with you!”
Furious, Zhanna threw the brown hat at the host.
“You’re recognizable even without the costume,” the groom said as he practically pushed her out of the hall.
“Whew. I think the smell is finally gone,” one of Liza’s friends remarked. “It’s much easier to breathe now.”
Liza did not see what happened.
With tears in her eyes, she watched her mother and father dancing together.
They looked so wonderful as a couple.
How desperately she wished she could turn back time and make her father stay.
“You’re a remarkable woman, Yulia,” Arkady said quietly when the music ended. “I may have left our family, but I still respect you. Thank you for raising such an extraordinary daughter.”
Arkady did not realize that Zhanna had left until two hours later.
He stayed until the wedding cake was served and then said his goodbyes.
When he returned home, he found empty drawers.
Zhanna was gone.
Arkady was alone.
She did not answer any of his messages.
For a long time, he sat looking through the wedding photographs. Then he called Yulia.
The words escaped his lips before he could stop them.
“Forgive me. Maybe… maybe we could start again? We could at least try.”
“I forgave you a long time ago, Arkasha,” Yulia said. “But please don’t come back. You can’t step into the same river twice. Spend more time with your daughter instead. She loves you. Take care of her.”
Yulia smiled through her tears and ended the call.
Yes.
It was true.
You could never step into the same river twice.