Hi! Is Mom home?” asked the unfamiliar man to Yulia as she opened the door for him.
“Yes…” Yulia nodded and shouted, “Mom, it’s you.”
“What’s the matter…” Mom came out of the kitchen, wiping her hands. “You just can’t do without me…” she began, then faltered. Yulia saw a flash of surprise on her mother’s face for just a moment…and then it became familiar again.
“Yulia, go to your room,” Mom said.
“I think Yulia should stay,” the stranger pronounced. “Maybe you could introduce me to her and invite me into the apartment?” he asked.
Yulia kept alternating her surprised gaze between her mother and the stranger.
“Well then…come in,” her mother finally said.
At that moment, the elevator door opened and a courier stepped out—someone whom both Mom and Yulia had been waiting for. Simply put, if they hadn’t been expecting him, Yulia would never have opened the door to a stranger.
The courier handed Yulia her delivery, after which she closed the door behind him and headed to the kitchen—since that’s where her mother had gone with the man.
“Yulyachka, meet…” Yulia’s mom said in a calm voice. “This is Andrey Sergeyevich. Your father…” Yulia’s mom looked away. And Yulia stared at the stranger—who was no longer a stranger: so this was her father? My goodness, she had always dreamed of having him around in her childhood. All her friends had fathers, except her. She thought her life would have been different if he’d been there. He would have taught her how to behave with those impossible boys with whom she could never establish a lasting relationship. But he was never there… And now she has what she has: yes, she still goes to a psychologist and tries to pick herself up, piece by piece…
“Forgive me, daughter. Truly. It just so happened that… well, I couldn’t come sooner,” began Andrey Sergeyevich. “But you see, I’ve come,” he said. “Better late than never. Isn’t that right?”
Yulia said nothing, her eyes narrowing as she looked at her newly discovered father. In her mind, she wondered: why, why did he come?
“You see, I was afraid of responsibility back then, but now I’m not afraid,” declared Andrey Sergeyevich.
“So why did you come?” Yulia’s mom asked. “Did you really think that my daughter and I would just throw ourselves at you? Besides, I find it interesting that the last time we spoke, you left me with the remark that you still needed to prove that the child was yours. Is it no longer necessary to prove it?”
Yulia saw her mom press her lips together. She knew that when her mother did that, it meant she was very angry.
“Masha, I understand everything now,” Andrey Sergeyevich pronounced.
“Understand everything he has! Understand everything! Of course, it’s better to remember your daughter when she is 20 rather than when she was just born.”
“Masha, why are you like this?” Andrey Sergeyevich shook his head.
“Alright,” said Mom. “Do you want something from my daughter?” she asked.
“Yulia, I want to communicate with you. I want to learn everything about you and make up for lost time,” declared Andrey Sergeyevich. “Not every day. But once or twice a month, if you don’t mind, perhaps we could go somewhere together,” Andrey Sergeyevich asked Yulia with a questioning look. “And perhaps I can be of some use to you as well…”
“Okay. I don’t mind,” said Yulia.
Then Andrey Sergeyevich left his phone and departed.
“Yulia, I beg you, be very careful with him. Very careful,” her mother said. “You see, his family got rich and they were against me. I thought he would put them in their place, or that we would leave together to build a new life from scratch, but he left me,” her mother began, her eyes growing sad—so sad. “And when I told him about my pregnancy, he stated that the child wasn’t his,” Mom sighed. “So your birth certificate says…”
“I know, Mom. I know. Don’t worry, it’s just that I’m curious as to why he’s come to us now. I understand that he’s up to something,” said Yulia.
“Surely! He doesn’t just do things randomly,” her mom nodded.
Time passed.
Indeed, Yulia started going out with her father. At first, reluctantly—especially after he asked her to take a DNA test—and then more and more frequently. She hadn’t noticed, but her attitude toward her mother began to change. It started to seem to her that her mother was to blame for the fact that her father had abandoned them. And at every meeting, her father casually recounted very unpleasant details about her mother. In time, Yulia realized that she just couldn’t live with her mother any longer.
“Yulia, I don’t understand—why are you not satisfied with your life here with me?” her mom asked when Yulia was packing her things.
“After all, I’m 20 years old. It’s time to start living on my own,” Yulia replied.
Of course, her mother suspected that her daughter’s decision to break away was not made lightly.
“Yulia, I’m asking you, be careful with your father,” her mom said once again.
And then Yulia snapped.
“Mom, you’re to blame for me growing up without a father! It’s all your fault! Why do you keep trying to tell me that he’s bad? You’re the bad one! If it weren’t for your partying, then…” Yulia couldn’t finish because her mom simply walked out of the room.
Yulia packed a couple more things into her suitcase and then headed for the exit of the apartment. Honestly, she had thought her mom would come out of her room, but she didn’t. Yulia sighed, pushed open the front door, stepped into the stairwell, called the elevator, and went down to the first floor.
Then Yulia checked the time—the father should have arrived by now, but he wasn’t there. And then immediately her phone rang.
“Dad, where are you?” asked Yulia.
“Daughter, I got held up. But you have the key. Go by yourself, and I’ll come by this evening,” he replied. “Take a taxi, I’ll wire you some money,” added her father.
Yulia didn’t like this turn of events, but she knew that her father was a busy man, so she simply accepted it.
“Masha, what can you do?” a friend said to Yulia’s mom one evening as she dropped by. “At some point, we have to let our children go out on their own.”
Masha nodded.
“I know. I understand everything. But…Sveta! That Andrey surely told her a lot about me. I see how she’s changed. She’s snapping, being sassy. She says that it’s all my fault, and that if it weren’t for my behavior, I’d have had a wonderful family with Andrey! How can I listen to that and not react?” exclaimed Masha. “Of course, I tried to explain to her that it isn’t as he says. That surely she has some use for him. But she won’t listen to me. That’s it! Now he’s the good one, and I’m the bad one.”
And Yulia’s mom began to cry.
“I know, I am to blame for everything. That I fell in love with this Andrey and that I believed him. I’m at fault for everything…” came through to Sveta amidst her sobbing.
Then Masha began to wipe her tears.
“I must be strong,” she said. “I raised my daughter. I gave her everything I could. Let her live as she pleases,” Masha sighed heavily.
“That’s right!” Sveta supported her.
“Yes! Now at last I can finally focus on myself. Now that Andrey supports her,” Masha then smiled sadly. “Maybe I did something wrong, since my own daughter chose the father she never knew.”
Masha felt herself breaking down again.
“Come on, friend! Believe me, you did everything right. And soon we’ll figure everything out with your Yulia,” Sveta said.
Yulia sat in a lecture, yet of course she wasn’t listening. It was a philosophy class. And philosophy and architecture… she didn’t need that philosophy!
Once again, she looked around the auditorium ahead of her and smiled. She was happy. No—not just happy. She was ecstatic!!! How wonderful that her life had changed so much. Now she lived separately from her mother, always had pocket money, wore fashionable branded clothes, her father would sometimes pick her up from the institute, and every guy admired his cool car and began to show her signs of interest. But Yulia was proud. She knew that these guys were interested not in her, but in the benefits they could gain if they started dating her. Not likely! She wasn’t going to let any of these guys get close.
Of course, there was a dark side in her life—a dependence on her father. She had to wear what he said. Her haircut had to be only the way he liked it, and even her hair color too. No piercings. She was to be modest, sweet, and a home-loving girl.
“If you don’t accept my rules of the game—go back to your mother,” her father said.
Could Yulia, after everything her father had given her, really go to her mother? No, never. So yes, Yulia stopped being herself and became exactly the way her father wanted her to be.
That day, Andrey Sergeyevich picked up Yulia again.
“Yulia, I looked at your schedule. For a couple of days, you’ll work for me. You’ll be my deputy,” he said.
“Me?!” Yulia asked in surprise.
“You. What’s wrong? Let’s get you a work record book. You’ll start gaining some experience. And besides, it’ll be a good position. Isn’t that great?” he asked.
“Dad! That’s awesome!” Yulia initially called him Andrey Sergeyevich, but after a while, she realized she was ready to call him Dad.
“Well then,” he said, “I brought you some things. Business stuff. Make sure to use them on those days, daughter,” Andrey Sergeyevich smiled. “You’re a star!” he praised her.
Of course, Yulia was often praised, but for some reason, praise from her father made her spirit soar. And for a long time, she replayed his words in her head and smiled.
“Masha, did you call Yulia? Did you see her?” Sveta constantly asked her. And every time, Yulia’s mom shook her head in denial.
That was the case again.
“Why not?” Sveta rolled her eyes.