Victor and Lika had been married for eight long years, full of ups and downs, hopes and disappointments.
Their story began with a dazzling romance, the kind that makes your heart beat faster and makes you see your loved one almost like a hero from a fairy tale.
Victor literally showered Lika with flowers — roses, chrysanthemums, tulips…
He brought them in huge bouquets, as if trying to fit all his tender feelings into one moment.
The expensive gifts he gave seemed almost absurd against the backdrop of his modest salary as a junior specialist, but to him it was important — to show that he could be generous when he loved.
They were young, full of energy and faith in the future.
Despite the hardships life threw at them, they always found the courage to stick together.
They made plans: to work hard, save up for an apartment, get a mortgage, and then pay off the bank as soon as possible.
For them, this was the path to a real, full life — one with a cozy home, children, and peace.
But time passed, and the parents started to show interest as well.
Especially Victor’s mother, Anna Petrovna, who often reminded them:
— Don’t delay having children! A woman’s body ages quickly, and Lika is already twenty-five!
Her son answered with a slight smile:
— We don’t want to delay or have children in hardship.
A child should come when we can provide everything necessary.
Anna Petrovna, a true believer in folk wisdom, did not hesitate to paraphrase a famous proverb:
— God gave the bunny, He’ll give the meadow too!
Victor laughed, though inside he knew his mother longed to hold grandchildren:
— If He gives the bunny right now, we’ll try to pay off the meadow as soon as possible.
Only meadows aren’t cheap these days…
That’s how they joked, but deep down Victor wasn’t strictly against having a child a little earlier than planned.
They just agreed not to rush.
However, children rarely obey schedules and plans.
And if Lika got pregnant, they would definitely accept that gift with joy.
But it was too soon to talk about this with Anna Petrovna — she would immediately start checking her daughter-in-law for pregnancy using her “folk methods” with pickled cucumbers and other signs.
Years passed. The apartment was bought and registered in their names.
They did renovations — stylish, cozy, with children’s dreams tucked away in the corner of the living room.
Then it was time for a car — a good, comfortable one.
Soon Victor even talked about needing a second car for the family.
Because when the child arrives, they’ll need to take them to doctors, to the park, school, activities…
And it’s convenient if each spouse has their own car.
Everything seemed ready: house, two cars, stability, prosperity.
But no child.
Attempts to conceive continued, sometimes with hope, more often with bitterness.
Lika felt her heart squeeze every time another test was negative.
She wanted to be a mother more than anyone, but her body refused to respond to her pleas.
And then Victor began to change.
His former kindness turned to irritation, and gentleness to harshness.
He stopped holding back emotions, started saying things that made the pain unbearable.
— Are you infertile, by any chance? — he would snap.
— My friends are already hinting that we’re not trying hard enough.
And my mother asks every time: “When will you finally give me grandchildren?”
— It’s our personal business, isn’t it? — Lika would say quietly, wiping away tears.
— Why does everyone think they have the right to judge us?
— Yes, personal! — Victor replied sarcastically.
— We told everyone we’d buy an apartment, a car, a second car, and only then have a child.
Now we have everything, but no child. You just can’t have one!
— It’s not my fault! — she burst out. — I regularly get check-ups!
Last month I had all tests again, did an ultrasound.
I’m fine!
— If a woman is fine and lives without contraception, pregnancy happens.
Didn’t you know that? — he sneered, deliberately hitting harder.
And it repeated again and again.
The talks ended with tears, resentment, and the destruction of the trust and love that once bound them.
Lika noticed how Victor was home less often, how he invented reasons for staying late at work, how more often he spent nights away from the family.
She suspected but didn’t dare to ask directly.
She was afraid to hear the truth.
And one day the truth came out by itself.
— I’m leaving, — he said, looking coldly into her eyes. — I have another woman. And she’s pregnant.
Lika froze. The world collapsed in an instant.
She wanted to scream, ask why, beg him to stay, but her voice betrayed her.
Only after a few seconds, with effort, she said:
— Go.
He couldn’t leave with dignity.
Before leaving, he called her an airhead, a worthless wife, adding even more pain to her heart.
He probably wanted to break her completely by humiliating her before leaving.
But Lika did not give him that satisfaction.
Not a single tear, not a single sob — only icy determination and a broken heart.
Later she found out Victor had left for Alina — his colleague with whom he’d had a long-standing affair.
This woman was completely different: passionate, impulsive, capricious.
Sometimes she pulled him close, sometimes pushed him away, as if playing with his feelings.
But it was precisely this unpredictability that drove Victor.
Lika, gentle, caring, faithful, now seemed to him just a background.
Her beauty, affection, patience no longer inspired him.
He no longer looked at her as a beloved woman but as a potential mother who failed to meet expectations.
When Alina announced she was pregnant, Victor was on cloud nine.
At that very moment, he decided that his marriage with Lika had run its course.
Not because he no longer loved her — he just found a new “meadow” to jump to with his “bunny.”
With eager anticipation, full of excitement and nervousness, Victor awaited the ultrasound results.
What would his beloved woman give him — a boy or a girl?
His heart beat faster than usual, his hands trembled slightly with tension, and his eyes shone with the joy of a future father.
— I don’t care, as long as the baby is healthy, — he firmly stated when Alina playfully asked about the baby’s gender.
— But still? — she pressed on, as if she knew something more.
Victor sighed, thought for a moment, and said:
— I always dreamed of a son… But I’ll be insanely happy even if it’s a daughter.
— Well, since you dreamed of a son — it will be a son! — Alina laughed and handed him the ultrasound results.
The widest smile blossomed on Victor’s face.
He seemed to already see the little boy who would call him “dad,” grab his finger, and look at him with trusting eyes.
Joy overwhelmed him, washing over him like a wave after many long years of waiting.
He felt like a real man, the head of the family, a father who was finally given a chance to bring his dreams to life.
When the boy was born, Viktor became the most caring and devoted father.
He helped Alina with everything: changing diapers, bathing the baby, getting up at night to the crib, learning to understand every squeak and cry.
His mother, Anna Petrovna, was also overjoyed.
She literally adored her grandson, saying he was the most beautiful child in the world and was ready to hold him in her arms for hours, rocking him and telling him stories.
As for Lika, Viktor thought of her less and less. Sometimes, in moments of reflection, his thoughts involuntarily returned to the past.
He wondered how she was living, whether she had found her happiness, if she remembered him.
And a strange desire arose in his soul—to appear before her with the stroller, walk by with his head held high, to prove that he had become the very father he had dreamed of.
Why? He couldn’t understand himself.
Perhaps to atone for guilt, or simply out of masculine vanity, but most often these thoughts quickly faded, replaced by concerns for the newborn.
Meanwhile, Lika was living a completely different life.
After the divorce, she gathered all her strength of spirit and focused it on developing her career.
Each year she became more confident, professional, and strong.
Her hard work did not go unnoticed—promotion was a natural result of her efforts.
Young, beautiful, with a sparkle in her eyes and inner resilience, Lika became the object of many men’s attention.
One of them—Kirill—stood out particularly for his care, generosity, and sincerity.
He didn’t rush things, gave her space, respected her past, and built a present with love and patience.
Lika appreciated this but did not rush into new relationships. Her heart had to be ready.
The first months after the divorce were painful, and Viktor’s image often appeared before her eyes.
But over time, memories began to fade and the pain recede.
Especially when she learned that Viktor had a son.
Though her heart clenched inside, Lika sincerely wished him happiness.
May he be a good father, may he find what he so longed for.
But fate had other plans.
Viktor had to face a harsh truth.
When doctors reported that his son Yegor had blood type three, while he and Alina had blood type one, doubts crept into his soul.
He recalled school biology lessons, tried to find an explanation, but the more he thought, the less sense it made.
“You can’t determine paternity by blood type alone,” said Galina, Viktor’s aunt and a nurse by profession, “but if both parents have blood type one, then the child can only have blood type one or two. Type three is excluded.”
“Then why does Yegor have type three?!” Viktor exclaimed.
“Do a DNA test,” Galina advised, “and forget all those fears.”
He did.
And the fears turned out to be well-founded.
The test results showed that Viktor was not Yegor’s biological father.
It was like a lightning strike that hit him to his very core.
But the trials did not end there.
During further examinations, it turned out Viktor himself had a serious medical problem—azoospermia. The chance of becoming a father naturally was close to zero.
“You cannot have children,” the doctor stated coldly.
That phrase shattered all his hopes, dreams, and plans.
Viktor felt as if his whole world was collapsing inside.
His son—not his son.
His family—not his family.
His fatherhood—an illusion.
He made a scene with Alina, who, without blinking, admitted she had been seeing two other men during their relationship.
“So you don’t even know who Yegor’s father is?” Viktor asked in horror.
“On paper—it’s you,” Alina replied indifferently. “The rest doesn’t matter.”
His heart was torn to pieces.
He loved this child, believed in him, considered him his own.
And now it was all a lie.
He wept, screamed, pounded his fists against the wall, but nothing could be changed.
Turning to his friend Maxim, Viktor hoped to find comfort, but heard only:
“Vitek, you love Yegor. You were his father for a whole year. What changed?”
“Everything changed!” Viktor shouted. “I loved my son. And now I have to hug someone else’s child?!”
A call from Lika was unexpected. He asked to meet.
She agreed, though she had no idea what he would say.
Viktor came with repentance, with grief, with a plea for forgiveness.
He explained that the diagnosis was confirmed, that he really could not have children, that he blamed her unfairly, that Alina had deceived him.
“I want to come back,” he said, looking into his ex-wife’s eyes.
Lika looked at him with bewilderment.
Does he really believe she would take him back?
After everything he had said, after the betrayal, humiliation, and pain?
“I would like to believe you,” she said softly, “but I cannot tie my life to you again.
I started over. I am happy with Kirill.”
“But you loved me,” he stubbornly repeated.
“I did,” Lika smiled. “But that was a long time ago.
And you know, I hardly remember you anymore.”
She asked him to leave.
He left, bowed under the weight of his mistakes, not realizing that forgiveness is not only a right but a choice.
And Lika chose to start a new life without him.
Later, Viktor legally contested paternity.
He renounced Yegor, despite his former love.
His mother, Anna Petrovna, also turned away from the child, declaring she would not babysit a stranger’s child.
And Lika? Lika married Kirill. Their family became a true fortress of love and harmony.
And one day fate gave them an unexpected but joyful surprise—Lika became pregnant and gave birth to twins!
Two healthy boys who became the meaning of life for their parents.
One day, walking with her husband and strollers, Lika saw Viktor.
She silently walked past him, not even saying hello.
Not because she didn’t want to—she simply felt no need.
The past was behind her.
And Viktor watched her for a long time as she walked away.
In his eyes were sadness, regret, and a deep understanding of one simple truth: happiness cannot be bought with money, cars, or even the birth of a child.
It can only be earned—with honesty, love, and respect.
