“These aren’t my children,” the husband screamed, shaken to the depths of his soul, “Lada, they’re… dark-skinned! Who gave birth to them? Are you chea:ting?! Don’t come back to my house, don’t even try to cross the threshold! And don’t count on any material support – there won’t be any!”
Lada had an unlucky life.
She grew up in an orphanage where she had almost no friends, and those people who came to choose a child for adoption never drew attention to her. The only close person for Lada was her nanny Vera Pavlovna, who tried with all her might to find adoptive parents for Lada.
Right before graduation, Vera Pavlovna decided to tell Lada the story of her arrival at the orphanage.
“You were about a year old when you were brought here,” Vera Pavlovna said softly, looking at the shelter building.
“I remember that day as if it were yesterday. It was spring, the snow had just melted, it was getting warm. We were cleaning the yard, collecting leaves, and suddenly a police car arrived. Whether this is true or not is unknown, but for some reason no one found you. And you stayed here.
She fell silent and looked at Lada:
– And that’s all? – asked Lada, – you don’t know anything about my parents?
Vera Pavlovna sighed heavily and lowered her head.
“Nothing at all,” she agreed, “nothing about parents or other relatives. It’s as if you fell out of the sky.”
After leaving the shelter, Lada studied in medical school.
She was given a small apartment in a new building, and she got a job as a nurse at the regional hospital to blend her studies with work. It was there that fate brought her together with Anton, a therapist who immediately attract her attention.
There were old rumors that before Lada appeared, he had a romantic relationship with endocrinologist Kristina, a real beauty of the hospital. However, he loved Lada.
– What did he see in her? – asked Lera, one of Anton’s most persistent fans, – you can’t look at her without tears! Skinny as a stick, and dresses anyhow. Whoever undresses her starts crying!
“She’s from an orphanage,” giggled Nastya, her former rival, “everyone there is so weird, so silly.”
Lada heard these words, but pretended not to understand who they were talking about.
“Girls, get to work,” “and I have important news for you.”
After waiting until the nurses were out of sight, he continued:
— We’re having dinner at my parents’ tonight. It’ll be something like an introduction. Do you understand?
Lada was taken aback: already?! If Anton decided to introduce her to his parents, it meant that their relationship was progressed to marriage.
In the evening, Anton took Lada, dressed in a smart dress, to his parents.
“So you grew up in an orphanage,” Anton’s father said
“that’s bad. Very bad. The absence of parents has an extremely negative effect on the formation of personality.”
Anton’s mother, Ida Vitalievna, a former cardiologist, supported her husband:
“Yes, it’s really not good,” she added, “and why, if it’s not a secret, has no one adopted you?”
“I don’t know,” she muttered, trying to hold back her tears, “it didn’t rely on me.”
“Excuse me, I have to go,” Lada couldn’t resist, “coursework…”
He walked her to the entrance and offered to give her a ride, but Lada refused.
“I’ll get there by taxi,” she muttered, greedily inhaling the cold air, “see you tomorrow.”
“Don’t pay attention to my old people,” he said, trying to calm her down, “they sometimes drive me crazy too. They both have difficult personalities.”
She wanted only one thing – to be as far away from this house as possible.
Fortunately, Anton no longer invited her to her parents. Soon he proposed to her and moved her in with him.
The wedding happened a month after the proposal, when Lada was two months pregnant.
After the wedding, Lada continued working at the hospital, but when the baby began to grow, Anton suggested that she leave her job.
Three weeks before her due date, Lada gave birth to twin boys. When the midwife showed them to her, Lada froze in surprise: the children were dark-skinned, as if someone had dipped them in chocolate. The doctors were also surprized, and the doctor tried to calm Lada down.
“You know, my child was also born dark-colored,” the doctor said, “but after a few days everything went away, the skin color became normal.”
“If everything is okay with them, you won’t be able to hide them for long,” the doctor warned, “it’s better to prepare it in advance.”
And that’s what Lada did. She was ready to take a DNA test.
“So these are definitely my children?” Anton exclaimed when he saw the twins.
“If this is someone’s joke, it’s not funny at all!”
“I never expected you to be capable of something like this,” Anton said when they were alone. “I, a fool, believed you! I ran around the shops, got ready, and you… What a snake you are, Lada!”
– These are your children! What are we even talking about if I was always in your sight?
“Your parents were right about you,” he said slowly. “And I kept standing up for you. I don’t know who got you pregnant, but now seek help from him. I won’t live with you anymore!”
Vera Pavlovna came to pick up Lada from the hospital and took care of them at her home.
– Listen, why are your children like that? – Vera Pavlovna asked one day
– You’re white, Anton too. And they’re black. It’s somehow strange.
“Well, there you are too,” she drawled in a pained voice. “I thought that at least you would believe me…”
“Yes, I believe you, I believe you,” she smiled. “It’s just really amazing.”
But Lada had no time to be surprised. Anton had abandoned her and she could forget about work and school, as well as her previous life.
“It’s okay, we’ll manage somehow,” said Vera Pavlovna.
Vera Pavlovna took care of Igor and Sasha – that’s what Lada named the twins. She fussed over them as if they were her own grandchildren, and hardly let Lada near them.
“Rest,” Vera Pavlovna said every time Lada approached the children
“I thought about it a bit and decided this,” Vera Pavlovna said one evening, sitting in her chair with a newspaper.
“Maybe your ancestors were dark-skinned? That happens sometimes. Dark-skinned people have light-skinned children.”
Lada looked up from the keyboard and grinned.
“My ancestors? Dark-skinned?” she responded skeptically. “Where from? That’s nonsense.”
Vera Pavlovna put the newspaper down with a terrible expression and asked to call a taxi. Putting on her glasses, she began to read aloud.
The article shared the story of an elderly local woman who had lost her daughter. According to her, she had drowned in a river when she was just over twenty, and she left behind a small child who was with her mother at the time of her passing. By the time rescuers and the police arrived, the child was gone. The woman asked anyone who knew anything to come forward.
– And why did you read this to me? – Lada got angry at Vera Pavlovna. – What does this have to do with me?
“Maybe it’s you she’s finding for,” she suggested cautiously.
“You were found near this river, after all. Did you hear who the missing girl was meeting? I think you should visit this woman and find out everything.”
Lada looked at the newspaper again.
“Lidiya Fyodorovna,” she read the woman’s name and patronymic. “She lives not far from here, on the next street.”
After waiting a few days, Lada decided to meet Lidiya Fyodorovna.
“You look so much like my Sveta,” she said as soon as Lada entered. “I’ve been waiting to hear from you for a long time…”
“Here, look,” she said, handing it to Lada. “They really are similar, aren’t they?”
Lada looked at the photo and it seemed to her that she was looking in the mirror. It was her in the photo, only her hair was light and her hairstyle was short.
“This is Sveta, my daughter,” explained Lidiya Fyodorovna.
“Tell me everything,” she asked, trying to speak more gently. “It’s very important to me. For me and my children.”
“It’s a long story,” she said.
“I don’t remember everything anymore, it was so long ago. Listen.
Lada’s mother was an average student at school, and then entered the university in the architecture department. During her studies, she met a guy. His name was Vincent, he was dark-skinned and came from France to study. Sveta helped him learn Russian, and eventually fell in love with him. Vincent also fell in love with her, and they planned to move in with him.
Lidiya Fedorovna and her late husband Pavel tried their best to dissuade their daughter from marrying a foreigner. But Svetlana, stubbornly shaking her head, insisted that after completing her studies she would follow her lover.
Pavel, hearing this, became furious and insistently demanded that his daughter terminate the pregnancy. But Svetlana resolutely refused. In the end, her father kicked her out of the house. Svetlana left, and her parents never saw her again until one day her body was found in the river, and the official version was that she committed sui:cide.
“I knew that Svetlana had a girl,” said Lidiya Fyodorovna, her gaze fixed on one spot and her half-turned face towards Lada.
“Pavel passes away almost immediately after these events, he had a heart att.ack,” continued Lidiya Fyodorovna, lowering her head, “and I was paralyzed… Now I have not been able to walk for almost twenty years.
“Here,” she held out a tattered notebook, “is all that remains of your parents.”
Lada took the book and carefully hid it in her pocket.
Lada spent many years searching for her father. She sent out letters, posted ads on the Internet, made acquaintances with French people, hoping to find at least some clue.
Lada begged the woman to give him her contacts, and she agreed. Soon Vincent wrote, and then called. That’s how their communication began.
As it turned out, Vincent ran his own business successfully in France.
“I didn’t start a family, and so I remained alone. I found out that your mother was no longer there when I was already back home. You look amazingly like her! You know, daughter, now for the first time in many years I feel happy. I know that I’m not alone. I have you and my grandchildren.”
Even after returning home, Vincent did not forget about his daughter. One day he called and asked her for her bank details. The woman immediately called her father back. Vincent explained:
– I want you to have everything you need! This amount will be enough for you to start your own business. You are a goal-oriented girl, I am sure that you will succeed.
Lada spent a long time choosing the direction for her business, and the choice fell on a private medical clinic. Thanks to the professionalism of the doctors, clients came in droves. In a few years, Lada won all competitors and achieved financial well-being.
There was no action of Anton during this time. He never called or buy something for the children. The divorce was finalized, and Lada did not continue to meet her husband, who did not believe her.
On Our Wedding Night, I Took off My Wedding Dress – When My Husband Saw What Was Underneath, He Ran Away in Tears
“No, this can’t be happening!” My husband’s anticipation for our wedding night turned to horror when I took off my wedding dress. I’d been keeping the secret of what lay beneath my dress all day, but it was finally time to expose a shocking revelation.
I had a perfect fairytale wedding. Greg stood at the end of the aisle, beaming like he’d just won the lottery. See, Greg thought this was the start of our perfect life together, but I knew the truth.
A bride with a cunning smile | Source: Midjourney
That perfect bubble we were living in was about to burst. But not yet, not until I was ready to pop it.
The reception went on like a dream — champagne glasses clinking, laughter echoing across the perfectly manicured lawns, and Greg’s parents playing the role of doting in-laws. After all, their perfect little boy deserved the perfect little day, didn’t he?
And me? I played my part. I smiled at the right moments and laughed when someone told us a joke. I even danced with Greg like everything was just fine.
A couple on their wedding day | Source: Midjourney
Greg thought he knew me. He thought he had me all figured out, but he was wrong.
As the night wore on, Greg’s anticipation for our wedding night became almost unbearable. He couldn’t hide it, not that he was trying to.
His touches lingered too long, and his smile was too wide. I felt like a performer on stage, playing a part that had been written for me long before I even agreed to put on the dress. But I had my own script.
A bride | Source: Midjourney
We finally said our goodbyes to the guests, thanking them for coming and accepting their compliments about how beautiful everything had been. Greg’s parents stayed downstairs in the guest rooms, giving us privacy, and Greg couldn’t wait to get me upstairs.
His hand tightened around mine as he led me to the master suite, the same one his parents had graciously let us use for our first night together as husband and wife. How poetic.
He was practically giddy as he closed the door behind us.
A man closing a door | Source: Midjourney
The atmosphere in the room shifted, the excitement in the air becoming almost tangible. I could see it in his eyes as he came toward me, his hands already reaching for the zipper of my wedding dress.
“I’ve been waiting all night for this,” he murmured against my neck, his breath hot and full of promise.
I smiled, a small, secret smile that he couldn’t see. “Me too.”
A smiling woman | Source: Midjourney
He carefully unzipped my dress. I stood perfectly still, my heart racing. He was so eager, so confident in what was coming next. He didn’t have a clue.
When the dress finally fell to the floor, I turned around slowly. I’ll never forget the look on his face when he saw what was underneath. He looked like a man standing on the edge of a cliff, teetering, trying to keep his balance.
“No…” His voice cracked, barely above a whisper. “No, no, no! This can’t be happening!”
A shocked man | Source: Midjourney
The tattoo of Greg’s ex, Sarah, stretched across my torso, down to my waist. The words he’d said to her the night before our wedding were perfectly inscribed beneath her face: “One last taste of freedom before I’m bound to the same body forever.”
It was temporary, sure. But Greg didn’t know that. It was authentic enough to make his knees buckle beneath him.
“How did you know?” He sobbed, his gaze fixed on the tattoo.
A man on his knees | Source: Midjourney
“Sarah was only too eager to rub your betrayal in my face,” I spat.
“I didn’t mean it,” he sobbed, his voice thick with regret. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean it!”
That’s when we heard the footsteps. Marianne and James burst through the door, their faces full of concern.
“What’s going on?” Marianne’s voice trembled as her eyes darted between her sobbing son and me. Then, her gaze fell on the tattoo. Her face went white.
A shocked woman | Source: Midjourney
“It’s simple,” I replied. “Greg cheated on me.”
Marianne’s gasp filled the room, sharp and full of disbelief. James, Greg’s father, stood frozen in the doorway. He was always the stoic one, the quiet type who let Marianne handle the dramatics. But this? This was something even he couldn’t swallow.
He wasn’t a man of many words, but the tension in his clenched fists, the way his jaw tightened — he didn’t need to say anything. It was all right there in his expression.
An angry man | Source: Midjourney
For a moment, silence stretched between us. The weight of the truth hung in the air, heavy and suffocating. Greg was still on the floor, hands gripping his hair as if that would somehow keep him from falling apart completely.
Marianne’s gaze flicked back to Greg, her lips quivering. “Greg? Is this true?”
She took a shaky step toward him, her voice fragile, like she was begging him to tell her that what she was seeing wasn’t real, that her son couldn’t have done something so unforgivable.
An emotional woman | Source: Midjourney
Greg didn’t answer. He couldn’t. His whole body was trembling, his shoulders shaking as sobs wracked his chest.
“Tell me!” Marianne’s voice cracked, breaking under the pressure of her disbelief. “Tell me it’s not true!”
James stepped forward. His face was like stone, but I could see the fury simmering beneath the surface. He towered over Greg, his hands balled into fists, his whole body radiating a barely contained rage.
“Gregory,” he growled, his voice low and dangerous. “Is this true?”
An angry man | Source: Midjourney
Still, Greg couldn’t bring himself to respond. His sobs had quieted, but he remained a crumpled mess on the floor, unable to face the reality of what he had done. I decided to step in.
“He slept with her the night before our wedding,” I said, my voice cutting through the tension like a knife. “He told her he needed ‘one last taste of freedom before he was bound to the same body forever.'”
Marianne let out a strangled sob, collapsing onto the edge of the bed as her world came crashing down around her.
A woman sitting on a bed | Source: Midjourney
James’s face darkened. His nostrils flared as he glared down at his son. Disgust and disappointment warring in his expression.
“You’ve disgraced this family,” he spat, his voice tight with fury. “How dare you? How could you betray Lilith like this?”
Greg’s head snapped up, his eyes wild with panic. “I’m sorry,” he choked out, his voice barely audible. “I didn’t mean for this to happen. I-I made a mistake.”
“A mistake?” I echoed, my voice rising with incredulity.
A furious woman | Source: Midjourney
“You call sleeping with your ex the night before our wedding a mistake?” I stepped closer to him, the rage I’d been holding back finally bubbling to the surface. “No, you made a choice, Greg. A deliberate, calculated choice to betray me. And now you’re paying for it.”
Greg turned his tear-streaked face toward me, his eyes wide with desperation. “Please, Lilith… please, I love you. I didn’t mean for any of this to happen. I’ll do anything! Just please, don’t leave me.”
I laughed then, a cold, hollow sound that echoed through the room.
A grimacing woman | Source: Midjourney
“Love me? You love me?” I shook my head in disbelief. “Greg, you don’t know the first thing about love. If you did, you wouldn’t have done what you did. You wouldn’t have betrayed me like that.”
He reached for me, his hands trembling, his eyes pleading. “Please… I’m begging you.”
I stepped back, letting him fall short, my eyes hard and unfeeling. “I’m done, Greg. This is over. You destroyed us the moment you decided to crawl back to Sarah.”
His father, James, stepped forward then, his voice a low growl.
A furious man | Source: Midjourney
“Get up,” he ordered Greg, his patience finally wearing thin. “Get up and face what you’ve done.”
Greg hesitated for a moment, then slowly pushed himself to his feet, his knees still wobbling beneath him. He looked so pathetic, standing there in his wrinkled wedding suit, his face streaked with tears, his whole world crumbling around him.
I turned to Marianne and James, who were still trying to process the fallout. Marianne’s face was red and swollen from crying, while James’s expression was a storm of disappointment and fury.
A serious woman | Source: Midjourney
“I’m leaving,” I announced, my voice steady and calm, the decision final. “You can deal with him now.”
“Lilith, please,” Greg begged one last time, his voice breaking. “Please don’t go.”
But I was already done. I turned away from him, from the mess of our ruined wedding night, and reached for my robe. I slipped it over my shoulders, covering the tattoo, and made my way toward the door.
“Lilith,” Greg called after me, his voice full of desperation. “I’ll change! I’ll make it right!”
A pleading man | Source: Midjourney
But I didn’t even bother to respond. There was nothing left to say.
As I stepped out of the room, I heard James’s voice, low and furious, booming through the silence. “This is what you’ve done, Greg. You’ve ruined everything.”
And then, Greg’s pitiful sobs. His cries echoed through the house, but they didn’t touch me. I walked down the stairs, feeling lighter with every step. I was free. Free from him, free from the lies, free from the betrayal.
A woman on a staircase | Source: Midjourney
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