My daughter, Alice, and I haven\u2019t spoken in years. When she turned 18, we found out that she wasn\u2019t my biological daughter. My wife, Clara, had cheated on me with a friend, and that so-called friend, James, turned out to be Alice’s dad.<\/p>\n
Honestly, it didn\u2019t make a difference to me whether Alice was my child or not. I\u2019ve always treated her like my daughter, and I wanted to continue doing so. But sadly, Alice didn\u2019t want the same.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow can you even do that, dad?\u201d Alice was furious when she returned from college that day. \u201cOh wait, am I even supposed to call you dad?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHoney, I wanted to tell you,\u201d I explained. \u201cBut I thought the fact that Clara and I are divorcing would already be a lot for you to process. I\u2019m sorry!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAlice, please, you\u2019re the only one I have now,\u201d I pleaded to her. \u201cI don\u2019t want to lose you. It doesn\u2019t matter to me if you\u2019re my biological daughter or not. I love you, honey!\u201d<\/p>\n
Alice glared at me. \u201cWell, if you loved me, you wouldn\u2019t have hidden the truth about my real dad!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut Alice…\u201d Before I could say anything, Alice packed her bags and left.<\/p>\n
I was heartbroken. It was fine with me if Alice preferred her biological father to me. But the fact that she never gave a thought to all the years of love and care I had given her as a father really hurt me.<\/p>\n
From that day on, I tried contacting Alice several times. Sometimes, I would skip work to visit her at college. But every time I tried talking to her, she\u2019d just ignore me and walk away.<\/p>\n
Once, I received an email from Alice\u2019s college that she wasn\u2019t doing well in her studies. She had failed in several subjects, and the college had given her a warning to clear her subjects or else she\u2019d be rusticated.<\/p>\n
I was concerned about her, so I tried contacting her again. Thankfully, she picked up the call.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t call me again, or I\u2019ll report you to the cops!\u201d she said and was about to hang up.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlice, wait,\u201d I said. \u201cI promise I won\u2019t call you again, but it\u2019s not about me this time. It\u2019s about your studies.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alice started yelling at me on the call. \u201cOh god! Aren’t you tired of pretending to be a fatherly figure? I mean, how long can you act like that?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut honey, I was actually worried about you,\u201d I told her.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s enough, Mark!\u201d she answered. \u201cIf you do this again, or even come around looking for me, you know what\u2019s going to be the next step!\u201d she added and disconnected the call.<\/p>\n
I was stunned. Mark? Did she really call me by my name and not dad?<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re a parent, you know how helpless a parent feels in such a situation when their child doesn\u2019t want to listen. They believe you’re only pretending to be nice to them when you genuinely care about them. Sadly, that\u2019s exactly what had happened to Alice.<\/p>\n
From that point on, Alice and I didn\u2019t contact each other again. Anyway, expecting a text or call from her was a distant dream. After all, she was happy with James and Clara.<\/p>\n
But one day, finally, Alice texted me. And that message made me believe that turning down her request was the best decision…<\/p>\n
\u201cHi Dad, this is Alice,\u201d the message began.<\/p>\n
Dad? Does she not remember my name is Mark, or did she just send the text by mistake?<\/p>\n
\u201cI am getting engaged, and I want you to walk me down the aisle,” the message read. “I know we\u2019ve had a rocky relationship in the past, but I really need your help. My fianc\u00e9, Adam, has been my only source of support since my father died two years ago…\u201d<\/p>\n
I was gradually gaining an idea of the message\u2019s direction.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd now his mom is adamant she wants to meet you. She might call off the engagement if you and mom are not there. Adam comes from a close-knit family, and his mom wants him to marry a girl who is close to her parents and learns how to value relationships.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alice also wrote that it was my fault that our relationship was ruined as I held the secret about her birth parents from her, and she requested me to forget everything and attend the wedding. I was shocked that she didn\u2019t realize how wrong she was. All she cared about was the wedding.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t know what you would have done in this situation, but I refused her. She texted me that evening asking for help again, but my answer didn\u2019t change.<\/p>\n
Honestly, if she had even once apologized to me, I would have agreed to her request. But Alice took me for granted. She thought I would listen to her no matter what.<\/p>\n
Some people are still ridiculing me for ruining my daughter\u2019s special day, especially my friend Kevin. He keeps telling me I should forget everything and just go to the wedding. But that way, Alice will just continue to take everything for granted, and she will never improve.<\/p>\n
I hope she learns a lesson this way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
My daughter, Alice, and I haven\u2019t spoken in years. When she turned 18, we found out that she wasn\u2019t my biological daughter. My wife, Clara, had cheated on me with a friend, and that so-called friend, James, turned out to be Alice’s dad. Honestly, it didn\u2019t make a difference to me whether Alice was my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":7011,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tales"],"yoast_head":"\n