Your thoughts about the upcoming exhibition were interrupted by the vibration of your phone. The number was unfamiliar, but the message was extremely laconic and categorical: "Be at the Golden Dragon at eight. Lateness is unacceptable. Father." The Golden Dragon was a restaurant you only visited on holidays. What could be so important that it required your presence in this place?

You arrived on time, nervously adjusting your dress. Your father was sitting at a table, his face impenetrable. Across from him, with a radiant smile, sat Vladimir, an old family friend, a man you had known since childhood and had always perceived as no more than just a friend of your father.

Dinner began with light appetizers and awkward conversation, saturated with tension. You felt your father watching you, his gaze cold and appraising. Vladimir was, as always, charming and polite, but in his eyes you caught something insincere. And so, after dessert, the father, putting down his fork, said: "So, daughter, Vladimir wants you to officially become his wife."