Lilian, a 38-yo dude from Auxerre, France, finally received a confirmation that he's accepted to study law at this PhD program at Yale University. Lilian went insane about how happy he was about this. He got extremely drunk on the very first day he figured out this happened. His parents were happy too. But his girlfiend Emmanuelle was kind of disappointed, since Lilian would be leaving for at least 4 years, living in the U.S. where she wouldn't be able to see him. Only WhatsApp or Skype will be left for communication...

However, Lilian didn't take this as an argument. He was intended to pursue his PhD path - something he's been planning for years, maybe even for a decade of his latest period in life. In Auxerre, he was working as an assistant to an attorney, helping him in getting things done - checking various chunks of current legislation, writing blogs for media, meeting clients who had their needs. Lilian had a dual French-Algerian citizenship and was even thinking about getting a third passport - an American one. "It's much easier to live in this world when you're the U.S. citizen" - his thinking was.

August 28 was a day when Lilian was supposed to depart for Yale, travelling all the way to Connecticut. He would board a train in Auxerre which would take him to Paris - and there, a plain to NYC, from where he would take an Amtrack train to New Haven, where Yale University campus is. On the eve of departure, he did drinking with his buddies in Auxerre - they had this party, where Emmanuelle, Lilian's girlfriend, also came over. She was sad. Lilian was trying to tell her jokes, but they just didn't work. To Emmanuelle, this felt like the end of their romantic relationship. In her eyes, it looked like Lilian is becoming a celibate priest of this really popular PhD religion...

In New Haven, Lilian checked what kind of dorm room he was getting. It was a good one. Two rooms - one with a bed and another one with a table and shelves for having a library for work. Also, a small kitchen, a bathroom, a balcony and a smoking place just outside the door. Yale cafeteria would be delivering meals directly to his room, just like this is being done in a 5-star hotel somewhere in Las Vegas. Meals were good, high-calorie: potato salads, sandwhiches, fried potatoes, chicken, pork, beef, omelettes, all kinds of soups, ramen noodle, sushi, etc. On Saturdays - exlusive Vietnamese cuisine, specially for Yale PhD-students who specialize in law.

Lilian was really interested in the philosophy of law. He's been thinking a lot about the death penalty, about abortions, about human rights, about wartime justice. About all of these things he had own deep thoughts and ideas. As someone interested in philosophy of Immanuel Kant, Lilian was trying to see whether he can get Kant's ideas into modern understanding of legal matters. That's why he was thinking about getting an analytical job at the U.S. Supreme Court. To Lilian, this looked like the best place to practice law. He didn't really want to work in the private sector, endlessly listening to how clients complain about this and that.

Several things looked worrying to Lilian. Well, Emmanuelle was right that his PhD studies at Yale are kind of interrupting their romantic relationship and they might end up just breaking up. Then, Lilian needed a path to the U.S. citizenship, which usually involved marrying a local woman, even if this was just a formal marriage. Finally, Lilian had to make up his mind on what kind of doctoral thesis he wanted to write. After coming to Yale, he subscribed to most of the professional magazines for lawyers, like "Chicago Legal Quarterly" and such - and started reading them. At 38, he felt he was full of health and energy to do as much for the legal science as was needed.

He didn't want to worry about anything. He just wanted to do science, to do law. So, he was spending most of his time at the library and also attending seminars of Yale law professors. He was getting more and more into the philosophy of law, thinking of writing something like "Postmodernism, relativity and contemporary understanding of the rule of law". But that seemed too general and any academic counselor would likely criticize this idea. So, Lilian kept thinking further. He attended this seminar by Dr. Kerepesi, a Hungarian professor, that was focused on understanding Austro-Hungarian XIX century legal practice. On that seminar, Lilian sat next to Natalka, a PhD student from Lviv, Ukraine. She escaped war in her country and was accepted to Yale University as a refugee of war. American Bar Association paid for her scholarship and she was happy to be living in the U.S. with all the safety that this country is able to provide.

Natalka started talking to Lilian. She was all over him. Giving him smiles, kissing him on his cheek while saying "Hi!". She insisted they should be drinking coffee together, having lunches together. When Lilian had too many French fries with too much "Super Mario" ketchup, Natalka would tell him that this is not a very healthy food. And Lilian liked this. Natalka really cared about him and his lifestyle. They were taking these long walks on week-ends, finally going to the shopping mall where Lilian was purchasing gifts for Natalka - clothing, jewelry, all the other things. This one time, he bought her iPhone 14. Natalka was also glad about this. As a woman from an emerging market, she felt like she needed a proper man. A rich man. A man with good prospects in life, in his professional career. Finally, she was also looking for ways to get a different citizenship, since being a citizen of Ukraine is rather a liability than an asset. Ukraine is having this war - and all the wars are pretty exhausting...

Finally, Natalka and Lilian started sleeping together. They used the contraceptives, of course. Natalka was trying to be really hot in bed, while Lilian was supportive. By some reason, Natalka was putting this very special perfume before having an affair in bed, but it was way too weird and Lilian, an owner of a typical French nose, felt kind of strange about that smell. When he told Natalka not to put any of the perfumes before sex, she yelled at him. She didn't like his arguments. She told him: "In Ukraine, women know much more about sex than men!.."

Time was passing quickly. Lilian agreed a topic for his doctoral dissertation with his mentors. That would be: "Immanuel Kant's concept of the rule of law and its practical implications for European Union's legal framework". For this, he took an additional course in German language proficiency, also started seeing this really old professor from Germany who knew a great deal about Kant's philosophy and even wrote several books about it. Natalka didn't really like Lilian's thesis subject. "Lilian, my darling, in Ukraine people talk about rule of law on the streets, media is all over this subject - it's boring as hell!.. Why don't you go for something like corporate conflicts or criminal law... That would get you a much better job afterwards!.." - Natalka was saying. Lilian didn't listen to her. To him, she was just an ok woman to sleep with, but he wouldn't let her tell him what he should be doing...

This one morning, when Lilian was laying in a bed with Natalka, his iPhone rang. That was Emmanuelle, his girlfriend from Auxerre, calling on WhatsApp. He didn't answer the call and just wrote a short note: "I'm too busy, Emmanuelle, too busy... PhD studies are so hard, so hard... No time to talk...". Then, he kissed Natalka and got up from their bed. Lilian prepared coffee, sandwiches with cheese and sausage and kissed Natalka again. She was supposed to wake up and enjoy coffee and food....

This one time, Lilian went to St. John Chapel at Yale University campus for attending a liturgy. During the liturgy, he prayed and kept thinking whether he does the right thing in his life. Well, obviously, he had two women in his life and that didn't correspond with the Christian ethics. He needed to make a choice. He liked Natalka, a woman from Ukraine, since she was close to him, here at Yale and was satisfying him pretty well sexually. But he liked Emmanuelle too, since he's been having a relationship with her for 6 years. That's quite a lot. Then, he might also need to get into relationship with an American woman to get the U.S. citizenship... After attending a liturgy, Lilian took a walk. He went to the Yale Book Store, purchased himself a couple of good books on the philosophy of law. Then, he went to Starbucks place for a chocolate cappuccino with honey, hazelnuts and raisins. From there, he called Natalka.

- Natalka, how are you today?

- I'm fine, Lilian. Why are you asking? - Natalka said.

- I'm just asking. I've been to a liturgy, did praying...

- You do praying? That's weird... We're living in the XXI century, come on, who really needs that type of things... My grandma in Lviv is the only person in our family who does the praying...

- Nevertheless. Natalka, tell me this. Do you love me?

- Lilian, you sound so weird today. Is that liturgy that makes you ask this sort of questions? These questions are uncomfortable to me. I like what you do - giving me gifts, this iPhone 14 that I now talk to you through, but love is different... Love is so much different...

- Okay, I see. Bye, Natalka! Have a good day.

So, Natalka was out of Lilian's league. She couldn't even admit she loved him. That's unacceptable. She came to the U.S. and instead of having this warm heart of a person who's survived through war in Ukraine, her heart was cold. She was hot in a bed, but really cold when it came up to heart affairs. Lilian didn't like it...

The next day, he went to liturgy at St. John Chapel again. There, he took his chance to see fr. Martynyuk. That was a priest of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the U.S., born to a family of Ukrainian emigrants back in 1952. A very good priest, everyone at Yale liked him. He was very intelligent and could be asked all sorts of questions - whether this would be Christian ethics and contraception or philosophy of religion. Lilian decided to talk to fr. Martynyuk:

- Father, I have these doubts... There is this woman back in France, where I came from, that I used to have relationship with. Her name is Emmanuelle. I don't really know if I want to renew that relationship and have place for it in my life again...

- Hmmm.... That's a difficult question. Tell me more about your worries, - priest said.

- Well, you know, I have a dorm room here and she lives back in Auxerre. We can have a long-distance relationship, but that's hard. We can't see each other, we're only able to make phone calls, but those can't satisfy you in this earthly manner - you know what I'm saying.

- Oh, I do. Do you like Emmanuelle?

- Yeah, she's an alright girl. Very smart. Works as an otolaryngologist at a municipal hospital in Auxerre. She's doing a good job in her field of expertise.

- Then I don't really understand why you're having worries. Do you know that here at Yale you may apply for a dorm room for PhD students who have families? And then Emmanuelle could come here and live with you.

- Really? Oh, I didn't know that. Thanks for telling me this... That's awesome!..

...In two weeks, Emmanuelle moved into Lilian's dorm room and then Yale University assigned them a bigger apartment. Lilian was really happy about it. Emmanuelle didn't have any hesitations when Lilian wrote her and asked if she wanted to come to New Haven and live with him. She just booked a ticket and came over. At New Haven, she soon got herself a place at the MA program for otolaryngologists, deepening her expertise in understanding how human ears work. She especially liked this topic of how ears are connected with the brain and whether hearing takes places through nerves, biochemical substances in the nervous systems or while brain is reflecting on signals that it gets from nerves. That was Emmanuelle's area of expertise.

Besides this, Emmanuelle was really hot in a bed. Lilian loved it! She did all he asked for and this felt awesome to both of them. They went to liturgies together, talked to fr. Matrynyuk, enjoyed his sermons. They especially liked when he was telling about history of Christianity in Ukraine, where Orthodox faith was introduced back in I century AD by apostle Andrew. They even though of visiting Ukraine some day - maybe, for Easter, so they could attend liturgies in Kyiv monasteries, like Pechersk Lavra and Vydubytsky Monastery...

In three-year time, Lilian submitted his doctoral thesis. All the Yale professors liked it. Soon, he received his PhD degree, while Emmanuelle received her MA degree. The thing is that Emmanuelle was so good in understanding all the problems occuring in human ears that she was offered to stay as a lab researcher at Yale. She would get an even better apartment and Lilian could stay with her. He, obviously, needed a job in the U.S., but fr. Martynyuk offered him to become a deacon at St. John Chapel and help during the services. After discussing this matter with Emmanuelle, Lilian agreed. After becoming a deacon, he also got this teaching job at Yale Theology School, where he taught a seminar on "Legal philosophy of Greek theologians in IV-VII centuries" for post-doc students...

The next Easter, Emmanuelle and Lilian visited Kyiv. The war was over by then and Ukraine was rebuilding itself economically, culturally, politically. In Kyiv, the couple stayed at "Kozatsky Hotel" on the Maydan Square, where this famous Revolution of Dignity took place in 2013-2014. They went to see all the city monasteries, enjoyed the food in monasteries, enjoyed the icons and the holy remains of the Ukrainian saints. They also visited restaurants and this very interesting museum at Hmelnytsky street devoted to the history of the Ukrainian literature...

This one day, while in Ukraine, Lilian got on Facebook to check how Natalka was doing. He found her. Now, she was getting married to this Yale professor that was her PhD counselor. "Haha! What a surprise!.." - Lilian thought. But he was happy with Emmanuelle. The next morning, he was allowed to serve as a deacon during liturgy at Kyiv's St. Mychael Golden-Domed Monastery. He was happy about it. After this, he read a lecture for that monastery's theology students on legal philosophy in the teachings of Greek church fathers. Students were really glad to have a chance to hear to someone who had a PhD degree from an Ivy League school...

...After returning back to New Haven, Lilian asked Emmanuelle if she wants to spend an evening at the local eatery - that was Papa John's, a pizza place. She agreed. "What a good idea!" - she said. During that evening, Lilian showed Emmanuelle all the gratitude he had for her. Gratitude for coming to the U.S. and joining him at Yale. Gratidude for loving him. Gratitude for agreeing to be his partner. She was happy to hear this. Then, Lilian took out this small box from a pocket of his jacket and gave it to Emmanuelle. That was a golden ring with a small diamond. "Will you become my wife?" - Lilian asked. "Yes! Yes! Oh, Yes!!!!!" - Emmanuelle answered... They were happy that evening... And they were happy many more evenings after this...