diff --git a/termstr/termstr.py b/termstr/termstr.py
index 4d3edc1..4aedc33 100644
--- a/termstr/termstr.py
+++ b/termstr/termstr.py
@@ -166,8 +166,9 @@ _ZERO_WIDTH_SPACE = "\u200b"
 
 
 def _pad_wide_chars(str_):
-    return "".join(f"{char}{_ZERO_WIDTH_SPACE}"
-                   if cwcwidth.wcwidth(char) == 2 else char for char in str_)
+    padded_str = "".join(f"{char}{_ZERO_WIDTH_SPACE}"
+                         if cwcwidth.wcwidth(char) == 2 else char for char in str_)
+    return str_ if len(padded_str) == len(str_) else padded_str
 
 
 class TermStr(collections.UserString):