It wasn't until I was twenty-five, the year I graduated from graduate school, that my parents died unexpectedly while volunteering in an earthquake relief effort. I cried and screamed, wanting to go find them and bring them back, but Oliver silently stopped me.
“I’ll go,” he said.
He brought my parents' bodies back and knelt before me, saying, “Let me take care of you. I don't feel at ease leaving you alone.”
My years of pursuit had finally paid off, so I married Oliver, but I never expected that in the fifth year of our marriage, he would use the deepest pain in my heart to hurt me.
Without my parents, I was no longer the happy, sweet little princess. And he had gained complete control over me.
Later, I overheard a conversation between him and Anne. The reason he married me was only because of an accident at the company, forcing Oliver to sacrifice himself. Hearing that made me retch continuously and that’s when I discovered I was pregnant.
I wanted to tell him, but I heard Oliver excitedly say to Anne, “These years of studying abroad in Germany weren't easy. Now that you're back, I'm no longer alone.”