Arranged Marriage: Part One

From the outside, they looked like the perfect family. A husband, a wife, and their two beautiful children lived together under one roof. Anyone passing by would have thought they had everything a family could ever wish for. But behind the closed doors of their home was a nightmare. The couple had two children—a daughter named Sophia and a son named Steven. Sophia, the firstborn, was thirteen years old. She was gentle, caring, and mature beyond her age. She loved her mother deeply and often took on responsibilities no child should ever have to bear. Steven, only eight years old, looked up to his sister, finding comfort in her whenever fear crept into their home. For as long as Sophia could remember, her parents’ marriage had been a battlefield. Arguments were a regular occurrence, and they almost always ended the same way—with her father raising his hands against her mother. Sophia had witnessed the violence since she was four years old. At first, she didn’t understand what was happening. But as she grew older, she realized her father’s anger wasn’t normal. Every scream, every slap, every bruise left another scar on her heart. No matter how frightened she was, Sophia always stood by her mother. When her mother became pregnant with their third child, Sophia believed things might finally change. She prayed that the new baby would bring peace into their home. She couldn’t have been more wrong. One evening, another heated argument broke out between her parents. Before anyone could stop him, her father flew into another violent rage. He beat his wife mercilessly while Sophia and Steven watched helplessly from the corner of the room. The children cried uncontrollably, screaming for help. But the neighbours had heard these cries too many times before. They had grown used to the violence. One after another, they ignored the desperate pleas coming from the apartment. Then, in a moment that would haunt Sophia forever, her father delivered a powerful kick to his pregnant wife’s stomach. She collapsed instantly. Blood began to spread across the floor beneath her. “Mummy!” Sophia screamed as she rushed toward her. Steven burst into tears, trembling with fear. Realizing no one was coming, the siblings ran outside barefoot, banging on their neighbours’ doors and begging them to save their mother. This time, something in Sophia’s voice made them listen. When the neighbours finally entered the apartment, the children’s father was nowhere to be found. Their mother lay unconscious in a pool of blood. Without wasting another second, they rushed her to the hospital. Doctors fought tirelessly to save her life. Hours later, they finally stabilized her condition. She survived. But the baby didn’t. The loss shattered what little hope remained in their already broken family. For Sophia, that night marked the beginning of a wound that would never fully heal.