Choose Me Or No Else

"I will not marry you and there's nothing you can do about it" I shouted at the lawyer.  "Sandra, you need to be careful" my mother shouted, pointing at me. I kept looking at my mother thinking about what she was trying to do about the issue. I don't have an interest in getting married to my family lawyer because of the help he is trying to provide.  He is the only one who can help us out of our predicament, but I can't just do what he is asking for at the moment.  The issue started two months ago when I lost my father. All of the property's property has been stolen and there's no one who can help us to retrieve the property except the lawyer who is asking for something I can't do.  We don't have any of the documents on them. My father kept everything with his secretary who was faithful to him when he was alive, but the secretary is nowhere to be found after the death of my father. Rumour has it that he killed my father.  The doctor confirmed that my father was poisoned but we don't know who poisoned him.  He refused to eat at home on that very day because he was late for work. We think he will be coming back home to eat as he usually does whenever he does not eat before going to his work place, but that doesn't happen on that day. We were expecting him when we heard the news about his death.   The CCTV in his office shows that he didn't eat anything in the office.  My father hasn't eaten in the restaurant since the time I met him. He disliked it and always condemned it when he was alive.  The secretary wasn't in the office the day he died and we have been unable to reach him ever since that day.  Myself and my mother has tried all we could to get him but all our efforts proved abortive.  We got news from a close relative that he had moved out of the city. We just can't believe he could do such a thing because of his loyalty to my father when he was alive. We decided to take legal action against him when we heard that some of the properties had been sold by him and that's where the issues lay.  When we need to be very fast in our approach, we don't have money at the moment to hire a lawyer who can handle the case.  We rely on our family lawyer who we know that is competent to bring my father's property back to us, but I can't just meet up with the condition attached.  "You have to understand what I am trying to say" the lawyer said in a cool voice, walking towards me.  "Don't touch me!" I yelled at him.  "I won't tolerate that evil plan from you because you wanted to help us" I shouted.  My mother bows her head. I know she's not happy about what the lawyer is saying, but she doesn't know who to support and who to oppose between us.  My mother is not a weak woman, but the situation at hand makes her weak.  My life is very important to her, and also my property. We need money in the family, there's no one who can help us with finances. I don't have a job at the moment and everything is not going fine with us. My siblings can't continue with their education because there's no money to finance their education.  I'm not in a relationship at the moment, but I have someone I am in love with and nothing can stop me from dating him.  Everyone was silent for a while. The lawyer was looking at my mother expecting her to support him, while my siblings were looking at me.  I know what they are trying to say, they want to continue with their education and I know what that means.  I'm not selfish, I want their happiness, but not at my own cost. I can't love my siblings more than myself. I can only love them the same way I love me.  The lawyer decided to leave after waiting for some minutes without hearing anything from my mother.  "I want to be on my way" he said, looking at my mother.  My mother nodded her head without saying a word to him.  He was about to open the door when he looked.  "Sandra, let me know when you change your mind" he said.  "My no is no! I'm not interested" I said, walking towards the door to lock it up.  I looked straight at my siblings and saw everyone of them in tears. I couldn't believe it when I looked straight at my mother and I could see her crying.  I can't believe they were expecting to accept the man's proposal. How would that be? He is older than I am and he is not my spec.  I walked slowly to my room without looking in their direction anymore. I was expecting them to support me but, the reverse is the case. I don't know if I have done something wrong, but, I do not feel guilty about my reaction. No one can choose who I will marry for me, no matter what the situation might be.  I went to my room thinking about every word spoken to me by the lawyer. I used to know him as a responsible man when my father was alive. In fact, everyone in my family loves him because he always plays with everyone of us whenever he comes to our house without knowing that he has been pretending to be a good Samaritan when my father was alive.  I wasn't surprised anyway, because if my father's secretary could steal my father's property, I don't think the lawyer should do less.  I took a book I tried to read but later dropped it when I remembered all the situations at hand.  My phone rang and it was my friend calling about what she had discussed with me days back. She wanted me to ruin a birthday/proposal party which is coming up tomorrow. She just called to remind me about the event and I promised to be there as early as possible.