After the Break, I Resisted His Allure

Kevin and I were college classmates, and we married after graduation. All our relatives and friends envied us. I had a stable job while Kevin had achieved some success in his business, and we had a lovely daughter. In the eyes of others, our marriage was almost a perfect model.

As someone who grew up without care from my parents, I cherished our marriage very much.

My mother died when she gave birth to me. My father Johnny thought that I had caused my mother's death and refused to give me any fatherly love.

My grandma Mary detested me and never even hugged me.

When I was still a baby, my grandmother Sofia took me home. But when I was five years old, Sofia died of illness. I had no other relatives, so I had to go back to live with Johnny and Mary.

My arrival made them unhappy. Johnny had started a new family and had a son, which made Mary very happy.

So, I became their free babysitter. I learned to cook at the age of five and make bread at the age of seven. If I cooked badly, I would be beaten.

Johnny would kick me angrily, and my stepmother Kathy would point at my nose and scold me.

"You're so useless. Keeping you here is wasting my money. Get out!"

Mary would hold her grandson and stare at me with her eyes wide open.

"You bastard, get out of here now!"

I couldn't stay at home anymore, so I squatted under the big tree at the entrance of the alley and waited until they finished eating and calmed down before I went back.

They didn't remember to leave the door open for me, so when I was young, I often spent the night under the tree at the entrance of the alley and regarded this tree as my family.

Some neighbors who couldn't stand it would give me some bread or a bowl of soup.

I lived like this until I was in junior high school and met my teacher Maria.

I was the thinnest student in the class. I only eat bread and drink water every day. Sometimes I would buy a jar of pickled cucumber. I thought pickled cucumber was the most delicious and nutritious food.

But one day, I saw my classmates casually throwing the pickled cucumber that I left into the trash can, and kept saying, "It's so disgusting."

I didn't understand how could pickled cucumber, which cost money, be unpalatable.

I picked up the jar of pickled cucumber from the trash can silently. Maria passed by, looked at me, and left without saying a word. I ate the pickled cucumber with bread that day.

Maria often asked me to her dormitory, asking me to help her finish her meals. She had a high ponytail and was young and beautiful. I looked into her eyes, which were bright and lively, and thought she was like an angel!

She let me take showers and wash my hair in her dormitory, and she treated me like her sister or daughter.

There was no longer lice on my head, nor did my hair look messy. Instead, I had a high ponytail and bright eyes.

But I was still very skinny.

But Maria made me understand that I was a person and a good-looking girl. I must be confident and decide my destiny.

Maria said, "Katherine, you are very smart and beautiful. You should study hard, get into college, and change your destiny."

When Johnny wanted to make me drop out of school, I stood in front of him and told him that I would not drop out and that I wanted to go to school.

Mary came to the school to make a fuss, and Maria advised her that I was talented and should be well nurtured.

But Maria, who was so kind, flushed when she was scolded by Mary.

"What do you mean? When she grows up, she will marry someone. What did you teach Katherine? She never dared to talk back before. It was all your instigation. No wonder no one wants to marry you!"

I was so angry that I clenched my fists and stood in front of Maria to protect her from Mary's insults. I thought Maria must be extremely disappointed in me. She was so nice to me, and yet she was scolded by my family like that.

I borrowed someone else's cell phone to call the police. That was the first time in 16 years that I learned to fight for myself.

After the police learned about the situation, they found out that my family had managed a marriage for me. They planned to let me marry Tom from the next village, who was a cripple. Tom was almost thirty years old and no woman was willing to marry him, so Tom gave my family 150 thousand dollars.

I couldn't get rid of it, so I could only threaten them with my life. I put the knife on my neck, and they were scared. I didn't have to marry the cripple, and I was able to continue my studies, but I had to raise the tuition by myself.

Since high school, I had been working part-time, washing dishes in a small restaurant for ten dollars a day, with meals provided. And I picked up waste and sold it to earn living expenses.

Fortunately, I survived and went to college successfully.