Hitched & Hitched Again: A Comedy of Marital Mayhem novel Chapter 764

Elysia found solace in Tarquin's embrace, her tears eventually subsiding as she took a deep breath and revealed to him, "The woman we saw today was my sister, from the family that raised me. We haven't seen each other for years, and seeing her out of the blue overwhelmed me... I... I've had a troubled relationship with them."

Tarquin held her tighter, planting a gentle kiss on her forehead, his hand soothingly stroking her hair. He offered her silence - a comforting, accepting silence. If Elysia needed to share her pain, he was there to listen, to be her sanctuary. And if she chose to keep her scars buried, he wouldn't pry, wouldn't force her to relive her anguish.

Sniffling, Elysia opened up to him, "When I was eight, I came home from school, backpack and all, only to be met with a slap from my dad that sent me crashing to the ground. I couldn't help but cry from the pain, which only fueled his anger, prompting him to hit me harder.

My mom came out, saw me, and joined him as if I were the plague. I later found out my sister had broken her arm playing that day, and coincidentally, it was the anniversary of the day they took me in. They took out all their frustration and anger on me.

At ten, I was punished for doing well on a test, something that made my sister, who had failed, jealous. She threw boiling water at me, and instead of consoling me, our parents scolded me for outshining her and inciting her jealousy. My rebuttal earned me a night kneeling in the pouring rain.

When I was fifteen and got accepted into a prestigious high school, they told me education for girls was useless. They wanted me to work in a factory to support them in old age. Refusing made them label me ungrateful in front of the whole village.

By eighteen, they tried to sell me off for money to a man with mental challenges, convincing me to marry him and bear his children. It was my teachers and the school that saved me.

When I turned twenty..." Elysia trailed off. That year, they had forced her into a marriage of convenience.