Back in high school, my classmate Arthur told me he loved me. But at the time, I didn’t want to start a relationship, so I ignored his signs of attention in every possible way.
My parents taught me that I should think about my education first, and only then about boys. Otherwise, the whole village would talk about me. But most of all I was afraid of my father. He was always strict with me. Even my mother did not dare to object to him.
After graduating from school, I entered the state form of education on my own. I always dreamed of being a primary school teacher, but my father assured me that I needed to become a dentist.
Studying at the medical university was very difficult for me. And I rarely came home. When I came home for the summer after my fourth year, my father told me that it was time for me to get married. But I couldn’t understand one thing – who was supposed to be my groom if I didn’t have a boyfriend.
Later I realized that my fiancé had already been chosen for me a long time ago. The candidate was a man who was thirty-three years old. He worked as an engineer. When I learned about it, I was very scared. I was afraid that my parents would not take my opinion into account. Thirty-three-year-old Michael didn’t even aim to find out more about me. He wanted to get married as soon as possible and move with me to another city, where he was offered a promotion at work.
I had no other options but to fulfill my father’s will. Two months later, Michael and I moved. But life with him was not at all what I had imagined. It reminded me of the story of my mother, who at one time also had no right to go against her father’s will.
I was responsible for all the household chores. I had the right to take money from the family budget only after my husband gave me permission.
I lived like that for three years. It was the worst period of my life. The only thing that made me happy was my son, who appeared during the time I lived with my husband. Michael was picking on everything I did. He would say that I didn’t clean properly, that my cooking was tasteless, or that I behaved inappropriately.
Eventually, I couldn’t stand it anymore, packed my things and went to my parents’ house. But even there I did not get the support I wanted. My dad scolded me and told me to go back to where I was.
Later, Michael started cheating on me. I didn’t feel anything for him, so I didn’t care where he was or with whom. I gave all my love to my son. I lived only for him.
We lived like that for another ten years. It’s hard to call this life happy. My son was already a big boy, so I decided to file for divorce. I was not yet forty, and it was not too late to start life from scratch.
Michael caused a scandal and threatened to take my son away from me. Without any emotion, I packed my things, took my son by the hand and went to the village.
There I met Arthur. He was also divorced. Since then, we started communicating and got married a year later. That’s when I realized what true female happiness is.
I wanted to please this man, to cook, to make pleasant surprises. After all, I really loved him. That’s how I became happy. It’s never too late to be happy.
