you what you should be feeling.
“This is not what you need in your life,” my mother said from the passenger seat, her voice artificially calm but absolutely final. “Not at your age. Not with your whole future ahead of you.“
“You’re only seventeen,” my father added from behind the steering wheel, his eyes meeting mine in the rearview mirror. “You can find someone else. Someone healthy. Someone with prospects. Someone who can give you a normal life. Don’t ruin your entire future over this.“
My parents were both respected attorneys in our city—partners at different prestigious firms, both with immaculate reputations to maintain. Reputation mattered enormously to them. Appearances mattered. Social standing mattered. Success mattered. To them, Michael had transformed overnight from a promising young man with a bright future into a burden, a liability, something to be discarded.
I told them I loved him. That love meant staying,
