When she was very young, the Gregorys told her that she was to marry Steve Burton in the future, and that other than being kind to Steve, she couldn't be kind to any other men. Even if there was intimate contact, it could only be with Steve.
At that time, she was young and ignorant and didn't understand what these words meant. She innocently asked her mother, who told her that marrying Steve would mean living together like Mom and Dad.
Back then, Steve didn't like to smile and always had a cold, childish expression on his face. The words he spoke were often hurtful, but Ruby Gregory didn't think marrying him would be a terrible thing, so she firmly remembered what the Gregorys had told her.
So much so that when she entered middle school and the girls around her began to experience their first crushes and exchange love letters with boys of the same age, all she could do every day was either study tediously or pass the time by reading extracurricular books.