Chapter 2

"My in laws, what do you mean mom?"I asked my mother, I was confused.

"Yes you heard your mother correctly, we are your soon to be in laws you are getting married to our son next week."The woman said.

"What? What do you mean getting married, is that why you forced me to drop out of school... For marriage." I asked my parents this was a lot to take in for me. I didn't know that my parents wanted to marry me off to some guy I didn't know.

"Sweetheart the thing is, we've been having trouble with our compony lately, it went bankrupt and we have massive debts to pay, and we don't have the money to, we've tried selling our staff, our cars and jewellery but it was not enough. So the only way is by getting married to their son and they will give us a huge sum of money which will be enough to restore our company and pay off our debts, so please just understand this okay? "My mother said. I couldn't believe it, they have hidden this from me from who knows when, I didn't know that my family's company was bankrupt and the worst part of it all is that they were selling me off to some guy I didn't even know  are all parents like this.

"So what you are trying to tell me now is that you want sell me off to some rich guy just so you could get some money?" I asked them.

"Darling your parents are not trying to sell you to us, you see we've been wanting our son to get married but he didn't like any of the women we chose for him, but when we showed him your picture, he quickly accepted it." The woman sitting in front of me said, who the hell gave her the right to talk to me like that. I just decided to ignore her and look at my parents instead, were they actually serious about marrying me off to some guy I didn't know.

"Mom, dad? Please tell me you are joking." I looked at them with my puppy eyes, it always worked on them, I just hoped that it would work this time too.

"We are not joking sweetheart." My mother said looking at me with a serious face, was she really serious. Who on earth would sell of their daughter.

"I hate you." I said and I ran up to my room. I could hear my parents calling my name, and apologising to the guests telling them that they will talk to me. I threw myself on my queen sized bed, crying hard. What on earth were my parents thinking, why would they want to sell me off, didn't they want me anymore. I kept asking myself questions, questions I didn't have any answers to.

"Sweetheart, please listen to me." I heard my mom say behind me.

"Just go away, I don't want talk to you, you are the worst mother ever, I hate you, just get out of my room, you don't deserve to be my mother at all." I said, my heart was hurting.

"Sweetheart, if we don't do it, then we are going to become homeless soon." My mother said. I got up and I sat up looking at her, my mother was a black woman, she had curly hair that she tied into a bun, she had big black eyes,a small nose and cupid bow lips. She had a nice figure. I watched her as she sat down next to me.

"Sweetie, I am even against the idea of marrying you off, but we don't have a choice, I don't want us to live on the streets honey, so please just understand." My mother said with her sweet voice but that was not gonna work on me.

"Are you kidding me? Mother I am only 16, just 16. I still have a whole life ahead of me. Is that the reason you made me quit school, just so that I can get married to some rich guy because you guys are greedy? No, I am not getting married to some stranger. Mom I was supposed to start writing my final exams tomorrow but you guys couldn't wait for me to finish high school huh? I am not getting married to him, if you want the money so badly then you should get married to him yourself. "I said, I could feel my tears on my cheeks.

" Emma, how dare you talk to your mother like that, is that how we raised you? "I heard my father shouting at me as he entered my door. I looked at him in shock, this was the first time that my father had shouted at me like this, he has always been gentle with me because I was always his little girl.

"Why are you looking at me like that, we have raised you and is this how you repay us by disrespecting us! This house is the only fancy thing we have left, sooner or later we will have to sell it to pay off some of our debts do you know how much money we owe the banks?800 billion US dollars. "My father said. Dollars, why so much money what where they even thinking borrowing so much money.

"So for your own good stop being an ungrateful brat and do what we are telling you to do, and this is non negotiable, you'll marry their son, whether you like it or not." My dad said, and fromm the look on his face he was dead serious.

"Now come on, you have to go and apologise to them." My dad said.

"What? No I am not..." Before I could finish my dad cut me off.

"I said go and apologise." He said sternly. My dad was scary now, he was a different person, he was not the father that I knew, he was not the sweet, kind and loving father that I knew. He is not the father that would always get me anything that I wanted. He was not the father that used to spoil me, but instead he was just different, my loving dad just changed overnight. My parents had changed, were they really willing to sell their daughter off to some rich guy, didn't they want me anymore, were they so tired of me, why would my parents do such a thing to their one and only daughter.

"Dad are you serious?" I asked my dad hoping that he would tell me that was joking but he didn't, he just gave me a serious look, it scared me so much. Was this man really my dad, was this woman really my mom, were this people really my parents? But I had no answers to my questions. I guess they were all just going to be left unanswered.