Waking up slowly, Carmen realized she was lying on a couch but she didn't seem to notice the location. It was the first time in her life that she found herself elsewhere because if she was not in the classroom, she was in her father's house. When she turned her head to the side, she saw a dizzying man looking at her coldly. She stood up abruptly and when she saw the lawyer she was with, she breathed with relief. She stood on her two feet and looked furtively around the room when she saw the silhouette of a man, sitting in a wheelchair facing the window. She looked at the others for an explanation but as no one spoke, she came to the conclusion that it was her husband.
“Welcome home, Carmen Alvarez. Your wedding ring is on the table and you must wear it.”
She saw a wedding ring with a real diamond that sparkled. She looked at the man who had just said it and looked at the one in the wheelchair. A diamond jewel was a very big fortune and she didn't deserve that, not for a marriage without love and without a future.
“I see that you are still hesitant but each time you think about terminating this marriage contract, remember your father’s business which could go bankrupt at any time.”
A threat hanging over her. Her father's business which served to feed other people who suffered nothing like what she suffered. She wanted to scream that life was unfair but in the end, it wasn't going to change anything in her situation.
“I present to you your husband, Félix Alvarez. He can be unpleasant if he decides to be so, it’s up to you to make sure everything goes well.”
They then left and she didn't know what to do. Go talk to this man or pretend no one is there. She couldn't make up her mind and yet she had to find a solution very quickly.
“I…sir…”
She couldn't put together a correct sentence. She remembered that he couldn't even see her and tiptoed toward him. Once behind him, she didn't know what to do next.
“Would you perhaps like to ask me when our wedding night will be? Our honeymoon trip and which country I plan to take you to? It’s a Cinderella dream but we’re in reality and I hope you realize that I couldn’t offer you any of that because I’m poor and I have no way of working.”
His voice was cold as if he was angry with her. she didn't know exactly what she had done to make him hate her without knowing her and it was actually mutual. She hated him too.
“I…What can I do?”
" Nothing at all. I didn't ask you to come. You are not my wife because I never married you so stop pretending to be one. It’s a dream that will never come true.”
She didn't know that. She did not know that his opinion had been neglected in this story and yet he was the main actor. Who was she married to then? to the tree? impossible because she had indeed seen a signature before putting her own.
“Your signature appeared on the document.”
“I never proposed to you, I never gave you any documents to sign, nor did I slip a ring on your finger. Do you really think you're my wife? That you can be my wife? The place is not to be taken because it is occupied.”
A place already occupied which was not to be taken. So she understood that it was a nightmare. The idea of marriage did not come from him but from someone else, certainly his friend who had invested in his father's business. If she left, he was going to break the contract and if she stayed, she was going to spend her whole life suffering. She wanted to cry, to scream but it wasn't the time because no one was going to calm down. She was alone, alone against everyone in the world.
“Before tomorrow morning, I don’t want to see you in this apartment anymore. This is my private space and I don’t know why you agreed to this marriage but you will have to go back now otherwise hell will await you.”
He turned his wheelchair and that's when she saw his sunglasses protecting his eyes. Despite his disabilities, he was so handsome and imposing that she took her breath away. He steered his wheelchair towards the corridor and when she heard a door slam suddenly, she jumped. He was sending her a message that was certain.
Just on her first day of marriage, things were already like this then, she didn't even know if she was going to last. Night was falling little by little since he left and she didn't know where to go. She had nothing in the way of clothing and she didn't have anywhere to sleep either. He hadn't asked her to make himself at home as she had hoped. When sleep began to overtake her, she lay down on the couch she had woken up on when she passed out. She hoped to wake up the next day before him so that he wouldn't know that she had taken the trouble to move in without agreement because that too, he wasn't going to tolerate since he already didn't tolerate her presence . She hoped she wouldn't sleep soundly because as the lawyer had told her, he was verbally aggressive and it could turn into a physic
al attack that she couldn't handle.