By the time I turned twenty-four
, I had been
living my own life for five years. I had my own
space
,
my own routine
,
and for the first time
, I
felt like I was in control. But then
, the phone
rang. It was my parents. Their voices sounded
different—soft, kind,
and polite
.
"We miss you
,
Elara
,
" they said.
"We want to start over
. Please
,
just come back for a while
.
" I wanted to believe
them
. I wanted to think that they had finally
changed and realized that I was an adult. So
, I
packed my bags and went back to London
, hoping
for a real family again
.
I lived with them for a year
, but it didn
't take
long to see the truth. The politeness was just a
mask. Behind their smiles, the toxicity was
still there
, hidden like a snake in the grass.
They didn
't want me back because they loved
me; they wanted me back because they wanted to
control me again
. They had "bad intentions
" that
they tried to hide with nice words and expensive
dinners. Every day in that house felt like I was
walking on eggshells. They were watching my
every move
,
waiting for me to slip up so they
could take over my life again
.
During that year
, Caleb was the only person I
could trust. I want to be clear—I didn
't "love
"
him the way people talk about in movies. My
heart had been locked away since Leo Sterling
broke it back in Class 8. To me
, Leo was the
only one I ever truly loved,
even if he was a
"
red
flag.
" But Caleb was different. He was my best
friend. We had so much fun together
. We would
joke for hours,
make fun of things,
and just talk.
He never judged me
. He never showed me any
ego
. He was the
"
green flag
" I needed to survivI realized that if I stayed with my parents,
they would eventually destroy me
. I needed a
way out,
and I knew that Caleb was my exit. I
didn
't want a
"
romantic
"
marriage; I wanted a
partnership. I wanted a life with someone who
would let me be myself. I knew that with
Caleb as my husband, I could build a
"house of
effort"
where I was safe
. We were best friends,
and that was enough for me
. I decided right then
that I was going to marry him
,
no mat er what
my parents thoughtWhen I told my parents I wanted to marry
Caleb, the mask finally slipped. They were
furious.
"He is nothing!"
my father shouted.
"We
will never agree to this.
" They tried everything
to stop me
. They used guilt, they used anger
,
and
they tried to lock me in the house again
. But I
wasn
't that scared fourteen-year-old girl
anymore
. I knew I had to fight. I looked them
in the eye and told them the hardest words I'
ve
ever said.
"If you don
't let me marry him
, I will
do something to myself. I would rather not be
here at all than live under your thumb forever
.My parents were terrified. They didn
't want to
lose me
, but they also didn
't want to lose their
"image
.
" They realized that I was serious—that I
would actually hurt myself or
"die
" before I let
them win
. Because they were so scared of what
I might do
, they finally gave in
. They said
"
yes,
" but they didn
't say it with love
. They said
it with bit erness. They weren
't happy for me
.
They were just defeated. They hated that I had
chosen a
"Roblox friend"
over the life they had
planned for me
.
The wedding wasn
't like a fairy tale
. My parents
stood there with cold faces, looking like they
were at a funeral instead of a marriage
. But I
didn
't care about their faces. I looked at Caleb,
and I saw my best friend. I saw a life where I
wouldn
't be blocked,
where I wouldn
't be lied to
,
and where I could finally be free
. We weren
't
"in love
,
" but we were a team
. And in a world full
of people like Leo and my parents, having a
teammate was the most valuable thing I could
ask for
.
After the wedding,
we moved away from the toxic
atmosphere of my parents
' house
. We started
building our life
, brick by brick. It was
"
effort"
in its purest form
. Caleb handled the things I
couldn
't,
and I handled the things he couldn
't.
We laughed together every single day. We
made fun of the world, just like we used to do in
the
"Life Together
"
game
. It was a good life
. It
was a life built on respect and friendship,
which
I realized was much stronger than the
"
crush" I
had on Leo
.Living with Caleb was so easy. There was no
ego
. If I made a mistake
, he didn
't call me
"
annoying.
" If I was quiet, he didn
't "block"
me
.
He just sat with me
. We had our own house now—
a place with white walls and a peaceful garden
.
It was the
"
aesthetic
" life I had always
dreamed of. My parents still tried to call and
interfere
, but now I had a shield. Caleb was that
shield. He helped me realize that I didn
't owe
my parents my soul.
As the chapter ends, I am sit ing in our new
living room
, looking at Caleb. He
'
s making a
joke about something on the TV,
and I'
m laughing.
I still think about Leo sometimes,
and I still
feel that old sting of the blocklist. But then I
look at the
"bricks
"
of the house I'
ve built. I am
twenty-five
, I am married to my best friend,
and
I am finally out of the cage
. I realized that
sometimes, you don
't marry for
"love
"
—you marry
for the life you deserve
. And for the first time
, I
have exactly that.