“Please, Uncle. I don’t want to marry now. I want to be a doctor. I have a future to build. Please.”
“Do you think I will waste my money educating a useless girl like you? Go and pack your things.”
“Uncle, please. Please. I don’t want to marry that poor security man.”
“Shut up. You have no choice in this matter.”
“I won’t marry him,” she cried, her voice trembling like a leaf in a storm. “He’s just a poor security guard.”
“Watch your words,” her uncle snapped, his eyes cold and sharp. “The marriage is already settled.”
“But Uncle,” she pleaded, tears running down her cheeks, “I want to build a future. I want to study medicine and become a doctor.”
“Enough,” her uncle barked, slamming his heavy hand on the table so hard the walls seemed to shake. “Why should I waste money sending a useless girl like you to school?”
The room fell silent. Everyone sitting there looked at Grace as if she were a piece of furniture to be moved from one house to another. To them, she was not a young woman with dreams and a beating heart. She was a problem, a burden, something to be solved quickly and cheaply.