Arrange Marriage (Craving)

•𝑺𝑶𝑭𝑰𝑨•

The loud shattering of glass followed by a chain of high-pitched profanities successfully confirmed things had taken a rather ugly turn in the persuasive discussion.

"What the fuck do you want me to do?!" Natalie cried hysterically, probably crashing whatever shattered noisily onto the ground next. "You fuck up your life and now you want to fucking ruin mine next?"

I clutched onto the book I'd been quietly reading a little bit tighter, my hands beginning to slightly tremble.

The words I read suddenly made no sense and I could barely read them properly, hot tears pricking my eyes.

We used to be happy, peaceful and comfortable. We used to make sacrifices for each other in a heartbeat, but just like that, it all became history.

We were miserable and I wasn't sure how long I'd be able to pretend I was resilient before the plastic armour I built around myself withered away.

A soft sniffle across the room drew a dagger into my chest. I knew I wasn't the only one faking a smile, but sometimes I preferred the façade to the reality of how much the people I dearly loved were equally breaking.

I placed my book facedown on the small mahogany desk in the corner of the room and ambled towards the bed at the centre of the room, tears blurring my vision completely.

I plopped onto the bed with a soft thud, wrapping my arms around Ava from behind across her heaving chest, my forehead resting on her shoulder lightly. "It's okay, sweetie," I barely whispered. "It's gonna be okay."

Ava trembled beneath my touch, restrained sobs tearing through her chest. "It's all my fault," she cried softly. "If only I hadn't fallen then maybe-maybe we-"

Her words faltered, a silent torrent of tears bleeding from her eyes thereafter, lips trembling. I couldn't help but hold her a little bit tighter, my tears disobediently falling and soaking through her fluffy white sweatshirt.

Ava Martel was the sweetest fourteen-year-old I'd ever known dealing with unfair misfortunes for a pure soul like hers.

A freak cheerleading accident nearly a month ago had ruthlessly robbed her of her sweet genuine smile and carefree spirit, damaging her spinal cord and temporarily paralysing her from the waist going down.

We'd prayed relentlessly for a recovery miracle, but her health seemed to regress, her arms constantly growing numb and stiff.

The migraines and nosebleeds weren't getting any better either and everything felt draining and overwhelming.

There was hope according to the multiple specialists consulted, hope to cure her and get her on her feet again and reclaim her normal life, but that required a series of surgeries and that meant millions.

Poor timing, Mom would sob herself to sleep chanting every night. We were on the brink of bankruptcy and none of our trustees were willing to help us because of recurring debts our father left us to deal with plus impending criminal charges that'd triggered the heated argument downstairs.

Before