Chapter 5: Pressure and Hope
"Aurel, enough! Next week, you're getting engaged!" her father shouted, his face red with anger.
Aurel stood frozen in the living room.
Her eyes were swollen, her cheeks wet with tears.
"I've told you... I don't want an arranged marriage! I love Rey!"
Her mother sighed deeply.
"Rey is nobody, Aurel. He's been gone for months. He's probably forgotten all about you."
"No! He promised he'd come back!" Aurel cried out.
But deep inside, that voice was starting to crack.
She wanted to believe.
But Rey's silence was painful.
The only thing keeping her holding on was the red bracelet still wrapped around her wrist.
---
On the other side of the world, Rey worked from morning till night on a construction site.
His hands were blistered, his face sunburnt.
But his heart remained strong.
Whenever he felt tired, he looked at the red bracelet he still wore.
Aurel.
Now, he had gained the trust of the foreman.
His pay had increased.
He was offered the chance to learn project management.
Little by little, his life was changing.
But he still hadn't contacted Aurel.
Not because he forgot.
But because he was afraid.
Afraid she would think he wasn't worthy yet.
Afraid she might have changed.
"Maybe... when I become a manager, then I'll be ready to go home," he whispered one night beneath a streetlamp.
What he didn't know was that, back in the village,
Aurel was sitting alone in tears—
surrounded by wedding invitations printed by her family.