“This is who you will marry, my son.” Mr. Zhou said, showing his son the picture of Mei Lí, his fiancé. For financial reasons, he had to have his son marry her.

“She’s pretty… But father… I’m only fourteen. Is this really okay? Are you sure? Is she okay with this?” Gongjin Zhou was skeptical of his father’s plans.

“My son, women are only objects for you to control. It doesn’t matter if she had a say in this or not. You are my son, and you will do as I ask.” Mr. Zhou looked down on his son for having such a kind heart towards everyone, even women.

“Y-yes father. I understand.” Gongjin hated his father’s philosophy about women. He could never think that way about any human being, but because his father would punish him if he didn’t listen, he had no choice but to agree.

A month later, the wedding preparations were ready, and Gongjin was dressed up to meet his bride for the first time. They had not talked at all, until their vows, during the wedding. Gongjin couldn’t help but wonder if she was really okay with this. Even if she didn’t have a say in any of this, he didn’t want to treat her like some object. Even if he really didn’t love her. He didn’t know how to treat someone as his wife at the age of fourteen. He was still convinced that he was too young. She was two years older than him, so she acted very mature around everyone.

Once the ceremony was over, they didn’t even have a chance to talk. Everyone dispersed, and his father brought him back home.

“You did a very good thing today son.” Mr. Zhou smirked.

“Thank you, father.” Gongjin said, bowing his head.

“You won’t be seeing her much, but I was compensated very well for her hand in marriage. Although beautiful, her parents had a hard time finding a good suitor for her. They finally settled on you as their last resort, and there was a lot of money riding on that marriage.” For the first time in Gongjin’s life, his father was proud of him. Even if it was for the wrong reasons.

A year passed, and there was still no word from Mei. the wedding was the first, and last time Gongjin ever saw her. A part of him was relieved, but he still felt bad for making her marry him. Mr. Zhou forced him to work at the family restaurant during school breaks, so he didn’t have much free time to do anything that he really wanted.

“Goodbye everyone, good work today! I’m off to see my ‘little wife’ again. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Then Mr. Zhou walked out of the restaurant.

As he walked out of the restaurant, everyone gave a sigh of relief and finished up their jobs. One by one, everyone left to go home for the night. All except for Gongjin Zhou. He had to wait for everyone to leave until he could go home. His father trusted him with the family business, and he had to watch it over for him. Even though he was only fifteen. Of course, this arrangement was only during school breaks, but he was still very young to be taking care of his father’s restaurant.

Gongjin was always disappointed in his father when he mentioned his ‘little wife’. Most days when his son could close the shop, Mr. Zhou would go to visit his mistress. He called her his ‘little wife’, but everyone knew that it was just his excuse to have another woman by his side. Gongjin couldn’t speak back to his father, but in his heart, he knew that treating women like they were some object was wrong.

Once he finished up locking all the doors in the shop, he left through the back entrance to walk home. His house was only a few blocks away, and his mother would be waiting for him. Of course she knew about her husband’s mistress as well, but no one ever dared to address the issue. Mr. Zhou was very violent and abusive. Especially when he drank too much. He was someone to be feared.

He unlocked the door to his house, and was sure to lock it when he got in. His father wasn’t especially rich, so he lived in a normal house. The decorations weren’t too fancy or anything, but next to the entrance there was a little memorial area for his grandfather (on his father’s side). He whispered a little prayer, and made his way into the living room. His mother was still up watching some late night TV. She didn’t work, rather she was a normal housewife. She had to make sure that the house was always spick and span for when her husband would come home. There were multiple experiences in her younger days when she didn’t meet up to his requirements, and she felt the harsher ends of his temper.

Gongjin always felt sorry for his mother. Especially since there was never anything he could actually do for her. Especially when he was in his father’s presence. He was to treat his mother like an object when his father was around. Mr. Zhou would always say ‘you treat them too well and they’ll take advantage of you’. Gongjin would always assure his mom that he loved her very much, and that he was sorry for acting so rudely to her. Of course she understood, it was not in her place to say anything otherwise.

He did have other siblings, but they were older than Gongjin so they had already moved out. He had two older brothers and an older sister. He was the youngest child in the family. Everyone else had already graduated from school as well. Only the eldest was still in college. He had lots of student loans to pay off, and Mr. Zhou wouldn’t support him since he hd gone off to school instead of helping him at the restaurant. The second oldest was very frail and he could never do very much anyways, so the job of taking care of the family business was passed down to Gongjin.

A year passed, and Gongjin was in some of his final years of school, before he could fully help his father with his business. Gongjin was a very smart boy, and he was on course to graduate with flying colors in a few years. However, war was near and the communists were taking over. He was in school during this time, and they had decided to evacuate all the students out of the country. Gongjin was separated from all of his family members. There was no telling if he’d ever see any of them again.