The following year, Arthur became a full-time employee at the mall, while Sophia and I continued school and worked part-time.
At school, Sophia rarely left my side. She forced me to tutor her, determined not to disappoint Arthur, who had given up his education for us. Teaching her was sometimes hopeless. She struggled with even simple problems. Once, she struggled solving thirteen times two.
Even so, I loved every moment of tutoring her. It gave me time alone with her, something rare when Arthur was always around. By the time I graduated, nearly everyone in school believed we were a couple. Many called us love birds, which always made Sophia furious. She would scold them or threaten to fight them while I tried to keep a straight face.
That same year, something unexpected began happening. Arthur changed. He began to look like a stud even though he was only sixteen. It was strange. Girls, and even some women, started flocking to him. It felt obvious to me, but not to Sophia.
Every week, she argued with him for bringing a different girl to the house. He always calmed her down by doing something for her: buying tickets to her favorite movie, taking her to a concert, or surprising her with treats.
But there was one day she could not forget.
We were at a park, riding the merry-go-round. Sophia and I sat together, and Arthur sat in another car beside a girl he had met only minutes before. For five minutes, we spun around, talking and laughing. But when we got off, Arthur had vanished. We searched the entire park. Finally, near a secluded stall, we found him passionately kissing that stranger.
That day, Sophia refused to let him step into the house. She did not talk to him for a week. He apologized on his knees before she forgave him.
A few days later, one afternoon, she came to me and asked me to follow her. Without questioning her, I walked behind her until she stopped outside our house. She checked the front door. It was unlocked. Then she took my hand, pulled me around to the back, and opened the window slightly.
Through the gap, we could see inside.
Arthur sat on a chair. A beautiful woman sat across from him, smiling, blushing, twirling her hair. In a moment, she leaned forward and kissed him. Then she stood, stripped her clothes, and walked to the bedroom. Arthur followed her with a bright smile.
They leaped onto the bed and began making out.
It was the first time I had seen something like that. My face burned. I felt embarrassed, and strangely excited. But Sophia… she hugged me tightly, so suddenly that at first I did not understand why. Then I felt my shoulder grow wet.
When I looked down, she was crying into me, her whole body trembling.
Seeing her like that hurt more than anything I endured in the orphanage. It felt as if someone had reached into my chest and squeezed my heart until it bled. I did not know how to comfort her. Words felt useless. So I kissed her forehead again and gently wiped her tears away.
She calmed a little, and I dragged her away.
That night, neither of us returned home until very late. When we finally stepped inside, Arthur tried to talk to her. She ignored him completely and lay down on the floor. He grew angry, argued with her, and then lay on his bed. But when I awoke in the morning, they were both sleeping on the floor again, Arthur curled around her like nothing had happened.
A year passed like that. I entered high school, and whenever I had free time, I visited Sophia's school. I could never wait until evening to see her. Arthur was the same. He showed up at school whenever he missed us, which was almost every day.
Somehow, two years slipped by. I became a final-year student, and Sophia joined the same high school. Everything began repeating itself.
Since we spent nearly every minute together, the rumors spread immediately. At first, people whispered that we were a couple. Then the rumors grew louder and far more dramatic. Soon, the entire school claimed we were in a serious, passionate relationship. They even upgraded our nickname. We were no longer "love birds." We became "an item."
It did not stop there. One afternoon, a boy from Sophia's class, the same boy she had rejected days before, began shouting the rumors across the hallway, loud enough for the whole building to hear. I grabbed Sophia's hand before she could punch him and turn the hallway into a battlefield, but fate had other plans.
Arthur arrived at school at that exact moment.
He heard every word the boy shouted. It was obvious to everyone, not just me, that the boy had signed his own death sentence. Arthur looked like rage itself had taken human form. A week later, when we visited the hospital, that same boy's face looked as if he had run headfirst into a thick stone wall. His arms and legs were wrapped in bandages. No one questioned what had happened.
After that, all the rumors died instantly. People stopped even looking in Sophia's direction when Arthur was around. The entire school felt the tension whenever someone tried to talk to her.
Soon, the year reached its end. It was my graduation day.
Arthur continued sleeping around and changing girls every week. He tried many times to drag me along with him, but I always refused. On my graduation day, however, he did not give me a choice. After the ceremony, he grabbed my wrist and insisted I follow him.
He took me to a brothel.
He had already booked the rooms, already arranged the girls. The moment we entered, two women pulled me toward a room. I resisted, but they knew every trick. With gentle fingers and practiced smiles, they slipped off my shirt, and before I could react, their hands were already reaching for my pants.
Then the door burst open.
Sophia stood there, eyes blazing with anger hotter than fire. She pulled me out of the room while I scrambled to put my clothes back on. She scolded Arthur the entire walk home, a full hour. Even after we reached the house, she continued her tirade until Arthur collapsed on the bed from exhaustion.
But after he slept, she said nothing to me. Not one word. She went to her bedroom and lay down with her back facing me.