Chapter 1
Arham grew up in a house where love always came with conditions. His father worked in another city to provide for the family and visited only a few times each year, leaving Arham alone with his mother, whose constant criticism shaped every part of his childhood. Nothing he did was ever good enough. If he cut his hair the way he liked, she scolded him. If he chose his own clothes, she mocked his taste. If he wanted to go outside, she told him to stay home, but when he stayed, she complained that he was wasting time. As a child, she punished him with beatings; as he grew older, her words became the weapon that hurt even more. Living under endless criticism taught him that his opinions did not matter, and little by little, he stopped trusting himself to make even the smallest decisions.
By the time Arham became an adult, he carried invisible scars that no one could see. He found work at a bank, but despite having a stable job, he lacked confidence and constantly doubted himself. The loneliness and emotional emptiness he had carried since childhood grew so heavy that thoughts of ending his life began to creep into his mind. Then he met Sana, a kind and understanding woman who accepted him without trying to control him. For the first time, he felt seen, valued, and loved. She gave him a glimpse of a life where he could make his own choices, and he fell deeply in love. Believing he had finally found happiness, he told his mother that he wanted to marry Sana. She rejected the idea immediately. No matter how much he pleaded, she refused to give her approval. Years of conditioning had taught him that resisting her was pointless, and eventually, he gave up. Heartbroken, he let Sana walk out of his life because he had never learned how to fight for what he wanted.
Not long afterward, his mother found another woman and insisted that Arham marry her instead. Exhausted and emotionally defeated, he simply agreed. As the wedding preparations began, a new problem emerged. Arham had very little money saved despite working at a bank. Since childhood, food had become his only source of comfort, and he spent much of his salary eating at restaurants to escape the emptiness he felt inside. Rather than trying to understand why, his mother criticized him every day, calling him irresponsible and asking why he had no money for his own wedding. Even after sacrificing his first love, giving up his own choices, and agreeing to the marriage she wanted, nothing satisfied her. Standing alone one night, Arham realized the most painful truth of his life: he had spent years trying to become the perfect son, yet perfection was never the goal. The expectations would never end because they were never meant to be fulfilled. For the first time, he understood that the prison he lived in was not built with walls but with years of fear, guilt, and the belief that his own voice did not matter. Whether he found the courage to reclaim his life or remained trapped by that belief became the question that would define the rest of his story.
