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ONE day, Sophie received a summons from her father. The words he spoke drained the blood from her face. Yet heat rose it all the same: Dr. Adolphin had agreed to marry her.
Marriage.
Dr. Adolphin is going to be my husband?
That night, she scribbled “Sophie Adolphin” into her diary once more. She stared at the name and traced the letters with her fingers, but this time, she didn’t erase it. A giggle bubbled up from deep inside—a giddiness she’d never felt before. It wasn’t just an emotional high; it was like her body had become weightless, floating on pure joy.
When the day of Dr. Adolphin’s next visit arrived, Sophie dressed in her favorite clothes, had Martha style her hair just the way she wanted it, and waited in bed, heart racing with nervous excitement. This would be the first time she’d see him since the engagement had been announced. What would she say? What would he do? Her mind buzzed with endless possibilities.
But when the door finally slid open, the man who stepped through wasn’t the bashful, rosy-cheeked doctor greeting his bride-to-be. Instead, a pale, trembling shell of a man stood before her, his face tight with fear.
It hit her then—a question she’d somehow forgotten to ask: But what about “her”?
No, not forgotten. In the haze of excitement, she had buried it, pushed it away, alongside all the other thoughts and feelings she didn’t want to confront. Now free from its prison, it oozed out into every corner of her mind like a creeping, toxic sludge.
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THAT night, Sophie wandered through the shadowed halls of the estate like a sleepless ghost. As she passed by a half-closed door, a muffled voice reached her ears.
“Well, you should’ve asked me!”
It was her mother.
“If you truly think a marriage bought with money—at the expense of true love—will make her happy, then I have nothing to say to you!”
Sophie’s lips trembled.
Of course, she had known. Deep down, she had always known. There was no other explanation. Why else would Dr. Adolphin, who loved another with all his heart, agree to marry someone like her? Why would he forsake the woman he adored to marry a monster?
Because the monster’s father had offered him everything he needed to save the true love of his life.
It was touching, really—a tragic, heart-wrenching romance. To save the woman he loved, Dr. Adolphin would sacrifice his own happiness, smother his love beneath a marriage of duty. For the price of her life, he would marry a monster and bind himself to a fate he didn’t want. Sophie had known this all along—she must have. The giddiness, the fleeting happiness—it had all been a cruel deception she told herself to mask the truth she couldn’t bear to face.
She had no recollection of how she made it back to her room. Her heart raced, her breath shallow as she reached for her diary, desperate for something to calm the storm inside her. But when she pressed the pen to the page, her hand shook too much. The tip stabbed through the paper, ink bleeding in dark, ugly smears. Tears welled in her eyes. She tore out the page in frustration and started to cry.
Why couldn’t she let it be? Why couldn’t this one fleeting moment of light be enough? Why did she have to know the truth? Her hands shook violently with the force of her sobs, but she began to write.
My beloved doctor. The one thing I treasure most in this world…and father bought him with money.
The ink smudged under her hand as she pressed on, the lines uneven, her grip too tight. But she didn’t stop.
Why did father do this? Because he knew I loved him? Because he knew I wanted him to be mine?
She bit down hard on her lip, the pain not registering even as she tasted blood. Crimson droplets mingled with her tears, falling onto the page.
No. Father did this because he loves me.
The pen clattered onto the desk. Before she knew it, she was standing in front of the mirror in the far corner of her room. Her hand reached out, pulling off the cloth that usually covered it, and she stared into her reflection.
A monster.
In the dim light, through the tangled strands of her disheveled hair, she saw it—her skin, uneven and grotesque, glistening with tears and pus. The lumpy, disfigured surface made her more creature than human. Her reflection shimmered under the foul liquid that oozed from her skin, turning her into something unrecognizable.
Why did it have to be this way? She could have been beautiful. She could have taken after her mother or father—either way, she would have been whole. But instead, she became this. An abomination. A creature so hideous that people recoiled at the sight of her.
The worst part wasn’t even her reflection. It wasn’t the ugliness staring back at her. It was that, despite it all, her parents still loved her. They treasured her enough to try and make her impossible dreams come true. Her father, so desperate to give her something, had bought a man’s heart just to offer her a sliver of happiness.
Her mother had seen right through it. She had called him out, told him it wasn’t like him to behave this way. Her father was a man of principles—a businessman who despised underhanded deals—yet here he was, trying to buy love. Her mother had said it would break Sophie’s heart eventually—just not yet.
Sophie had never heard her mother, always so kind and gentle, speak with such force.
She pressed her forehead against the glass, then her hands. She traced the reflection of her uneven, swollen features with her fingers.
“You should’ve never been born,” she whispered. Her voice cracked, barely audible, but the monster in the mirror heard.
The monster cried.
Sophie watched as dirty tears streaked down the reflection’s disfigured face. She reached up and traced the path of one tear, dragging her finger through the reflected trail on the glass.
Poor thing, she lamented. You ugly, wretched thing. You make everyone’s life harder just by existing.
Maybe she could turn a blind eye to it all. Pretend she hadn’t overheard. Let the days pass, and eventually, she would become Dr. Adolphin’s wife. She could live in the dream and convince herself it was real.
But then that monster—smiling so happily beside the good doctor, knowing the truth—would truly be a monster, inside and out.
I don’t want to be a monster. She scribbled down hastily. Take care, Mother, Father. I love you both so much.
Sophie Olzon.
Signing her name on the page, she put it all down and opened the window.