He Lent Me Out for Five Years, Then His Brother Married Me

Every holiday, my boyfriend would lend me out to his single friends so they could deal with their families' nagging about marriage. He called it "brothers helping each other out." His friends, of course, were more than happy. But some families looked down on me—they threw food in my face during dinner. Some saw right through the arrangement and kicked me out in the middle of the night. Every time I tried to refuse, Leonardo would soothe me in that gentle voice: "Just have one meal with them. After this, we'll get married." So for five years, I never spent a single holiday with Leonardo.