We Got Married to Escape the Scandal… Oh, How I Miss Those Embarrassing Days Once upon a time, there was a young woman named Rana who lived with her family in a small village. Everyone there knew each other’s business better than they knew their own. Rana went through a difficult time after breaking off her engagement, and soon, people started talking about her. Every time she left the house, she would hear someone whisper: “That’s Rana… the girl who broke off her engagement.” Her mother heard comments from relatives and neighbors every day, until she started telling Rana: “My daughter, people have nothing to talk about except us… You need to find a suitable man, get married, and put an end to all this talk.” After some time, a young man named Fadi proposed to Rana. He was in a hurry to get married, and there wasn’t much anyone knew about him. At first, Rana didn’t feel comfortable with him. He was short-tempered and didn’t talk much with her. Whenever she tried to ask him about his job or his life, he would change the subject. She said to her mother: “I don’t know… I just don’t feel comfortable.” Her mother replied: “My daughter, what more do you want? Let’s get you married and put an end to people’s gossip.” Rana hesitated, but eventually, she agreed. She told herself: “Maybe my life will change after I get married… Maybe I’ll forget everything that happened.” And so, she got married. But from the very first month, she began discovering things she had never known about Fadi. He was angry over the smallest things. If she was a little late, he would start an argument. If she talked to her friend, he would ask where she had been and what they had talked about. And whenever she tried to talk to him about something that was bothering her, he would say: “This is who I am… If you don’t like it, deal with it.” Months passed, and Rana began to feel like a stranger in her own home. She no longer laughed like she used to. She didn’t enjoy going out anymore, and she didn’t even talk about what was going on inside her. One day, she was sitting at her aunt’s house when her aunt asked her: “Rana… what’s wrong with you? You haven’t been yourself since you got married.” Rana was silent for a moment, then said: “I thought I was running away from people’s gossip and from my past… but it turned out I was running away from something bad and walking straight into something worse.” Her aunt sighed and said: “My dear… we got married to escape the scandal. Oh, how I miss those embarrassing days.” Rana realized how much she had rushed into things and how her fear of people’s opinions had pushed her into making such a life-changing decision. From that day on, she understood that not every door you walk through leads to something better. Sometimes, trying to escape the past without thinking carefully about the present can lead to even greater regret. Meaning of the Proverb “We got married to escape the scandal… Oh, how I miss those embarrassing days” is said when someone makes a decision to escape a problem or leave their past behind and improve their life, only to discover that their new life has become even worse than before. In short: We ran away from one problem and ended up in an even bigger one… until we find ourselves wishing the old problem had never been so bad after all.