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Chapter One
    Not all women have to have the same dreams; some have bigger dreams than the miniscule ones revolving around house matters and a shackled married life. Sophia’s mother, however, believed otherwise.
    Born and raised in a family led by a man who took pride in his work as a physician, Sophia was bound to be both inspired and motivated, regardless of her gender; little did she know how much a problem this would prove to be; her mother was often her biggest enemy.
    William Hatcher was well known as a hardworking and able man that had built his entire life from the bottom up all with his very own hands, and thus the community respected him immensely and the family was thought of nothing less than noble. His theories and hypotheses had led to various great findings and people from far and wide would visit him, just for a consult, hoping he would have some free time for themselves. Sophia’s mother however, Lilly Hatcher, was quite the opposite. Having been raised the traditional way, living in a household heavily influenced by the code of conduct and discipline resembling the military, she had all the attributes of a stern and domineering woman and mother.
    Sophia’s grandfather had served his entire life in the Royal Navy and had chosen Sophia’s dad for her mother himself as he didn’t believe in love. Although with all the time spent alongside William, Lilly Hatcher did love her husband. She considered herself lucky to find a man she had learnt to love especially in her circumstance where love was never the priority; a strict father could birth such beliefs, and living with such irrational thoughts rooting ancestrally from her maternal family line was the main reason Sophia and her mother didn’t get along. Arguments and tantrums were a daily event in the Hatcher household and Sophia had grown tired of them the minute they had begun.
    “Sophia, I am not having this argument again, not now! I do not have the energy for it and I’ve got many things to do!” her mother said, almost yelling before she stormed off out of her room, disappointed with Sophia once again.
    All I asked was whether or not I could at least apply for medical schooling; she didn’t have to get so distraught about it! I do not understand! She can love and marry a man that is a physician but she finds it absolutely ridiculous if her daughter simply proposes to be one! It is so unfair!
    Frustrated, she locked her door and fell on her bed flat, burying her face in her pillow attempting to scream and crying hot raging tears.
    I will never understand her, and she will never understand me. We just cannot get along! All I’ve ever seen growing up is my father working as a physician and being celebrated for it. He’s helped cure people and taken care of them. I too, want to be a physician like him! What is the point of this life if I cannot do anything to help others? It is a humble and noble vision, who cares if it doesn’t interest eligible men when they end up at our house in search of a wife. I do not plan to be a mere housewife anyhow; I’ve seen what it has done to my mother!
    The tears streamed down her face faster now, as the rage slowly turned into another close form; utter sadness. It could never take getting used to, these fights with her mother, not with both of them sharing the same genetic and familial stubbornness, she had noticed it more after these outbursts they would share, neither of them willing to surrender. Sophia believed wholeheartedly that she was right about her passion and her dreams and her mother believed she was right with hers, trying to make sure that Sophia would be wed and be settled instead of bargaining her life with an unpredictable medical profession; she didn’t want Sophia to end up all alone.
    A fragile little knock came from the other side of the door. Sophia knew who it was.
    “Come in,” she replied allowing her little sister to come in.
    Mary opened the door, peeking with her head first to check