My parents are forcing me to marry my cousin and my cousin's family is abusive and after the money (NEED ADVICE!!!!!!!!)
I’m in high school right now, and my cousin (let’s call him C) is in university, probably in his last year. I think that’s why his family is suddenly rushing to get him married.
My family is not super rich, but compared to our relatives, we’re financially better off. The problem is that my parents are extremely naive, especially my mom, and my relatives take advantage of that constantly.
C’s parents are abusive as hell and their marriage is terrible. They fight all the time and were even close to divorce once. But whenever it’s time to manipulate my mom, suddenly they become united and work together perfectly.
My mom’s side of the family barely cared about her after she got married. They almost never contacted her for years, which made her desperate for their love and approval. Now that they want to marry off their son to someone “beneficial,” they suddenly call her every single day, ask about her health, act loving, etc. It’s painfully obvious what they’re doing.
And my mom completely falls for it.
She genuinely prioritizes her siblings over her own kids and even over her husband. My dad is nicer, but he’s completely controlled by her. In every argument, he sides with her, even when she’s clearly wrong.
Recently, my mom’s side suggested that I should marry C. And ever since then, my mom has been acting weirdly manipulative toward my dad. She keeps saying stuff like “girls shouldn’t have too much freedom,” “she’s getting spoiled,” etc. She constantly praises C in front of my dad too, even though C literally has no job and no direction in life.
Meanwhile, I’m one of the top students in my school.
My sister told me the best option is to escape this environment by studying abroad or at least studying in another city for university. I actually applied to universities in the USA and got into around 5–6 schools, but they only offered partial scholarships.
When I talked to my dad about it, he straight up said he won’t spend that much money on me because I’m a girl. He said if I want to study abroad, I should get a full scholarship so I’m “not a burden.” He’s only willing to pay if I study in my own country because tuition is cheaper here.
Now I’m stuck.
Most deadlines have already passed this year, so I’m considering taking a gap year and applying again to more universities abroad (and maybe universities in other cities too) to try for a full ride.
But I’m terrified that if I take a gap year, my parents might try to marry me off to C during that time.
I honestly don’t know what to do anymore. Has anyone been in a similar situation? Any advice would really help.