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My boyfriend beats me

Dear Youth Link,

I AM 22 years old, and I will be married to my boyfriend of two years in exactly six months. He hits me, and that is the only problem we have. I submit this article to ask young girls what they would do ­ seriously now. What would you do if you loved someone so much, and he hit you, would you give up on him? Or would you look beyond that to the perfect future that seems inevitable? I look forward to the responses.

-A.G.

I AM not the kind of girl that a man would normally hit. I am young ­ 22 years old, I'm not ugly, nor am I what you would consider a skettel. I live in a nice house, I have a college degree. My parents are still together, so I'm not one of those girls who look for a father figure in a man.

I am not insecure about my looks, I am beautiful. I work a decent salary and I have a car. Most men admire me.

Yet my boyfriend hits me ­ repeatedly.

And I can't seem to leave him.

It started about a year ago. We have been dating for two years now, he's studying to be a doctor and we will get married. Everyone says that we are the perfect couple. We don't fight - in public anyway ­ and my parents say that we'll make beautiful babies together.

How do I tell them that he's a woman beater.

"I am a medical student, I know where to hit you so it doesn't bruise," he said one time, "I know how to bend your arm backwards, yet it will never break."

Yet the pharmacy's makeup girl is becoming my best friend. She sells me all the concealers I need, all the cover-ups that will make me look like new. She told me to fix the steps that I'm always falling down, and to fix the rubber on the door on my car that always seem to scrape my hands raw.

I had to laugh. I'm now a makeup spokesperson.

But he's my best friend. I can tell him anything. We talk about marriage, about children, about building a home together in a few years. It will be perfect.

Everything is perfect now, except for the blows.

He hit me again today, after he saw me at the Chinese restaurant speaking with a co-worker.

This time it was in my back, so I won't need any makeup there.

The hugs he gave me afterwards were superb though. He promised me that if I behaved, he would send me a bunch of flowers at work to make all the guys there jealous.

He doesn't know that they already are. They are jealous of his car, his looks and that he has got me. I wonder what they would do if they knew?

I wonder what he would do if one day I hit back?

But I won't, our relationship is perfect ­ otherwise.

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