Dad Told Me to Take Cold Showers with the Soap He Gave Me — When My Boyfriend Walked into My Bathroom, He Started Crying

That was the day when Dad handed me this soap I had never seen before. It was a green, chunky soap bar that smelled a bit weird, but Dad had asked me to use it, assuring it would help get rid of the unpleasant body odor.His words made me feel so self-conscious that I had even stopped hanging out with my boyfriend, Henry. I often found myself smelling my skin, clothes, hair, and even my breath, just to check what made my father feel so uncomfortable around me. I followed his advice and used that soap whenever I took a shower. Or, if I may put it correctly, I took five showers a day just to use that soap and get rid of the smell that had apparently been haunting my father.I scrubbed my skin so hard that I stripped it of the moisture it needed. My skin had begun to look dry, scaly, and so rough. Even then, my father said I still smelled like rotten onions.”Did you use that soap, Amy? I don’t think you did,” he’d say. “You smell so bad.” What shocked me even more was that my mother didn’t say a word when Dad humiliated me like that every day.She didn’t say anything in my defense or stop me from being so hard on myself.Mom and I had always been close. She was the only person I shared everything with since I was a kid. I’d always tell her about my latest crush, my new boyfriend, and even the new slang I’d learned at school. I couldn’t believe it when she stood silently, avoiding my gaze, while Dad kept grilling me. I won’t ever forgive Mom for not being there for me when I needed her the most.I kept showering with the soap, and my clothes always clung to me because they were damp from the frequent showers. Besides, I began avoiding my father. I’d always scurry up to my room and lock the door whenever he returned home from work. I didn’t want him to see me. Or, more specifically, smell me. The turning point came when my boyfriend, Henry, came over. We had been dating for a few months, and he was the one bright spot in my increasingly bleak days.Henry has always been the supportive boyfriend, the green flag we all look for. He’s always been kind to me, and he came over that day because he had noticed I had been avoiding him. “Where have you been, Amy?” he asked as he held me by my arms. “I was… I was just busy with some stuff, Henry,” I faked a smile. “I’m fine.” “Really? You don’t look fine, babe,” he said. “I’m okay, Henry,” I said as I held his hand. “Tell me one thing… Do I smell bad?”He laughed, thinking I was kidding. “No, babe. You smell fine. Why?””Nothing. I just…” I mumbled. “Forget it.” “I’ll be right back,” he said before going to the bathroom. A few minutes later, I watched him step out of the bathroom with the soap bar in his hand. I could see he wasn’t too happy about it. “Who gave you this?! Are you taking cold showers with this?!?” he asked with eyes wide open.How did he know this? I thought. “Yeah, my Dad. Why?” I asked, trying my best not to panic. “They didn’t tell you, did they?! Baby, this isn’t soap! It’s used to strip industrial machinery of grease and grime.””Wait, what?” I was shocked. “This stuff is toxic, Amy. It causes chemical burns.” I can’t explain how betrayed and heartbroken I felt at that point. How could my father do this to me? To his daughter who he loved so much?That’s when it all started to make sense to me. The dry, itchy skin and the weird texture of the soap bar. It also made me wonder if my mother knew about this. “I think we need to go to the hospital to get you checked,” Henry said. “And then, we’re going to the police. This is abuse, Amy.” I don’t know why, but I stopped him.I knew he was telling the truth, but I couldn’t put the words “abuse” and “Dad” together. I had never seen Dad in a negative light, and I didn’t like how those words fit in the same sentence and made so much sense. In short, I couldn’t accept that my father had tried to hurt me. “We can’t do that,” I told Henry. “We can’t go to the police.”
“But why?” he asked. “I’ll explain that later,” I said. “Please just help me get out of here. I’ll confront my parents later.”He agreed, and we moved into a small apartment a few days later. It was cramped and barely furnished, but it felt like a safe haven compared to what I had endured. Then, it was time for me to confront my parents. I drove back to their house the next day. When I arrived, Dad was in his usual spot, watching TV in the living room, and Mom was in the kitchen. I walked in with the soap bar in my hand and stood in front of my dad.”I never thought you’d do this to me, Dad,” I said as I held the soap bar high enough for him to see. “This is toxic. It’s poison. It ruined my skin. Why did you do this?” “Oh, so you finally found what it is, huh?” he smirked. “You needed to learn a lesson.””A lesson?” I laughed. “You nearly killed me. For what? Because you thought I smelled bad?” “Please stop this!” My mother finally intervened. “Amy, yo—” “You knew, Mom, didn’t you?” I cut her off. “You were a part of this ridiculous plan, right?”I watched tears trickle down her cheeks, but she didn’t say a word.