Chapter 3

One day, the girl that Jimmy liked, Taylor White, confessed her feelings to me.

His face sank, and his expression became extremely cold. He looked like a beast when he fixed his fierce eyes on me.

He was holding a curling wand as he sat at his desk. He slowly curled his hair to define his curls.

I was held down by two other classmates as he pressed the hot curling wand to my skin. It immediately smoked, and I trembled in pain.

He tortured me for a full hour.

Before he left, he stepped on my chest. My wound reopened, and blood started oozing out.

He glanced at me in disdain. “Doesn’t Taylor like you? Let her see the scars underneath your clothes, and let’s see if she’ll be disgusted by you.”

That day, I lay down in the empty classroom for a really long time.

I felt an excruciating pain from both the physical injuries and the mental turmoil.

This life was extremely horrible and unlivable. Maybe if I died, it would be for the best.

What a shame that I was still alive.

When I opened my eyes, it was already late at night.

I was afraid that my father would be worried. I put on my uniform and carefully concealed my wounds. I thought that my father would already be asleep at this hour.

However, when I opened the door, I saw wine bottles scattered all over our dining table.

My father looked a little different than usual.

His face was flushed from drinking, and he looked extremely young. He did not look like he had a hard life. Instead, he almost seemed like a rich man.

My father was startled when I opened the door. He leaped up from the couch. “Ben, you just got back? I thought you were already sleeping inside.”

My wounds got bloodier from the friction against my coarse uniform while I walked all the way back home. I was in extreme pain, so I did not notice that something was wrong.

I only greeted my father before I entered my bedroom. Then, I took out some ointment and started treating my wounds.

However, there were too many wounds, and I was in so much pain. Hence, I was still struggling to sleep at four in the morning.

When I shut my eyes, I saw the wine bottles that my father had been drinking from in my mind.

A poor person would not be able to afford those wines.

Coincidentally, Jimmy had humiliated me with the same wine last week.

He said the bottle cost a minimum of a hundred thousand dollars…

Yet, my father had multiple bottles scattered all over.

My mind was racing. I was imagining my father working as an escort to be able to afford my school fee, and I imagined that he was working part time at a bar late at night. Maybe security was after him because he had stolen the expensive wines.

All these thoughts clashed in my head, and tears streamed down my cheeks into my pillow.

When Jimmy forced me to drink the other day, I should have agreed to his request. He was offering me a thousand dollars for every glass I drank.

Did it matter if I was allergic to alcohol?

I was only causing my father trouble, and I did not offer him anything.

Finally, I slept with tears still on my cheeks and a deep sense of regret.

My body was covered in old scars and new wounds, and the road to recovery was long.

Fortunately, Taylor had gotten the hint. She no longer pressed for an answer when I rejected her. She focused on her studies instead. Jimmy was busy trying to win her over, so he did not bully me for two weeks.

I counted on my fingers. I just had to bear with this for a bit longer. The SATs were ten days away, and after that, everything would be over.

Just when I thought I would be free from this hellish life, Jimmy suddenly sent someone to bring me to the bar.

“I’m paying you more this time. With every glass you drink, I’m paying you two thousand dollars…”

I recalled how my father had looked the other night, and I immediately agreed to his request before he finished speaking.

I just had to drink ten glasses, and my father would not have to work at his food stand for a year.