It's dawn. A small relief stirs in my spirit.
Finally, I survived another night in this hell, I thought.
I stood up, determined to start my day—to freshen up and escape this godforsaken place, even if only for a few hours.
I walked into the bathroom and stared at the reflection in the mirror. A tall, muscular boy looked back at me. My round eyes, pointed nose, and small, full pink lips formed the face of an innocent-looking youth. But the broad, powerful build didn't match the softness of those features.
Dark circles clung beneath my eyes, souvenirs of countless nights without sleep.
Well, I can't sleep. Not in this hellish place, I mocked myself bitterly.
Knock knock.
"Andre! It's dawn, and you need to go to the company with your dad. You know he leaves early."
Dad? Yeah, right. I scoffed silently. That beast doesn't deserve to be called that.
"Andre! Can you hear me? Get up, son. I wouldn't want you to miss your breakfast, okay?"
"Got it."
"Oh dear, so cold as ever," she muttered. "Hurry up!"
It has been two years since we moved to Z City. My mom remarried, and I had to move with her because I wasn't yet an adult. Even though I despise my stepfather, Mr. Zhen, I couldn't say anything to stop the marriage. My mom seems to love that man too much.
Celia, my mom, is a beautiful woman—an angelic beauty, people always said. She met my dad when she was seventeen, got pregnant at eighteen, and gave birth to me at nineteen. She was so young when she left to live in Italy with my dad, Roberto, because her parents couldn't accept that she'd become pregnant so early.
My mom and Roberto were married for ten years before they divorced. They only married after I was born. I was thirteen when I started living with my mom, and back then, we were happy—just the two of us against the world.
Until Mr. Zhen Yichen appeared.
The man who took everything from me.
I was sixteen when my mom got involved with Mr. Zhen. I don't know how they met, but I know she loves that beast of a man. I don't know what she sees in him, but everything about him feels fake—a monster in sheep's clothing. He doesn't love my mom. I know that for certain, because I discovered something about him I can never unsee.
"Finally you're here. What took you so long? You almost missed breakfast," Celia scolded gently, her eyes full of helpless affection for her cold, distant son.
She loved him so much. She knew him better than anyone else did. She knew he didn't want to go to the company with Yichen. She didn't understand why, but he never seemed to have a good feeling about that man.
She only prayed he would secure a good position in the company so he wouldn't have to worry about his future—so that even if he did leave one day, which she suspected he wanted to, he wouldn't struggle financially.
Just like today, she'd had to call him repeatedly to remind him to get ready, because she knew he wouldn't have gone otherwise.
Andre might look soft and innocent because of his delicate face, but in reality, he was stubborn and cold toward everyone and everything—including his own father.
What Celia could never understand was why her distant son harbored such a fierce, silent hatred for Yichen.