I spent the entire day hiding in my miserable room, completely ignoring the fact that I was supposed to be at school. I was trying to figure out how the hell to lie to my parents about my sudden "illness" that was forcing me to drop out, all while obsessing over Liang Xu's terrifying threat against my little sister. I knew my future was officially ruined, but I was starving, so I finally decided to sneak out and walk to the cheap convenience store a few blocks away just to grab some pathetic junk food. I kept my hood pulled low and my face down, constantly checking over my shoulder, absolutely terrified that that psycho bully or one of his many goons would spot me and realize I wasn't locked safely in my room being miserable. I just wanted to grab my damn snacks and get the hell back home before sunset.
As I was walking past the fancy, rich part of our town—the area I usually avoided like the plague because it just reminded me how poor I was—I saw it. Parked right outside a huge, pretentious-looking mansion was Liang Xu's ridiculously expensive, shiny black sports car, the same one that rich prick used to follow my bus sometimes. I completely froze on the sidewalk, my heart pounding like a damn drum against my ribs; I felt a sudden, intense wave of both fear and pure, blinding hatred wash over me, making my fists clench up so tight my knuckles turned white with rage. Just looking at that stupid, flawless car—which probably cost more than everything my struggling family owned combined—made me want to scream because it represented everything I hated about that arrogant, cruel bastard and the massive wealth gap between us.
For a moment, I actually thought about doing something completely stupid and destructive, like finding a rock and slashing the expensive tires, or maybe keying the side of the car, just to get some pathetic, tiny bit of revenge for the public beatdown and the chilling threats against my sister. It was a tempting, crazy thought, the kind of desperate, impulsive thing a total loser like me would do when pushed to the absolute breaking point. But then I remembered the text message from the night before and the cold, terrifying threat against my little sister, and the overwhelming reality of Liang Xu's massive power snapped me right back to my senses. That rich tyrant would know immediately who did it, and the payback would be absolutely monstrous and aimed straight at my family's safety.
So, I just stood there for a long, painful minute, staring at the car, feeling that intense, useless rage burn inside my chest until it finally subsided into a cold, hard resolve. I couldn't touch the car, I couldn't fight back, and I certainly couldn't go back to school and risk my sister's safety, but I could save this moment and remember this awful feeling of pure, concentrated hatred. I quietly promised myself that one day, somehow, I would make Liang Xu pay for everything he had done, and until then, I would just keep every single piece of pain and humiliation locked away deep inside me, waiting for the one day when I finally had the power to actually use it against that fucking bully. I finally walked away, leaving the fancy car and the oppressive wealth behind, heading to the store with a much heavier feeling than just hunger in my miserable gut.