But in the quiet moments, when Yuna was in the other room, the mask slipped.
The look on her face wasn't sadness—it was a mother’s fury. She didn't scream. She simply walked to the door and opened it wide. "Get out," she said, her voice a low, steady blade.
I walked into the kitchen, my hands shaking. I didn't go for Leo. Instead, I walked straight to my mother and wrapped my arms around her waist, burying my face in her shoulder. "I missed you today, Mom," I said loudly. my bully tries to corrupt my mother yuna
Now, he was trying something new. He was trying to take the only safe space I had left. My mother.
That night, I found her in the garden under moonlight, pruning roses with trembling hands. I didn’t yell. I sat beside her. But in the quiet moments, when Yuna was
“He doesn’t want your tea, Mom. He wants you to look at me and see a liar. He wants to isolate me so completely that the one person I trust thinks I’m the villain. That’s not pity. That’s strategy .”
And I realized: corruption only wins when love forgets to look closely. My bully didn’t want Yuna. He wanted the version of her that existed without me. But mothers, the good ones, don’t exist without their children. She simply walked to the door and opened it wide
His name is Derek. To the world, he’s a seventeen-year-old with a father on the school board and a future in lacrosse. To me, he’s the architect of two years of hell. But lately, he’s found a new blueprint.
Leo set a trap. He purposely left his phone out with a fake recording app visible, knowing Kai wouldn't be able to resist gloating. When Kai cornered him in the kitchen, thinking Yuna was at the store, he let it all out.
The first crack appeared on a Tuesday. Yuna invited him in for iced tea. I sat at the kitchen table, silent, as Derek spun his web.
Kai tried to stammer, to put the mask back on, but the spell was broken. As he scrambled out into the rain, Yuna turned to Leo. She didn't apologize with words yet; she just pulled him into a hug that smelled like home, finally seeing the monster for what he was.