Kelvin suddenly grabbed her wrist, a storm raging in his eyes.
“What did you mean by what you just said?”
Susan burst out laughing, eager to rip open my old wounds.
“Natasha’s mom is nothing but a fool. She thought her husband loved her, but barely two months after the wedding, her dad was already with my mom. That’s how I was born.
“If Natasha hadn’t threatened to kill herself back then, I would’ve had a happy family too. It’s all her fault!”
Every word landed squarely on Kelvin’s deepest pain.
I stepped forward, meeting Kelvin’s stunned gaze. “Do you want to know the truth?”
I swept my hair aside, exposing the jagged scar on the back of my neck.
“The day my mom found out my dad was cheating, she went to Susan’s house to confront them. But Susan and her mom beat her so badly that she was barely recognizable.
“When she got home, she lost her mind and tried to cut my throat.
“She rarely cooked–the knife was rusty and dull. She hacked at me a few times, but it never went all the way through.”
Then I lifted my shirt, revealing the surgical scar across my abdomen.
“Later, egged on by Susan, my dad hit my mom. So my mom forced me to drink an entire bottle of pesticide.
“The poison burned through my stomach. I survived only after losing most of it in surgery.”
I’d never told Kelvin any of this before.
I called it my blank space.
While Kelvin stared at me in shock, I took his hand and pressed it to the scar hidden on my wrist.
“Every time Susan came to torment me, I tried to kill myself”
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The scar seemed to burn him. Kelvin jerked his hand away, but I held it there, firm.
“If you feel here, the deepest one–my tendon was severed. I just switched hands and kept cutting.”
Deep and shallow, layer upon layer–at least a dozen scars.
Each one, a gift from Susan.
“You might wonder why I’d hurt myself like this. Isn’t it just my own fault?”
I looked into Kelvin’s eyes, my voice soft but steely.
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“Because lying in a hospital bed was the only way I wouldn’t get cornered by Susan in some alley,
where men could grope me, throw boiling water at me, or stab my thighs with rebar.
“Because she thinks only if I die will she, the love child, get to live in the sunlight.
“And all my desperate suicide attempts were just me trying to survive.”
I was truly ruthless.
To get what I wanted, I’d even sacrifice myself.
But what choice did I have? I had nothing.
All I could do was break my own bones, tear my own flesh, and bleed for a shot at a future.
Even if it meant offering myself up to Kelvin.
Kelvin’s hands trembled, his eyes growing red.
“I’m sorry.”
Susan panicked, clinging to Kelvin’s arm, shaking him violently.
“Kelvin, don’t believe her! End it now, and I’ll be with you! She’s lying–she’s the queen of fake pity, just a manipulative bitch!”
Kelvin’s face twisted with indecision, torn between us.
Just as he faltered, my phone buzzed
Harvard’s acceptance confirmation had arrived
I exhaled, holding up my phone for everyone to see.
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“Your bed’s soft, and the black card’s got a killer limit.
“But it can’t hold my future. So, bye now!”
Susan froze. “W–what are you saying?
“You used us? Used Kelvin’s money to get into college?”
After all this time, she finally figured it out.
But I wasn’t staying for another round.
“Kelvin, let’s break up.”
With that, I turned and walked away.
The seconds ticked by, and I counted down in my head.
Three.
Two.
One.
A hand grabbed my wrist, and I turned to see Kelvin’s shattered expression.
“Tasha, I never said I wanted to break up.”
He’d finally realized what was in his heart.
I gently cradled his face, gazing at him one last time.
“Kelvin, you were my wings. Thank you.”
He stood there, stunned, as I slowly let go.
He might never understand what those words meant.
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That kind of helplessness may have felt like the day he watched his mother fall from the 18th floor, unable to hold on, powerless to save her.
Kelvin tried to chase after me, but Susan clung to his arm with all her strength.
“Kelvin, if you leave, we’re finished.”
Kelvin wrenched free and tossed her aside like filthy trash.
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“Get lost!”
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