𝐒𝐏𝐔𝐑𝐈𝐎𝐔𝐒 - ★彡[ᴀʟʜᴀɪᴛʜᴀᴍ]彡★

𝟏𝟒 - 𝐈'𝐌 𝐒𝐎𝐑𝐑𝐘

CAUTION: this chapter will contain heavy themes, mainly focusing on parental manipulation and verbal abuse. I don't know if you guys have read the rest of my books, but it is essentially impossible for me to not have severe angst as I project my own issues into my writing. There will be issues tackling trauma and reactions that one may have due to that. If these topics are uncomfortable for you as the reader to experience, I completely understand. As such, I will provide a summary of what happened in this chapter at the beginning of the next one to those who are not comfortable. The chapter goes from 0 to 100, due to the fact that from my experience, that's how most trauma responses are. Please be careful.

I stared blankly at my ceiling. Yet another bad ending plagued my screen. Almost all of my hope was lost... I had been trying to play this one guy's route for several hours, but whenever I got to the final chapter it always ended poorly. I scribbled out another option on my chart of choices. This game had the issue of having way too many of them, to the point where there are eight choices and there's only a single correct answer. The chance of winning every time is near-impossible...

"FUCK THIS BULLSHIT GAME! I DIDN'T EVEN WANT TO ROMANCE YOUR FLOPPY-EYES FLAT ASS IN THE FIRST PLACE!" I threw my console aggressively onto the opposite side of the bed and dove face-first into my pillows. "Stupid fucking game... I hate otomes..."

"Miss (L/n)?" A voice sounded from behind me.

"Ah, Mr. Alhaitham!" I wiped the tears from my eyes. "Sorry you had to see me in that sorry state."

"No, it's fine."

Acting like an immature brat in front of him, nice going...

A deep feeling of self-loathing began to well up inside me, but I shoved it down and looked at Alhaitham with a smile. "Sooo, you're home early? Did you miss me?"

"Not particularly," he shook his head, "but it's nice to have someone else's company."

Despite his harsh words, I couldn't help but feel a little happy. He's being a little more honest with me, which means that things are somewhat improving!

My phone buzzed, interrupting our brief conversation. Oh, I wonder who's—
My eyes widened as I saw the caller's name. My mom? "Sorry, I need to take this. Could you step out of the room?" A sense of foreboding filled my expression as I warily tapped the 'accept' button once my boss had left the room.

You see, I may have told a tiny lie when I said my family situation was normal. To be honest, my mother had a horrible relationship with my father, and she projected it onto me while I was growing up. My mom projected it out onto me, setting her standards for me incredibly high and using my emotions against me. However, since my mother was the only predominant parental figure in my life, I took her words as if they were fact. Thus why I have such a fear of receiving a call for her, as she never calls me unless there's something wrong.