Heart of rainbows || Englot || Completed

Chapter 5: Distant

Engfa's POV

I could detect that she was lying about the bruises, making me suspect her to be the victim of domestic violence based on her boyfriend's behaviour just now. If my speculation is right, the chances that Charlotte had any other injuries are extremely high.

Because of my work, I couldn't help but scan through her appearance to see if there were any other bruises without her looking at me, so she didn't feel uncomfortable.

From what I gathered back then, during and after the party, she used to get abused by her boyfriend because of the way Charlotte reacted to the hitting makes me think that the assaults occurred often. That's the first clue of an abused victim.

Another hint was when she didn't disclose that she experienced any violence from anyone, even though the physical evidence says otherwise. Not saying anything could be because Win threatened her not to tell anyone about it or because she's too scared of the aftermath, including losing her boyfriend.

For all the hints I mentioned, I concluded that she has no one to trust her and help her escape the mistreatment. But I might be wrong, and the only way to find is to recognise if the abuse is severe.

Nonetheless, I still believe that, in some ways, she gets abused by someone, not necessarily her boyfriend. And since she's my boyfriend's friend's girlfriend, I want to help her in any way and listen to her concern. So, I decided to open up about my previous relationship with my exes.

"You know... I had been in a toxic relationship before I met my current boyfriend. Of course, I thought it was normal for him to get angry and become violent at some point. But then, the incidents of him being rough keep on going, damaging me physically and emotionally. Even when I experienced the abuse, I still thought he was not at fault and underestimated the danger he had caused. Instead, I blamed myself as it felt like it was somehow my fault. Not until one of my colleagues caught my ex-boyfriend torturing me like I was a prisoner just because he wanted to de-stress himself by hitting someone. Because of that, I completely cut ties with him, and he went jailed for two years and was given a mandatory restraining order after he finished his imprisonment. So yeah...all I wanted to say was that I've been through hell already," I confessed to Charlotte in the hope that I could make her talk about her story.

When she heard my story, she immediately said she loved her boyfriend very much. Based on her revelation, I can further confirm that Win abused her because I never directly told her I suspected her boyfriend, who caused the bruises or any abuses she might have been involved in.

Right then, I wanted her to see that she was in a safe environment and assess the severity level of the abuse by instructing her to show her arms, neck and legs. At first, she was strongly against me exposing her skin but later, she gave in.

From what I saw, it was what I expected to be when I discovered several other bumps and swellings. When I touched her skin, she immediately moved away from me, causing me to stop not to pressure her any longer.

However, that didn't work out when she began to walk away, leaving me alone on the roadway.

Author's note:
I regret my decision to make this kind of storyline😅Let's just wing it, I guess! Let's hope the next few chapters are a bit cheerful and happy... Meanwhile, a song for this specific chapter. Enjoy reading!