GrandView High

~FIFTEEN💙~

DISCLAIMER! !!! This chapter contains depictions of sexual abuse, rape, and violence, which may be distressing or triggering for some readers. Readers discretion is advised. If you find these topics difficult, please prioritize your well-being and skip this chapter.

If you choose to proceed, please do so with care.

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NIMI'S POV

"Um.....I think....I'm ready to tell you. Everything."

The moment the words left my mouth, my stomach twisted with uncertainty. 

A part of me wanted to take them back, to pretend I hadn't said anything and just leave. But the other part—the one that was exhausted from carrying this weight alone—kept me rooted in place.

Asher didn't respond immediately. He just studied me, his expression unreadable, as if he was trying to figure out whether I meant it or if I was about to change my mind. Then, slowly, he nodded.

We waited a bit till they called his order number.

"Let's go," he said grabbing his pizza box from the pick-up counter

We stepped out of the pizza shop together, the cool evening air wrapping around us. 

My fingers gripped the edge of the pizza box tightly as we walked to his car. He unlocked it and placed his pizza in the back seat before entering the drivers seat, and I slid into the passenger seat, setting my pizza box on my lap.

For a few moments, neither of us spoke. The only sound was the distant hum of traffic and the soft music playing from the car's speakers.

I took a deep breath. "Can we just... drive around for a bit?"

Asher glanced at me but didn't question it. He started the car, and soon enough, the estate streets blurred past us, bathed in the soft glow of streetlights.

I stared out the window, my thoughts a tangled mess. I had spent so long avoiding this conversation, burying the truth deep inside me where no one could reach it. But now that I was here, now that I had finally decided to tell him, I didn't know where to start.

Asher didn't rush me. He just drove, waiting.

Finally, I exhaled. "He used to come into my room at night."

I hadn't meant to start there, but the words slipped out before I could stop them. My fingers tightened around my sleeves as the memories began to unravel, dragging me back to a past I had tried so hard to forget.

"He'll come to my room and make me...touch him, do things to him that a 12 years old had no business doing"

"It started just after my Dad died. At first, it was just touches. Small, seemingly harmless. A hand on my knee that lingered too long. A hug that felt wrong. And then, as I got older, it got worse."

Asher's grip on the steering wheel tightened, his jaw clenching. He didn't say anything, but I felt the shift in the air, the unspoken anger simmering beneath his silence.

"I didn't understand what was happening at first. I thought maybe it was normal. Maybe I was overreacting. But then... I realized it wasn't."

"I tried to tell my mom once." I let out a bitter laugh. "And it was like he knew I was going to because the day I planned to tell her, he came to me and threatened that if I told her, he was going to make my Dad's relatives take everything from us. They already took everything else, his cars, his lands, his houses, we only had my mum's car and the house here. He told me he was the one who begged the family to let us have it."