"Tada~! Look at what I got you!" Nathaniel said excitedly as he entered the car, closing the door when he entered. He found James with a scary aura surrounding him.

Nathaniel paid no attention to it and proceeded to show off the desserts he bought. "Don't be grumpy, I bought you cupcakes with all your favourite flavours," Nathaniel said as he laid a red box on James' lap.

"Decades have passed ever since I broke our relationship back then, and I left you with no reason. It's unbelievable that you still know the small details about me after all these years, not only that—you still accepted me again," James stated, looking down at the red box given to him.

Nathaniel smiled as he looked at James. "I would never do such a thing, James. You wanted to focus on your studies and left me. You wanted me to forget about you back then and make me move on after our break up; you started a fight between us to make me hate you and ended our relationship immediately after. "

For James, he never felt such a quilt when Nathaniel talked about their relationship in the past. He knew how heartbreaking it was for Nathaniel when James left him without knowing why. Not only that, but when Nathaniel met him again, he found out that James was married to a new woman. It must have been painful for him.

Nathaniel picked up on the gloomy mood and tried to reassure him that the situation wasn't his fault." You actually had a valid reason to break up with me, but you were too ashamed to admit it for fear of my judging you as self-centred." he started.

"To be honest, I haven't hated you once in all these years. I merely waited for you to return again," he smiled at James.

"Yeah, but I didn't come back. It was only a coincidence that we met again. How could you not hate me?" James asked with curiosity.

"I wasn't ready to let you go—I knew one day we would meet again," Nathaniel answered.

But before James could respond, Nathaniel cut him off.

"Listen," he said, "I know what you went through. Don't blame yourself. It's in the past, leave it at that," he continued.

James suddenly recalled all that Nathaniel had done for him and the numerous times that Nathaniel came to rescue.

~~~

A chain on his neck, unable to escape the hellhole he's in. He lost all hope in life.

The stack of books in front of him only serves to remind him of the one and only goal he has to achieve: academic perfection.

All he could do was fantasise about someone saving him. However, he knows no one is going to save him. He can't even speak up about his current situation.

He hated his father for leaving him alone with his mother. How could he not see the intentions of his own wife? A father has to keep his kids safe from danger.

The hatred in his chest grew stronger by the day.

People.

They can't be trusted. They'll find a way to ruin your life in an instant. James swore to himself that when he escapes this hellhole, he'll bring karma to all those who wronged him.

Humans are just plain disgusting. James believes he'll be better than anyone soon enough. He'll be on top of the world, and then it'll be his turn to laugh at everyone's faces.

He won't be pathetic forever. He won't let that happen. He'll be praised by everyone. No one is going to stop him from his goal.

No one.

James' train of thought froze when he heard the door from the other room being knocked down. Lots of people were barging inside the house, based on what James could guess from the footsteps he heard.

He heard his name being called, with the door of his room finally being opened.

He always felt fear when someone entered the room. His drunken mother always entered the room and beat him up.

For the first time, it was someone else.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

Someone he thought he'd never see again.

"James!" Nathaniel yelled out as he approached James.

"I was worried about you for days, but fortunately, my dad was able to track you down. No need to worry now; your father is going back to the country to check on you." Nathaniel said as he inspected James' depressing state.

Who would have guessed that the person who chained his neck and ankles was his own mother?

Nathaniel discovered dark circles under James' eyes and bruises all over his body. Nathaniel came to the conclusion that James had likely been in this condition for several days.

James said coldly, "Tell that old man that I don't want to see him ever again."

Nathaniel was shocked at what James said, even though his father didn't know this was going to happen to him.

"It's his fault that I'm in this state," James added.

A police officer approached James and started unlocking the chains that were locked around James' neck and ankles.

As he handed Nathaniel a note, the officer said, "Mr Colton, it seems that James' mother is manipulating him to be a messed-up perfectionist. We tried to make her talk about why she did this to James, though she didn't speak a word when we interrogated her. We investigated her room and found this note."

Nathaniel took the note and started reading it.

"Her mother wanted James to experience the same trauma she went through. She was forced to be a perfectionist too... Generational trauma is scary—I'll watch over him for now while his father is still on his way," Nathaniel responded while examining the note.

The note was written in elegant cursive writing. But the things written on it were a depressing life story. James' mother went through a lot of pain in her childhood and barely had freedom either.

She wasn't letting James have a normal childhood; she wanted James to go through the same things she went through.

"Can you walk? We'll give you a ride in an ambulance for you to be brought to a hospital," the officer told James, who only nodded in response.

...

"James won't let anyone get inside the medical room or accept the food the nurse offers... I also noticed that he drastically lost a lot of weight too during his stay at his mother's house," Nathaniel informed James' father.

The father looked at the room where James was. He felt pity for his son.

He tried knocking on the door and calling out James' name. However, he wasn't expecting James to yell at him.

"Leave me alone! You're just like my mom in every way! You just abandoned me to her!" James yelled at his father.

James has already yelled at him in the past. Except this time was different. He was filled with hatred towards him.

He cursed under his breath and wished he had never left James behind with his wife. He wouldn't have thought that his wife could do something like that until now.

He blamed himself for moving cities to find a job; he should've brought James with him instead.

"Are you okay, Mr Brahms?"

James hesitated before looking up at the officer and into his deep hazel eyes. "Um—yes."

"In the meantime, you can answer our questions, Mr. Oliver." The officer said,

The officer held a clipboard with a mechanical pen, prepared to write and get information.

"Did you know that your wife was abusing your son?" the officer asked Oliver.

He looked at the officer with big, full eyes. "No, sir."

"And before James, did your wife ever abuse you or any family members?"

"No. I have barely seen her for a while now. She was the only relative of James' that could watch over him while I worked in a different city so I brought James to her."

"Do you have any other children or family that stay with you?"

Oliver shook his head. "Only during events and holidays."

The officer, whose name was Barron Robinson based on his tag, nodded and stepped inside James' room after scribbling everything down, including Oliver's responses. "Now, James, have you told anyone about what your mother did to you? And do you know why she did what she did?"

"No. No to both. "

He kept his answers short and flat, making sure not to get himself into any other big situation.

"And why didn't you tell your father? Why didn't you stop her?"

The questions were too much for James, he hardly knew how to answer them.

"I—I don't know." He added a sympathetic shrug to emphasise.

The officer sighed as if James was a complete waste of time and was just utterly useless. It surely didn't help that James was already in terrible condition.

The officer is certainly a jerk on the inside.

...

James now stayed at Nathaniel's house while his father was again out of town for work. The two barely spoke to each other now, even if they lived in the same house. Nathaniel felt distant from James.

James stayed in his room most of the day and only went out when going to school.

James and Nathaniel still went to the same school together. Even though they always walked together to school before the incident, now James always goes to school earlier than Nathaniel.

Well, they were a couple after all. They've been dating for almost 2 years now, but Nathaniel feels like he's now a stranger to James.

"Any progress with James, son?" Nathaniel's father asked his son, who then frowned at the question.

"...He barely speaks to me now. Even desserts won't attract his attention." Nathaniel responded as he put down the box of cupcakes on the counter.

The father felt pity for James too, that poor child must've gone through a lot of trauma during his stay at his mother's house.

James even has nightmares about what happened, the memories playing over and over every night. James would scream in fear and murmur "I'm sorry" on repeat.

...

As a result of domestic violence, James' mother was taken into custody. However, she committed suicide in prison. Even though it was his wife's fault for abusing James, Oliver was devastated because he blamed himself for not doing more to help his wife when she was in her own crisis.

~~~