Unveiled: The Survivor's Triumph

Chapter 238 Childhood

As soon as the rainy season hit, the rain started pouring out of nowhere. It was sunny one minute, and then right after school let out, it just started dumping rain.

I was biking to the intersection, and when the light turned green, I headed in the opposite direction from home. After a few turns and passing Sunshine Elementary, the rain got even heavier, so I picked up the pace.

At the next intersection, I spotted someone familiar-Emily. She was hurrying along, using her backpack as a makeshift umbrella since she didn't have one. Suddenly, a group of boys blocked her path.

One of them said, "Hey, why are you in such a rush?"

Emily kept her head down, looking a bit scared, and tried to dodge around them. But they weren't having it and pulled her back. In the scuffle, her backpack fell into a puddle.

"Trying to run away? You don't have any family to care about you. Come hang with us," one of the boys taunted.

Emily picked up her backpack and said, "I'm not going."

One of the boys grabbed her hair, saying, "Don't be ungrateful."

As they were dragging her away, I pedaled hard and skidded to a stop in front of them, blocking their path.

"Don't you guys have anything better to do?" I leaned on my bike handle, giving them a lazy look.

"Ethan," one of the boys exclaimed.

They recognized me. It looked like they went to the same middle school. Most kids at school knew me. I wasn't one to start trouble, but I sure wasn't afraid of it. They stuck out their tongues, and one scratched his nose, saying, "Ethan, we were just messing around with her. We're heading home now."

With that, they took off. Emily stood there, head down, her toes wiggling in her wet sandals.

"Thanks," she said softly.

She was always so timid; I'd noticed that a while ago. Just like now, she thanked me but couldn't bring herself to look up. I stared at her face. She was small and thin, looking a bit underfed. But her long, fluttering eyelashes were the most striking feature. I found myself wanting to see the eyes behind those lashes, but Emily wouldn't look up.

me take you

and put her backpack back

place is just up ahead. I'll

off, her backpack over her head. I trailed behind on my bike, watching her until she disappeared into Broadway Alley. I stopped at the

distance, she was always keeping her head down, looking timid. Now, two years later, she still got picked on, but there was

rain came and there was no umbrella, Emily couldn't just stand there and cry; she had to keep moving. She kept wiping her eyes as she ran. Was she crying? Those boys must have really upset her. I wanted to comfort her, but I felt like I was the

her would have been to bring Victor back to life and wake her mom up. But that was impossible; what was done was done

wasn't until she was out of sight that I pedaled away. Not far ahead, I saw my cousin. He was also carrying a backpack and riding a bike. My cousin, Jason, had just

and said,

have a good

intersection, and I kept going. Passing a mall, my eyes unconsciously looked towards the entrance. My fingers tightened on the brake, and I stopped. The man walking out of the mall was my father, Victor, and the woman beside him was probably his mistress, Linda. She was carrying shopping bags in one hand and

when they got into the car, Victor

few who did. However, the number of times I had ridden in that car could be counted on

was always in poor health and rarely went out. As for me, I preferred my bike, even if it meant getting soaked in

most of his time there, staying in the dormitory, so

towards home and saw Cindy coming out of the farmers' market with groceries. She was carrying bags in one hand and holding an umbrella in the other, coughing so hard her back was bent. Seeing her like that, and thinking of Victor laughing with Linda, made me feel really

up

your cough is getting worse. How about going to

quickly tilted the umbrella towards

told you to always carry an umbrella, but you didn't listen. Now

me, there wasn't a hint of harshness; every word was filled with

had a chronic cough all year round, and years of medication hadn't helped. Victor used to show some concern at first, but later he got annoyed by her coughing and even told her to go far away to cough. So Cindy

and he hadn't bought a car yet. Cindy was worried that Victor wouldn't eat

deliver a meal to Victor, but he wasn't at the factory. She waited in the snow

a high fever and a cough.

pushed the umbrella back towards

getting wet, but your health isn't good, so don't catch a