Chapter 2

That night, I pulled an all-nighter. My father must have overslept because he was too tired, so he forgot to wake me up in the morning.

Hence, the next day, I was late for school. My teacher asked me to stand outside of the classroom as a punishment.

The disciplinary teacher passed by and checked our attire. He immediately pulled me aside.

“What’s your name, and which class are you from? Why aren’t you dressed like a student? Where’s your uniform?”

I grabbed my bag’s zipper, but my heart felt heavy when I heard my classmates’ snickers.

“Do you think Ben will buy a new school uniform?”

“He’s so poor! How could he spend a fortune to buy another uniform? I bet he’s still wearing the same torn uniform from yesterday.”

“I’m talking to you. Are you deaf?!” the disciplinary teacher yelled at me. “Are you not going to listen to me? In that case, I want to see your parents!”

When I heard that he wanted to see my father, I disregarded the humiliating feeling and quickly put on the uniform that I had spent the night stitching.

Immediately, I heard laughter from my classmates.

Tears immediately welled up in my eyes. I could feel the wounds on my body stinging from the breeze.

My father told me that I had a bad temper since I was little. I would not allow anyone to take any advantage of me.

When I first went to high school, I could not stand the sight of Jimmy bullying other students. Hence, I helped the other students many times.

However, when Jimmy targeted me, no one helped me.

Leon Scott, who had been badly bullied back then, even joined Jimmy in bullying me.

I was going against ten people, and I was not losing.

As expected, all of our parents were called to school.

My father had an old apron and a mask on. It was obvious that he had rushed over from his food stand.

I did not cry when I was badly beaten or when the disciplinary teacher wanted to suspend me. However, when I saw my father rushing over, I let down my guard, as I felt that I finally had someone who would support me.

“Dad…”

Before I could call out to him, my father glanced at Jimmy and immediately walked toward me.

He slapped me forcefully.

He pointed at me and yelled, “How many times have I told you not to bully others in school? Why have you turned into such a disobedient kid?”

I wanted to defend myself, but my cheek was burning with pain. My words were stuck in my throat.

Jimmy became even more obnoxious after that.

He would get people to hit me in an alley way. I tried to fight, but he pulled out a photo of my dad at his food stand.

He leaned against the wall and said lazily, “I’m warning you. You’d better be good. You know what I’m capable of. Whatever you don’t suffer, I’ll make your dad suffer twice as much.”

Initially, I did not believe him. That was until I saw some obvious burn marks on the back of my father’s hands.

My father claimed that a customer had accidentally spilled oil on him. However, I knew that this was punishment from Jimmy when I stopped his attempt to burn me with a straightening iron.

“I’m sorry, Dad. I’m sorry.” I sobbed. It felt like I was the cause. “Dad, I don’t want to study in this school anymore. Can you please transfer me to another school?”

I gave it some thought and hinted that someone was bullying me. However, when my father heard Jimmy’s name, he immediately rejected my request.

“Ben, I spent a lot of money and effort to get you into this school back then. Can you not make it difficult for me? I’m already very tired from work today. I don’t want to hear another word about this anymore.”

I was overwhelmed with guilt. He was right. Why was I being unreasonable? It was already very difficult for him to raise me.

I just had to bear with it for three years. Three years would pass very soon.

Maybe Jimmy would get sick of me too.

I kept comforting myself.

However, the bullying was endless. It took over my entire life.