All Chapters of Her Sugar Boy Was A Rival: Chapter 1 - Chapter 5

AureliaMorning is supposed to bring clarity.That’s the comforting lie I’ve woven into my life—that the light of dawn sharpens one’s judgment, restores the chaotic order of night’s shadow, and reminds you of your own identity. As the city remains shrouded in silence, I find myself waking before the sun fully rises, soft rays of golden sunlight slipping through the floor-to-ceiling glass walls, casting delicate, pale lines across the rumpled sheets of the bed.He’s still here.That’s the very first thought that crosses my mind—a fleeting realization that brings an unexpected warmth. The second is how seamlessly his presence has woven itself into the fabric of the space beside me, as if he was meant to be there. His breathing, languid and steady, fills the quiet room. One arm is bent above his head, the other rests near my waist—not quite touching, not claiming, just existing. Waiting.Always waiting.I slip out of bed, careful not to disturb him, and reach for my robe, tying it with a

AureliaLove was never taken from me.It was taught out of me—slowly, methodically, the way you train something wild until it learns not to hope.I grew up in a house where silence was currency and affection was a weakness you paid for later. My father believed emotions dulled the mind. My mother believed endurance was the same thing as strength. Between them, I learned early that wanting was dangerous.I was seven the first time I understood this.I had brought home a drawing—crude lines, uneven shapes, but it was the first thing I’d ever been proud of. I placed it carefully on my father’s desk, hands trembling, heart loud in my chest.He didn’t look at it.He didn’t have to.“If you want approval,” he said, eyes still on his papers, “earn it.”I stood there for a long time after that, staring at the edge of his desk, waiting for something else. A smile. A word. Anything.Nothing came.From that day on, I stopped offering pieces of myself freely. I learned to wait. To calculate. To o