A Glimpse of the Past (End)
As the days turned into weeks, the atmosphere at home grew increasingly strained. The echoes of arguments and bitter words lingered in the air, leaving an invisible scar on young Val's tender heart. He couldn't comprehend the complexities of his parents' disputes, but he could feel the weight of their anger and sadness.
The once lively and joyous home had become a place of tension and coldness. Little Val would often retreat to his room, seeking refuge in the safety of his books and toys. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't escape the heavy cloud of discord that hung over his family.
The neglect that Val experienced slowly took its toll on his innocent soul. He would often spend hours gazing out of his window, yearning for the return of the happy days when his parents laughed together and held him close. The absence of their warmth left a void that seemed impossible to fill.
Rudy saw all of this, he saw little Val's attempts to bridge the gap between his parents, his silent pleas for their attention, and his unspoken cries for their love.
But.... his efforts often went unnoticed, drowned out by the discord of their own conflicts.
Not being able to take anymore, he started to spend more time with Liza.
The only person to ask Val to play with her was Liza.
She became the light in the darkness of Val's heart.
Val spent most of his time with Liza, and Liza, being a tomboy, always protected Val from bullies due of his timid character.
While Liza might be doing this out of friendship, Rudy knew what Val was thinking.....
Children simply want to feel loved by their parents. They strive to do well in school, hoping for a nod of approval, and follow instructions, seeking a word of praise. Holding their parents' hands as they walk in the park fills them with a sense of joy and security. But when these gestures of affection are absent, a void forms, a deep ache in their hearts.
In the absence of parental love, they set out on a quest for validation, searching for what they've been missing. They venture beyond their comfort zone, hoping to find that missing piece of affection. Their innocent hopes evolve into a determined pursuit, a longing for the connection that should have been there all along.
Val began to develop feelings for Liza, which he initially dismissed as friendship impulses.
He thought he and Liza will stay together like this forever....but..
.
.
...When Val turned seven all of this changed again...
Someone came into their house one day and began telling Mary to pay the money that her husband had borrowed.
This went on for a long, until Mary snapped and asked Jack about the money, but he didn't respond and just ignored her.
Mary afterwards discovered that Jack had begun to gamble and had taken people's money without returning it.
It led to another argument between Jack and Mary.
Not being able to take anymore, Mary left the house with a member of her previous party.
.
.
.....then hell came down for Val....
.
.
.
Val was only seven years old when his mother left the house. Following that, the frequency with which his father returned home reduced.
When he returned, he blamed Val for Mary's decision to leave him. It was fortunate that he didn't use violence against Val but the way he looked at Val changed.
In light of the fact that words can occasionally be more harmful than physical force, the void in Val's heart began to grow larger and larger each day.
Still, Val held onto hope that at least there was someone who will stay by his side.
Which is Liza...
but.....that hope was also crushed when Liza started to treat him differently day by day.
.
Liza's father was a martial artist and their family owned a dojo..
She received his training early on. Val was consistently rejected by Liza's father since he always admired the strong and thought Val was too petite for a guy.
Liza being a little girl was also influenced by his father and started to treat Val coldly.
Which deeply effected him.....
.
A mother who walked away, leaving him utterly alone. An addicted father, stumbling home in a drunken stupor whenever he managed to return. The person he once thought would be his constant support, treating him coldly...
All of this started to change Val little by little.
.
.
He found quite an amount of money her mother had left behind when she left the house.
Whenever he was hungry he just bought the cheapest cup noodles from the store....
There are times when he starved just to save some money....
He had to hide those money so that his father doesn't steal them for his gambling habit....
.
Val led this kind of life for six years......
All this years he tried to make Liza fall in love with him, he confessed to her almost every day.
Eventually Liza started to call him stalker and treated him more harshly than before.
Years of leading that kind of life Vals thought process become twisted and he still held onto the hope that Liza will one day accept his confession.
When Liza was fifteen she went to a martial art competition and become second. After coming back she started to talk how she had found her rival whom she wanted to beat.
but.....
Liza done something which led Val to deeper into the darkness. She started to compare Val with her rival.
She started to tell how her rival was strong, good-looking and many other things. After that Val became desperate and started to follow Liza more often.
Everything built up to the day when Rudy unexpectedly ended up inside Vaelen's body. It was the moment when Vaelen's feud with a rival boiled over, leading to a heated exchange of words and culminating in a sharp, painful slap from Mary.
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Yo,
Author Here!!
I apologize for the few days of delay; I had to attend to a family issue.
And I am aware that your guys will discover numerous loopholes, but don't worry—I'll explain them in a later chapter.
AND, Thanks for reading my novel!!!