Another dark night

My steps mechanically guided me home, crossing deserted streets in the pouring rain. Every drop seemed to reflect my own tears, every dark alley echoed with my suppressed sorrow. I was greeted by the icy silence of the house, a heavy atmosphere hanging in the air like an unbearable weight.

I noticed my parents sitting on the couch, their faces tense and their expressions grim. The atmosphere was electric, charged with a palpable tension that I could feel even before they said a word. However, I did not have the strength or courage to give them my attention.

But as I was about to retire to my room, my parents' voices called to me in a way that made me shiver with apprehension.

-RUBY !

 Their words were laced with anger, frustration and disappointment. I froze in place.

I didn't understand what was happening, why they were so angry. I desperately searched for answers in their accusatory gazes, but I found no answers.

-What is it?, I asked them perplexed

Then, without warning, my mother approached me, her hand rising in a sudden, brutal gesture. The sound of his palm hitting my cheek echoed through the room.

-You disappoint me so much, my mother suddenly said to me

-You need to stop being selfish, my father sighed, looking away from my face, can you think before you act?

I stepped back, my tear-filled eyes staring at my mother with a mixture of sadness and incomprehension.

-M-mom, I began with a trembling voice, what did I do wrong?

She looked away, avoiding my gaze as if she feared what she might read there.

-Why break off the engagement with Donovan?, my mother asked me

My heart sank painfully in my chest, a terrible understanding slowly emerging from the darkness of my confusion.

She knew.

But how ?

How had she heard the news?

Had Donovan told him?

I approached my mother, placing a trembling hand on her hand.

-Mom, who told you? , I asked, my voice shaking with fear and confusion.

She closed her eyes, her lips trembling slightly as if she was holding back words she was afraid to say out loud.

-Journalists informed us

-Hyun don't forget that it's thanks to them that you are where you are today, my father reminded me, you can't do that to them and not now

-I don't want to be with him anymore, I admitted to them in a small voice, he makes me suffer and

-What are you talking about?, my mother cut me off in a stern voice, don't you dare say such stupid things again.

-You don't believe me?, I asked him shocked

-...

In a heavy silence, I turned away from my parents, taking refuge in my room. Night fell on me, drowning my mind in the darkness of my tormented thoughts. And in the midst of this overwhelming darkness, I wondered if I would ever find the light that could dispel the darkness that engulfed me.

Another sleepless night,

Not to dream of anything.