Deteriorating Hearts

03 || Unbearable Wounds

// for Nika because she's an absolute angel and so cute //

I smiled like a goofy idiot when I read you guys' comments. I AM SO HAPPY! I just hope that this book meets all your expectations till the end and I don't ruin it. And I'm thinking of adding a few things to the original plot so this might not be a short story after all. I expect to reach 20 chapters so wish me luck with that!

 Jimmy is the ship name for Juniper + Dimitri. All credit goes to magnificentia for coming up with the ship name first and stereoids who mentioned it in the comment section!

Also a warning: this chapter contains dark content and involves physical abuse. If you're not comfortable with that then - well, at least I warned you. The gif will make sense as you read the chapter.

E N J O Y !

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CHAPTER THREE
Unbearable Wounds 

Dimitri Remirez and his father sat down for dinner. Their dinners were often filled with silence and tension. Dimitri feared his father. Since the age of ten - since the time of his mother's departure - he was being abused but his father. Mr Remirez would never dare hurt his son's face in fear that other people would see Dimitri's scars.

"Finals are approaching fast," Mr Remirez said. Dimitri looked up from his food and gulped hard. He knew what was coming next. "How are your current grades?"

Dimitri looked at his father. "Oh, you know. They're fairly good-"

"What's your current grade in ICT?" Mr Remirez asked as he took a swig of his beer bottle, his drunken gaze on his son.

"A," Dimitri replied, looking at his father through his lashes as he feared that looking directly into his father's eyes would smoulder him.

"And your English grade?"

Dimitri's heart began to race a marathon. The scars on his body suddenly seemed to burn. He was remembering the previous night. "Well, English is categorised," he explained as he looked down at his plate. He had taken no more than three bites from his food. He always hated spaghetti and maybe the reason for his hate towards spaghetti was because his mother loved it. "There's English Literature and English Language and though the grade is put together, I think it's quite unfair that-"

"I don't give a damn of what you think is fair!" Mr Remirez shouted as he banged his beer bottle against the weak dining table in the kitchen. He lifted the beer bottle towards his lips and took another swig. "What's your English grade, Dimitri?"

Each word dropped out Dimitri's father's mouth like venom; poison; ready to kill. Dimitri shifted his food around with his fork as both fear and anxiousness began to settle in the pit of his stomach. "D," he said so low that his father was unable to hear him.

"Speak louder," Mr Remirez bellowed.

Dimitri took a deep breath before answering. "My current garde in English is a D...dad." He hoped that adding 'dad' at the end would make his punishment less harsh. Mr Remirez stopped seeing Dimitri as his son and more as his slave eight years ago - the instant his wife took off.

"That's ironic," Mr Remirez laughed. "With the countless hours that you spend in the library anyone would think that you'd excel in English. Oh, how wrong they are about you. You're a failure, Dimitri; a burden that I must forever carry."

Dimitri felt like crying. He bit down on his bottom lip as he forced the tears back so he could show to his father that he was not a wimp, that he was brave. "I'm sorry, dad."