DENIAL

26

• this chapter will include touchy topics such as uncomfortable age gaps and sexual manipulation. You have been warned ! If any of this make you uncomfortable feel free to skip this portion of the chapter :)

                                       5 years ago..

                              April 15th, 2018

                                       _____

"Alea, I've already told you I don't like you hanging out with that boy." Amara John told her disobedient 13-year-old daughter.

Alea John never liked being told what to do, she'd often do exactly the opposite of whatever her mother would tell her just to simply spite her.

As teenagers tend to do.

"You were the one who said I should start socializing and making friends."  Alea reminds her mother as she starts heading out the door.

"Yes I meant friends your age!" 

"Whatever, I'll talk to you later."

"Yeah, yeah."

Giddily, 13 year old Alea John gets into 16 year old Damian Lavotto's car. He greets her with a nice kiss on the forehead that warms her little heart to degrees she didn't know it could reach.

Their relationship wasn't ideal, Alea knew that. Being the ripe age of 13 and him being on the brink of turning 17 did seem like a fairly unusual relationship because of the gap. But in her fragile and naive mind, 3 years apart wasn't enough for her to find it strange or inappropriate.

She was turning 14 in three days and he didn't turn 17 for another month or so.

Alea didn't know what love was, not romantic love anyway. But she knew it had to be this.

She was in love with him for better or for worse.

Age didn't matter. What her mom or uncle said didn't matter. Nothing else mattered to her except him. And of course, he knew that.

"Your birthday's coming up, what do you want to do for it?" Damian asks her, one hand on the wheel and the other clasping on her thigh. He was always overly touching, overly sexual.

But she tried to like it, to not let it bother her. That's just how he is. That's how people show their love and affection to each other, he would tell her.

So whenever he asked for sexual favors, she would do them. Not matter how uncomfortable or dirty it made her feel.

"Hmm, I don't know. I don't really care for it anymore. My mom always made us celebrate both of our birthdays since hers is the day after mine. Now, I think I just want to celebrate it with you. In your room, cozying up in bed, maybe watching pride and prejudice?" She speaks so joyfully, with such a strong smile that it's hard to not want to admire the sight of her.

But she was innocent.

Of course she had an incomprehensible sense of bliss. She didn't know how hard life would become for her.