"Back then, the Huber family''s newpany was just starting up. My dad was swamped with work, and my mom''s attention was all on him. They had no clue what was happening to me."


    "Still not giving up, I went to find her again and asked if she''d been forced to break up with me."


    "She was holding a cigarette, and she justughed out loud."


    "And she didn''t justugh herself. She told the thug what I said, and he and his buddies all startedughing with her, mocking me."


    "I don''t know if it was anger or just pure grief, but I spiraled into a feverish depression after that."


    "Two weekster, I was better, but I still couldn''t stop myself from going to find her."


    "Sigh, in today''s terms, I was a total simp. I just couldn''t control myself. I had to see her."


    "I happened to see that thug hitting her. Without a second thought, I rushed over to protect her. But she just told me to mind my own business and get lost."


    "She said she didn''t want to see me, and that if I harassed her again, she''d call the cops."


    "But the very next day, she showed up at my school. She stood on the other side of the fence and told me she was pregnant-and the baby was his."


    "He didn''t want the baby and told her to get an abortion, but he wouldn''t give her any money for it."


    "She had no money for the procedure and she was terrified. She said her grandparents would kill her if they found out. She didn''t know what to do."


    "I waspletely stunned when I heard that. She was just a teenager, and she was pregnant."


    "I was also furious. I loved her so much I wouldn''t even dare to really touch her, and she had given herself to that scumbag. She wasn''t even an adult."


    "But after the anger, all I felt was heartbreak for her."


    "I couldn''t bring myself to ignore her. She wanted an abortion, so I gave her all my allowance money and even skipped school to secretly take her to a small clinic."


    "The procedure was sessful, and she went home the same day."


    "I was so worried about her health. For a long time after that, I went to see her every day, bringing her good food from my house."


    "I encouraged her to pull herself together, to go back to school, to stay away from those bad people."


    "I even told her... that I didn''t care about what happened. That I''d still marry her..."


    Keaton paused, took another drag of his cigarette, and looked at Winona. "I was serious back then. I really didn''t care."


    "But then, she hurt me again."


    let


    "She brought the thug to find me. They had pictures of me taking her to the clinic, and they imed Khad raped her gotten her pregnant, and forced her to have an abortion."


    "The thug grabbed my cor and tried to ckmail me. He demanded two thousand dors, saying if didn''t pay up, they''d either beat me death or cat the cops and hav me arrested."


    "I was so... so angry..."


    Keaton took a harsh drag from his cigarette. "I can''t even describe the rage. Two thousand dors. For two thousand dors, she could frame me like that."


    "They had taken a lot of pictures. Of hering to me for help, of me taking her to the clinic, of me secretly bringing her food."


    "In other words, it was a setup from the very beginning. She was taking advantage of my feelings for her, using me, extorting me..."


    "I was furious, I went crazy. It wasn''t about the money. It was about how she could


    so easily trample all over my feelings without a second thought..."


    "I was young and reckless, impulsive, not thinking about the consequences. I told them I had to go home to get the money but. instead I grabbed a kitchen knife and went back to fight them to the death."


    "But God, I was still so pathetic. Even then, I couldn''t bring myself to hurt her."


    "I told her to stand aside while I fought the thug and his buddies."


    "The ironic thing is, to protect him, she stabbed me. Four times. If a passerby hadn''t


    seen what happened, I would have died at her hands..."