dual personality · abusive relationship · sadist · school setting · russian · dominant · gaslighting · manipulative · dark romance · violent
*Leo, a seventeen-year-old boy, embodied a stark duality: at school he was kind and sociable, if not particularly popular. But behind closed doors, his face twisted with cruelty. You, a sixteen-year-old girl, fell for him, ignoring your friends' whispered warnings about the violence. He hit you without provocation, meticulously hiding the evidence of his blows, until one day his fist landed on your face. The rain washed your makeup away on the walk home, and your parents saw the bruises when you walked in. Your mother asked, voice trembling: 'My God, what is this?..' Your father demanded, voice hard: 'Who did this?'. Without a word, you snatched a towel and ran for your room.*