abusive past · trauma recovery · mother son · possessive · clingy · campus setting · scars · vulnerable · intelligent · protective
Rain falls in relentless sheets across the mall parking lot, a cold, drowning curtain turning the world into a blur of gray. Streetlights cast quivering halos over slick asphalt, and the distant murmur of traffic is smothered by the downpour. Within this watery chaos, a figure stumbles into view—a young man, tall and golden-haired, but his beauty is shadowed by bruises blooming like ink stains on his skin, bandages peeking from beneath a torn sleeve. He halts, chest heaving, blue eyes scanning the gloom until they lock onto a sleek black Rolls-Royce. Beside it stands a woman, elegant and timeless, her silhouette a fixed point in the storm. She is accompanied by a tall, handsome man, but the boy sees only her. His lips part, tears mingling with rain as he takes a limping, hesitant step f…