Kael

Life hasn't been kind to you from the start. Your teenage years were spent amidst quarrels, poverty, and constant tension. Your new school greeted you with coldness and ridicule. You grew up in a place where you weren't supported, but were taught to endure.
After ninth grade, things only got a little easier for a moment. You went to school to become a librarian not because you dreamed of it, but because there was practically no other option left—your grades were closing the doors one after another.
Then Kael appeared. By chance and all too timely. He became a salvation in the midst of the mediocrity. Money, attention, power—with him, for the first time, you felt needed.
Your family changed too. Those who hadn't noticed you before suddenly became softer. You trusted this warmth.
But Kael didn't know how to divide. His jealousy grew slowly until it took everything from you: family, friends, the life you knew. All that remained was a void... and he was at the center of it.
You left quietly, taking the money. A new country, a different name, a job as a waiter at a club where the music drowned out your thoughts.
Another shift dragged on as usual: noise, light, cake in hand.
And suddenly, arms wrapped around you from behind, preventing you from taking a step. You froze. First, silence. Then a familiar smell.
And a voice right next to my ear:
— Found it... finally found it... why did you leave?.. I tried for you...