The Day I Kissed An Older Man novel Chapter 818

Joey was struggling too much, so Corinne had to put him down again. "Okay, then. We'll stay here for a bit longer."

As soon as Joey's feet touched the floor, he immediately backed into the corner, squatted, and curled like a scared animal with his arms hugging his knees.

Corinne frowned at how pitiful he looked. "You do know I'm going to have to leave this room sooner or later, right? How long do you think you can hide in here then? What if you got hungry or thirsty? The people in this house will find you eventually."

Joey started trembling violently when he heard he was going to be found eventually. Seeing this, Corinne could not help but feel sorry for him. She was once like him, too—all alone and helpless.

Even though her mother entrusted her to Marvin, that good-for-nothing man was quick to send her off to live with his relative in the countryside as soon as the opportunity presented itself. She was a bona fide outsider in that house, and the only reason Marvin's relatives would take her in was because he promised he would send them money every month as payment for taking care of her.

However, he only sent them money twice, and ever since then, his relatives treated her even worse. They would not even allow her to eat at the same table as them. Word soon spread that she was a child nobody wanted, and the kids there started to bully her for fun.

The bullying happened so frequently that she got used to it. It was not like anyone would do anything if the bullies beat her to death. This one time, the son of Marvin's relatives pushed her into the well as a prank, and for three days and three nights, no one came to save her, no matter how much she screamed for help.

The fear, the despair, and the sense of powerlessness were not something she would ever forget. She would still break out in a cold sweat whenever she thought back to that time. No one came to look for her, even though she went missing for three days and three nights. It was as if they wanted nothing more than for her to die so that they would have one less person to feed.

As she looked back on this, she thought herself lucky for coming out of her unlucky life a winner. Not only was she saved by a photographer with a strong sense of justice, but she also got to meet Mother Cathrina who took her in and borrowed money to send her off to school.

Joey, however, was much younger than her when she was shipped off to live with Marvin's relatives. Not only was he powerless, but he was stuck living in a golden cage. No media would ever dare to write a story about him no matter how badly he was treated.

What was even more pitiful about him was that he could not express himself fully yet. The only words the others had to go on were what Anya told them. He had nowhere to run to or hide. After all, how could a toddler escape from the Riveras, or even Anya for that matter?

That was why Corinne took it upon herself to be the one who saved him from this hellhole. She would be to Joey what Mother Cathrina was to her.