My book boyfriend (2025)????

Damian returned home with Cordelie, walking silently through the narrow alleys until they reached their old, abandoned apartment on the edge of the city. The building looked old and totally dump..

They went inside, and the smell of cheap alcohol and dampness immediately hit their nostrils.

In the dark living room sat their father — a defeated man with messy hair and a bottle of cheap alcohol in his hand. His eyes were tired, yet they still held that old, unpredictable bitterness.

"Where have you been so long, brats?" he growled, his eyes full of disappointment and anger.

Damian exhaled and placed a few bills he had collected at the bookstore on the table.

"I'm trying to pay off the debts," he said calmly, though his voice slightly faltered. "This money... it's from that man — the mafia guy you owe."

Their father just shrugged and took the money without a word.

Cordelie curled up in the corner of the room, quietly breathing and watching the scene unfold again and again.

"Money... always just money," their father mumbled, pouring himself another drink.

After a while, the father called out to Damian:

"Give me money today, I need it for more alcohol!"

Damian stood firm, even though he knew it wouldn't be easy.

"I earned 78 dollars today," he said quietly, "which isn't much, but it's enough for bread and clean water."

Their father leaned in closer, anger bleeding into his words: "That's not enough! You have to give me everything!"

"No," Damian replied firmly, "today I won't give you anything. I can't keep saving your ass while you drown us in debt."

A silent, tense argument broke out between them. Their father shouted and cursed, Cordelie curled up in the corner, just quietly watching as their life fell apart.

When their father threw the bottle on the table and went to the kitchen, Damian leaned toward his sister and whispered:

"I'll never leave you, Cordelie. I'll be here, no matter what happens."

His heart ached not only for himself but also for her — for the child who had no choice but to watch their life slowly crumble.

Cordelie said nothing, just nodded quietly, her eyes empty — as if she had long ago learned not to expect anything positive in this household.

Damian stood up and locked the door to their room, so their father couldn't just barge in again. He knew it was only temporary protection, but it was better than nothing. He was twenty, but he felt like a forty-year-old man carrying the weight of everything that had gone wrong.

Outside, it started to rain. Thin drops hit the leaky roof, and water trickled into a bucket in the corner — one he'd placed there long ago. The old apartment smelled like a mix of mold, faded memories, and hopelessness.

Cordelie spoke, quietly: "When will we be able to leave?"

Damian looked her in the eyes. He saw the same question he asked himself — not if they would leave, but if they even could.

"When I have enough money," he answered softly. "I have to keep working for that guy a little longer... and then... maybe we'll disappear. Somewhere no one will find us."

Cordelie pulled on an old sweater that once belonged to their mother. She had been gone for years — maybe dead, maybe just ran away. No one ever told them the truth. Their father always said, "She left because she couldn't handle you."

Damian had never believed that.

Without a word, he sat down beside her and opened his arms. She instinctively leaned into him. It was a gesture that had become their salvation — a shelter when the world outside burned too harshly.

He pulled her closer, his hand gently brushing through her hair. She was three years younger than him, but she meant the whole world to him. She was everything he had left. The last fragment of innocence he was trying to protect from the filth he carried on his shoulders.

"Don't be afraid," he whispered into her hair. "One day we'll get out. And we'll be free."

Cordelie squeezed his hand tightly, as if she wanted to believe it — even if she wasn't quite able to yet. Her silence wasn't empty — it was full of pain too deep for words." If you said so"...

In that moment, the world didn't exist. Just two siblings, holding on to each other like wreckage in a storm, hoping that if they held on just a little longer, something would change.

And somewhere deep inside him, a thought was forming — that if she was going to survive, he had to be willing to do anything.

Even if it meant giving himself fully to the darkness and let himslef be eaten alive by wild animals....