Chapter 165: The Past

When April asked the question about her tattoo history, Angel didn’t say a single word after that.

The silence between them suddenly felt different.

April immediately assumed her Alpha simply wasn’t ready to talk about it, and she certainly didn’t want to force it out of her. Maybe bringing it up was going to open old, deeply painful memories or make her cry.

April had learned that some wounds were not visible on the skin.

Sometimes, the things that hurt the most were the memories people carried quietly inside themselves.

She had never wanted Angel to feel pressured into telling her something before she was ready. So she stayed close, resting quietly against her chest and giving her Alpha the time she needed.

But then, after a long silence, the Alpha started talking.

April was her other half and her marked mate, so whatever April asked, Angel would eventually open up to her.

"I had my very first tattoo done when I was in military school," Angel said softly into her hair. "They were extremely strict and physically violent there. I got heavily bruised every single day, and they forcefully made us cover up the worst bruises with tattoos so our parents wouldn’t find out what was happening. I honestly thought the beating I got at home was bad back then, but inside the military grounds, it was completely brutal... I absolutely hated every second there. I spent four long years there, and it wasn’t discipline that I was being taught at all... But I’m much better now. You should really see Benny’s twin sister though. She got heavy tattoos covering her entire body except for her face. She is way more violent, tough... and EVIL..."

April couldn’t help but chuckle softly when Angel pronounced the word evil like some dramatic goblin.

"Sorry, please continue. You are just being funny..."

"But I did not say anything funny at all..." Angel muttered, blinking.

"It’s just the exact way you said the word EVIL. By the way, why do you really not like Anita? I have never seen her in person, but you always talk about her like she hurt you deeply..."

"She always brags to everyone about how much her parents love her. She constantly talks about all the sweet things they do for her. It really annoys me whenever she talks about it..."

"So you were jealous of her?" April asked gently.

"I used to be. She always proudly said her parents never laid a single hand on her, and they acted like she was the most precious gem in the entire world. She always bragged that if her parents ever found out how other people treated her, those people would pay with their lives. She was my roommate back then, and under all that jealousy, we surprisingly became friends. But then, one time, we sneaked out late at night to go to some party far away from the military grounds, and we got caught red-handed. She cowardly made me take the whole fall for her. I got beaten up so badly that for weeks, I couldn’t even stand up on my own two feet..."

Angel’s voice remained surprisingly calm while she explained it.

That somehow made the story hurt even more.

She was talking about something that had happened years ago as though she had already accepted it as another part of her past. But April could still feel the tension in Angel’s body.

While Angel talked about her painful past, April started crying heavily against Angel’s chest. She honestly couldn’t bear to listen to any more of the story. It hurt her heart so much knowing that Angel’s childhood was far worse than she had ever expected.

April tightened her arms around Angel.

She wished she could somehow travel back in time and protect the little girl Angel had been.

She knew she couldn’t change what had already happened, but she could at least make sure Angel never had to face those kinds of memories alone again.

"Hey, please stop crying right now... I told you before I really don’t like it when you cry... it makes me so sad inside. Please stop..." Angel said softly, reaching out to wipe her girl’s wet face and gently petting her hair.

"I’m trying my best to stop, but I just can’t... What did you even do as a kid that made your parents send you off to that awful place?" April asked through her tears.

Angel became quiet for a moment.

Her eyes drifted toward the bedroom wall as old memories came rushing back.

"I was just being a bad girl back then. I really wanted my Alpha mom to come home... But then one day at school, this big kid was picking on Abby. I told him to stop right away, but he completely refused. Then he pushed her hard onto the floor, and she hit her head on the tile. I was so angry, so I tackled him straight to the ground and started punching him. I didn’t stop at all. Even when my knuckles were hurting badly, I kept smashing his face until Abby ran off to call the teachers to come to his rescue.... Then my Alpha mother arrived at the school, and without asking me any questions at all, the very next thing I knew, I was sitting inside a car with all my packed bags, heading straight for the military school..."

April listened carefully.

For the first time, she understood that Angel had not simply been sent away because she was a difficult child.

There had been so much more behind it.

Angel had been desperate for attention from a mother who was rarely around, and when she finally found someone who needed her protection, she had reacted with all the anger she had been carrying inside.

"I really wish I had met you so much sooner, Angel. Then you wouldn’t have had such a shitty, painful life..." April said, hugging her tightly.

Angel smiled down at her with soft eyes.

"No, I’m glad you hadn’t. The timing would have been wrong back then..."

Angel wasn’t wrong about that at all.

Meeting April during her chaotic childhood would definitely not have been the right timing because the young Alpha was far too obsessed with desperately trying to get her mother’s attention and was way too violent during those days.

Back then, Angel had been a completely different person.

She had carried anger everywhere she went, and the smallest problem could easily turn into a fight. She did not know how to properly express sadness, loneliness, or fear, so most of those emotions came out as aggression.

She had been desperate to be noticed by the person she loved most... Wanting to see both parents in love again..

But the more Angel tried to get that attention, the more trouble she created for herself.

Angel wouldn’t have even bothered looking at April’s face back then. Absolutely no one was close to that Alpha except Abigail and the twins.

But Abigail was the only one who was truly close to Angel back then.