When Xoa returned home that day, she moved swiftly towards the kitchen carrying her bag. She quickly scanned the area, ensuring that one of her brothers or parents weren't around, before retreiving the lunchbox from her bag and hurriedly replaced the food back into the drawers that she had taken it from that morning.252Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo9sihgQvgn
The rest of her evening was spent studying. She worked through most of the class until it was time for dinner. Xoa was starving, but she continued to tell herself that she deserved it. When her mother placed the spaghetti meatball dish on the dining table in front of her, Xoa knew she couldn't avoid taking a few bites of the meal. Not with her family surrounding her. If Xoa's parents discovered that she was beginning to skip meals, they would grow angry. Xoa knew her parents were already struggling with Dean's behaviour, they didnt need to be involved in Xoas problems too.
As the food was passed down the table towards Xoa, she took a very small portion, swirling it around her plate to give the illusion that there was more food on her plate.
After the meal, Xoa bottled up her guilt inside as she curled up in her room, trying her hardest to distract herself by listening to music, or watching TV. Anything to block out the sound of her own thoughts, which were telling her, repeatedly, she deserved everything that had happened.
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