**A/N**
I want to thank everyone for reading and I truly appreciate your reviews. I would like to respond directly to your reviews, comments or questions. If you have any suggestions regarding that, please feel free to let me know. 😊 It amazes me that you all are so invested and continue to follow Rhi's journey. She's a complex person with a huge heart who's a little messed up (ok, maybe more than a little), but she's a lot of fun and is as real as they come.
Awe…
Kate POV
We're lounging by the pool enjoying the sunshine and quiet now that the chaos is over. I look over at Rhi and study her for a few minutes. She's laying on a lounge, her eyes closed and her breathing is calm. There's no indication of the terrible scene that just occurred. To an outsider everything would appear normal and that she's just relaxing in the sun. I can't help but look at her in awe. The way she can recover from something so horrible amazes me, even after all these years. She's one of the strongest and most resilient people I know. She's like a vase that was once broken but has been glued back together; There are cracks and chips yet it still holds water. She may be blemished and she may be damaged but she's far from broken, though she has come close.
Many have tried to break her but she refuses to let them win. Maybe it's the stubborn side of her. Maybe it's fueled by the anger she's built up. Maybe it's her desire for something better, for her future. All she has to do is keep her head low and stay out of trouble and the future that she's been chasing will be waiting for her. It's something she's been grasping like she's holding on for dear life for her survival. She has a dream within her reach and refuses to let anyone or anything take it from her, after all, it's HER dream and no one else's.
As crazy as it sounds, she's got an amazing support system from her father, her surrogate family and her friends. Her mother and brother were way too self-centered, controlling and judgmental for that. In their eyes, her determination to make her own decisions and to live her life the way she wants to, no matter her age, was never considered a strength but more like a lack of self-control and rebellion. They never took the time to get to know the real Rhi. All they wanted to do was to make her be who they wanted her to be, to somehow benefit them, like a clone. It reminds me of a fucked-up version of The Stepford Wives but instead of a wife it's a daughter and sister. It was always a battle with them and the arguments were always the same, but this one stood out more than most and was painful to watch. It was the beginning of the end and I remember it like it was yesterday…