Chapter 8 - The Boy Who Couldn't Forgive Himself The cousin who had slapped Olivia had been quiet ever since.
One evening, he approached Stallone in the kitchen.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
The boy looked at the floor.
“Do you think I'm bad?”
Stallone put down the plate he was drying.
“No.”
“But I hurt her.”
“Yes.”
“I did what Grandma told me.”
“Yes.”
“Then how am I not bad?”
Stallone took a breath.
“Because what you did matters. But what you do next matters too.”
The boy's eyes filled with tears.
“I should've said no.”
“You should have.”
“I was scared she'd be angry.”
“Being afraid of disappointing someone is powerful.”
“Even for adults?”
“Especially adults.”
The boy wiped his eyes.
“What if Olivia doesn't forgive me?”
“She doesn't have to.”
That surprised him.
“She doesn't?”
“No.”
“Then what can I do?”
“Keep showing her you're sorry.”
The boy nodded.
That night, he wrote Olivia a letter.
He didn't ask her to forgive him.
He simply admitted what he had done.
He admitted he had been afraid.
And he promised that next time, he would say no.
Olivia read the letter.
She didn't answer immediately.
But she kept it.
May you like
Sometimes forgiveness began not with forgetting.
But with finally telling the truth.
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