The Day I Kissed An Older Man

In the end, Phoebe said sulkily, “Wait here. I’ll go check if he’s woken up from his nap.”

Corinne smiled, satisfied. “Okay. Thank you, Miss Phoebe.”

After a while, Phoebe came back with Joey.

Joey looked fearfully around the room. His eyes immediately lit up when he saw Corinne, but they quickly dimmed again.

Even though growing up in the orphanage turned Joey into a sensitive and insecure child, Corinne still remembered the look of awe in his eyes when she first met him.

That was why it was especially jarring for her to realize Joey had become so fearful through his stay with Anya and Phoebe that he did not even dare to look others in the eye anymore. His whole body language screamed how he wished he was dead.

not help but see herself in

waved him over. “Come here,

before turning up his head to

from talking to Joey since she already brought him there, so

not tell when a grown-up was sarcastic. He thought Phoebe meant what she said, so he cautiously made his way to

at how scrawny you’ve become. Are you not eating well?”Books

answer Corinne’s question but to look at Phoebe to see whether he was allowed to say

gave him a look, and Joey immediately knew that was his cue to keep his mouth shut. Scared, he shrank back a

when she saw the many bruises

those bruises and