My handsome stepdad

My head bowed in fear, the belt rose and fell against my body once again. I stood there, eyes clamped shut against the searing pain. "Please don't hit me, Mother..."I pleaded through the agony, but she didn’t listen. She just glared at me with a cold, terrifying cruelty.That woman was none other than the one who gave birth to me. My mother—if you could call her that.A few months after my father passed away, she had remarried a handsome, striking man. Ever since, she couldn't stand the sight of me. Everything I did provoked her rage, and I had no idea what I had done to deserve such resentment. Today, this brutal punishment was simply because my exam marks were a little low.After one last lash of the belt, she shot me a harsh look and walked out, slamming the door behind her. As he followed her out, my eyes caught his for the very first time.Until then, I had never taken any interest in him. But now, I looked at him—really looked at his physique—as if seeing him for the first time. Half an hour later, the sound of the car told me my mother was leaving. About ten minutes passed before the door opened and he stepped inside."Child..." he called out softly. There was a look of compassion in his eyes—something I hadn't seen on my own mother's face in years. I had been sitting with my head buried in my knees; I slowly looked up. But instead of pain, my eyes held a different expression entirely. He looked at me in bewilderment, perhaps caught off guard by the heavy, half-lidded gaze I gave him."Apply this ointment. The pain will subside," he said, holding out a tube toward me."You apply it for me, Uncle..." I said, turning my back to him. I knew my response shocked him. I had never behaved this way before. He stood there frozen, staring at my back through my T-shirt. To make it easier for him to apply the cream, I slowly lifted my shirt.He must have been stunned, his breath catching at the sight of my nineteen-year-old form. There would be red welts on my back from the belt, but at that moment, I had only one thought: I wanted to leave a scar on that woman’s heart, just like the marks she left on my body.