{"id":29,"date":"2026-01-21T12:42:57","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T12:42:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/?p=29"},"modified":"2026-01-21T12:42:57","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T12:42:57","slug":"how-i-fell-in-love-with-my-step-mother-episode-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/how-i-fell-in-love-with-my-step-mother-episode-2\/","title":{"rendered":"HOW I FELL IN LOVE WITH MY STEP MOTHER Episode 2"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Episode 2<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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I started avoiding her.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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That was my solution. Cowardly, maybe\u2014but necessary. I woke up earlier than usual and left the house before she stepped out of her room. I stayed out late, wandering the village, sitting with friends who didn\u2019t know my mind was slowly tearing itself apart. When I returned, I went straight to my room.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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But avoidance is a lie you tell yourself.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Because even when you\u2019re not in the same room, the thought remains.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Her voice.<\/div>\n
Her eyes.<\/div>\n
That moment in the dark kitchen.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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It followed me everywhere.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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My father returned two days later. The house came alive again\u2014his loud laughter, his commanding presence, the way Amara suddenly became the perfect wife. She served him food, knelt to greet him, smiled when he spoke. Anyone watching would think she was happy.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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But I noticed the cracks.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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She avoided my eyes now too.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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At night, while my father slept heavily beside her, I lay awake in my room, staring at the ceiling, asking myself questions I was afraid to answer.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Was this just desire?<\/div>\n
Loneliness?<\/div>\n
Or something far worse?<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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One afternoon, my father announced he would be traveling again\u2014this time for five days.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The words landed like a curse.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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As soon as his car disappeared down the dusty road, silence returned. Thick. Dangerous.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Amara stayed in her room the whole day. I tried to distract myself by fixing a broken fence outside. The sun was hot, sweat poured down my face, but my mind refused to rest.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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By evening, hunger forced me inside.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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She was in the kitchen.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Our eyes met.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The air shifted.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cWelcome,\u201d she said quietly.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cGood evening, ma.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The word ma felt like a knife.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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She nodded, then turned back to the pot on the fire. I sat on the wooden bench, keeping my distance. For a while, only the sound of boiling soup filled the room.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cI\u2019m sorry,\u201d she said suddenly.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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I looked up. \u201cFor what?\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cFor that night,\u201d she said, still facing the pot. \u201cI shouldn\u2019t have said your name like that.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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My heart thudded. \u201cWe both know it shouldn\u2019t have happened.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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She turned then. Her eyes were red\u2014not from smoke.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cI pray every night that this feeling will go away,\u201d she whispered. \u201cBut it\u2019s not.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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I stood up immediately. \u201cPlease. Don\u2019t say this.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cWhy?\u201d she asked softly. \u201cBecause it\u2019s wrong\u2026 or because it\u2019s true?\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Silence swallowed us.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cThis house is not safe for this conversation,\u201d I finally said. \u201cSomeone could hear.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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She nodded slowly. \u201cYou\u2019re right.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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That should have been the end.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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It wasn\u2019t.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Later that night, rain returned again\u2014soft, steady. Power went out. Darkness wrapped the house. I lay on my bed, restless.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Then I heard it.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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A soft knock on my door.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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My entire body stiffened.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cChinedu,\u201d she whispered.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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I sat up. \u201cGo back to your room.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cI can\u2019t sleep,\u201d she said. \u201cPlease.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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I opened the door just a little. She stood there, wrapped in a light cloth, rain sounds echoing outside, eyes shining with fear and something else.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cThis is a mistake,\u201d I said again.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cI know,\u201d she replied. \u201cBut I\u2019m already inside it.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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I let her in.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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We sat on opposite ends of the bed like strangers pretending not to feel electricity burning the air between them.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cI feel invisible in this house,\u201d she said quietly. \u201cYour father is kind, but he doesn\u2019t see me. I\u2019m just\u2026 duty.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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I clenched my fists. \u201cYou\u2019re my father\u2019s wife.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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She laughed bitterly. \u201cAnd you\u2019re the only one who looks at me like I\u2019m alive.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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That was when something inside me snapped.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cI hate myself for this,\u201d I said. \u201cBut I think about you all the time.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Her breath hitched.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The distance between us disappeared.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Not because we planned it\u2014but because restraint finally lost the fight.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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When our lips met, it wasn\u2019t gentle. It was desperate. Confused. Heavy with guilt. The kind of kiss that knows it shouldn\u2019t exist.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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She pulled away first.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cThis can never happen again,\u201d she said, tears streaming down her face.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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I nodded. \u201cNever.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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She left.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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I didn\u2019t sleep that night.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Neither did she.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The next morning, she avoided me completely. Packed her things quietly. When I asked where she was going, she said she needed to visit her sister in another village.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cI need distance,\u201d she said. \u201cBefore this destroys us.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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I watched her leave, my chest burning.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Three days later, my father returned unexpectedly.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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He didn\u2019t greet anyone.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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He walked straight into the sitting room and sat down heavily.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cChinedu,\u201d he called.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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I came out.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cDid anything strange happen while I was gone?\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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My heart stopped.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cNo, sir,\u201d I said, my voice barely steady.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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He studied my face for a long time.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cAmara has been distant,\u201d he said slowly. \u201cShe barely speaks to me. She avoids my touch.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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I swallowed.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Then he said something that made my blood run cold.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cI\u2019m beginning to suspect something.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The room felt smaller.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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And for the first time since this nightmare began, I realized the truth:<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Love was no longer the biggest danger.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Discovery was.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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TO BE CONTINUED…<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Episode 2 I started avoiding her. That was my solution. Cowardly, maybe\u2014but necessary. I woke up earlier than usual and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-how-i-fell-in-love-with-my-step-mother"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29\/revisions\/40"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}