One Step Ahead

She drew another breath, steadier this time. “After graduation, I begged my mother. And she… she understood. She agreed to take me away, to give me a chance at something real. That’s why we left—months before my twenty-fifth birthday. My father still stands as the Oyabun in public. But the truth is, he’s only holding the space meant for me, keeping the world together while I tried to figure out wh