AGONY OF DESIRE ; cobra kai

38 ― rage becomes her.

Demetri nodded again. "Uh, no m'am. I didn't tell them. They still think I'm at a Christmas party...I didn't want to worry them."

"Hmm," Jintara hummed as she nodded. "Let's get you home."

Demetri hung his head down as he walked over to them. Decha grabbed his hand. The two boys followed Jintara out of the hospital, walking hand in hand all the way to the car. The second they fastened their seatbelts, Decha was reaching for Demetri's hand once again. He didn't let go until the car pulled into Demetri's driveway.

He stared out the window as his mother talked with Demetri's parents. When she got back in the car, Decha just rested his head on the window. He didn't say a word the entire way home, not responding to any of his mother's questions.

The first thing that Decha did when he got home, was go upstairs and open Achara's bedroom door. He didn't even bother to knock. Achara jumped when her door opened, sitting upright on her bed. Decha walked up to her, taking a long look at her face. Her bottom lip was cracked, a small bruise beginning to form underneath her lip on her chin.

Achara stood up, taking in her brother's appearance. His eyes were red and puffy and his cheeks were lined with tear stains. His arm was wrapped in a sling.

"What is wrong with you?" Decha screamed at her.

Achara didn't respond. Decha didn't give her the chance.

"What were you thinking?" Decha shouted, his voice rising. "I don't even recognize you anymore, Achara. Cobra Kai has changed you and not for the better."

Achara gave him a confused look, her eyebrows raising as she yelled back. "You're my brother! You're supposed to be on my side!"

"This has nothing to do with not being on your side," Decha yelled. "It's about Kreese getting into your head and tearing your life apart. Why can't you realize that?"

"What I've realized is that I'm done pretending to be the perfect little angel," Achara responded. "That's not who I am and it's time to stop pretending to be someone I'm not."

Decha scoffed, shaking his head. "You don't need Cobra Kai to be who you truly are!"

"What is going on?" Jintara asked her children as she walked into the room, their father behind her.

"Achara and her Cobra Kai friends broke into the LaRusso house attacked Eagle Fang and Miyagi-Do!" Decha informed her. "You were asking in the car how I broke my arm? That's why!"

"Your rivalry with that girl has to stop," Jintara scolded her. "Cobra Kai is no good for you! Who is this girl you have become?"

"Who's this girl I've become?" Achara crossed her arms. "I'm not becoming anyone. I'm just refusing to be the perfect girl everyone wants me to be. I'm taking control over my life. That perfect little angel that you love so much? She's gone! She never existed in the first place. I pretended. I lied to you. I manipulated you. I told you what you wanted to hear."

"Achara Thirasawat! That is enough!" Kiet shouted at his daughter.

"Why?" Achara questioned, stepping closer to them. "You can't handle the fact that your daughter was able to manipulate you so easily into believing that she was a perfect little angel? Just because my name means angel, doesn't mean I have to be one."