If I leave, who is there to protect her? If I don't leave, I'll end up like him. No. I'll never let that happen to me. He knows he's not able to break me, but he tries anyways. He probably figures what worked on two people before, will work eventually on me as well. So he settles for insulting me. His manipulation isn't as sneaky as it once was. Or maybe I was just too young to understand it. I understand why she stayed. I don't understand why she never thought of leaving until after she had kids.
It's all very Joy Luck Club sounding.

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then / after