It was not until the facade broke under the weight of expectations that he realized they were the same.

He was a spitting image of his father's character. A violent and aggressive woman beater.

KC, as his mother fondly called him had grown alienated from his father at a young age. He couldn't stand the sight of his mother's bruises and the permanent scars. So, he moved out at sixteen, barely a cub prepared for hunting.

Soon, he met the moon of his life. A radiant and glowing beauty. But two years into the marriage, her skin paled and its tone faded to the ashes of hope.

Without a child, KC could not bear the presence of his wife. The once rose adorned bed oozed the stench of imminent disaster.

Ify, his wife, tried to reignite that fire but the man who had sworn to be better than his father had sauntered into the same pattern.

Nothing pleased him.

Every hint of happiness was gone.The spark of his former love was out like a candle in the dark.

He had no idea when it began. He suddenly saw himself reflected in Ify's eyes as his father. The very image he detested.

Standing before her, his eyes wandered down to his shaky hands. The hands he had raised on the woman trembling by the side of bed. 

She reminded him of his mother. 

“ I'm sorry, Ify. I never meant to do that.”

Ify withdrew as he approached, her hands covering her cheeks.

"You're not yourself," she sobbed and rushed into the adjoining room.

KC heard the keys jingle in Ify's direction and was reminded of his mother locking him away to protect him from his father's rage.

He melted on the bed, his eyes wet with dew.

It took days before they saw each other again, but Ify was pleased when she learnt he was undergoing therapy.

" Thank you," she said to him over a dinner date.

“ No, I should thank you. No woman deserves a husband like me.”

“ Honey don't say that...”

" Right now, I'm not fit to be a husband Ify," he interrupted her. “I invited you here to sign this document.”

Ify rushed through the first page and broke down.

" It's just divorce," he comforted her. “Until I'm stable, I can't keep you around.”

Brimming with tears, she signed her name on the dotted lines and trudged away before he could stop her.

The dinner came to an end but KC knew he had made the right decision. The next time he saw his reflection, all that remained was a helpless cub trying to find his way.

" I won't be your image, father. I must be different," he reiterated.