Allan has a personality that is of a toxic composition. He is hot-tempered and he is very jealous. Unfortunately, Alice’s almost promiscuous behavior helps to exacerbate his insecurities and anger. Until now, Allan has only treated his son with great care. In fairness, Alice is not a particularly attentive mother.
I can understand that they arouse strong feelings in the readers. I’m still considering how their story will develop going forward.

Fabio is a nice surprise. He is quite cheerful and seems quite well behaved. There is no doubt that his mother treats him attentively in a healthy way.

Thank you for your comment ❤

I love Fabio. His statement about being fabulous made me smile and he seems to have a really healthy relationship with his mother. She takes care of him, puts him first, conquers monsters for him, etc. and Rasmus kindly supports all of that too.

If we assume that Rasmus in his infatuation is blind to anything but Izumi, then it is probably possible to overlook a little boy in a self-luminous green t-shirt 😉
Besides, there would have been no spoiler if I had revealed Fabio right away 😆

Rasmus has found a firm foothold in himself and is therefore ready to enter into a healthy relationship.

As I think, Alice and Allan have never found the core of themselves so they just float around without direction guided by their sterotype gender perception and their desires and immature feelings. Lies and self-deception.
I think you make an important point about Alice choosing her happy memory over her son’s health.

What a stark contrast to Allan, who keeps thinking the child isn’t even his, and Alice, who is actively keeping her son in what she knows is a toxic environment. Andy is either going to grow up into a second Allan (because children do what they see) or he’s going to end up horrifically abused by Allan because he’s not his real son. Alice doesn’t seem to be thinking about her child’s wellbeing at all, only the happy memory that he represents.

Allan actually really surprised me in this chapter. He’s absolutely an abusive spouse and in an incredibly bad relationship with Alice. But as far as I can remember, we’ve never seen him express guilt before. I’m not sure how to explain this. It’s always been “it’s her fault that I’m angry”. Or “She needs to be punished” for whatever crime his mind perceived. Like he’s seen her as something that needs to be kept in line and dominated and punished. But ever since she’s gotten pregnant, his views seem to have shifted to.. I don’t know. Her being something pure that needs to be protected. And now his violent outbursts are beginning to clash with that mindset. The guy desperately needs therapy. And Alice needs to stop deluding herself – I actually got angry at her thinking of Rasmus as a place to go.

Tusnelda and Martin are so stable in comparison. Alice/Allan is a mess, Rasmus/Izumi is building a good foundation and Tusnelda/Martin seem to be in perfect harmony… except for the mannerless cats XD xD Ah, some things never change.

The lamp works great! The pictures are much better visible now =D

I hope so ❤

Thanks cathytea ❤
It is often a gift when something unexpected happens in the game. I love the inspiration you gets for free.
Blue can certainly cause trouble.

Oh, I hope he changes! That would be wonderful!

Thank you for your comment ❤
I am having a lot of trouble accessing my WordPress Reader today. It won’t show me any lists or comments, so I’m posting a response from my admin side.

I understand your considerations about parenting. There is of course a reason why I have chosen to draw the contrast between the two mothers (and fathers), because I think Izumi is doing the right thing.
Allan and Alice really have a toxic relationship. It is quite complex, especially because I have unambiguously described Allan as a violent psychopath from the start.
I want to state that I don’t think there is any kind of excuse and, unfortunately, no hope for true psychopaths either. They are totally devoid of empathy.
Now if we assume that Allan is not a psychopath, but he is a product of an unfortunate heritage and bad role models, then perhaps there is a hope that he can see an advantage in changing. Not by being saved by the ‘right understanding woman’, but by looking deep enough into his own psyche.
Does that seem highly unlikely?

And then, in stark contrast in parenting, we have Alice. That situation holds so much threat to Rasmus’s newly-found serenity. I almost can’t watch. Regardless of whether Allan has some cheese-haired ancestors, regardless of whether or not Rasmus would want to know Andy, or her, Alice needs to get out of there. Allan is a ticking timebomb and, yes, Alice cheated, but nothing justifies his loss of control. She needs to put Andy first like Izumi puts Fabio first – a precious little baby around that hot-headed goon is a recipe for disaster. Even if Allan never laid a finger on his(?) son, the tension in that house, the things Andy would see and who he might become… ugh, makes me shudder.

On a lighter note, I loved how you ‘voiced’ the cats this chapter. It’s their world, we just live in it. XD