"Hey, it's okay," Hayley replied, gently patting his head and silently thanking him for his sympathy. "It's all in the past. Last I heard about him, he's rotting and holding onto welfare, so I guess that's as good of a payback as any. Plus, that experience made me who I am today and taught me to toughen up or die. At least I'm not some poor sod begging on the streets. As painful as it was, his actions led me to finding you and I won't change a thing about them."